Ice 'n' Inline, Part Deux

[RichardGraham]

Hi Mission,

Figured I'd open this up in a new thread, as the old one is so long now that I have to click and scroll and click and scroll . . . lol

Excellent comeback. I like it:

>>Inline- In the summer you feel like dying because it gets so hot, and never before does ice water ever taste so good.<<

Darn straight. (Beer works too... ;)

>>Ice- I still get very hot, but I think with the temperature of the rink, you cool down, and are "fresh for your next shift.<<

Yep. /wtimages/icons/cool.gif

>>Inline- The physical play changes for me, sometimes it is very aggressive and othertimes I wont even get toughed.<<

That's when the "tough" get going... I think I know what ya mean, though /wtimages/icons/wink.gif

>>Ice- Its pretty consisitenly aggressive, you got to keep your head up for sure.<<

It is, even though I play in a non-check league. I think a lot of us watch too much NHL hockey, if you know what I mean /wtimages/icons/shocked.gif

>>Inline- The reffing, unless its a major tournament series is from poor to fair.<<

I have to be more careful about what I say regarding the referees; I think they're reading this stuff. /wtimages/icons/smile.gif

>>Ice- From the experience I have had the refs are pretty consistent and call the important ones.<<

In our league, it seems they feel that the last-place team must deserve to be there, so they call penalties on us when we're down 6-0 and 7-0, making us even more frustrated, and resulting in penalties we DO deserve. lol. I swear, these refs make borderline calls on us, and then let obvious stuff go when it comes to the other team. I know, I'm completely biased. /wtimages/icons/smile.gif

>>Inline- You can hear the trash talk all the time, even what people in the stands are saying.<<

Yeah, and that can be pretty funny, when the fans get into it with the players and the refs. I like the yell, "LENSCRAFTERS!" myself... /wtimages/icons/wink.gif

>>Ice- For some reason very little trash talk gets heard by me or other talk, I guess thats been one of my problems with my coaches when they wanted me to come off. lol<<

Ha ha.

>>Inline- when someone is playing on a Spourtcourt with their clickety clack Vibe chassis, it really annoys you.<<

Hmmm... isn't that YOU, Mission?

>>Ice- Every thing in Ice sounds cool, a slap shot, a stop, evening dekeing someone.<<

True.

>>Inline- Its easier to score from the red line, less people block shots due to lesser padding than ice.<<

That, and the puck is lighter...

>>I agree with you statements about Refs Rich.<<

Thank you. Does that get me a "Get Out of the Penalty Box Free" card? /wtimages/icons/wink.gif

>>Most annoying thing about Inline- Rolling pucks<<

And pucks that "stick" to the floor, allowing you to overskate them, and the opposition to take off the other way immediately. lol

>>Most annoying thing about Ice- Short shifts (I am greedy with ice time I guess) lol<<

I agree, mostly. Sometimes, a short shift is something I'm praying for! /wtimages/icons/smile.gif

Sincerely,

Richard Graham
Editor
Inline Hockey Central

[MDE3]

On a little less jovial note - one of the main differences I see between a majority of travel ice players and travel inline players who do not come from ice or play high levels of each - is conditioning. If a player grows up within the travel ice community to where he/she has aspirations for glory and before "burn-out" occurs it is most likely that they have recieved much more comprehensive off rink conditioning and training than players who play only roller. That is one of the other reasons many ice hockey players do well when they come back to roller - they are simply in better condition.

This simply underlines the need for some form of NGB where formal training programs can be standardized for inline hockey to give the players a sense that the sport is "serious" about itself. For those players who have grown up in the ice hockey family, and come over to play inline, it is not surprising that they do not take it as seriously - aside from the obvious limited future available from the curent state of "pro" inline hockey - the training available (some notable exeptions at the higher levels but only a few) is no where near as intense as ice hockey.

Not all bad of course is the effect that players play inline hockey more for fun and to maintain conditioning, but where the sport has aspirations to develop into a major commercial sport - then many of the other trappings must come along.

I do however see less "burn outs" within roller hockey (a good thing lol) unlike ice where kids have been playing a "pro schedule" from age 7 or 8 years old at the AAA levels. By the time many of these very talented kids reach the age of 12 - 15 - many may never want to see a pair of ice skates again - so much like a job has the sport become.

Somewhere between the two lies a happy medium - which maintains the fires of self development without drowning in the pools of over saturation and pressure. The sport must remain fun - and part of that fun for kids is certainly being able to maintain the dream of playing at a high level and being recognised for it - which takes some formal levels of practice. However being herded like cattle to be fattened for the financial rewards real or imagined by their parents is not the most fun inspiring scenario for many of these kids - supremely talented or not. And many lose all the joy that the sport should bring. Hopefully within the development of roller hockey a happy medium can be struck.

[missionhockey21]

Nice post. I think just being a kid playing a sport, almost all burn out a little bit. I remember I was playing two heavy schedules of hockey, inline and ice with lots of travel, and I was studying like crazy at the same time. So the next season I just played pick up games because I think after 8 years of hockey plus other sports I got tired of it. But all that didnt last long, because I focused mostly on roller and hockey had once again became fun to me. And on the training issuse, you are totally right. I've had some very intensive training in ice which hopefully has made me a better play. As for inline I've been on ranked teams according to AAU, and never once did our team train, even practices were pretty light. That's just my 2 cents.

[missionhockey21]

>>I have to be more careful about what I say regarding the referees; I think they're reading this stuff.<<
Rich, you're probably just insulting me and other teenage kids who ref house league hockey. lol
But for the most part I have been satisfied with quality tournaments having good refs.

>>Hmmm... isn't that YOU, Mission?<<
It was me for a while, but not anymore, thank god;-)

>>Darn straight. (Beer works too... ;)<<
I wouldnt know about that one... yet;-) but if its any indication from the college kids who come up to the rink in the park, they like hockey and beer too. lol

[MDE3]

Didn't I see a post in here a while back - maybe under collegiate hockey - about giving club collegiate hockey a bad image by having teams sponsored by a beer company ???? Yup that'll do it all right.

[MDE3]

Thanks - my son has a couple of hockey acquaintences who played tier 1 elite at the AA and AAA level - made it to team USA etc. - one only occasionally plays some weak high school hockey (not that all high school hockey is weak - but this league is), and another wont play at all any more - true burn out - and these kids were definitely on the "prospect" list. Much as I love to see 8 year olds playing ice hockey and looking like miniature professionals at the AAA level - it boggles me how much time they must have already spent on the ice practicing to get that good at such a young age. Where will they be in 2 , 4 or 6 years? I had a long conversation one time about this with the coach of the Albany River Rats (AHL) and he said the same thing - you cant tell if a player is going to have what it takes until they are 16 - 18 because so many talented kids just drop out.

The good news about roller is that so much of it is still just played for fun - and not with "great expectations" - on the other hand - it would be nice to have at least a small "pot o gold" at the end of the rainbow lol.

Am talking now with a "hockey notable" about the possibility of setting up a "true Inline training Camp" - just preliminary talks for now, but the sport could sure use it.

[missionhockey21]

lol