inline or ice

[2ballscrewball]

The local government is part owner in the ice rink/ sports center. The local government/ community services runs the ice Hockey program and the private owner part of the sports center runs the inline hockey program.

The Inline program league fees are $125.

The local government has accepted they will operate the ice rink at a loss, to provide services to the community. The Ice hockey league fees are $80 a season. ice hockey is sponsored by a local mega business who covers some of the fees. 2 practices a week 8 game schedule. There are 2 inhouse teams for each of the 4 age groups and they all practice at the same exact time.

The programs run at the same time so you cant really do both.

All things being equal, or in this case ice hockey being cheaper, what would you play?

Do we play inline because it is cheaper then ice or do we like it better?

[DannyG]

of course, too bad that the local government entity does not feel the same obligation to provide roller hockey services that they feel incumbant toward ice...

to answer your question, I truly find that playing inline hockey makes me feel totally different than ice. I can go on in detail, but the details are really only relevant to me...

If I were faced with the same configuration of parameters that you describe above, I would find my own tennis courts, basketball blacktop, etc and make my own outdoor program...seriously, that is what I would do, and that is how it all got started back in the early 90's, anyway.

Oh, yeah, the cost parameters, together with the local gov't input is the exact opposite in our local here...except that now my privately operated facility (inline) is even less than the local (gov't operated) rink. Mine is a small floor, so we don't really compete, in fact we give a great option to those who would like to do only one, as well as those who want to do both...or all three, including ice.

[GoRangrHky]

WOW either way you can't go wrong. Considering that I pay $235 for a season of roller and $300+ for a season of ice (that's ONLY for games), I'd take either one, although I would say that roller would be my preference. At those prices tho, I'd never leave the building...

[BLIZARD_HOCKEY]

I love both. Ice is very expensive. I play for a cheap school and It's still a high price. $600 for ice time (home games and practices) and a uniform (two jerseys and two pairs of socks). Then there are tournaments ($50 each x 3 tournaments a year). Inline hoever is pretty cheap. My old competitive team was $350 period. It covered two jerseys and pants + tournament costs and rink time.

[whalercane]

For me it's a no-brainer. I am an ice hockey goalie, born and raised- been on the ice since age 9 and am nearing my 33rd bday. So, if you take the relatively high cost of an ice slot nowadays and set it aside for the sake of argument (which BTW has sky-rocketed to a ludicrous avg of around $18 per player), I would rather be on the ice.

About 7 or 8yrs ago, I sort of "fell into" playing inline simply because it's so inexpensive. A few of my buddies who had never skated before wanted to get into playing hockey so they entered a team of 6 or 7 players into a local inline league and the rest was history- a team is born for about a grand total of $1,200, no strings attached, no fine print, done. As much as I love ice hockey, there's just no way you can play beer league ice hockey for a penny less than 3x that amount.

So, while inline has it's "cost advantages" over ice, for me it's an easy choice; ice all the way. Again, this is just my opinion and me being honest, but if the costs were all equal, I'd probably never play roller again.

-Ryan

[DannyG]

For me it's a no-brainer. I am an ice hockey goalie, born and raised...I would rather be on the ice...this is just my opinion and me being honest...costs were all equal, I'd probably never play roller again.

-Ryan

Frankly, it is refreshing to hear this put forward with at least the appearance of sincerety - without the usual drivel about how ice is "better" than inline.

My hat is off to Ryan...as long as he continues to grant me my equal love for our version of the sport with wheels.

[DCbullets14]

Eigther league would be great personally id be the most intrested in a combination of the two; an ice league played with roller rules (no offsides, no icing, 4 on 4, etc) would be amazing

[whalercane]

Eigther league would be great personally id be the most intrested in a combination of the two; an ice league played with roller rules (no offsides, no icing, 4 on 4, etc) would be amazing

They actually have some summer ice tourny's like this at some of the rinks around where I live. They're fun to watch but BRUTAL to play, especially as a goalie!! lol

-Ryan

[hockey_rules]

This is something that I've goine back and forth on for along time. I grew up in Detroit playing travel ice hockey. I started playing roller hockey while I was in college, about 12 years ago, because of the low cost. At first I was kind of an ice hockey snob, to me it was "just roller hockey," something that guys played if they didn't know ow to ice skate. But over time I began to love roller hockey becasue of the wide-open 4-on-4 style of play, and eventually I liked it more than ice. My only complaint then was that roller hockey was too flashy, almost like watching a game of playground basketball, more about the "wow" factor, and too indiviluaistic than the team sport I thought it should be, but I still enjoyed it. About 7 years ago I moved to the East Coast and I stopped playing organized roller hockey and started playing men's league ice hockey again, and I re-dsicovered my love for ice. Now I play both high level men's league ice and PIHA-minor roller. After being away form roller for so long, I find that I still enjoy the wide open feel of 4-on-4 roller hockey, which is the only way I think roller hockey should be played, but I still fell that there is too much emphasis put on individual and flashy play in roller hockey. So now, as much as I used to love roller, if I had to choose one, I'd pick ice hockey over roller hockey in a heartbeat.