Maimed and Mad Moose
Well, the great Moose come back was short lived. I wish I could say that it was because we just ran into some really good teams, but the fact is, bad reffing, injuries and the poor job our league does of creating equity was really the problem.
I've been sending mail on and off for the last 3 years warning league officials that the one really good player on our team was getting mugged game in and game out. What really sucked was, he was getting beat on by teams that were blowing us out; the top few teams in the league who have nothing to fear from us. I repeatedly warned the league director that sooner or later, if the refs didn't call things, D was going to get hurt, and without him, the Moose just aren't competitive.
It finally happened. We had one of the top 3 teams in the league in a tie game in the third period. The team is back-stopped by my friend Baboon, one of my very best friends, who I sub for all the time. We know each others players, and I'm always up for this game, even though we usually get killed by them. I was playing great, we were tied, and I was having a great time.
D got the puck and raced around their net, popping up on Baboons left post. One of Baboon's team mates decided (in his own words) that D "is just to good to give him that scoring chance." His cross check caught D across the throat, lifting him off his feet, pulling his helmet up, and sending D down to hit his head on the ice. D left the ice for the hospital. We lost. Power plays aren't any good without your best guy to play on them, and none of us really felt like playing anyway.
D came back a couple weeks later and tried to play again, and was again hit with a cheap shot, this one to his head. After the game, he sat quietly, and when I asked, D said "Maybe it's best if I don't play in this league any more."
The next game out, we faced a team full of acne-faced kids. Only myself and two skaters could really keep up with them, and by the middle of the game, it was clear that we had no chance. A team of A and B level kids will always beat a team full of 30-40 something guys with day jobs. With 2.5 minutes to go, one of the kids decided their 9-2 lead wasn't good enough, and cross checked my team mate M to the ice. He then hit M with a 2-handed slash that cracked his helmet.
Chances are, the Moose are done with our rink. Some combination of the officials and the rink management has added up to a league that's just not safe. The refs are irresponsible, and sometimes, they are just not good enough to keep up. The rink has lost teams because of a couple of major business closings in the area, and to keep the number of teams up, they are letting guys play in multiple leagues. Since the B league has some amount of A players already, and now guys in B can play C as well, we're seeing whole teams of B players with A guys mixed in, playing in a C league.
All things being sportsmanlike, I wouldn't mind facing B, or even A, shooters. I played B consistently for 3 years, and played A and BB on and off for a couple of years. I'm not going to steal games from A and B players any more, but I'm not scared of them, and I'll still give them a game on my good nights.
What I don't want to do is end any more games in fights, without handshake lines, and then go home mad at 2am. It's not good hockey and it's not good for my soul.
I've been sending mail on and off for the last 3 years warning league officials that the one really good player on our team was getting mugged game in and game out. What really sucked was, he was getting beat on by teams that were blowing us out; the top few teams in the league who have nothing to fear from us. I repeatedly warned the league director that sooner or later, if the refs didn't call things, D was going to get hurt, and without him, the Moose just aren't competitive.
It finally happened. We had one of the top 3 teams in the league in a tie game in the third period. The team is back-stopped by my friend Baboon, one of my very best friends, who I sub for all the time. We know each others players, and I'm always up for this game, even though we usually get killed by them. I was playing great, we were tied, and I was having a great time.
D got the puck and raced around their net, popping up on Baboons left post. One of Baboon's team mates decided (in his own words) that D "is just to good to give him that scoring chance." His cross check caught D across the throat, lifting him off his feet, pulling his helmet up, and sending D down to hit his head on the ice. D left the ice for the hospital. We lost. Power plays aren't any good without your best guy to play on them, and none of us really felt like playing anyway.
D came back a couple weeks later and tried to play again, and was again hit with a cheap shot, this one to his head. After the game, he sat quietly, and when I asked, D said "Maybe it's best if I don't play in this league any more."
The next game out, we faced a team full of acne-faced kids. Only myself and two skaters could really keep up with them, and by the middle of the game, it was clear that we had no chance. A team of A and B level kids will always beat a team full of 30-40 something guys with day jobs. With 2.5 minutes to go, one of the kids decided their 9-2 lead wasn't good enough, and cross checked my team mate M to the ice. He then hit M with a 2-handed slash that cracked his helmet.
Chances are, the Moose are done with our rink. Some combination of the officials and the rink management has added up to a league that's just not safe. The refs are irresponsible, and sometimes, they are just not good enough to keep up. The rink has lost teams because of a couple of major business closings in the area, and to keep the number of teams up, they are letting guys play in multiple leagues. Since the B league has some amount of A players already, and now guys in B can play C as well, we're seeing whole teams of B players with A guys mixed in, playing in a C league.
All things being sportsmanlike, I wouldn't mind facing B, or even A, shooters. I played B consistently for 3 years, and played A and BB on and off for a couple of years. I'm not going to steal games from A and B players any more, but I'm not scared of them, and I'll still give them a game on my good nights.
What I don't want to do is end any more games in fights, without handshake lines, and then go home mad at 2am. It's not good hockey and it's not good for my soul.
posted by Micah at 8:00 PM
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