"old time hockey," eh . . .
I had a goaltender like #3 once . . .
The Goalie Is Late: Protocol
It happens. Family things come up. Traffic. Work. Whatever. Sometimes your goalie is late.
First, check the locker rooms to see if someone who just came off is willing to play for a few more minutes (often someone will stand up). Sometimes that doesn't work.
Ok, so your guy is in the dressing room, but no one's there to help out.
(1) Call a timeout before the first face off. That will give you an extra 1:30 or so.
(2) The other team should call a timeout, too. First, because goals scored against no goalie are suspect, and second because it isn't much fun playing against a goalie-less team because you feel like a chump if you're actually trying to score (and you basically are).
(3) Still waiting, both timeouts burned, gotta get a sixth guy out there. Now, don't have him skate like an extra attacker. If you do, you deserve every goal scored against you (and if you're the other team, put in a couple of empty-netters if that's how their going to play it).
(4) Get as many stoppages of play as possible. Ice the puck. Take it in offsides on purpose (but not too obviously or you'll get the faceoff down where you have no goalie). You've gotta burn time for your guy to get dressed and get out there.
Now, what about the other team? We've already covered taking their timeout. What about shooting? The opposition has a skater playing goal, so you've got to back off a little, but how much? Well, taking slappers from the point seems right out. Seriously.
I was the sixth guy the other night, and I stopped two slapshots. One in the chest (note: my shoulder pads "chest protector" was not designed as a goalie's chest protector), one a "blocker" save. But come on, guys, was that really necessary? How about trying to work it down low and get a decent wrister off?
And look, if you see the goalie waiting for a whistle, regardless of which team you're on, get the whistle. It's not cool to exploit the lack of a goaltender, and if you're the team playing with the sixth guy, it's not cool for the sixth guy.
Anyway . . . some etiquette to think about.
First, check the locker rooms to see if someone who just came off is willing to play for a few more minutes (often someone will stand up). Sometimes that doesn't work.
Ok, so your guy is in the dressing room, but no one's there to help out.
(1) Call a timeout before the first face off. That will give you an extra 1:30 or so.
(2) The other team should call a timeout, too. First, because goals scored against no goalie are suspect, and second because it isn't much fun playing against a goalie-less team because you feel like a chump if you're actually trying to score (and you basically are).
(3) Still waiting, both timeouts burned, gotta get a sixth guy out there. Now, don't have him skate like an extra attacker. If you do, you deserve every goal scored against you (and if you're the other team, put in a couple of empty-netters if that's how their going to play it).
(4) Get as many stoppages of play as possible. Ice the puck. Take it in offsides on purpose (but not too obviously or you'll get the faceoff down where you have no goalie). You've gotta burn time for your guy to get dressed and get out there.
Now, what about the other team? We've already covered taking their timeout. What about shooting? The opposition has a skater playing goal, so you've got to back off a little, but how much? Well, taking slappers from the point seems right out. Seriously.
I was the sixth guy the other night, and I stopped two slapshots. One in the chest (note: my shoulder pads "chest protector" was not designed as a goalie's chest protector), one a "blocker" save. But come on, guys, was that really necessary? How about trying to work it down low and get a decent wrister off?
And look, if you see the goalie waiting for a whistle, regardless of which team you're on, get the whistle. It's not cool to exploit the lack of a goaltender, and if you're the team playing with the sixth guy, it's not cool for the sixth guy.
Anyway . . . some etiquette to think about.
[Bizarre] Rights of Summer
I know this isn't the first time I've mentioned it, but managing summer hockey can really be a pain in the ass. To deal with the comings and goings, we've bumped our roster from 15 (14 skaters and a goalie), to 20 (18 skaters, 2 goalies), and we still struggle to get two full lines. The other night was a microcosm of summer hockey:
3 guys on IR
1 guy on vacation
6 maybes (two showed)
1 guy had to be at work too early for the late game
So with 18 skaters on the roster, we had 9.
One of the goalies had a last minute family commitment, but we couldn't reach the other one. And our backup was out of town, too. So the first came, took an emotional beating from the family, and showed up late.
So we start the game with eight skaters (another was running late) and no goalie. The other team did the right thing and took a timeout (after ours) to start the game. That gave us as much extra time as possible, but it still wasn't enough (and by the way, that's the right thing to do). We finally get a goalie on the ice about 5 minutes in (remarkably without giving up a goal.
At the end of the first period one of our guys needs to drop a load, so he misses the last 5 minutes of the period. Who does he think he is, Manny Ramirez? WTF!?!
On top of it all, for the first time ever, I forgot my skates. I live 25 minutes from the rink, so there was no going home for them. Luckily one of the guys lives close and has an extra pair. His wife drove them over to us and I laced 'em up. They were more or less the right size, but O-L-D! No ankle support left, dull blades, and my skates are rocked a little forward and these weren't. I was like a rookie peewee out there. I couldn't accelerate, couldn't turn, couldn't stop, and could barely skate backwards. Lovely. And I remember thinking as I left my garage, "huh, bag feels a little light tonight." Dumbass. I was one of our three D, so I was out there a bunch. God help me if I make that mistake again.
We won. We were playing a team that isn't as good as us. But it was sloppy throughout.
Ah, summer hockey.
3 guys on IR
1 guy on vacation
6 maybes (two showed)
1 guy had to be at work too early for the late game
So with 18 skaters on the roster, we had 9.
One of the goalies had a last minute family commitment, but we couldn't reach the other one. And our backup was out of town, too. So the first came, took an emotional beating from the family, and showed up late.
So we start the game with eight skaters (another was running late) and no goalie. The other team did the right thing and took a timeout (after ours) to start the game. That gave us as much extra time as possible, but it still wasn't enough (and by the way, that's the right thing to do). We finally get a goalie on the ice about 5 minutes in (remarkably without giving up a goal.
At the end of the first period one of our guys needs to drop a load, so he misses the last 5 minutes of the period. Who does he think he is, Manny Ramirez? WTF!?!
On top of it all, for the first time ever, I forgot my skates. I live 25 minutes from the rink, so there was no going home for them. Luckily one of the guys lives close and has an extra pair. His wife drove them over to us and I laced 'em up. They were more or less the right size, but O-L-D! No ankle support left, dull blades, and my skates are rocked a little forward and these weren't. I was like a rookie peewee out there. I couldn't accelerate, couldn't turn, couldn't stop, and could barely skate backwards. Lovely. And I remember thinking as I left my garage, "huh, bag feels a little light tonight." Dumbass. I was one of our three D, so I was out there a bunch. God help me if I make that mistake again.
We won. We were playing a team that isn't as good as us. But it was sloppy throughout.
Ah, summer hockey.
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