HockeyGuys: Pickup hockey and playing without line shifts (1 Viewer)

[Doug B]

Was looking at the "Which Sport Has the Best Athletes" thread, and there was a lot of discussion about line shifts in organized ice hockey. I'd heard that about pro hockey before -- that the intensity of each shift is so much that lines have to rotate with frequency. Total understood.

What I'm curious about is what happens when a bunch of guys get together to play pickup hockey somewhere, but they haven't got enough guys to have shift changes. Say five or six per side.

Is it kind of like when out-of-shape guys try full-court basketball for old-time's sake? They start trotting off the court for a breather and a gulp of Powerade every few possessions. So, the equivalent hockey guys will stop play a bunch, or half-arsze going up and down the ice, or something like that?

 

[belljr]

Was looking at the "Which Sport Has the Best Athletes" thread, and there was a lot of discussion about line shifts in organized ice hockey. I'd heard that about pro hockey before -- that the intensity of each shift is so much that lines have to rotate with frequency. Total understood.

What I'm curious about is what happens when a bunch of guys get together to play pickup hockey somewhere, but they haven't got enough guys to have shift changes. Say five or six per side.

Is it kind of like when out-of-shape guys try full-court basketball for old-time's sake? They start trotting off the court for a breather and a gulp of Powerade every few possessions. So, the equivalent hockey guys will stop play a bunch, or half-arsze going up and down the ice, or something like that?

Back when we used to rent rink time on our own we had ~ 20 guys total.  Had the rink for 2 hours.   So you have almost enough for 2 "full lines" a side

It always starts out with guys taking "quick shifts"  2-3 minutes each - after an hour some gys needed longer breaks so you would end up on the ice for like 10 minutes at a time. Or youd literally just sit down and someone would want to come off and we would wave them away

We really just took turns and didn't care so much about always playing winger.  Sometimes we would only sub specific - like me and 1 otehr guy would be centers.  Other times it was just get on the ice in order and take the position of the dude that came off.

After about 1.5 hours in you would be down to like 5 guys a side and start tripping over the blue line

So to answer your question - yes?

 

[Andy Dufresne]

If you're only playing 5-6 guys a side you're not playing the full sheet of ice.

If playing on a full rink you put one net at mid-ice. But normally you play at the park and the rink is about half normal size.

 

[Doug B]

If you're only playing 5-6 guys a side you're not playing the full sheet of ice.

Do people use all-time goalies? Gotta clear the puck out to some spot or line on the ice every change of possession (cf. clearing out past the top of the key in halfcourt basketball)?

 

[Andy Dufresne]

Do people use all-time goalies? Gotta clear the puck out to some spot or line on the ice every change of possession (cf. clearing out past the top of the key in halfcourt basketball)?

It's sometimes hard to find goalies so instead of taking shots on net a "goal" is scored when you bounce a puck off the bottom of a goal pipe. That's the typical game when guys aren't wearing equipment. It's more of a skating & passing game in this case. That's what's usually played at the park.

If you've rented a rink and don't have goalies, they typically have some sort of board you can put on the net that has spaces cut out in the corners & 5 hole. Something like this https://goo.gl/images/sNiWR2

When a team scores, they vacate the zone somewhat and allow the other team to attempt a breakout.

 

[glvsav37]

I skate the whole game......but thats because i'm a goalie and also a referee.....buncha wimps.

 

[glvsav37]

Do people use all-time goalies? Gotta clear the puck out to some spot or line on the ice every change of possession (cf. clearing out past the top of the key in halfcourt basketball)?

usually the blue line of the attacking zone you are playing in.

 

[glvsav37]

We won a state tournament with six guys. I've won a game with five. Yes, it was Midgets, and the good players were off playing high school, but insurance concerns and other things back in the old days of CT allowed us to function as a unit with six. It can be done. Plus, it helped that we had three of the best players in the state of CT on it, who all were captains or assistants -- or should have been -- at their high school the next year thanks to co-op programs. Small towns, large measures and results, interesting fixes.  

sorta related, my 10/11 girls BB team beat the 1st place team in a game where we only had 5 girls. These girls ran their butts off. We got a good amount of bounces go our way, but they had at least a whole set of subs and we had none. It was just the right 5 girls. 

 

 

[rockaction]

sorta related, my 10/11 girls BB team beat the 1st place team in a game where we only had 5 girls. These girls ran their butts off. We got a good amount of bounces go our way, but they had at least a whole set of subs and we had none. It was just the right 5 girls. 

 

Awesome. Sorry for hiding the post. Sort of bordered on bragging about it. We were good. You had the right five girls, we had the right five guys plus a couple now and then.