Interested in playing...

I'm a 17 year old from Monoeville, PA (about 15 min from Pittsburgh). I loved hockey all my life and played some deck hockey. Anyway, I want to start skating and playing. I'm looking at buying skates sometime this week (Vapor SFL VII). I was wondering what my options are. I'm going to college next year, so obviously playing with a school team is out of the question. Are there any decent beginner type leagues generally? I'm about 5'9 and only 145... so I think I would get knocked around quite a bit in an adult league or something.

I'm a 17 year old from Monoeville, PA (about 15 min from Pittsburgh). I loved hockey all my life and played some deck hockey. Anyway, I want to start skating and playing. I'm looking at buying skates sometime this week (Vapor SFL VII). I was wondering what my options are. I'm going to college next year, so obviously playing with a school team is out of the question. Are there any decent beginner type leagues generally? I'm about 5'9 and only 145... so I think I would get knocked around quite a bit in an adult league or something.

Most adult "beer leagues" are "non-checking"(I wrap quotes because as with any form of hockey, there will be some contact), so theres no worry about getting knocked around. Most of these leagues are open to anybody, no need to really tryout, just get ahold of one of the team captains at the local rink and if they have a spot for ya, they'd probably let you on the team. Since you are just starting you'd probably be relugated to maybe only 5-6 shifts a game if you have an ultra-comptetitive captain, so it'd be best to practice at open hockey times when you arent at a league game. However, some captains dont care about skill and let all their guys play close-to-equal amounts of icetime. It's all pick of the litter for a guy going in with no experience and not knowing anybody.

I'm a 17 year old from Monoeville, PA (about 15 min from Pittsburgh). I loved hockey all my life and played some deck hockey. Anyway, I want to start skating and playing. I'm looking at buying skates sometime this week (Vapor SFL VII). I was wondering what my options are. I'm going to college next year, so obviously playing with a school team is out of the question. Are there any decent beginner type leagues generally? I'm about 5'9 and only 145... so I think I would get knocked around quite a bit in an adult league or something.

Most colleges have an intramural league that anybody at the school can play in, that's something you should definitely look into. If the school you're going to be going to doesn't have an intramural league, you can always join an adult league and you're pretty much guaranteed to be able to join nomatter how much you suck, as long as you can skate you can play. Starting hockey at an older age like 17 has it's disadvantages because most adult leagues do not have coaches or organized practices, so you're left to pretty much learn everything on your own. I'm not sure how much of a beginner you are, but if you're a true beginner starting from scratch, i'd highly recommend taking some hockey lessons at your local rink. Once you learn the basic fundamentals you can start going to open hockey and work on everything. You said you wanted to start skating so I assume you've never really skated much if at all so you'll need to learn to skate, i'd highly recommend going to public skating at your local rink every single day. Also if there are any stick & puck's near you, definitely go to those to work on your stick handling and shooting. Don't worry about getting knocked around, like hokegoalie said above, most adult leagues have no checking at all and there is very little contact, the most contact you'll see in an adult league is battling for position in front of the net or something. It's awesome being able to carry the puck up the boards not having to worry about getting decked :D.

I hate non-check leagues. I go straight from prep to a beer league and im reduced to playing half speed(noone on my team is close to as fast as I am with the puck) and soft stick/poke check D. I also forced myself to become a pass first player, instead of the balance I played with in prep because the goalies are so terrible, scoring is far too easy and unfun. I HATE it.

I hate non-check leagues. I go straight from prep to a beer league and im reduced to playing half speed(noone on my team is close to as fast as I am with the puck) and soft stick/poke check D. I also forced myself to become a pass first player, instead of the balance I played with in prep because the goalies are so terrible, scoring is far too easy and unfun. I HATE it.


The you should play in our league @ USM...bunch of former DI guys and plenty of old USM players, it's pretty intresting...I Hate no check league too cause these guys are fast and playing D is tough without really being able to play the body...

Hehe, I'm only a half hour from Gorham too :) but I've got far too much stuff on my plate in my life, I am probably even just going to play the occasional open hockey nowadays forgetting all about teams/leagues until I get to college.

well being 5 minutes from monroeville i know of a couple places to skate.

www.icecastlearena.com
www.airporticearena.com
http://www.rmuislandsports.org

and we play a friendly pick up game at schenely park on saturday nites after 11pm.

Believe me 17 isnt to late to start playing... i just turned 27 yesterday and i have a total of 3 games played on ice. never to late!

Yeah it's never too late. I'm 28 and just started playing in October in pick up games at a local rink. The guys are great and help out quite a bit. I actually scored two goals for the first time last week on redirections!! Yeah I also started some skating lessons to help out at a local University and try and skate as much as possible when i'm not working. Don't fret just play and enjoy every minute.

Hehe, I'm only a half hour from Gorham too :) but I've got far too much stuff on my plate in my life, I am probably even just going to play the occasional open hockey nowadays forgetting all about teams/leagues until I get to college.


well good luck...If ya want any info about the USM program just send me a PM, I know a ton of people over there...

well good luck...If ya want any info about the USM program just send me a PM, I know a ton of people over there...

Hehe thanks.

I've toured the USM campus and it's facilities many times. I don't really like much about it(too small, in the middle of nowhere and I wanna move far away) ;). I asked you in the other thread if you knew about the team because at the time, USM was on my shortlist of colleges, but now im lookin all over the US...I took the year off after high school thinking I'd have myself commited already, oh well lol... I'll shoot ya a PM/email if I change my mind :)

Hehe thanks.

I've toured the USM campus and it's facilities many times. I don't really like much about it(too small, in the middle of nowhere and I wanna move far away) ;). I asked you in the other thread if you knew about the team because at the time, USM was on my shortlist of colleges, but now im lookin all over the US...I took the year off after high school thinking I'd have myself commited already, oh well lol... I'll shoot ya a PM/email if I change my mind :)


I am not a big fan of the campus either, no parking, and it is in the middle of nowhere(portland isn't bad)...But for some reason i still went there(nice rink)......If ya only a half hour away come sometime and try to take in a USM game(got Colby coming Sunday)...Anyway, if ya change ya mind send me a PM...

I hate non-check leagues. I go straight from prep to a beer league and im reduced to playing half speed(noone on my team is close to as fast as I am with the puck) and soft stick/poke check D. I also forced myself to become a pass first player, instead of the balance I played with in prep because the goalies are so terrible, scoring is far too easy and unfun. I HATE it.

I feel your pain, lol. I've only been playing in the beer leagues for about a year now since i'm only 19 years old. That's how it used to be down here with everyone sucking, but now rather than just having one adult league at my local rink, they've now expanded into different divisions based on skill level, the highest level being the A league which is made up of former college players and players of similar caliber so it's certainly not some slouch league and full contact is allowed except for full on hard body checks but more often than not the refs allow it since the guys playing actually know how to play and take a hit. The downside to playing in Florida is that during the winter season all the snowbirds from up north are playing and the competition is pretty high which is great, but during the summers it's just locals and the competition sucks.

I feel your pain, lol. I've only been playing in the beer leagues for about a year now since i'm only 19 years old. That's how it used to be down here with everyone sucking, but now rather than just having one adult league at my local rink, they've now expanded into different divisions based on skill level, the highest level being the A league which is made up of former college players and players of similar caliber so it's certainly not some slouch league and full contact is allowed except for full on hard body checks but more often than not the refs allow it since the guys playing actually know how to play and take a hit. The downside to playing in Florida is that during the winter season all the snowbirds from up north are playing and the competition is pretty high which is great, but during the summers it's just locals and the competition sucks.



Where do you play in FLA???, my best friend just moved to Boynton Beach and he is looking for a decent league to play in...

at Neville Island which is less than an hour from ya, they have "draft league" hockey. You go to a rating session and captains watch you, then immediatly after, the captains go back and hold a draft... it doesn't matter how good you are, you can play and you don't need to find anyone else to play with you, you can join by yourself. This would be a good option for ya cassius

Where in Florida? I spend a bit of time down near West Palm and I'm always looking for a place to get some ice when I'm down there. Most of the rinks by our place are roller, not ice.

Where do you play in FLA???, my best friend just moved to Boynton Beach and he is looking for a decent league to play in...

Glacier Ice and Snow in Pompano Beach, it's only minutes away from Boynton. There are several rinks in South Florida and each of them have their own adult leagues, however the adult league at Glacier Ice is the most well run and organized league and also the most competitive. The next season starts on January 6th, 11th, or 12th depending on the division (A, B, or C). Also, they've got pickup hockey during lunch time almost every single day which is great.

http://glaciericeandsnow.com/

Their website sucks and a lot of the buttons on it don't work, but give them a call.

Where in Florida? I spend a bit of time down near West Palm and I'm always looking for a place to get some ice when I'm down there. Most of the rinks by our place are roller, not ice.

Glacier (the rink I recommended above) is kind of far from West Palm Beach, the only rink that's really close to West Palm is Palm Beach Ice Zone, it's this huge complex with 3 rinks. Even though they've got a nice building and whatnot, I don't really like it because their adult leagues aren't that great.

http://pbicezone.com/

Whats sad is these rinks in Florida look a hellua lot better than the ones I've seen so far in Maine. Hell, they are even better looking than some of the ones I played in, in Mass.

Glacier Ice and Snow in Pompano Beach, it's only minutes away from Boynton. There are several rinks in South Florida and each of them have their own adult leagues, however the adult league at Glacier Ice is the most well run and organized league and also the most competitive. The next season starts on January 6th, 11th, or 12th depending on the division (A, B, or C). Also, they've got pickup hockey during lunch time almost every single day which is great.

http://glaciericeandsnow.com/

Their website sucks and a lot of the buttons on it don't work, but give them a call.



Thanks man, I will let him know...

Whats sad is these rinks in Florida look a hellua lot better than the ones I've seen so far in Maine. Hell, they are even better looking than some of the ones I played in, in Mass.
Probably because they're newer??

Probably because they're newer??


That could be it...but i've seen some piss poor rinks in my day and its sad Florida has been facilities :(

Piss-poor rinks are the best part of playing hockey in the northeast. You never know when the puck will bounce funny.

My HS's rink was pitiful before they re-did it. I haven't skated on it since it's become an enclosed building but it looks a lot nicer. When I played it was an outdoor rink enclosed with a tarp-covered chain link fence-- there used to be days when we'd have to go to other prep schools to play since the ice was melting or there was too much fog. It was a sketchy rink, but I loved playing there.