97 replies to this topic

[franconianhell]

In a few weeks i will be going to Germany to play a tournament with my team.

Can't wait!!

That's awesome! Where are you going there and what kind of tournament? If it's not too far away i'll come around and cheer for your team!

Concerning myself, i am good on roller blades, but never made it to ice. Not that i didn't want to, but we don't have many rinks, and living in a soccer country...i don't have too many people willing to come with me

[Chimaira_Devil_#9]

Wow thats awesome! Good luck! Keep us all posted on how you do.

Thanks.

AWESOME Chi! Did you bulk up enough

Well i haven't been knocked on my a$$ for a while, and i was driving the net with a lot of sucsess saturday, so i am going to go with a yes. Who knew that triathlon would be the key to hockey sucsess (I'm sure a lot of people out there would have known this, but i like to think of it as some sort of minor miracle)

That's awesome! Where are you going there and what kind of tournament? If it's not too far away i'll come around and cheer for your team!

Concerning myself, i am good on roller blades, but never made it to ice. Not that i didn't want to, but we don't have many rinks, and living in a soccer country...i don't have too many people willing to come with me

We are playing in Cologne. Its a four team tournament between two recreational teams in England and two in Germany. We are playing the all English game in the UK before we travel, then the two German teams when we arrive.

We have played out there before, we lost both our games against the Cologne team last time we travelled. We were a very new club then with lots of beginners (myself included) and we lost 24-0 in the first game. We had a joint team function the night before the second game, which was slightly messy, and only lost the second game 8-6.

A couple of guys on there team were drafted into the NHL but never went across, i need to find out who they are. It was slightly embarasing getting schooled by some 50 year olds untill we found out that. A couple of our guys had played elite league in the UK and ED1/2. We are hoping to give them a better game this time.

[franconianhell]

Is it the cologne sharks alumni team? Anyway it's great for you then if you play there in the lanxess arena / their training rink. And by the time you come over theres carneval going on, so lots of time to party when you're not playing. Unfortunately that's too far to go for me, and...well i hate the city and their team, but i hope you have lot of fun going on! :-)

[Jmorc2003]

As a kid I used to play constantly in the basement, starting with the sticks we got from stick day games at Brendan Byrne. My parents also took me ice skating, but playing organized ice hockey was never practical/feasible. I just started playing ice hockey last year and love it (i played baseball my entire life and some hoops). I was able to pick it up pretty quick since I skated as a kid and spent enough time shooting and passing in the basement, but having never played for real the hardest part was getting that hockey sense on the ice. Knowing where to be, what to do, and what to look for is what I'm working on, but I'm having a blast. Im also watching hockey much differently and understanding the little things more now that I've actually played.

[Jerzey Devil]

I've been ice skating since I could walk just never played hockey. I grew up in Jersey City and we had one skating rink, Pershing Field, and it was expensive to learn. I roller blade now and ice skate both very well. My HS won the States in 2000, Hudson Catholic. In fact our jersey hangs on the concourse near the Goal Bar. I can shoot a puck and skate with a stick and shoot on the move. I gotta work on my defense.

I mostly grew up playing organized baseball all my life and is my favorite sport of all with hockey being number 2. Basketball I also played heavily in the YMCA, leagues, and Intramural in college. I play both sports at a high level and I'd love to get that good at hockey.

Is that the rink that's completely outside? I scored my first goal there.

[Random Poster]

Started playing in 1982 at age 8. Back then, there weren't as many arenas in Northern NJ as there are today in which to play and practice, so i had many 2 AM and 3 AM practices then go to school. I feel old considering i remember when Mennen was only one arena.

Besides going through the standard youth ranks, I won 3 Varsity letters in H.S. and played against Delbarton standout, NJ HOF'er and MTL Draft pick Derek Maguire. I still have a deep dislike for Delbarton to this day. Back then public played private schools in tournaments and it could be rather unfriendly.

[Jerzey Devil]

Has anyone ever attended the hockey camp/school in Brick?

The first year I attended that was Jim Dowd's first year in the NHL (but he still showed up) and Bruce Driver showed up as a guest and skated with us.

[Chimaira_Devil_#9]

Is it the cologne sharks alumni team? Anyway it's great for you then if you play there in the lanxess arena / their training rink. And by the time you come over theres carneval going on, so lots of time to party when you're not playing. Unfortunately that's too far to go for me, and...well i hate the city and their team, but i hope you have lot of fun going on! :-)

They are the ice pirates? i don't know if they are the Sharks alumni team but they were good.

Yeah we played on the training rink last time, loved it! Best ice i have ever played on.

Carnival you say? that doesn't bode well for hockey performance LOL.

Thanks, shame you couldnt make it down, i have never met anyone off the forum before.

[franconianhell]

They are the ice pirates? i don't know if they are the Sharks alumni team but they were good.

Yeah we played on the training rink last time, loved it! Best ice i have ever played on.

Carnival you say? that doesn't bode well for hockey performance LOL.

Thanks, shame you couldnt make it down, i have never met anyone off the forum before.

Well i don't think its the sharks alumni team, i have never heard of the cologne ice pirates, i'm sorry

Yeah, cologne is "carnival capital" of germany...lots of parties, lots of "beer" (they have their own brew there, not everybodys favourite lol) lots of women a.s.o

It's like 300 miles away from where i live, so i'm sorry i can't make it, but tell me how it ended up! And you can even catch a german league game when you're there, the sharks do have home games!

[ChilltownDevs2673]

Is that the rink that's completely outside? I scored my first goal there.

Yea its in a park and is open around the side with a roof on top. In the summer the take up the ice and have roller hockey there. It has the best polished concrete surface in the tri state area. It acts just like ice with roller blades.

[jim777]

I'm not a good skater but I do have a new pair of 7Ks My son keeps asking me if he can get Crazy Lights when he outgrows his size 2 skates, and I keep telling him maybe.... But I love ice skating, it's sooo much easier than roller blading. I go 2 hours a week at the Flyer's Skatezone in Voorhees. I'm thinking of doing one of the over-40 leagues, but being a poor skater and quite a bit over 40 I might not take the plunge. Maybe if my skating improves a bit I'll reconsider.

[Pepperkorn]

There's only one way to improve your skating though....

[jim777]

There's only one way to improve your skating though....

By making it far more dangerous?

[mouse]

I started playing / skating in college. We had a club team that practiced once a week and took everybody. I was terrible, but we weren't that serious, and guys were real supportive. I started getting in more my junior and senior years (I was still terrible, but at least I could skate). I scored my 1 goal by accident -- we were playing the only team worse than us, and I outraced everybody to grab a dump behind the net, tried to pass it out to my center, missed, but banked it off the back of the goalie's skate and in. I wasn't even sure the goal was mine, but I geeked out when the bench told me. Felt better about the lucky goal when Dog scored the GWG the same way in a playoff game a couple years later.

I can't afford to join a league right now, and the pick up nights in Brooklyn fills up real fast, so I haven't gotten to play in a few years, but I miss it soooo much. Skating/hitting (or usually getting hit) kept me sane.

[devilsfan26]

I'm not a good skater but I do have a new pair of 7Ks My son keeps asking me if he can get Crazy Lights when he outgrows his size 2 skates, and I keep telling him maybe.... But I love ice skating, it's sooo much easier than roller blading. I go 2 hours a week at the Flyer's Skatezone in Voorhees. I'm thinking of doing one of the over-40 leagues, but being a poor skater and quite a bit over 40 I might not take the plunge. Maybe if my skating improves a bit I'll reconsider.

Kids that young don't really need such expensive equipment, you should save yourself the money on the skates and put that money toward signing up for that over 40 league! Go for it man, you don't want to look back years from now regretting not even giving it a shot.

[jagknife]

Bringing this thread back just to vent, played for the first time in a little while today and snapped my favorite stick in two with a slap shot from the blue line.

I've had that damn stick for two plus years and it finally gave out today.

that is all...

[Aznjsn]

speaking of knowing how to skate, would you guys be interested in playing roller hockey come spring time? I used to play on Milltown Rd in Somerville, but my friends often play somewhere in Manalapan/freehold area where they have two rinks. Both are open for first come first serve unless there's a league going on, but we used to play early Saturday mornings @ 8 or 9am and no one is there.

Just gauging interest and maybe we can start a thread if ppl are interested.

[ChilltownDevs2673]

Bro im so down ill make the trip!

[EdgeControl]

By making it far more dangerous?

PAD UP! cover every possible inch on your body, hips shoulders butt. skate with a deep knee bend. fall forward onto your knees. lots of joint suppliments. work all 4 edges, work on stopping quickly

[mddevsfan]

when i lived in chicago, pond hockey/frozen tennis courts were everywhere you went out in the suburbs. was fantastic.

FROZEN TENNIS COURTS!!! That's where I learned to skate when I was 3-4. Stupid lawyers got involved in the early 90's and now they don't freeze them anymore...

I play in a roller league, and play a little bit of pond hockey on those few occasions when it gets cold enough for long enough down here.

My wife can skate, and my son is three and we're currently working on it. He got a tiny little pair of Easton hockey skates for Christmas when he was two, and we've been taking him sporadically ever since.