"Gong Show" teams in minor hockey

     Anyone who plays or has played minor hockey has experienced it. A team that just goes out and makes dirty plays and could care less of the final outcome of the game. To me, this isn't even hockey. The types of players that play like this, that are just looking for a fight or to hurt someone should be boxing.
    
     Recently I have had to play in one of these games. This was my first game back from injury and it wasn't really the kind of game I wanted to be introduced to right away. But after a couple extremely dirty plays, injuries ensued and with such a small lineup I felt I had to stick it out and play a full game. Even though I was only planning to play a shift or two per period.

     Now even though this team was very obviously not up for playing any good hockey, the ref lost control of the game way too early. Lots of the times, games like this get out of hand and few refs seem to be able to keep it under control. Some just let too many things go, and the team takes advantage and make some more late hits behind the play, slashes, slew foots etc. It is the refs job to keep the game in order, yet unfortunately they fail so much of the time. So the players have to fight through it.

     I can't really say why a team would play like this, I really don't. It is because of this kind of hockey that in my teams next game we are down five players, three of which were injured or suspended because of this "gong show" hockey. I just wonder if that team feels any sort of accomplishment out of doing so.

About me and this Blog

Anything hockey related is fair game for me to post about. Whether it's an event, new gear or a personal experience with hockey, I'll be posting about it here. I have been playing hockey for the past 12 years of my life both for fun and competitively. I currently play out of the Richmond Minor Hockey Association at a midget AA level, and plan to move up to AAA for the 11-12 season. I was recently part of a Japanese Canadian hockey team that traveled to different parts of Japan to play top teams in the summer of 2010. I plan on participating on this trip again in 2012.

I hope you will enjoy my posts whether you are as passionate about hockey as I am or not. Either way, the posts will be here for you to read.

-Ryan, aka Kidder

Cooper will always be sick style.

The Cooper helmet was a popular helmet since it's release date back in the 80's, but as of recent years the helmet has been a favorite for a practice buckey (helmet). Although these bad boys don't pass any Hockey Canada safety ratings what so ever, you look good wearing it.