Recreational Ice Hockey

[Empty It]

I'm thinking about hanging up my boots for my sunday morning football team and giving recreational ice hockey a go. In all honesty only recently found out rec hockey was a thing otherwise would have jumped at it years ago but at 25 I'm still young enough to start hopefully.

 

Been skating pretty much my whole life (ice & inline) but have never played hockey other than at school which was some time ago now.

 

Any P&B'ers play hockey? Any tips about to go about getting started would be great.

[grazza]

I don't play but an ice hockey fan. I know some places do a learn to play hockey courses probably for those can skate at reasonable level.  I know Dundee had it so likely something at Murrayfield at some point assuming you are in Edinburgh? Murrayfield ice rink website has details of the rec teams and contact details for link itself probably worth checking that out and following  them all on social media. I think some courses or rec teams you can borrow some equipment some maybe worth trying it out a bit before fully committing. 

 

 

[Empty It]

I don't play but an ice hockey fan. I know some places do a learn to play hockey courses probably for those can skate at reasonable level.  I know Dundee had it so likely something at Murrayfield at some point assuming you are in Edinburgh? Murrayfield ice rink website has details of the rec teams and contact details for link itself probably worth checking that out and following  them all on social media. I think some courses or rec teams you can borrow some equipment some maybe worth trying it out a bit before fully committing. 
 
 

Yeah I seen the rec teams on murrayfields website will definitely be in contact with them after everything opens back up.

[welshbairn]

Learnt to skate by playing ice hockey as a kid in Sweden for 3 years. Great way to learn as you can use the stick to stop you falling over, and all the padding helps! Just played on frozen ponds and yards where they'd spray water on to build the surface. Loved it, wish I'd looked for a way of carrying it on when we came back.

[Empty It]

Learnt to skate by playing ice hockey as a kid in Sweden for 3 years. Great way to learn as you can use the stick to stop you falling over, and all the padding helps! Just played on frozen ponds and yards where they'd spray water on to build the surface. Loved it, wish I'd looked for a way of carrying it on when we came back.

Lucky guy, would love to live somewhere I could just grab my skates and go across the road.

[Torpar]

On 06/06/2020 at 14:09, Empty It said:

 

I'm thinking about hanging up my boots for my sunday morning football team and giving recreational ice hockey a go. In all honesty only recently found out rec hockey was a thing otherwise would have jumped at it years ago but at 25 I'm still young enough to start hopefully.

 

Been skating pretty much my whole life (ice & inline) but have never played hockey other than at school which was some time ago now.

 

Any P&B'ers play hockey? Any tips about to go about getting started would be great.

 

I've played ice hockey since I was 8, now 35, played with Murrayfield juniors for a few years, ended up hating it and quitting at 13. Got talked into joining a new roller hockey team in Kirkcaldy and feel back in love with hockey, started back on the ice with a rec team in my early 20s in Dundee and been playing ever since. Until last year I played in a Thursday night league, played on Monday nights and would play outdoor 'shinny' for free on the city rinks.

Before moving to Canada I played for Edinburgh Phoenix from 2009 to 2014, winning the Scottish Rec Cup in 2013. We had a close connection with the Edinburgh Eagles universities team and ended up having some great "import" players on our teams, till after 2013 when the rec association decided you couldn't play university and rec hockey. 

If you can skate to a decent level that's a great start, I saw a lot of beginners turn up that couldn't skate, seems a bit like trying water polo before you can swim. Edinburgh has quite a few rec team. Obviously I'm bias I'd say Edinburgh Phoenix were the best, like a lot of rec teams their training time is a bit shite, usually Thursday nights 11.15pm to 12.30am. Not sure if it's the same since I left but Edinburgh Knights had the best training time, Monday evenings at 9pm I'm sure it was, good bunch of guys too. Edinburgh Stingers for the most part seems like decent guys with a few wanks on their team. Edinburgh Lions seemed to mostly wanks though! Loved beating them. 

Think it's changed since I left but I could PM you the details for the guy to contact for the Phoenix

 

[Empty It]

I've played ice hockey since I was 8, now 35, played with Murrayfield juniors for a few years, ended up hating it and quitting at 13. Got talked into joining a new roller hockey team in Kirkcaldy and feel back in love with hockey, started back on the ice with a rec team in my early 20s in Dundee and been playing ever since. Until last year I played in a Thursday night league, played on Monday nights and would play outdoor 'shinny' for free on the city rinks.
Before moving to Canada I played for Edinburgh Phoenix from 2009 to 2014, winning the Scottish Rec Cup in 2013. We had a close connection with the Edinburgh Eagles universities team and ended up having some great "import" players on our teams, till after 2013 when the rec association decided you couldn't play university and rec hockey. 
If you can skate to a decent level that's a great start, I saw a lot of beginners turn up that couldn't skate, seems a bit like trying water polo before you can swim. Edinburgh has quite a few rec team. Obviously I'm bias I'd say Edinburgh Phoenix were the best, like a lot of rec teams their training time is a bit shite, usually Thursday nights 11.15pm to 12.30am. Not sure if it's the same since I left but Edinburgh Knights had the best training time, Monday evenings at 9pm I'm sure it was, good bunch of guys too. Edinburgh Stingers for the most part seems like decent guys with a few wanks on their team. Edinburgh Lions seemed to mostly wanks though! Loved beating them. 
Think it's changed since I left but I could PM you the details for the guy to contact for the Phoenix
 

That would just be suicide turning up to hockey training not able to skate. I need to have a look and see what teams training times suit me the best, the later the better probably. Was it games every week and how far were you travelling for games? What was the contact levels at recreational?

[Torpar]

2 minutes ago, Empty It said:

1 hour ago, Torpar said:

I've played ice hockey since I was 8, now 35, played with Murrayfield juniors for a few years, ended up hating it and quitting at 13. Got talked into joining a new roller hockey team in Kirkcaldy and feel back in love with hockey, started back on the ice with a rec team in my early 20s in Dundee and been playing ever since. Until last year I played in a Thursday night league, played on Monday nights and would play outdoor 'shinny' for free on the city rinks.
Before moving to Canada I played for Edinburgh Phoenix from 2009 to 2014, winning the Scottish Rec Cup in 2013. We had a close connection with the Edinburgh Eagles universities team and ended up having some great "import" players on our teams, till after 2013 when the rec association decided you couldn't play university and rec hockey. 
If you can skate to a decent level that's a great start, I saw a lot of beginners turn up that couldn't skate, seems a bit like trying water polo before you can swim. Edinburgh has quite a few rec team. Obviously I'm bias I'd say Edinburgh Phoenix were the best, like a lot of rec teams their training time is a bit shite, usually Thursday nights 11.15pm to 12.30am. Not sure if it's the same since I left but Edinburgh Knights had the best training time, Monday evenings at 9pm I'm sure it was, good bunch of guys too. Edinburgh Stingers for the most part seems like decent guys with a few wanks on their team. Edinburgh Lions seemed to mostly wanks though! Loved beating them. 
Think it's changed since I left but I could PM you the details for the guy to contact for the Phoenix
 

That would just be suicide turning up to hockey training not able to skate. I need to have a look and see what teams training times suit me the best, the later the better probably. Was it games every week and how far were you travelling for games? What was the contact levels at recreational?

Technically it's non contact in Scotland, that is to say no body checking allowed. But there is still some contact. We usually didn't play every week, but usually got 2 games a month at least. There is no league as a such. We played in Scotland as far north as Inverness and south Dumfries, usually played one or two games a year in Whitley Bay, where depending on what can of team we took down, body checking is allowed. I dislocated part of my pinkie finger after some Geordie lump checked me and I put my hand back against the boards to brace myself. 

We used to go on an end of season tour playing English and Welsh teams. I got jumped on the ice in Slough! They were mostly drinking tours with the odd hockey game.

[Empty It]

Technically it's non contact in Scotland, that is to say no body checking allowed. But there is still some contact. We usually didn't play every week, but usually got 2 games a month at least. There is no league as a such. We played in Scotland as far north as Inverness and south Dumfries, usually played one or two games a year in Whitley Bay, where depending on what can of team we took down, body checking is allowed. I dislocated part of my pinkie finger after some Geordie lump checked me and I put my hand back against the boards to brace myself. 
We used to go on an end of season tour playing English and Welsh teams. I got jumped on the ice in Slough! They were mostly drinking tours with the odd hockey game.

Yeah I thought as much about the non contact, wonder why it's different in Scotland. Can't wait until everything opens back up, couple of sessions to tone up on my skating then I'll be in contact with one of the clubs at murrayfield.

[Empty It]

Where did you find best to get all your gear? I know there used to be a hockey shop not far away from the rink which is now closed unfortunately and there is one at the rink but i believe that to be quite expensive.

[Torpar]

2 minutes ago, Empty It said:

Where did you find best to get all your gear? I know there used to be a hockey shop not far away from the rink which is now closed unfortunately and there is one at the rink but i believe that to be quite expensive.

I never got the official story but apparently the guy running the shop at Roseburn was a beast who quickly shut up shop and took off after he was discovered! He actually used to run a reccy team at Murrayfield

Unfortunately buying the gear in Edinburgh is a bit of a pain, there is a decent shop, Can-Am, in Kirkcaldy and Cold Blooded Sports in Paisley. Best shop in the UK is Puck Stop in Sheffield, they deliver for free over 100 pounds I believe. I probably take for granted just how easy it is to buy stuff here and realise how crazy the prices were in the UK

[Empty It]

I never got the official story but apparently the guy running the shop at Roseburn was a beast who quickly shut up shop and took off after he was discovered! He actually used to run a reccy team at Murrayfield
Unfortunately buying the gear in Edinburgh is a bit of a pain, there is a decent shop, Can-Am, in Kirkcaldy and Cold Blooded Sports in Paisley. Best shop in the UK is Puck Stop in Sheffield, they deliver for free over 100 pounds I believe. I probably take for granted just how easy it is to buy stuff here and realise how crazy the prices were in the UK

Yeah I've heard of puckstop but it's a pain in the hole trying to measure up for online gear, will probably take a trip up to kirkcaldy, will probably treat myself to new skates aswell.