Friday, February 12, 2010
Memorial City Tournament - March 2010

Memorial City is putting on a tournament from March 19th-21st (Friday through Sunday). The Ice Dragons are invited to participate if we can get a team together. (We may have to fill up with a few other skaters if need be).

The basic idea is this:

• 4 Teams in the competition
• Each team gets 4 guaranteed games (1 on Friday, 2 on Saturday, and the finals as well as the game for the third place are held on Sunday)
• A cool commemorative t-shirt (gotta have one of those!)
• Food and drink is included. This includes professionally catered meals (catered by Berry Hill) as well as drinks (including alcohol served by bartenders).
• There also is a very cool experience-thing going on that will make this quite a unique tournament, but I am sworn to secrecy! :-)
• The rink charges the teams a team fee, but assuming a normal lineup with 15 or so players, the cost comes out to about $135 per player.

I think this is a unique and cool experience. The price is in line with other tournaments and as far as I can tell, the values offered are beyond what you get elsewhere. So this should be a pretty good deal and worth doing.

If you are interested in playing with the Ice Dragons in this tournament, send an email to Markus (Egger) at megger@eps-software.com

Saturday, February 06, 2010
Ice Dragons Goings On

Lots of stuff is going on for the Dragons! For one, we have our playoff game tonight against the shooters. It’s our second chance after the debacle last weekend, so let’s put up a good fight as the underdogs and lets send the shooters home!

In addition to that, there are several other interesting things going on, some of which I need your feedback on! (See below for what I am looking for in reply). Here is the list of stuff happening:

• We are ordering new jerseys. (Bill is handling this one). We will be using those jerseys for all leagues we play in, so if you do not have a light and dark Dragons jersey, this is probably a good time. :-)
• A new season in Memorial City league is coming up soon as well, and we will of course continue playing in that league.
• There is going to be a tournament in Memorial City. I am still waiting for more details. Should be around March 14^th or March 20^th. I will let you know once I get more detail, but I would like to know whether there is any interest on your end to get a team together? (I will be out of town myself, unfortunately).
• I have committed for the Ice Dragons to play in the Sugarland league, which starts February 24^th and runs for 14 weeks. (more details below).
• There are preliminary talks for the Ice Dragons to enter the HHS (Houston Hockey Series) which is a year-long league played at the Toyota Center either before or after the Aeros. I have attached the info the league gave out this year. Next year’s league will be slightly changed, but somewhat similar. I am trying to gage interest before I make the commitment to that.
• There might be some opportunity to play a Dragons team in the Sunday night league at Memorial City. (A/B/C level I guess).
• We are also still trying to get more ice time for practice. Ice time is always hard to get, so no permanent weekly slot has materialized yet, but there is a good chance we will get a practice slot at Memorial for a few weeks later this year again. We will keep pushing for a permanent slot though.
• There also are some thoughts around turning the Dragons into more of a regular club with other benefits, such as discount on gear or tickets. It’s very early to talk about that though.
• We now also have a new Facebook page at www.Facebook.com/IceDragons. We are using it to share a lot of stuff, so please go ahead and join it. (And we of course also still have this as our main page (http://www.IceDragons.info, in case you are reading this through an RSS Feed Catcher), which will probably have to grow with all this stuff going on!)

So lots of cool stuff going on, with the Ice Dragons moving from being yet another team at a single league to being a team that plays in various leagues. (Of course the actual teams in each league will be somewhat different, but hopefully there will be a number of overlapping players).

Call To Action

So what’s I’d need to know from you is whether or not you are interested in any of this. If not, that’s OK too, but I would like to know for planning. So please send me an email (markus@eps-software.com) and paste the following list with appropriate indications:

• I want a Jersey/Jerseys: Yes/No
• Next standard Memorial City Season: Yes/No
• Memorial City Tournament: Yes/No
• Sugarland League: Yes/No
• Houston Hockey Series 2010/2011: Yes/No
• Memorial City Sunday League: Yes/No
• I would like to see a regular hour of ice time every week: Yes/No
• I would like the Dragons to be a more formal club with other benefits: Yes/No

Note that this is preliminary, so if it turns out you change your mind later, I can live with that. But I need to do some planning. Thanks!

Sugarland Information

So here are the details on the Sugarland deal: The league plays at a B/C level, so *slightly* higher than the Memorial City league we are currently in. I have played in that league before and know that many people on other teams are the same as they are in our Memorial City league on Saturday. So we should fit in well, especially if we can find just a handful of better players. (The league had a few teams that were too good, but they are now gone).

The league is a 14 week league that plays every Wednesday starting February 24^th. (Exact schedule can be found on www.SugarlandIce.com). As the name suggests, the league plays at the Sugarland Ice Rink. It isn’t as nice as Memorial City, but it is still a pretty decent facility. (This is where the Aeros practice). If you are coming from up north, it takes about an extra 10 to 15 minutes to drive to the Sugarland rink at that time of day. (I come almost from the Woodlands myself, but when I played there in the past, the drive wasn’t as bad as I expected).

Cost is $250 a person. I (Markus) have to pay the team fee ($3600 I think) within the next week or so, so I will be collecting from players as of today, in the hopes to not get screwed :-). (Note: This league also alternatively collects directly from players, in which case they collect $270 each. So we are in fact $20 cheaper).

That’s about all there is to know there. Other than that, just show up and play :-).

Monday, June 29, 2009
July 4th Drop-In

From Travis (the Memorial City Hockey Director):

So since there are no games this weekend and I know some of you still want to skate ISUSA will be having a 'C' level drop-in this Saturday at 8pm to 9:15pm. Cost will be $15 a player with goalies skating for free.

Please send this out to your teams and have them call up and reserve a spot. 713 463 9296

Monday, June 01, 2009
Free Hockey Training Videos

From Mike, here is a link to some free hockey training videos:

http://www.planethockey.com/content/487.html

Monday, June 01, 2009
Space City Tournament - June 12th-14th

Now is the time to signup for the Novice Hockey Tournament in Space City!

The Tournament is being held on June 12 - 14 with a 4-game guarantee.

For more details go to the website or contact Justin Popoff, SCIS Hockey Director at 281-486-7979. Email: hockey@spacecityice.com.

http://spacecityice.net/tournaments.html

Sunday, May 24, 2009
A Quick Review of Some Rules

No game this weekend, so I decided to look up a few rules. After all, we played a kick-ass game last weekend against the all-time unbeaten Puck Heads (former "Bruins") and we almost came away with a victory. (I guess the 3:3 tie was not too bad, but a disappointment in the end since we were ahead up to just a few minutes before the end). And I think we all felt that once again - and this seems to be a common theme this season - lots of ref calls didn't go our way. I am not sure what happened and whether we did anything to piss of the referees, but just looking at the plain stats and how many penalties we have taken vs. how many the teams get we are playing, then it is pretty obvious, that something is going on. After all, none of the games we played so far I would consider "dirty" or unfair in any way where one would think a lot of penalties should go to one team and not the other. And that was certainly true for this last game too. Why that slash against my arm (which I can still feel today) was not called (arguably a 5 minute penalty as I would argue that I sustained an injury). The same is true for many other situations a well, where we can't be within 3 feet of a player and get penalties while we can get slashed, tripped, and cross-checked without any calls. Another issue that has been bugging me is that whenever we seem to be in front of the other goal, the play is whistled dead as soon as the puck gets near the goalie, while on our end, it always seems to take forever to get a whistle.

Also, there were a few specific situations last Saturday that I really wondered about and decided to do some research on. (Note: What makes matters worse is that both refs from last week's games are very capable refs. So it bugs me that they are not doing as good as job as they are capable of. After all, we are paying them to do  good job!). Note that you can actually download the USA hockey rules in PDF format yourself. I also have the rules in my iPhone in case we ever need to look something up.

Here are my findings for those things:

Talking to the Referee

First of all, I took an extremely stupid penalty talking back to the ref. This was my first misconduct penalty ever, and it was a really stupid penalty to take. I am really sorry I did that. (Although I maintain that the actual call was extremely poor, as the ref was right in front of us and either must have seen it clearly, or really isn't fit to ref). In any event, I started to wonder what one can actually say to the referee either as a regular player or as a caption/ assistant captain. The results surprised me a little bit, as the rules are quite tough on the matter, and it seems that referees call them relatively lenient. Here is what the general rule is around talking back to the ref and criticizing calls:

Rule 601 - Abuse of Officials and Other Misconduct

(a) Any player who challenges or disputes the rulings of any Official or endeavors to incite an opponent (including taunting) or create a disturbance during the game shall be assessed a minor penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct. If the player persists in such challenge or dispute, he shall be assessed a misconduct penalty, and any further dispute by the same player will result in a game misconduct penalty being assessed.

So that is pretty tough and I guess we need to be really careful with talking back to the refs, no matter how frustrating the qualify of officiating may be. (And on a personal note: Compared to the officiating in some of the other leagues around town, I am really happy with the officiating at Memorial City).

I did wonder however, when the captains could talk to the referees. I couldn't find much conclusive about it, so I sent an inquiry to USA Hockey, and this is what I got back:

The captain(s) can consult with the official to ask for an interpretation at any time. However, they cannot question judgment or calls. It is also appropriate for the officials to address the captain for unusual situations such as multiple penalty situations, on-ice strength or penalty terminations that are not clear.

So that is good to know, I guess.

Falling on the Puck

Rule 612 - Falling on Puck

(c) No defending player, except the goalkeeper, shall be permitted to fall on the puck or hold the puck or gather the puck into the body or hands when the puck is within the goal crease.

For an infringement of this rule, play shall immediately be stopped and a penalty shot/optional minor shall be awarded to the nonoffending team. However, if the goalkeeper has been removed from the ice when the infraction occurs, a goal shall be awarded to the nonoffending team and no penalty shot shall be awarded, if the action of the offending player prevents an obvious and imminent goal.

(Note) This rule shall be interpreted so that a penalty shot/optional minor will be awarded only when the puck is in the crease at the instant the infraction occurs. However, in cases where the puck is outside the crease, Rule 612(a) may still apply and a minor penalty may be imposed, even though no penalty shot is awarded.

If the player intentionally falls on the puck, gathers it into his body or closes his hand on the puck, then that is definitely a penalty regardless as to where it occurs - if in the crease the penalty shot applies. If he is in the crease and pushes or hand passes the puck to the goalkeeper, who then actually covers the puck and causes the stoppage, that is a legal play and no penalty is assessed. The tricky one is when he is knocked down on the puck by the opponent. In the instance where the puck is in the crease, the player does still have an obligation to work the puck loose and not cause a stoppage of play and failure to do so would still result in a penalty shot. However, in that instance you may give him an extra second or so to do so prior to stopping play in order to give him every opportunity to avoid the stoppage. In the other instances, the whistle would be blown to stop play as it is in any other circumstance when the goalkeeper is freezing the puck.

Shooting the Puck Away

There was another interesting situation in the late game after us, which I played as well. During a running clock situation, the goalie held the puck and the play was whistled dead. This happened in the later parts of the game, so it was running clock. All the players lined up for the faceoff, but the ref hadn't retrieved the puck yet. At that point, the goalie came out of his goal and tried to shoot the puck away. He didn't succeed at first, so he ran out a little further and shot the puck all the way to the other end. The obvious intention being to run the clock down. The refs didn't assess any penalty of any kind. I thought a delay of game penalty should have been called. Here is what USA Hockey had to say about that:

Definitely a delay of game penalty would be appropriate. I would also say that if the goalkeeper obviously did it to knock the puck away from the official, a misconduct penalty in addition to the minor would be added on. In a non-running clock situation, the misconduct only would be the correct call.

So it should have been a 4 minute penalty. A double-awful call by the refs, who just really didn't have a good night. They told us "we told him not to do it again". WTF?!? Can you imagine a tripping situation where instead of getting a penalty the ref tells the player not to do it again?!? I fail to see why this situation was any different. I guess they just wanted to go home...

Monday, May 04, 2009
Practive Anyone?

We have an opportunity to pick up some ice time from for 7 weeks beginning in a few weeks on Tuesday nights from 7:30 to 8:30 pm. The cost is $300 per hour for the ice or $2,100 for the entire 7 weeks. If everyone were to sign up, it would be about $115 each or about $16.50 per practice.

Please let me know if you would be willing to participate!

Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Scott's Turning 50!

Our long time Ice Dragon Scotty Jasmer is turning 50! Can you believe it? Please see the attached invitation and join us as we celebrate his 50th birthday. Plan the date:

Sunday May 3, 2009
1:00 pm to 4:00 pm

9819 Mossy Tree Lane
Houston, Tx

Contact his wife Renette at 281-970-6773 with regrets only.

Here is a map link:
http://maps.yahoo.com/;_ylc=X3oDMTExNmIycG51BF9TAzI3MTYxNDkEc2VjA2ZwLWJ1dHRvbgRzbGsDbGluaw--#mvt=m&lat=29.913444&lon=-95.558654&zoom=13&q1=9819%2520Mossy%2520Tree%2520Lane%2520Houston%252C%2520Tx

See you at the party!

Thursday, March 26, 2009
Spring Season 2009 Starts

Hey Dragons! Spring Season 2009 is about to start this weekend, and I think we got a great team together. It should def. be our goal this season to win it all.

Thursday, December 11, 2008
Basic Breakout Options...

These are two clips Raul dug up that explain some basic breakout options that should help us to get out of our own zone a bit better (and judging by our last game, we need it!):

The first one is a moving chalk board:

This second one is an actual clip:

Hope this helps! I'll see you all Saturday!