So let me start by saying my team took a beating last night 6-2.

I have noticed that since my play has improved I have become the target for all the hacks. I was playing the puck last night and got tripped. The person who tripped me was called for the penalty. When I was getting up one other player on my team said to me that the same guy has been hacking on her all night too. The guy (who tripped me) says "sorry about that."

I told him "You have been hacking people all night."
In turn he says "yeah, what the f#$K you going to do about!" At the same time he is puffing up like he wants to fight now. The ref quickly escorted him to the box. The whole time he was in the box he's throwing me the bird.

I skated over to the box and said "you are a poor sport"

After the game I didn't go through the line and congratulate the other team. I felt like the other team played a very dirty game. Every time you got a step on them they were hooking you. Also, every time they iced the puck one of their players was hollering "NO ICE!". I mean you can't tell if it's them or the ref shouting. So consequently I had to chase the puck until the ref finally called the icing.

The question is was I now in the wrong for not shaking hands with them? Have I now become the poor sport, too?

John

It's hard to say, but sometimes when you are pissed off, you can't stand similing to the other team, and saying "good game". I think what you did is acceptable.

GSA

Kind of the same thing happened to me in a roller hockey game last year. We were up by 3 or 4 goals early in the third and this guy that I had been blowing by the entire game starts hooking onto me and pulling me down evertime I go by him (even when I dont have the puck). After a couple times I skate up and ask him what his problem is to which he responds with a colorful vocabulary not making any sense. So at the end of the game (we won by 4 or 5) I go through the line shaking hands and when I got to him, he put his hand out and I skated right past him.

If it was just the one guy I would have skipped just him but if you say the whole team was being dirty then it seems fair to skip the handshake.

i think you did the right thing. if you're not happy about the way they played, then i wouldn't bother with the handshake. i would also tell the main overseer/manager person of the league what happened.

THis is the kind of thing that comes up every once and a while.

I played for many years in a AAA league and then one year with the Huston Aero's in the AHL, and in those leagues if you skip over a person in the hang shake then you get suspended for a few games.

In your case your playing in a mens league i'm guessing, while some of these can be very compitetive it is still not for money. So I always say that you should stillo shake his hand to show that he can do all he wants it's not going to bother you, and you can always rise to the occasion. The only way i would say to skip it, is if you feel like the guy is goign to go after you again.

Dealing with dirty players is something that you wil always have to deal with. I myself get it all the time now that i am playing for my college team(we are not even in a top Division of NCAA). But i am one of the top players in the league both years. I get this kind of things alllllll the time. There are ways to deal with it.

First off never retaliate you always get more penalty minutes.

Second if a guy is hooking you learn to keep one hand on your stick and push the guys stick away with your glove.

IF you can be rough in your league (i'm guessing it's not checking) lean on him in the boards, knock into him, but do it clean, even if you get a "checking" penelty the other guy will stop.

Drawing the PP is also a big skill, go with it. Pick your self up let the guy take penlties and make them pay on the PP.

IF all else fails, I wait for him the have his head down, and place a hard shoudler into him, or even drop the gloves.

I know thats a lot but hopefully you get some help from it.

What can the manager of the league do about it? Hockey has the potential to get dirty very easily. This kind of stuff isn't uncommon. I don't blame you for not shaking hands, just don't let it become a habit I guess. I've felt the same way in soccer games but always force myself to shake hands anyways. It's not so bad, not like it's gonna kill you.

Well just a little update about this guy and his team. We played them again last night. It wasn't long into the first and the same jerk cross checked from behind. He then said sorry (yeah right). A little while later I felt him hit me. Because this guy always pulls this crap from behind you, I didn't see it. Someone on my team actually said the guy punched me in the back.

Well after that I had enough. I was looking to get a shot at him. It never did happen. Oh well it's prolly better for me because I take pride in playing clean. Although I was looking to take him out.

It was funny though because after all this he fell all by himself at least 4-5 times. That gave me something to holler about from the bench.

And this time I did shake hands with them after the game.

The End. (or maybe not - we may play this team for the championship)

John

lol, thanks for the updates...still waiting for pictures from your games.

GSA

Whenever I got pissed at a specific player on another team, I found more pleasure in either egging them on, or not shaking hands with the specific player. There was also a few times when I scored a goal and dedicated it to the opposing player. I was a pest