Beer League Player Positioning Advice

[JSand 1]

I am in my first year as a captain of a beer league team and what a learning process it has been. It is amazing how much adults can whine and pout when they have to play defense or when they don't get to play center because they think they are the best skater on the ice. In any event, I

am in need of some lineup/positioning advice. We currently have one very poor skater on the team and, to make matters worse, he is struggling a bit to learn on-ice positioning. We were all there once and he is enthusiastic about playing and tries hard so I cannot fault him for his effort or learning at a slower pace. However, it usually feels as if we are playing shorthanded when he is on the ice. I have been playing him as a wing on a line with two very strong forwards in an effort to "hide" his weaknesses as best as possible. Is this the best place to hide an obviously weak player in order to minimize the overall impact to the team or is there somewhere/something else that might better serve the team? Thanks much for your advice.

Jeff

[MyBoxersSayJoe 132]

Probably. Definitely not defense. If you have a weak defenseman, any smart team will favor his side and blow right by.

[Havok19 0]

I think making im play wing is the best way to get im in the beat.

[sickwilly 37]

Backup goalie?

We have a similar situation on our beer league team. The player is a really nice older guy who picked up the game recently. He has progressed very little in the three years (or so) that he has played. In terms of talent and skill he is nowhere close to belonging in the league (but there really is no other league that would suit him better).

As one of the players on our top line, I find that it's tough skating with him for an entire game. I understand the situation and try not to get frustrated, but sometimes I do (I'd never bitch at him, but it gets old). He can't catch or make a pass. We're effectively playing shorthanded. I also travel quite a bit to play hockey and would prefer that I skate with guys that I can actually get something going with. If he's with the 1st line, we score less and are less effective, but are less exposed defensively. If he's on a weaker line, our line scores more - but that line gets even weaker. Some of those guys get frustrated, too. Sometimes it feels like a no-win situation.

What I have found works the best is when he rolls through the lines. All of the forwards take equal turns sitting a shift. This way, he gets to play, nobody has to feel shorthanded the entire game, and we all get a chance to get our regular line "clicking" for part of the game. He is comfortable with this solution. We never put him at center or defense. One of the regular wings on a line will take center if it's the regular center's turn to sit. That player also understands that we usually get scored on if he is out there for a PK, and that it's like playing 4-4 if he's on the PP. He will graciously "opt out" of these situations in a close game that means something. If the game isn't a big deal, or is lopsided, we encourage him to roll through as usual during these situations.

As a captian, it's not solely your responsibility to make things flow smoothly. It's up to all of the guys to find a way that makes things work well (or at least ok) for everyone. Good luck!

[jcp2 2]

We put our weaker skaters on wing. We're not sophisticated enough to have a first line, second line, third line. Essentially we have D pairs, wing pairs, and the centers are a group that switch between them (2-3 depending on who shows up). Many times it's these weaker wingers that don't make it out of the zone for the backcheck being the ones to put in the rebound after an unsuccessful clearing attempt by the other team. In fact, all of them have goals over the season, while the same cannot be said for all our D, who are typically our best skaters.

[SouthpawTRK 1]

Being the Captain, you may want to see if you (or another team mate) can mentor him and help him progress his skills; passing, skating, shooting. There's a chance that he just needs to be inspired to get better through a show of positive support by either yourself or another player. He might think that he's not the weakest link on the team; but rather one of the stronger players. Invite him out to a stick/puck session and work on the things that are lacking in his game. If he's non-responsive to the mentoring, then perhaps it might be advisable to have him step down a division to be on a team that more matches his skill set. At the same time; it's a beer league; so the main thing is to have some fun and play some hockey

[Chadd 916]

We put our stronger players on D or in the middle. You can't hide a bad defenseman, no matter how hard you try.

[eric42434224 1]

We put our stronger players on D or in the middle. You can't hide a bad defenseman, no matter how hard you try.

So true.

Everytime one or two of our D-men are out, we have to replace them with forwards. Even GOOD forwards have trouble playing D (The positioning, the defensive mentality, etc). But putting a weak player on D is a disaster. All it takes is an opposing player to skate around the weak D player, exposing his lack of certain skills, and its like blood in the water. You will see wingers come in the zone and cross over just to go against the weak D player. It gets ugly.

[Law Goalie 147]

Is there an assistant coaching position available?

[txhockey 0]

One time I played up a division with another guy in a similar situation, and we were both "that guy". What we found was that putting one or both of us with the "top line" players was a bad idea because what it did was simply killed their scoring. What we ended up finally doing was essentially forming a "checking line", with the purpose of simply giving the top line guys a rest, with the main focus of simply trying to keep the puck out of our zone, and attempting to score when we had good opportunities. This allowed us to get good experience playing up a division without killing the team (they needed the extra players). I think the biggest trouble you run into is how flexible these guys are willing to be. Me and the other guy were basically just happy to be there and get whatever experience we could, and weren't going to bitch if we got pretty limited ice time, we just wanted to win. Though there are a lot of guys in beer leagues that are basically "I paid, I want equal ice time", which IS understandable.

[srv2miker 0]

A weak player needs simple responsibilities:

Defense:

As a winger, cover the appropriate opposing Dman. Stick on him like glue, and don't get sucked too far into the defensive zone; try to stay above the ringette line.

Offense:

Park him in front of the net and get him to try and screen. Encourage him to always have his stick on the ice to knock in rebounds on close-in plays.

Neutral zone:

Keep your stick on the ice, and try to find open ice

[Chadd 916]

A weak player needs simple responsibilities:

Defense:

As a winger, cover the appropriate opposing Dman. Stick on him like glue, and don't get sucked too far into the defensive zone; try to stay above the ringette line.

Offense:

Park him in front of the net and get him to try and screen. Encourage him to always have his stick on the ice to knock in rebounds on close-in plays.

Neutral zone:

Keep your stick on the ice, and try to find open ice

A few years ago we moved one of our weakest players from defense to forward and he played pretty well along the boards and in front of the net. Any time he could set his feet he was fine, it was always transition and open ice that caused him problems. He has been gone for more than a year but it sounds like he will be back this fall and the team is in complete agreement, he is NOT playing defense unless we're down to five guys and someone else pinches.

[chk hrd 164]

We had the same problem with a couple guys on the team. What worked best for us was the opposite of what you would normally think. We put all the weakest forwards on one line. We found that if we put a weak forward with our stronger forwards they were so far behind the play that they were of no use and we felt like we were short handed. When all of the weak forwards were on one line they at least were able to keep up with each other. Our D holds thier own so as long as the D realized when they weak players were out they played more on the defensive side, no end to ends, pushing up etc. We worked with the weakest players as a checking line with little scoring expectations and they did okay.

[number21 3]

A weak player needs simple responsibilities:

Defense:

As a winger, cover the appropriate opposing Dman. Stick on him like glue, and don't get sucked too far into the defensive zone; try to stay above the ringette line.

Offense:

Park him in front of the net and get him to try and screen. Encourage him to always have his stick on the ice to knock in rebounds on close-in plays.

Neutral zone:

Keep your stick on the ice, and try to find open ice

These are the kinds of things I tried to do as a beginner playing with much more experienced players. It worked pretty well, got a few rebound goals here and there. I screened as well as I could, which helped me learn how to stay on my feet better getting pummeled by D-men. Also when I ended up being the slowest winger I tried to keep available for an outlet pass.

I am now on a lower level team and playing D. Which works out against other lower guys but experienced forwards can move around me, but I am slowly getting better. Or so some of the guys on the team say I am. I know being teamed up with an experienced D-man helps a ton.

[Chadd 916]

We had the same problem with a couple guys on the team. What worked best for us was the opposite of what you would normally think. We put all the weakest forwards on one line. We found that if we put a weak forward with our stronger forwards they were so far behind the play that they were of no use and we felt like we were short handed. When all of the weak forwards were on one line they at least were able to keep up with each other. Our D holds thier own so as long as the D realized when they weak players were out they played more on the defensive side, no end to ends, pushing up etc. We worked with the weakest players as a checking line with little scoring expectations and they did okay.

When you're playing D behind a line like that, you just treat every shift like a penalty kill. Be very careful and hope you do something off a faceoff in the other end.

[Axxion89 32]

I am the weakest/2nd weakest player on my team from a skill perspective and Winger is definitely the way to go. I played defense for a shift or 2 and it was impossible for me to defend anyone because of my poor skating compared to the opposition. On wing, I am to cover my defensemen on defense and on offense I go to the night and wait for rebounds and try to draw defenders to me to open up lanes. In the neutral zones, I disrupt whoever has the puck and try to force a turnover which is something I really do well at. It works for me so it should work for somebody with developing skill as well.

PS - Try matching him with the best DEFENSIVE players on your team not your best overall players. If your best overall players are your best defensive then play them with the guy but if you have 2 really solid defensive forwards, have them play on his line to account for the defensive mistakes, you can always score with your other lines.

[shotty 7]

I played on a team where the weakest player WAS the captain, and put himself on a line with the two best players. the two guys repeatedly said it was like playing every shift short handed. what's worse is that he would tell them on the bench things like "I know you guys where doing your thing but.... I was open" or he'd call for passes and stop skating as soon as he got the puck. he was CONSTANTLY out of position and seldom tried to be in a decent one. at times he would skate away from the puck.

on this same team we had briefly had a guy who possessed about the same skill as the above example. we would just tell him to stay along or close to the boards, keep the stick low and don't go very deep into our own zone. basically, watch the play and get ready to chase it up and down the ice until he was comfortable with the pace and could see openings. eventually he started scoring goals. the barely ever touched the puck, played zero PP or PK shifts (refused to) and I think he ended up with more points than the douche who placed himself on the top line

I think the best thing to do is to give the guy some simple objectives that will give him an opportunity to be successful, such as: "stick to this guy", or "play blue line to hash marks" or "plant yourself in front of the net and get ready for rebounds"

[walrus7 0]

Great subject if you are stuck with someone who wants to play.is there every game, and is just not up to the level he should be. I play with a team that has a guy who has been there since day one,(before me) and just does not improve. His speed is just not there. Guys blow by him all night. And he was my D partner. It really changes your game when you know if you pinch up and he is your lifeline if you dont keep possesion once you get it in attacking zone. We just started playoffs Sun. nite, and the captain finally came up with the idea to put him up at wing, and put one of the better players back on D. Great results. We won and the weak one actually got a goal. Definitely put the weaker players up so the defense can run and gun every now and then. Worked great for us.

[IPv6Freely 2087]

A weak player needs simple responsibilities:

Defense:

As a winger, cover the appropriate opposing Dman. Stick on him like glue, and don't get sucked too far into the defensive zone; try to stay above the ringette line.

Offense:

Park him in front of the net and get him to try and screen. Encourage him to always have his stick on the ice to knock in rebounds on close-in plays.

Neutral zone:

Keep your stick on the ice, and try to find open ice

I'm the worst player in the league, let alone our team. These are exactly the things I try to do.

[tonguesOUT4life 17]

Why not tell your team to come to the rink everyday with a hustle frame of mind that they will have to work extra hard every shift the weaker guy is on the ice ? Get everyone into that mindset and he will become invisible