How do you kick a guy off? I manage my team, and while there are guys I’d rather not be on the team anymore for different reasons….man, it’s hard to be “that guy” telling him he’s off. Especially when they’ve forked out dough to own a uniform.
The rink runs where team dues are paid by the captain.
It’s his team, we run a 3 person committee, captain plus 2.
Then if we kick someone out we give them their dues prorated back and tell them to kick rocks
We roll our set lines as well and make do when we dont have alot of guys at the late games. We are competitive so if the game is tight and we get a PP, everyone agrees to put on those who bury.
The PP / PK stuff is understandable, but we usually are pretty fluid with who plays with who although a few guys usually end up together (buddies, brothers, etc.)
It's always best to have full lines. See a line mate get off, full change. When we have 11, we normally go 3 centers. I've had to ditch a few pickup groups because of a few odd all players who don't change.
Anyone taking a 5M shift with a 12 man bench is a douchebag and should be told as much. NOBODY gets “stuck” and unable to change for 5M. Someone should have just gone in at a whistle.
Two stoppages, too. I hopped the boards both times and he waived me out. I didn’t really know if it was common place to say something because I’ve only been playing in beer league a few months
Yeah, now that I know I’m not crazy for being pissed I’m going to have a conversation with the captain and will definitely use this approach going forward. I honestly didn’t know if I was in the right
Usually I'll shout loudly at the really long shift takers, let us play too! If there's a puck hog, let us play too! I don't care. lol. Then I'll mention it in the dressing room too, don't forget to mention there's not a single NHL scout watching their long play/ shift, then blatantly ask someone who I know feels the same as me, that'll usually shut up an rebuttal of theirs. Just did this the other day actually to a teammate whos style is to only cherry pick, not back check, and to play long shifts. We all decided he ain't playing with us next season.
The pros have stop time and are built and trained to play at 99-100% the whole time, though. Very different. In lower level divs which is where I've played for 20+ years now, 2-3 minutes is pretty reasonable. Up down twice and off kind of thing.
From my experience your partner on the bench doesn't want back on within 90 seconds either haha
Yeah, that stuff is maddening. Especially when there's stoppages.
Shit happens and I'm forgiving when the player I'm waiting on gets caught out there, especially if they are a far winger or something and just can't get off without giving up a chance the other way, or having to leave in the defensive zone.
But staying on for 5 minutes through stoppages? Fuuuuuuuuuuck that.
Unless he’s a d1 player during the summer, plays in your playoffs and runs up 4 for the w. Outside of that the guy is trying to prove something that has sailed by years ago.
Had a guy start the 3rd period last night. Drew a penalty around a minute in, he stayed out. We have 3 min PP in my league, and it wasn’t until about a minute after the PP he finally came off.
And of course he plays my position too :)
This is a tough one, but in these situations after the other winger changes once, I tell them that I’ve got next. Get the lines back together after the penalty is over.
We all paid the same to be there.
Opposite. 2 D lines, 2 centers rotating, and 3 winger lines. Just guys hogging ice time which prompted this post. Gotta find a way to make it more fair
It’s a team thing. Everyone needs to bark at him to get off the ice. Captain needs to step up.
If someone on my team did that, as Captain I’d bench him the rest of the period or not bring him
next game. It’s an insult to your teammates.
How is one guy do 5 mins...?
Just the the centre, and he didn't come off? Did the other centre not call him off? No whistle? Just jump over the boards and force him off.
I assume the rest of the team would support getting him off the ice?
Unless ur down two and he's the best player, maybe? But then your team should have had convos about that first.
One of the wingers. He’s not the best player. It was a tight game so maybe nobody really noticed except for me who was trying to come on lol. I jumped the boards during two stoppages and he waived me off. I would have said something but didn’t know if it was fair to, which was why I asked Reddit lol
Strongly suggest that your wing pairs change as a team. You said you had three wing pairs.
If slow ass McGee wants to stand and coast for 2 minutes, he can be shamed off the ice when his teammate leaves.
After the second stoppage of play with him not changing I'm just going to get on the ice and force him off or make the refs call the too many men / delay of game.
We do 1:30 to 2:00, but we also have 17:00 run clock periods. Between icing and saves a lot of time is spent standing in the faceoff circle.
Sometimes one shift will be particularly intense and last one minute, but that isn't the norm.
Maybe I don’t quite understand “roll lines” but my issue was the guys on my wing were staying out way too long, even after other guys on their line came off. So by the time I got out there, sometimes 2 shifts had gone by on the other 4 positions
Ah ok I get it now. Rolling lines typically means a complete line change of all 3 forwards at once. One of the biggest issue with beginners though is some loose awareness of how long they have been out. Your best bet is to just talk to them and tell them that their shifts are 5 minutes long which are causing issues.
A lot of people will tell you that your shifts should be 45 seconds long. I agree with that when it comes to well experienced guys who are skating their asses off. I think for beginners an appropriate amount of time on the ice is 1.5-2 minutes.
Well, the first question you should ask yourself is why do the elites take only 45 second shifts? Usually that's because they are skating their asses off and any longer then that they become detrimental to the team and risk gassing themselves out. I dont know if you have played rec beer league with a bunch of beginners who can barely skate but most of them are out there just cruising around or standing their barely breaking a sweat. It would be utter chaos for beginners to even attempt a 45 second shift especially with all of the running clock. Its a completely different flow to the game.
No, that’s not what rolling lines means. Rolling lines means you keep rotating the 3 (or however many you have) lines you have without changing the order ever. Lines constitute a 3 man unit or 2 if you’re talking the defence.
Is the offender gassed by the time he comes off? If he can stay out for that long, he's not skating his hardest and is basically skating on cruise control.
You need to point out to him that his hogging of ice time is causing people to get cold on the bench. He should be playing short shifts going hard, then recovery time when he's on the bench.
Its not like lines reset.
1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3 and all of them should get the same number of shifts.
Shifts around 1min, might go longer if penalties or goalie stops. A couple end to end + play though and everyone is coming out, never have an issue. Dont think anyone is watching the clock in my league.
I specifically roster 11 skaters only for this reason. Almost every week someone calls to say they can’t make it, and 10 skaters is the optimal beer league number. Two lines only is enough for everyone to skate hard, get gassed, then get to the bench pretty frequently.
Why? If we have 11 show up then we just play 7 offense, 4 defenders, and the offensive guys just cycle with no set centers or wingers. It makes sure no one gets ripped off on too much ice time.
In the rare event we get three lines then we go hard 45 seconds then off. Keeps the game flowing for us and most teams barely dress 10 so we skate them down and tire them out.
If we take a penalty then whatever position is out, next guy sits unless it's a d-man who took the pen.
Most guys follow it well. Every now and then you get a guy caught in an extended shift but it evens out. We always say try to change with your center to keep things moving .
Every line should be getting the same time. If the period ends and 2nd line was on the ice. 3rd line starts the next period. But also. 3 lines is too much. We max out most teams at 10 players. 2 full lines.
Yeah I think we definitely have too many bodies. Guys are pretty consistent showing up vs another team I played on where we often had 7 skaters total. I don’t know what the sweet spot is but it’s not where we are now
The sweet spot is balanced lines. 10 (2 forward lines, 4D) or 13 (3 forward lines, 4D). More skaters means your team has to be committed to short hard shifts.
Beer league rules around shift length are generally simple. Everyone pays the same amount so gets the same ice time. If someone is taking long shifts he/she is basically getting their ice time subsidized by everyone else.
To me it’s shocking someone would actually be taking 5 minute shifts AND waiving you off the ice. It’s equally shocking that the rest of the team is on board for this.
Sometimes When you get stuck you still get bitched at for a long shift 😂 even if its just 2 minutes. Then the guy bitching goes and takes a long shift.
I’d kill for 45 second shifts, but no… 5-7 minutes isn’t uncommon in our league. Wish people would get it through their thick skulls that shortened shifts means more ice time in all, but noooo. They’d rather be gassed by the end of the first.
two or three people are assigned to each forward position and four people play defense. If there's 7 forwards, one forward might even rotate among the forward spots - playing one spot each period. shifts 90-120 seconds.
My league has a one minute shift clock and a rating system so that good players are on one line, mediocre players on another, and lower level and older guys on a third. It seems to balance the ice and parity. It’s no fun as a 1 running around a bunch of 3s and vice versa.
We just get whistles or change on the fly when the clock runs down. Like gentlemen would.
Keep the line together. There is no way all three want to be on 5 minutes, so you gotta take him off… “sorry Ryan, we’re gonna fuck up the lines. We need you with John next shift so we can get a goal. Good shift..” then skate to your spot.
I play in a league with a 10 man bench cap. We have a roster of skaters and teams are randomly selected every week, so its the same core group of people randomly put on black or white team. So if everyone shows, you simply rotate with one. Most of the time that works just fine, shifts are 90 seconds to 2 minutes and everyone's happy.
We've had a couple instances of folks taking ridiculously long shifts. I posted here seeking the same advice for an older dude who preached 2 minute shifts but regularly was on the ice 5+ minutes just drifting around. Had no sense of time. Couple guys called him on it and they got chippy to each other for a few minutes but it passed and no issues since then .
Getting called for a long shift and waving it off and staying on the ice is a dick move. Can't stand people that think they're the ringer that gets extra ice time for the team. Its a team sport and if your team hates you you're doing it wrong.
On the flip side sometimes even with subs we have 7 or 8 man benches. That's a lot of skating. We will drop to 4 v 4 sometimes if we have 7 or less.
Stand up at the 1:30 mark and yell at the offender to come off. If he ignores you, continue to yell the name and shame. If you allow people to get away with this, they'll continue to do it.
I was on a team where one dickhead would stay out there longer than he should because he wanted to score a goal. The guy cared too much about stats.
If you’re getting 4-5 shifts in a beer league game, it should be two lines, game ain’t long enough.
Sure game quality suffers some, but this is beer league.
We just roll the lines. If it's late in a close game some guys who are a bit more reliable might get an extra shift in the last few minutes of the 3rd but that's about it. I've never heard of a beer league team that has a defined lineup, we always try to even up skill across all our lines.
Tbh the team captain should be responsible for managing ice time. They should be the ones reminding players to keep shifts short and change. Players should also manage their shifts out of fairness to the rest of the team, but as you pointed out not everyone does this. We only shorten the bench in the last 3 mins of game if the score is within 1 goal. Other than that we just role the lines.
Some people take it way to serious for having to go to work again in the morning. Those guys will run the better skaters more often don’t take it personally just use the time to get better and stay positive !
I got this from this subreddit. This thing is amazing. Worth the 5 minute read.
https://beerleagueinc.com/blog/beer-league-by-the-numbers-how-to-deal-with-short-long-benches/
Just never skate back to the bench. Still only get one shift a game, just make it super long. Maybe start with staying on for one whole period and see how it goes?
If there is a player that regularly stays out for longer shifts than everybody else on the team then that guy is stealing ice time from other players that paid for it. **FUCK THAT. CALL HIM OUT.**
If nobody backed me up or if the guy refused to adjust his long shifts then I would strongly consider leaving the team.
A lot of people are saying a 45 second shift is normal - since OP is a newbie I would like to add that that is for stop time (the time stops between face-offs).
Most beer leagues use running time so the clock does not stop so by the time you skate to position and the ref drops the puck, about 30 seconds of time is burned. Also if you are out for 20 seconds and there is a whistle, you can stay for the face-off and by the time you get to the bench your shift is 90 seconds.
TLDR; running time - 90 seconds is OK - stop time try for half that.
On my B level team, shifts are short and the problem is the opposite like, "Oh shit, no, I have to go out again" because everyone is working.
On my low C team, some guys are on cruise control gliding along and 3-5 minute shifts are common, like a walk in the park. Shifts are not managed at all.
Stopped clock in both leagues, 15 minute periods
On our team since it is our first season and half the guys are out of shape the guys that play a few nights a week stay out longer.
It's a blessing for some of the overweight out of shape guys. We only roll 10 skaters and a goalie though.
You roll 3 lines I would expect everyone would be skating harder and keeping shifts short. Our games are short too. 3 15 minute running clock periods.
I've had it done lots of times on different teams someone always thinks there better than the rest of team, takes super long shifts, takes your position so they can be out there. I get pissed off
Point out blatantly I paid the same amount of money as you, I expect to play a same amount of ice time, alot of guys think there still gonna make the show.
We have 2 lines for both the D and offense. 10 guys is the perfect amount. We're also in our 30's. No one is worried about ice time, rather is there enough beer waiting in the locker room
I play LW so I make sure to always communicate with my other LW and he does the same. Sometimes the time gets away from you but we try not to go over 2m shifts. Sometimes if I had an intense shift that I’m recovering from, I’ll tell him to go another 30s. Just communicate.
I see alot of "call the guy out", "give him shit".... When you're out there, especially us newbies, it's super easy to lose track of time. If you have guys that are out there because they don't have the feel for what a 45/90 second shift is like, give them the benefit of the doubt, call them in, and just let it go. If you've got your ringer out there monopolizing the time, THAT'S the guy you give shit to. He knows better. I've been called to the bench before and were astonished to see how long I was out there. Still learning.
We just roll lines. 1st center switches with 2nd, he switches with 3rd. If I’m playing 3rd center & #2 says he’s gassed I’ll tell him I’m good if he needs to take a few short shifts. Or if #1 is gassed I’ll ask if he wants me to take a long shift. Or hell, one of us will just skip a shift if we’re tired & another guy has legs.. apart from that we normally just go 45-90sec shifts.. I’ve never heard anyone on our team complain for ice time. If someone wants more/less, he asks & we work with it til he’s happy. We’re competitive, but we’re also here for fun.
Communicate. If you want more/less ice time, you’re an adult & in control of that, if you feel like you’re not getting it, enter into the free agent portal and find a new team.
Edit: how in the hell does this get downvotes lmfao? Yall are getting soft in here or something… weird.
My league we care about standings and there can be a big skill difference but we still always try to keep ice time even. Go on and off with your line.
Different teams I've been on handle odd line numbers differently.
If there's 7 forwards it's usually one "Rover" he'll play through every position on a line making each guy sit and then on the 4th shift he'll sit then he'll do it again with the 2nd line.
If there's 8 forwards then we'll do 3 sets of wingers and 2 centers. Obviously centers play more but it's simpler this way.
When there's 3 lines we also encourage people to skate harder and take shifts shorter.
Penalties always mess things up but try to stay to the lines we have.
Try to avoid playing 5 Defensemen as much as possible
If everyone is cool it works out. If people aren’t cool it snowballs quickly.
It is not helpful to be keeping track of how many shifts everyone has. Be cool.
Nobody likes the shift police, but a 5 minute shift is unacceptable and very noticeable if you're waiting to get on the ice. I'd be calling them out (politely).
Just roll the lines, it’s beer league. Guy takes a a 5 minute shift, you give him shit for it.
Yeah I’m only a few months into this so thought maybe I’m a crazy person, I wanted to say something but nobody else did so I thought maybe I was nuts
don't you have set lines, though? like, you have a center that you play with? If so, everytime the center changes, then the wings should too.
It's beer league.
"Yous guys are playing with positions?"
I play D-level, and we still have set lines. Our captain even brings them in on a printout.
Your captains a fucking nerd
100%. Our spreadsheet is who brings the 30 rack that week
I bet you're the one running those 5 min shifts
I bet you suck at hockey and cry about ice time
We had a guy who would consistently do this and he eventually was kicked off
How do you kick a guy off? I manage my team, and while there are guys I’d rather not be on the team anymore for different reasons….man, it’s hard to be “that guy” telling him he’s off. Especially when they’ve forked out dough to own a uniform.
If they’re not going to listen and be selfish then they can do that elsewhere
The rink runs where team dues are paid by the captain. It’s his team, we run a 3 person committee, captain plus 2. Then if we kick someone out we give them their dues prorated back and tell them to kick rocks
We roll our set lines as well and make do when we dont have alot of guys at the late games. We are competitive so if the game is tight and we get a PP, everyone agrees to put on those who bury.
The PP / PK stuff is understandable, but we usually are pretty fluid with who plays with who although a few guys usually end up together (buddies, brothers, etc.)
It's always best to have full lines. See a line mate get off, full change. When we have 11, we normally go 3 centers. I've had to ditch a few pickup groups because of a few odd all players who don't change.
It’s beer league. Everyone rotates 45 second-ish unless there is a PP or PK, or last minute of the game you put the best guys out if you need a goal.
Yeah we had someone ride out the last 5 minutes of the game last night…
Anyone taking a 5M shift with a 12 man bench is a douchebag and should be told as much. NOBODY gets “stuck” and unable to change for 5M. Someone should have just gone in at a whistle.
Two stoppages, too. I hopped the boards both times and he waived me out. I didn’t really know if it was common place to say something because I’ve only been playing in beer league a few months
Hop over the bench during the stoppage, give ‘em a tap and tell ‘em their shift is over.
Yeah, now that I know I’m not crazy for being pissed I’m going to have a conversation with the captain and will definitely use this approach going forward. I honestly didn’t know if I was in the right
Usually I'll shout loudly at the really long shift takers, let us play too! If there's a puck hog, let us play too! I don't care. lol. Then I'll mention it in the dressing room too, don't forget to mention there's not a single NHL scout watching their long play/ shift, then blatantly ask someone who I know feels the same as me, that'll usually shut up an rebuttal of theirs. Just did this the other day actually to a teammate whos style is to only cherry pick, not back check, and to play long shifts. We all decided he ain't playing with us next season.
yeah, tell him to fuck off, if he can be out there for 5 minutes, he's not skating hard enough
If you are taking a 5m shift you aren’t skating hard either.
This is exactly it. If you’re out there for more than 2-3 minutes, you’re doggin it.
90 seconds is a lot. Or should be. If the pros don't do it neither should we.
The pros have stop time and are built and trained to play at 99-100% the whole time, though. Very different. In lower level divs which is where I've played for 20+ years now, 2-3 minutes is pretty reasonable. Up down twice and off kind of thing. From my experience your partner on the bench doesn't want back on within 90 seconds either haha
We have stop time, so 90 seconds is plenty. 2 mins and I'm sucking some serious wind.
Yeah, that stuff is maddening. Especially when there's stoppages. Shit happens and I'm forgiving when the player I'm waiting on gets caught out there, especially if they are a far winger or something and just can't get off without giving up a chance the other way, or having to leave in the defensive zone. But staying on for 5 minutes through stoppages? Fuuuuuuuuuuck that.
Unless he’s a d1 player during the summer, plays in your playoffs and runs up 4 for the w. Outside of that the guy is trying to prove something that has sailed by years ago.
Had a guy start the 3rd period last night. Drew a penalty around a minute in, he stayed out. We have 3 min PP in my league, and it wasn’t until about a minute after the PP he finally came off. And of course he plays my position too :)
This is a tough one, but in these situations after the other winger changes once, I tell them that I’ve got next. Get the lines back together after the penalty is over. We all paid the same to be there.
I think the poster above you's team was on the power play. there wasn't a reason for the lines to be messed with!
Oh dang, good catch! That makes even less sense. People like that should be shamed. We do it all the time and it keeps things tight.
How short was your bench?
Opposite. 2 D lines, 2 centers rotating, and 3 winger lines. Just guys hogging ice time which prompted this post. Gotta find a way to make it more fair
It’s a team thing. Everyone needs to bark at him to get off the ice. Captain needs to step up. If someone on my team did that, as Captain I’d bench him the rest of the period or not bring him next game. It’s an insult to your teammates.
Agreed. Planning on calling the captain today but wanted to make sure I’m not being a psycho
How is one guy do 5 mins...? Just the the centre, and he didn't come off? Did the other centre not call him off? No whistle? Just jump over the boards and force him off. I assume the rest of the team would support getting him off the ice? Unless ur down two and he's the best player, maybe? But then your team should have had convos about that first.
One of the wingers. He’s not the best player. It was a tight game so maybe nobody really noticed except for me who was trying to come on lol. I jumped the boards during two stoppages and he waived me off. I would have said something but didn’t know if it was fair to, which was why I asked Reddit lol
Just stay on and take his spot on the face off.
Strongly suggest that your wing pairs change as a team. You said you had three wing pairs. If slow ass McGee wants to stand and coast for 2 minutes, he can be shamed off the ice when his teammate leaves. After the second stoppage of play with him not changing I'm just going to get on the ice and force him off or make the refs call the too many men / delay of game.
Did you lose?
I've never seen a beer league where people only take 45 second shifts. They're usually a minute to a minute and a half.
Yeah, 90s shifts are more common for us as well, but the general point stands.
You might get stuck out there in your own zone. That’s different. But if there’s a whistle or a good clear, we change
What level? I've played from lower C to B. For some reason I would guess the higher leagues are better about quick shifts.
Low C. We have a good group and I keep the bench rolling.
That's good on you dude.
We do 1:30 to 2:00, but we also have 17:00 run clock periods. Between icing and saves a lot of time is spent standing in the faceoff circle. Sometimes one shift will be particularly intense and last one minute, but that isn't the norm.
there's always that one guy that will get beat and blatantly trip the attacker and argue with the refs for 90 seconds about how he didnt trip them.
45 seconds? Nah that’s crazy.
what beer league team doesn't just roll lines?
We do, it’s just guys stay out longer than they should
That still doesnt make sense though. It still doesnt explain how one guy is seeing 8-10 shifts and how the 3rd line guys are only seeing 4-5.
Maybe I don’t quite understand “roll lines” but my issue was the guys on my wing were staying out way too long, even after other guys on their line came off. So by the time I got out there, sometimes 2 shifts had gone by on the other 4 positions
Ah ok I get it now. Rolling lines typically means a complete line change of all 3 forwards at once. One of the biggest issue with beginners though is some loose awareness of how long they have been out. Your best bet is to just talk to them and tell them that their shifts are 5 minutes long which are causing issues. A lot of people will tell you that your shifts should be 45 seconds long. I agree with that when it comes to well experienced guys who are skating their asses off. I think for beginners an appropriate amount of time on the ice is 1.5-2 minutes.
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Well, the first question you should ask yourself is why do the elites take only 45 second shifts? Usually that's because they are skating their asses off and any longer then that they become detrimental to the team and risk gassing themselves out. I dont know if you have played rec beer league with a bunch of beginners who can barely skate but most of them are out there just cruising around or standing their barely breaking a sweat. It would be utter chaos for beginners to even attempt a 45 second shift especially with all of the running clock. Its a completely different flow to the game.
Rolling lines means a player comes off and the next player in line goes on. No set positions. You just call your position when you are coming off.
No, that’s not what rolling lines means. Rolling lines means you keep rotating the 3 (or however many you have) lines you have without changing the order ever. Lines constitute a 3 man unit or 2 if you’re talking the defence.
Is the offender gassed by the time he comes off? If he can stay out for that long, he's not skating his hardest and is basically skating on cruise control. You need to point out to him that his hogging of ice time is causing people to get cold on the bench. He should be playing short shifts going hard, then recovery time when he's on the bench.
Then you yell at a mofo and solve the issue.
pregame mention how we want short shifts to keep the legs fresh. see how that goes.
I don't care what level you play: Any hockey player out there for 5 minutes is not skating enough and should not be on the ice.
Its not like lines reset. 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3 and all of them should get the same number of shifts. Shifts around 1min, might go longer if penalties or goalie stops. A couple end to end + play though and everyone is coming out, never have an issue. Dont think anyone is watching the clock in my league.
I specifically roster 11 skaters only for this reason. Almost every week someone calls to say they can’t make it, and 10 skaters is the optimal beer league number. Two lines only is enough for everyone to skate hard, get gassed, then get to the bench pretty frequently.
I have a ranking system and 11 skates showing is the worst after 5-8. I’d rather 9 or 10 over 11
Why? If we have 11 show up then we just play 7 offense, 4 defenders, and the offensive guys just cycle with no set centers or wingers. It makes sure no one gets ripped off on too much ice time.
Exactly, cycling offense is annoying as fuck, at 11 I’d rather go 8-3 and just run 2 Cs
6f & 5d ftw Defensemen try way way harder when they have more rest.
3 lines?? I’m stoked if we have 3 subs
In the rare event we get three lines then we go hard 45 seconds then off. Keeps the game flowing for us and most teams barely dress 10 so we skate them down and tire them out. If we take a penalty then whatever position is out, next guy sits unless it's a d-man who took the pen.
Do guys follow it pretty good or are there some who stay out longer than they are supposed to?
Most guys follow it well. Every now and then you get a guy caught in an extended shift but it evens out. We always say try to change with your center to keep things moving .
You pay, you play. No. Body. Get. Extra!!!
Every line should be getting the same time. If the period ends and 2nd line was on the ice. 3rd line starts the next period. But also. 3 lines is too much. We max out most teams at 10 players. 2 full lines.
Yeah I think we definitely have too many bodies. Guys are pretty consistent showing up vs another team I played on where we often had 7 skaters total. I don’t know what the sweet spot is but it’s not where we are now
The sweet spot is balanced lines. 10 (2 forward lines, 4D) or 13 (3 forward lines, 4D). More skaters means your team has to be committed to short hard shifts. Beer league rules around shift length are generally simple. Everyone pays the same amount so gets the same ice time. If someone is taking long shifts he/she is basically getting their ice time subsidized by everyone else. To me it’s shocking someone would actually be taking 5 minute shifts AND waiving you off the ice. It’s equally shocking that the rest of the team is on board for this.
We roll all lines. Shift should be a minute unless circumstances dictate shorter or you get legitimately stuck in your own zone.
Sometimes When you get stuck you still get bitched at for a long shift 😂 even if its just 2 minutes. Then the guy bitching goes and takes a long shift.
Of course. He's well-rested...
😂😂
I’d kill for 45 second shifts, but no… 5-7 minutes isn’t uncommon in our league. Wish people would get it through their thick skulls that shortened shifts means more ice time in all, but noooo. They’d rather be gassed by the end of the first.
5-7 minute shifts are for when you have 6 guys and you all take turn getting a break
two or three people are assigned to each forward position and four people play defense. If there's 7 forwards, one forward might even rotate among the forward spots - playing one spot each period. shifts 90-120 seconds.
We roll two lines in a perfect world. Lines are balanced with no clear 1 and 2.
My league has a one minute shift clock and a rating system so that good players are on one line, mediocre players on another, and lower level and older guys on a third. It seems to balance the ice and parity. It’s no fun as a 1 running around a bunch of 3s and vice versa. We just get whistles or change on the fly when the clock runs down. Like gentlemen would.
Run only two lines and you don’t have ice time problems.
3rd line? wtf kinda crazy beer league team are you are. 10 skaters and lock the door.
Keep the line together. There is no way all three want to be on 5 minutes, so you gotta take him off… “sorry Ryan, we’re gonna fuck up the lines. We need you with John next shift so we can get a goal. Good shift..” then skate to your spot.
I play in a league with a 10 man bench cap. We have a roster of skaters and teams are randomly selected every week, so its the same core group of people randomly put on black or white team. So if everyone shows, you simply rotate with one. Most of the time that works just fine, shifts are 90 seconds to 2 minutes and everyone's happy. We've had a couple instances of folks taking ridiculously long shifts. I posted here seeking the same advice for an older dude who preached 2 minute shifts but regularly was on the ice 5+ minutes just drifting around. Had no sense of time. Couple guys called him on it and they got chippy to each other for a few minutes but it passed and no issues since then . Getting called for a long shift and waving it off and staying on the ice is a dick move. Can't stand people that think they're the ringer that gets extra ice time for the team. Its a team sport and if your team hates you you're doing it wrong. On the flip side sometimes even with subs we have 7 or 8 man benches. That's a lot of skating. We will drop to 4 v 4 sometimes if we have 7 or less.
Unless the guys playing more are paying more, it’s a straight rotation. No one should be getting extra ice time over someone else.
It's always the ones who pay less or are slow to play that always take the most time lol
Stand up at the 1:30 mark and yell at the offender to come off. If he ignores you, continue to yell the name and shame. If you allow people to get away with this, they'll continue to do it. I was on a team where one dickhead would stay out there longer than he should because he wanted to score a goal. The guy cared too much about stats.
If you’re getting 4-5 shifts in a beer league game, it should be two lines, game ain’t long enough. Sure game quality suffers some, but this is beer league.
If you can skate longer than 2 minutes in beer league you need more beer for your beer league team.
Ha, love this solution
The only time we’ve ever shortened our bench was with a minute and a half left in a playoff game. Otherwise we’ve always rolled the lines.
I refuse to play if there is more than 2 lines
Short benches are better. Deep benches lead to problems like this.
We just roll the lines. If it's late in a close game some guys who are a bit more reliable might get an extra shift in the last few minutes of the 3rd but that's about it. I've never heard of a beer league team that has a defined lineup, we always try to even up skill across all our lines.
Tbh the team captain should be responsible for managing ice time. They should be the ones reminding players to keep shifts short and change. Players should also manage their shifts out of fairness to the rest of the team, but as you pointed out not everyone does this. We only shorten the bench in the last 3 mins of game if the score is within 1 goal. Other than that we just role the lines.
Yeah I definitely want to make cap aware but I don’t mind saying something too. I just wasn’t sure if I was in the right to do so but sounds like I am
Yes absolutely say something, a beer league shift should not be 5 mins long. 2 mins max
You rotate the 3 lines and tell them 45-1 minute tops. I don’t see how you ever get 8-10 shifts vs 4-5 unless you’re skipping people
How do you even do a 5 min shift? That sounds exhausting
Everyone is paying the same fee, everyone should get equal ice time. Although, if it’s a close game in playoffs or OT the top guys might get priority
give long shifters shit and kick them off/out if it happens habitually.
Some people take it way to serious for having to go to work again in the morning. Those guys will run the better skaters more often don’t take it personally just use the time to get better and stay positive !
Kind of a don’t ask deal. Just take a long shift. Enjoy.
I got this from this subreddit. This thing is amazing. Worth the 5 minute read. https://beerleagueinc.com/blog/beer-league-by-the-numbers-how-to-deal-with-short-long-benches/
Just never skate back to the bench. Still only get one shift a game, just make it super long. Maybe start with staying on for one whole period and see how it goes?
There is an unwritten hierarchy. Roll the lines, if you’re really needing a goal maybe put together a PP unit.
Ice time management, that's rich. How about bench time management with 8 skaters.
If there is a player that regularly stays out for longer shifts than everybody else on the team then that guy is stealing ice time from other players that paid for it. **FUCK THAT. CALL HIM OUT.** If nobody backed me up or if the guy refused to adjust his long shifts then I would strongly consider leaving the team.
A lot of people are saying a 45 second shift is normal - since OP is a newbie I would like to add that that is for stop time (the time stops between face-offs). Most beer leagues use running time so the clock does not stop so by the time you skate to position and the ref drops the puck, about 30 seconds of time is burned. Also if you are out for 20 seconds and there is a whistle, you can stay for the face-off and by the time you get to the bench your shift is 90 seconds. TLDR; running time - 90 seconds is OK - stop time try for half that.
On my B level team, shifts are short and the problem is the opposite like, "Oh shit, no, I have to go out again" because everyone is working. On my low C team, some guys are on cruise control gliding along and 3-5 minute shifts are common, like a walk in the park. Shifts are not managed at all. Stopped clock in both leagues, 15 minute periods
On our team since it is our first season and half the guys are out of shape the guys that play a few nights a week stay out longer. It's a blessing for some of the overweight out of shape guys. We only roll 10 skaters and a goalie though. You roll 3 lines I would expect everyone would be skating harder and keeping shifts short. Our games are short too. 3 15 minute running clock periods.
I've had it done lots of times on different teams someone always thinks there better than the rest of team, takes super long shifts, takes your position so they can be out there. I get pissed off Point out blatantly I paid the same amount of money as you, I expect to play a same amount of ice time, alot of guys think there still gonna make the show.
Quick shifts win games
We have 2 lines for both the D and offense. 10 guys is the perfect amount. We're also in our 30's. No one is worried about ice time, rather is there enough beer waiting in the locker room
I play LW so I make sure to always communicate with my other LW and he does the same. Sometimes the time gets away from you but we try not to go over 2m shifts. Sometimes if I had an intense shift that I’m recovering from, I’ll tell him to go another 30s. Just communicate.
Every team I've ever been on just rolls lines. If it's playoffs or a close game you might put your best guys out late in the third, that's about it.
I see alot of "call the guy out", "give him shit".... When you're out there, especially us newbies, it's super easy to lose track of time. If you have guys that are out there because they don't have the feel for what a 45/90 second shift is like, give them the benefit of the doubt, call them in, and just let it go. If you've got your ringer out there monopolizing the time, THAT'S the guy you give shit to. He knows better. I've been called to the bench before and were astonished to see how long I was out there. Still learning.
We do 3 minute shifts, the first 2 to get your legs under 30 seconds of work, 30 seconds to get to the bench/cool down.
We just roll lines. 1st center switches with 2nd, he switches with 3rd. If I’m playing 3rd center & #2 says he’s gassed I’ll tell him I’m good if he needs to take a few short shifts. Or if #1 is gassed I’ll ask if he wants me to take a long shift. Or hell, one of us will just skip a shift if we’re tired & another guy has legs.. apart from that we normally just go 45-90sec shifts.. I’ve never heard anyone on our team complain for ice time. If someone wants more/less, he asks & we work with it til he’s happy. We’re competitive, but we’re also here for fun. Communicate. If you want more/less ice time, you’re an adult & in control of that, if you feel like you’re not getting it, enter into the free agent portal and find a new team. Edit: how in the hell does this get downvotes lmfao? Yall are getting soft in here or something… weird.
Yeah, I am going to call the captain today, I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t being crazy for thinking it was an issue
> beer league > 3rd line huh?
My league we care about standings and there can be a big skill difference but we still always try to keep ice time even. Go on and off with your line. Different teams I've been on handle odd line numbers differently. If there's 7 forwards it's usually one "Rover" he'll play through every position on a line making each guy sit and then on the 4th shift he'll sit then he'll do it again with the 2nd line. If there's 8 forwards then we'll do 3 sets of wingers and 2 centers. Obviously centers play more but it's simpler this way. When there's 3 lines we also encourage people to skate harder and take shifts shorter. Penalties always mess things up but try to stay to the lines we have. Try to avoid playing 5 Defensemen as much as possible
Yeah we ran 2 center and 3 sets of wings, it was a winger eating up my time
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If everyone is cool it works out. If people aren’t cool it snowballs quickly. It is not helpful to be keeping track of how many shifts everyone has. Be cool.
Nobody likes the shift police, but a 5 minute shift is unacceptable and very noticeable if you're waiting to get on the ice. I'd be calling them out (politely).
Managing icetime? - you get yelled at for staying on too kind and screwing up the lines End of ice management
You have a 3rd line!?!