I don't think stuff like this should have a place in hockey, or sports in general for that matter. I get that for the professional players, they have a lot on the line and that their "worth" increases with cup wins and so on, but in my opinion it undermines the game as a whole. One perfect example of this is Sean Avery against Martin Brodeur in the NHL, when Avery essentially just stood in front of Brodeur, not looking at the puck or play at all, and just placed his body, waved his hands and stick in the eye line of Brodeur to take him out of the play. It does not put the game into good light and just makes a mockery of the hard work people put in to perform at that level. You should be able to get under the opponents skin just by playing the game, giving out some hits, scoring some goals or otherwise show your skill.
Honestly, a little mischief from players to throw the other team off their game is a good thing for the sport of hockey. Not only is it entertaining and gets the attention of people that may not normally pay attention to the sport, it also starts nice storylines and rivalries between teams. Of course, with mischief and tomfoolery, there is a limit on how far to go and where the line is. If it is something like snowing goalies, I think it is okay as long as you expect some immediate retaliation from the other team. On the other hand, if you for some reason decide to spit on another player, that is a little too far. It certainly develops a story and rivalry, but that in my opinion is a little bit too far. Regardless, the line is blurry and I believe everyone can have their opinion, but the offender should definitely expect some payback. In my opinion, I like the mischief for the most part and think it can stay to a certain extent.
Sven does not consider himself to be a pest, but as a hard-hitting power forward his play can have similar psychological effects on his opponents. Sven plays aggressively and can toe the line of playing a heavy, physical style while not taking too many penalties or playing dangerously. As his career has progressed, Sven has steadily started getting in more fights to protect his younger teammates. Although Sven didn’t have a fight for the first four seasons of his career, he has gotten in seven fights over his past six seasons. Sven typically has over 100 hits per season and has crossed 120 hits 6 times and 130 hits 4 times. Sven typically averages around 30 PIMs a year and prefers to spend his time on the power play instead of the penalty box. His punishing goal scoring style can be very demoralizing for his opponents and makes Sven an asset in the playoffs.
Archie isn't great at chirping, let's be honest here, so being a pest is a hard sell for him. He is Italian, through and through, so his accent is funny and he even does the hand gestures when he doesn't catch himself, it's simply funny to watch him yell at people with half the words being English, and the other being Italian.
However, he is still Italian. The southern blood runs hot and if you are not careful, even if he is a tiny guy and technically barely big enough to play in the league, you don't want to catch these hands when something is really wrong. So, being a sustained annoyance is really hard for someone like Archangelo, but when shit really goes down you can count on him to ring the bell or answer it and stand up to the opponent, even if it means he will probably get his ass beat into shape real fucking quick.
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This is actually a topic near and dear to my heart as I have always believed that the real game within the game is about trying to enrage your opponent as much as possible. Getting under people's skin is not really that hard you just have to be dedicated to your craft and be willing to go the extra mile. Little hacks with the stick here and there or a trip if the ref is not looking while also embellishing any contact received and drawing the refs attention to it. Comments about other players families or their appearance usually goes down a treat and works especially well if they have some off ice controversies to take advantage of. Others have mentioned their dislike of Sean Avery but to me having an entire rule being made because you're so good at annoying people is the absolute epitome of the pest life. Anyone can go to the gym or the rink and practice drills over and over again, it takes a true master to become accomplished at the mental side of the game.
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Written Task: Does your player have it in them to be a pest? Do they enjoy finding ways to irritate their opponents even if they can't find a way to actually win the game? Or is this kind of thing beneath you? Are you a good ol' hockey player through and through? Maybe a mix of both? If you are a bit of a pest, tell me some of the tricks your player likes to get up to. If you aren't, tell me what your player thinks of other players that DO like to do these things. (150+ words)
I would do a little trolling, like if they lose gloves, I would make sure to send that to the other side of the rink, the same applies if they lose a stick, etc. I would do little things like that just to be a little shit and be annoying, I wouldn't do anything dirty or hurt anyone unless I was put into a situation where I had to do some rough stuff, I would also like to try to dive in any sort of physical play, and try and sell a call to help my team go on the powerplay. I would try and put a smile on their face and do some trolling, wide peepo happy 3 has to try and make people happy, them smiling and laughing at my antics on the ice, and try and get them off their game that way is something i would do.
Hockey Prompt:
I think that gamesmanship and generally trickery most definitely has a place in hockey. Spraying water, snowing goalies, chirping at other players, it is all a part of the storied history of hockey. The skill level at the top end of the sport is so high, that even the slightest edge mentally can be what separates a team from winning or losing. When things aren't going your way, you have to fight to keep your head in the game and not let your emotions take you off your game. It's those moments were tom-foolery can really push a player outside that mental zone and into a dangerous area that will hurt their own team. But the perpetrators have to be careful. Not due to potential retaliation, but the chance of focusing too much on joking around and getting off their game themselves. A team too worried about chirping can shoot themselves in the foot if a mentally tough team ignores the jests and battles back. It's almost like a penalty kill that swings the momentum to the disadvantaged team. Not to mention that the worst insults are the ones you made that get thrown back in your face. As long as inappropriate lines aren't crossed, all those little infractions add a lot of character to the game and add another level of depth to the sport.
There are plenty of things Harrington could do to mess with the other team. Switching all of their water bottles with vodka is an easy one. Hockey players wont even notice the difference and they'll be too shitfaced to score anything. Maybe he could sneak around and steal their sticks one by one. Cant score with your hands cuz thats illegal. I certainly would not want to see cockroaches running around the bench, so I'm sure the other team wont enjoy that either. Kidnapping is a crime but this is hockey so everything is allowed. Kidnap their star player and put him inside the mascot costume with a little duct tape and some handcuffs and he can sit out in plain sight. Wouldn't that be fun to watch your team lose from the stands, while sweating in a large furry buffalo costume? Speaking of costumes, you could dress up as the other team's goalie and just go in and be bad. They won't notice.
There's lot of ways to get under a team's skin, but the big key is doing a bunch of things on a smaller scale to really frustrate them, but not to draw the attention of the referee.
One thing that I would do would be to bend over a bit further at the faceoff circle and undo the laces on the opposing players skate. A loosening skate will be very frustrating.
Another tried and true method is small hooks times with their stride on their hips. This is really frustrating to experience as it disrupts your stride.
Seeing as crosschecking in front of the net often gets let go, I'd also want to bring in a tactic from my lacrosse days. In this, you find the gap between shoulder pads and elbowpad and strip it downwards to expose the elbow. This gives you a clean shot to do some damage, and often leads to some retaliation.
I figure putting a few of these into play will really send them over the edge and get them off their game and cause them to take some extra penalties
Arsene Leclerc can rat it up with the best of them, and with one of the highest time on ice stats in the league, he has plenty of time to abuse his opponents patience and good will. Being a defender, it can be a little bit hard to get up close and personal with opponents at times, thankfully Minnesota gets plenty of time at net front to make best use of the zebras letting players battle in the slot. Leclerc likes nipping at his opponents ankles with his stick, not spearing, not hooking, not tripping, but just giving them a firm and quick poke right in the back of the ankle or shins to let them know where he is. If the league rivals were giving us a rough time, as they usually do now with Chicago being so strong and being the closest team. The nipping is probably going to be upgraded to full on cup checks and cross checks for the rest of regulation.
I think mischief that does not harm the opposing players or mischief that happens between whistles is all good. As long as it is harmless. Pregame is the best time for this. Get it started early and keep it going. The best way to get under opposing players' skin is water. Spraying water is probably the best and most harmless antic you can do. Spraying opponents from the bench, spraying their gloves, or even drinking from the goalies water bottle. It is all great stuff. Most trash talk is ok within reason. Trash talk is difficult because most viewers wont know what is being said unless someone is mic'd. But listening to those is usually gold.
But stuff like Sean Avery in front on the net. The Brad Marchand antics. I do not care for at all. I do not think it is good for the game either. Bending and twisting rules to support your actions, I feel is bad sportsmanship and overall a bad look for the game.
06-05-2022, 08:53 PM(This post was last modified: 06-05-2022, 08:54 PM by Vandy.)
Prompt 2:
I figure doing stuff like grabbing sticks, flinging them up over the glass, filling up gloves and frosting a goalie are just part of the culture. There's no inherent harm done to anyone unless the person having it done to them flips their shit and retaliates of course. It's great strategy honestly though I can see some folks having issue with it, issue one being its childish and if you get caught or a ref sees it; you stand a good chance of catching a penalty or having added attention drawn to you or your team for the rest of the game. Plus there's a finite number of officials and the grapevine is small, word would get around and its worth asking if 30 seconds of grief is worth a rep for being a pest/pesky presence. I mean I think we can all agree that little things like that are okay but Brad Marchand full out tonguing people goes too far.
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