Thursday 5 June 2014

REC League Hockey With A Difference

By Martin Cleary 

Imagine a men’s recreation hockey league where players wear either black or white sweaters with no numbers, individual stats aren’t recorded, there’s no playoffs and captains can make trades on the fly to improve league parity.

Imagine the players and the referee dressing in the same room. Imagine eight sides of six players each, merged into four teams to play two games each week; teammates one week, opponents the next.
Imagine the referee calling a minor penalty and, instead of having the player sit for two minutes, he awards a goal to the other team. Avoid a contact penalty because that will cost you two goals.

John MacBeth doesn’t have to imagine because he has revolutionized his small slice of the hockey world, creating and sponsoring a men’s recreational league with all of those elements. His idea was simple: pure hockey, plenty of speed, and players respecting players in a spirited contest.

Statistics, rough play, suspensions and politics have been ejected from his game.

Three years ago, MacBeth, president/CEO of Mobileyes Solutions Inc., was reviewing his recreational hockey season with his friends and they weren’t happy about it. That’s when MacBeth, who also was tossed out of the Glen Cairn Men’s Hockey League in 2013 for his edgy play, decided to start from scratch.

“We can change the environment and create a new design like in business,” MacBeth said. “Why not turn it (hockey) upside down. No sacred cows. How can we create a safe environment (and have) mutual respect in a game as fast as hockey?”

The eight-team, 48-player Mobileyes Solutions Invitational Hockey League completed its first 30-game winter schedule in March to rave reviews. Nobody cared about the final standings or the fact there were no playoffs. There wasn’t a single player ejection, suspension or appeal.

Each of the eight teams had six players, including a captain, and they played once a week. The league scheduler paired one team with a different team each week to make four teams for two games.

It’s competitive hockey without the rough stuff, off-ice grumbling and hearings. It’s hockey in an oval of friendship.

“It eliminates the tribalism which is indoctrinated in men’s league hockey — us versus them,” says MacBeth, who held the season-ending meeting with the four goalies, eight captains and two referees to review the year. “It’s us versus us. The real accomplishment is getting it (that philosophy) in your head.

“The president is a facilitator. I’m responsible for discipline, but I have nothing to do. We had the odd slash or hook (penalties), but nothing beyond. What I’m so proud of is, it’s fast, hard competition. Every night we play versus our buddies. We want to beat them in the spirit of competitiveness, but not hurt them.”

Here’s the league’s season-ending Facebook posting on April 1: “Well, that’s a wrap. Great season — congratulations to whichever team won the championship.”

No fooling.