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.
