Coaches would appreciate players who play two way hockey. They’d admire their penchant to try something new, to play a different way, to stray from the norm and go against the grain pursuing a bunch of a better way to play. Any level of goodness requires this investing. If one does not experiment with new ways no new gameplay capabilities can unfold. Good coaches encourage these traits in players.
Hockey is a social game but is it more domineering than assertive according to the game constraints promotes today? I see a tricky authoritarianism in hockey that handicaps playfulness.
most play is social play. Social play is the academy for learning social skills.
The reason why play is such a powerful way to impart social skills is that it is voluntary. Players are always free to quit, and if they are unhappy they will quit. Every player knows that, and so the goal, for every player who wants to keep the game going, is to satisfy his or her own needs and desires while also satisfying those of the other players, so they don’t quit. Social play involves lots of negotiation and compromise. If bossy Betty tries to make all the rules and tell her playmates what to do without paying attention to their wishes, her playmates will quit and leave her alone, starting their own game elsewhere. That’s a powerful incentive for her to pay more attention to them next time. The playmates who quit might have learnt a lesson, too. If they want to play with Betty, who has some qualities they like, they will have to speak up more clearly next time, to make their desires plain, so she won’t try to run the show and ruin their fun. To have fun in social play you have to be assertive but not domineering; that’s true for all of social life.
Excerpted from the play deficit by Peter Gray. https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-play-deficit?fbclid=IwAR2HDsbupgwnmO17LqSyh9Gd_ENdZVZeX6rJibJB9eo7YI3cKo4f_sqqoZs
https://twitter.com/historyinmemes/status/1557066043134279686?s=21&t=4IMJL1o0gCR2URhNXpT5Dw
Kadri is back in the Stanley cup final Avs line up. It’s debatable whether he is more practically useful to his team than the next man up because of his injury. But he’s definitely more emotionally useful to his team displaying to everybody that he’s will doing to do whatever it takes for the team to have success including getting surgery and returning to the lineup at less than 100%. The motivation underpinning the actions of all involved in Kadri’s case (one we’ve seen on so many occasions throughout the nhl playoffs historically) is the essence of two way hockey and why the game must be played this way for everyone involved.
https://twitter.com/brianroemmele/status/1534754174809673728?s=21&t=NPhEA0YB7SovcOzhahAFOg
I had a Mens league game the other night. We lost in horrible fashion. All was quiet in the room after. Here’s a note I wish I could pass on to the boys:
Morning boys tough showing the other day. I've been reluctant to say much because I didn't know where to begin. Simply put there's a real shortage of playfulness and rationality in hockey. The whole game is a power trip. Teammates don't support each other and there's no allowance for mistakes. That's why I play it straight because especially at the higher levels the savior-ism is disgusting. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. I'm gonna change the game.
In comments following the NHL Bruins win against Carolina, Bruins Coach Cassidy said, “You need your scorers to score and your muckers or checkers to be physical and block shots. That’s what makes a well-rounded machine.”
Is hockey a game or a productive machine? The former breeds sovereign individuals while the latter breeds automatons. As fans the hockey we accept defines our liberty and our losses.
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“The best language is the one which brings together in the highest degree, clarity, variety, and elegance.” -Ingres by Pach p188
Two way hockey stands for this.
Why are these not a part of the hockey skill lexicon?
https://twitter.com/hockeythinktank/status/1511016900641370112?s=21&t=ex2zUoOjfDFxCMmK0YDNpw
“The most obvious distinction between various kinds of lines is the distinction between straight lines and curves. Straight lines will always express rigidity and stiffness while curves will suggest some sort of growth or motion; but straight lines vary in expression according to their position and direction. The horizontal line is always suggestive of repose; it is the line of resting water, of the earth of alluvial plains, of everything that has reached a state of equilibrium. The vertical line is a line of stability, of direct opposition to the force of gravity, of strength and vigor. Most compositions in which the sentiment of restfulness and enduring peace is to be expressed are built on a combination of verticals and horizontals. Oblique straight lines vary in expression according to their combination with other lines and may express anything from tottering to vigorous thrusting; but they nearly always express some form of motion.
As straight lines express strength, so curves express softness, and the softest of curves are those approaching the circular or made up of sections of circles. An infusion of straightness into a curve will give it stiffness and vigor, and the most lively and elastic curves are those approaching straightness at one end and curving more and more rapidly toward the other… All these characters of lines may be the result of association or they may have some deeper reason, but they are there, in the lines themselves, without regard to what the lines may be used to represent, and are among the most valuable means of artistic expression.” Cox Concerning Painting p130
I had dinner with Mathieu Schneider, head of the NHLPA. He said that two way hockey was too early, that I was ahead of my time. He never said it wouldn’t work.
A variety of tools is important in giving the student an experience in the use of several kinds of material; thus he is made ready for any emergency that may arise from a deficient supply and has an opportunity of discovering for himself the medium best suited to his individual technique. Bement p. XI
There is a joint that handcuffs hockey. This joint is stuck and is crippling the game. Disturbing it is necessary for the game’s duration. Displacing it by shaking hands binds the game to a more natural harmony.