Gym - Hockey Squad

[kawalsky.livejournal.com]

[OOC: Set some time late Thursday afternoon/early Thursday evening.]

"Hey guys, welcome to the first meeting of the Fandom High Hockey Squad. Our faculty sponsor is Coach Duncan MacLeod. For those who don't know me, I'm Charlie Kawalsky.

Now, we're a squad instead of a team because the school administration has decided not to fund any road trips for us and Fandom Town is too small right now to host any visiting teams on a regular basis. So once we get some of the skills worked out, we'll be splitting up into intra-squad teams and playing against each other.

So. Hockey. Some of you guys have played, some of you haven't. That's cool. Aim of this first session is to work out who needs to learn what so we can all get to a standard and go from there.

Those who know how to play can teach those who don't. We've got this area booked for the rest of the night, so you can stay as long as you want, or go when you've had enough. Just let me know if you wanna drop out so I can keep a record of who's going and who's staying.

I've managed to rustle us up some equipment, so we'll try a little bit of everything today so everyone can get a feel for the game."

Kawalsky explained the basic rules to everyone [OOC: See second LJ cut below]. He then passed out a rulebook. "Don't worry about getting it right straight away. We're gonna play some easy games once we get rink time somewhere and sorta just learn as we go. This is just meant to be fun and give extra-curricular credit. Oh, and later in the semester we're gonna be playing an exhibition game against a visiting team. I don't know when, though, so I gotta wait to hear from Dean Bristow about that. I'll let you know when I do."

[edit: For the purposes of this practice, we've arranged for one of the magic types to ice up a section of the gym for us to practice on until we get a rink. There is also a non-iced section for those who just want to practice on rollerblades.]



OOC - Team Line-Ups
The rulebook is NHL rules, but we're not going to be anywhere near that picky. This is just casual fun and the rulebook is for player purposes. We're gonna go for two teams comprised of six players each if we keep the numbers (ie: one line-up, no shift changes). If we can only manage five a team, I'll mess with the positions. We'll need the following:
* Two centers (the guys who do the face-off)
* Two left wings (the guys to the left of the center who receive the puck up first)
* Two right wings (the guys to the right of the center who receive the puck up first)
* Four defenders (two per team, they hang back a bit and are good at keeping other players from doing their jobs)
* Two goalies (they're gonna have to learn to catch and block and they don't have to skate so much, just stay balanced and stop the puck)

So if you have a position preference, say so! We can always change around depending on the game if too many people want one position.



The Way The Game Works
To save those of you who have never seen a game before from having to do a lot of research, the game will basically work like this. You have a rink. There is a goal net at each end of the rink. Goalies try to protect that goal net. They have extra padding and a wider stick and a glove to catch any flying pucks and a better face-cage helmet so they don't get hurt.

Everyone else skates around, paired up with their opponent on the other team (ie: centers stick together, one defense teams up with the opposition's left or right wing) and tries to use their sticks to slide the puck to each other to get it past the opposition's goalie into the net. Shoving, slamming into the wall (when the person has the puck) and blocking your opponent is allowed. Using your stick to hurt or pretend to hurt or trip another player isn't allowed.

[OOC: Separate threads set up for sign-in, position requests, puck handling practice and skating practice. Most of the time we'll just be playing and messing around. Today is just to give the pretense that we're 'learning'.]

Comments

Sign In

[kawalsky.livejournal.com]

Kawalsky passed around the sign-in sheet, then left it on the bench for any latecomers to sign in.

Re: Sign In

[whitedeathpod.livejournal.com]

John signs in.

"I can't wait to slam some guys into walls."

Re: Sign In

[neptune-wallace.livejournal.com]

Wallace signs in, looking around to see if he recognizes anyone.

Re: Sign In

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

Bridge signs in and bounces excitedly in his seat as Kawalsky explains the rules of the game.

Re: Sign In

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

Cameron signs in.

Re: Sign In

[janet_fraiser]

*thinks there should be an observers section* *cheers everyone on in spirit*

Re: Sign In

[likeguidelines.livejournal.com]

Barbossa signed in. Although the idea of pirates on ice was rather a frightening one, he figured he should get out and interact with the rest of his classmates in addition to mocking them on the radio.

Re: Sign In

[krycek-rat.livejournal.com]

Krycek signs in, looking somewhat bemused.

Re: Sign In

[suzotchka.livejournal.com]

Ivanova signs in and begins lacing up her skates, humming to herself. This is going to be fun.

Re: Sign In

[actingltcrumpet.livejournal.com]

Archie signs in, looking like he's having second thoughts about this whole idea. The ice makes him nervous, but then, so do the rollerblades.

Re: Sign In

[psycho-barbie.livejournal.com]

Callisto signs in looking emo like she wants to hit something.

Re: Sign In

[marieann-d.livejournal.com]

Rogue signs in, lookin distincly nervous and uncomfortable. Mentally, she's cursing Logan and his hockey fetish.

Re: Sign In

[harried-potter.livejournal.com]

Let me try that again, yeah? Harry is here, and his mun did not at all make anon comments :S Ah well, it's early

Positions

[kawalsky.livejournal.com]

If you have a position preference, say so here.

Re: Positions

[whitedeathpod.livejournal.com]

"I wanna hit people. I know that's cliche' but I'm not that good on skates but I can knock people down."

Puck Handling

[kawalsky.livejournal.com]

Everyone gets a stick and a partner to practice moving a roller hockey puck around.

Re: Puck Handling

[kawalsky.livejournal.com]

Or a regular puck if you're using the iced section.

Skating

[kawalsky.livejournal.com]

Inline skates/rollerblades abound! And safety equipment. Gotta have helmets and kneepads and elbow pads and the like. Everyone can strap themselves in. "The aim today is just to learn how to balance. If you can figure that out, then you can move on to learning how to move forwards, then backwards if you're really good. You can sign the blades out and practice with them for the week. Just make sure to bring them back. Stay away from any main roads until you get the hang of it."

Re: Skating

[whitedeathpod.livejournal.com]

John straps on a pair of skates and a helmet. It's been a long time since he's been up on skates so he stumbles and falls five time before being able to get himself going.

Re: Skating

[kawalsky.livejournal.com]

[edit: there are also ice skates to use on the iced section of the gym]

Re: Skating

[neptune-wallace.livejournal.com]

Wallace grabs a pair of ice skates, laces them up and steps out onto the ice. It's been awhile since he made it to a rink.

Re: Skating

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

Bridge looks back and forth between the rollerblades and ice skates for a minute before finally opting for the ice skates.

Suiting up, he heads out onto the ice and begins to skate around awkwardly.

Re: Skating

[likeguidelines.livejournal.com]

Barbossa saw the rest of the team falling on the ice, and made a grab for the rollerblades.

He took off his pirate hat and replaced it with a helmet with some distaste. The kneepads and elbow pads were also not adding anything to his overall pirate motif, but he was more concerned with being able to walk tomorrow than making a complete idiot of himself.

He strapped on the rollerblades, stood up and wobbled like Captain Kidd after a three-day bender.

He took a step and fell over, shooting across the the floor. "Damn ye fer a blackhearted piece o' equipment!" he yelled.

Re: Skating

[krycek-rat.livejournal.com]

Taking a pair of ice skates and the requisite equipment, Krycek started out on the ice. It had been a while, but it wasn't terribly difficult to get back into the swing of, thankfully. He didn't know anyone there, really, so he started out with circuits, getting used to the feel of the skates again.

In the Bleachers

[kawalsky.livejournal.com]

Spectators can heckle here.

Re: In the Bleachers

[janet_fraiser]

*munches popcorn, watches mostly manly men*