It is mid-August, and work is beginning on organizing the upcoming fall hockey seasons. Here is a reminder of the opportunities to skate.

Monday Night 50+ Draft League
Flint/Lapeer Oldtimers Hockey Club
Registration is open. Grab your spot early as this will fill up. We expect to have ice time for 11 teams again this season. Same format as last season with the top eight teams in playoffs and consolation games for the bottom teams. 25 games, $418 per player.
Take a look at that Championship Team on the registration page – Gears Beer Hockey! 🙂

Quick update on the Summer 50+ Draft League. Monday night will be epic as we have three potential outcomes for the season. Gears Beer Hockey is the undisputed winner in the Goals Against category with only 16 goals against for the 11 games played. (I had to point that out:) But Lockhart is just a point behind, and Phantom is two points behind. Lockhart plays Goyette at 7 pm and Gears Beer faces Phantom at 10 pm, the last game of the season. Phantom earned a win against Gears Beer 2-0 in June. So we could have Lockhart as Champs, or Phantom would win if Lockhart loses, and they beat Gears Beer Hockey. A win by Gears Beer Hockey on Monday night will clinch the Championship.

Tuesday 50+ Flint Arrows Hockey Club Draft League

Rory Sayers and a few others have organized a four-team draft league to begin this fall at Dort Event Center. There is a waiting list to join. They are looking for a scorekeeper.

Wednesday 60+ Draft League 

Our Wednesday drop-in skate is about to be killed by a 60+ Draft League. It is looking good for four teams to play Wednesday afternoons starting around 3 pm. Sign up is on the CFH website.

Sunday Early (Former EHL) Hockey League

After ten years, I’ve stepped back from running the Sunday morning league. I’m grateful for the many players who encouraged and helped build our league. Darrrel from CFH is hosting a team manager meeting this Sunday to go over the bylaws and get things started. The competition level of this 40+ league has been ramping up over the years, and I expect this to be even more competitive this season. Game times are typically 9 am until 12:15 pm for starts with three games for six teams. 

Sunday Draft League at 810 Sports Complex 

The 30+ draft league continues for its second season at the 810 Sports Complex (Iceland). Game times are 5:45 and 6:45 pm with four teams. Cost is $450 per player and includes beer. They will expand to six teams if enough interest. Join them here.

Quick Note On Game Play vs Drop-In

Most of you reading this have likely been along on my hockey journey for the last ten or more years. Big thanks for helping to make this such a fun sport and community. Before I started the league, I was running two sheets of ice, Wednesday Night and Friday Night. Wednesday night had been Tim Huss running it for a long time. There were some Blue Veiners and a good mix of players for our 7:30 pm drop-in. Friday night had been run by Kevin O’Brien for some time and moved from Iceland to Crystal for a competitive 7:30 pm skate.

Over the years, it became harder to get the ice times as we would be bumped or moved back consistently and then players became scarce as league play increased with the rink starting Wednesday and Thursday night leagues. 

An organized drop-in remains my favorite skate. Over the last decade, I’ve tried a few different technologies to organize the drop-in skates. I’m always amazed at the willingness of players to adopt and use the technology. It really does make a difference to have the right mix of players, the correct amount of players, and equally divided into teams with dark and white jerseys. After using websites, our own app, and learning what we really need and don’t need, I’ve perfected a system that makes it easy for anyone to build their hockey player list and run some ice time, Perfect Skate. I encourage you to jump in to run a sheet. It is way easier with our automated reminders and simple tools for players to join or leave a skate as needed without taking up your time. What used to take a good three hours a week is now handled by the system. 

My big reason is that you get way more ice time during a drop-in skate versus a game. Here are examples to compare. I grabbed our Monday night game and a drop-in from a Wednesday skate. I wear an Apple watch with the Hockey Tracker app to get the intel. Mostly, I monitor my shift averages and heart rate to make sure I’m all good.

Look at the difference in total ice time and number of shifts!

That said, if you’re 50+, join my Gears Beer 50+ and other lists I have set up on PerfectSkate.com to get invited to some Friday night fun in September.