About WNYSSH / ROCSSH
How the league came about...
We are a weeknight hockey league so you can keep your weekends free but still keep the kids skating once a week! This aforementioned concept is our bread and butter, the original concept of WNYSSH, and now carried over into ROCSSH. Most, if not all spring & summer hockey leagues are on weekends... Not ours! Again, we only play on Weeknights!
In the beginning, up-tempo 5 on 5 hockey with limited whistles was the original concept, but initially that idea did not come to fruition. Then came the thought of cross-ice 3 on 3 hockey which promotes the small area skills promoted by USA Hockey's ADM! This style game is also an important part of development and keep our "pond hockey" style concept! This style of game is something that reminded me of playing on the streets and ponds as a kid... Those games were some of my favorite memories as a child! As WNYSSH grew, we circled back to our original idea and have added the full ice leagues as a compliment to the cross-ice hockey.
What do we mean by "Pond Hockey" style? Youth Hockey today is so structured, games have all kinds of rules like offsides, icing, and coaches use breakouts, set plays, etc... there is not a lot of time to just go play where positions are fluid, try some things with the puck you normally would not do on the ice and just play to basically coach yourself and have fun like we did as kids on the streets and on the ponds!
I'm not saying to be a puck hog on the ice, but get creative, hang onto the puck, try to shake a defender and make a play! Are we keeping score? Yes, but forget about the score of the game. Who cares if you give up a goal, or turn the puck over, just go out and play, push yourself to become better by adding more skills and quicker decision making. Goalies, please do not worry about the goals against! Read plays, work on your footwork and getting set before the puck arrives... But, most importantly for everyone, HAVE FUN whether you are winning, losing or not even paying attention to the score of the game!
Check out the Cross-Ice League Rules & Regulations below for more details.