April 15, 2019 at 3:36 p.m.
Youth 3-on-3 league a throwback to days of pickup hockey
Youth 3-on-3 league a throwback to days of pickup hockey
The winter hockey season finally came to an end last Monday night, with the Rhinelander Ice Arena holding the final night of its spring 3-on-3 program.
RHS boys' hockey coach M.J. Laggis said the league generally had six teams during the six-week season with games on Sunday nights, and an end-of-season tournament last Monday. Participants ranged from squirts and peewees all the way up to bantam and high school players.
"It's a great time when the ice is still there to do something really fun - which 3-on-3 is - and get kids working on their skills," Laggis said.
The rink held a 3-on-3 two years ago when the Blizzards junior hockey pregame rented ice from the venue, extending the winter ice season into May. After taking a year off, Rhinelander brought the league back this year.
"This year, the way it worked out with the men's tournament, we had about five weeks and we said, 'Let's utilize it,'" Laggis said.
Because the league ran outside the high school hockey season, and because high school players participated, Laggis could not run the show directly. He turned to Doug Nelson, a fellow RHS teacher, to facilitate the league.
"He did a great job organizing it," Laggis said. "We actually surveyed parents and are in the process of thinking about how we're going to revamp it, retool it and grow it."
One of the benefits of 3-on-3, according to Laggis, is the ability for kids to simply get out on the ice and play in a less structured environment.
"If you look at baseball, football, soccer, hockey - you pick your sport - for the most part we're in a day and age when kids get there, they're getting coached as the get on the field," he said. "They're going to this drill, and this system. Everything is choreographed. I think 3-on-3 really harkens back to a day where kids figured it out on their own and played together.
"A great example is, when we started the league, the younger kids, the squirts, they needed a coach out there to say, 'This is how you play 3-on-3. This is how you play tag-up hockey.' It started awfully slow but it got better as it went. I think it forces kids to talk and communicate about what they're doing and it forces them to work on their individual skills."
Two years ago, with the league started, the RIA included teams from other areas. Laggis said he and Nelson are in the process of taking feedback and considering how to expand the league and make it more competitive for subsequent seasons.
"I'm always looking for things that make hockey better and that was a good use of ice time," Laggis said. "Right now Doug and I are saying, 'OK, that was good, but what can we do now to make it a lot better.'"
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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