Old-tyme Hockey League

We are an adult Novice ice hockey league that plays Sunday nights at the Space City Ice Station. We are located south of Houston Texas in the NASA Clear Lake area. 

You can get added to our mailing list by sending entering your e-mail address on this page.

What the OHL offers:

• Three seasons per year
• Great social atmosphere on and off the ice
• Evenly matched teams
• Playoff MVP award (Con Symons recognition)
• Stonely Cup (with Championship team player's names engraved)
• USA Hockey certified referees
• USA Hockey Rules
• USA Hockey Supplemental insurance
• Max of 13 skaters per team
• Reduced rate for goalies
• Detailed stats and standings updated quickly...Career stats too!
• Awesome web page, with current photo albums and news (www.theohl.com)
• Message board
• Mixed league for more social fun
• Captains to keep information flowing and teams organized
• Events with the Aeros (Play like the Pros, discount offers)
• Penalty minutes used for tie breakers
• First time players fit right in!
• Evaluations for new players
• Happy players, and more stuff we haven't thought of yet!

What the OHL doesn't have or tolerate:

• Festering animosities (by mixing up teams)
• Tolerance for rough play, bad attitudes
• We don't allow any substitutes (No ringers)
• Unhappy players!

OHL Team Selection Process

• Each team consists of a goalie and a minimum of 12, and maximum of 13 skaters. Teams will be drafted with equal numbers, though another (max 13/team) skater may be assigned due to odd numbers or late sign ups with the concurrence of all captains and the league board.
• Each player is assigned a rating on a 1 - 10 scale. Ratings from multiple league officers are averaged for each player, and updated following each season. Ranking is most difficult for the player we have never seen play before. We attempt to get all new players to come to a drop-in where they can be give at least some sort of rating. These are the players that usually make the teams swing one-way or another. We do everything we can to scout the new players. We note the primary position of each player so we can try to create a balance of offense, defense and utility players on each team.
• Some players come as a package deal so we have to keep track of the spouses and commuters. We also take into consideration if you ask to play on another player’s team because you know them or work with them. Having a chance to be on a team with different players each time help everyone get to know each other better.
• We note who the ladies are so we can split them evenly among the teams. This is mainly to keep the ladies locker room from getting more crowded than it already is.
• We also need to determine who the volunteer captains are going to be. The captains have a few requirements we like them to commit to. You can find the captain's requirements below.
• We build teams by selecting the players as they are rated and just start assigning them to teams straight down the list by position. Team 1 gets the highest rated player while team 2 gets the second highest rated player. Team 4 will get the 4th and the 5th rated players and we had back the other direction giving team 3 the 6th rated player and so on.
• If team 1 gets the strongest Offensive player then team 4 will get the highest rated Defensive player and we assign the players the other direction from team 4 to team 1 instead of from team 1 to team 4.
• All the while we have to look out for things like keeping some people on the same teams if they had a reason. When an extra player comes in a package deal, other players are given to the other teams as well or whatever looks right at the time. Some of this is subjective. We just have to do what looks right.
• While we are assigning the teams we are monitoring the teams average player rating making sure they aren't too out of whack.
• After the core teams are selected the captains all look at the teams and try to determine if the teams are as even as we can get them. The captains have to be subjective here because they don't know what team they are going to get stuck with.
• Once the 4 teams are filled with players we are left with: 4 teams without captains, 4 teams made up of captains and their balancing player and 4 goalies. At this point we have the captains draw their team number out of a hat.
• We then assign the goalies to each team giving the best goalie the lowest rated team and so on. We may assign the goalies before the captains.
• We leave the team color selection up to the captains on how they want to select them.
• Basically from season to season you should only hope to be on the best team once every 4 - 6 seasons depending on how may teams there are. You should be on the worst one once every 6 seasons too so enjoy it and quit complaining.
• Hopefully everyone will get a chance to hoist the cup above his or her head.

OHL Captains-Criteria for candidacy:

1. Maintain reliable communications capability in all of the following:
    a. Telephone
    b. E-mail
    c. Web access
2. Willingness to accept responsibility to disseminate and collect relevant league
information
3. Willingness to support organizational, planning, and disciplinary actions outside
of established game times
4. Ability to ensure players have an opportunity for equal ice time
5. Willingness to address disciplinary actions with team members
6. Basic understanding of the flow of the game and position responsibilities, and the
ability to express same

Guidelines:

1. Upon team assignment, contact each member and inform them of your contact
information and first game time
2. Provide a complete contact list (phones. emails) of the team members, league
officials, and rink management to the players at the first game
3. Be prepared with position assignments for the first game
4. Know each players experience level, and try to pair novices with experience to
help explain as the game goes on
5. Identify a forward and defensive “assistant” to help manage line changes and ice
time
6. Encourage camaraderie, and team spirit
7. Allow players the chance to play different positions as much as possible

Expectations:

1. Perform and maintain all criteria for candidacy
2. Demonstrate self-control and good sportsmanship
3. Demand self-control and good sportsmanship from your players
4. Respect the official’s calls

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