Profile
Started in 2015-16 by MPSC’s first hockey coordinator, Kevin Coyne, the Original Six League is a predominantly C/D adult, inclusive, mixed-gender house hockey league that runs two seasons per year: September – March (Fall/Winter), April – August (Spring/Summer). All games are held at MPSC.
Concept/Description
We are a league of hockey enthusiasts made predominantly of C-level players. Most teams are multi-gendered, and all teams are encouraged to field teams that play solid hockey in the interest of growing the community and enjoyment factor for everyone who plays at MPSC.
Games are held mainly on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and early Sunday evenings. Teams typically play once per week with a periodic bye week or week here and on rare occasions with more than one game in a week due to special circumstances and tournament play.
Currently, all teams play each other once to establish tiers. Two tiers of six teams are established, and teams within a tier play each other once for a total of 16 games for the entire season (pre- and post-tier). We have 96 game slots allocated for the 2023 Spring/Summer season, and the 16 games for 12 teams use all of them. So, champions are decided by record within their tier rather than round robin, elimination playoffs at the end of the season as we have done in the past when there were fewer teams.
Players must be 18 years or older to join a team. We have players near that younger threshold, but most of our league is made of players in their 20s-40s. At the same time, we have a good handful of players in their 50s and 60s and possibly beyond that in a few rare cases.
Our league allows players of moderate skill and self-control (i.e., high C or B) to play so that friends, family, and couples can play with one another. These higher-level players are monitored and expected to “pull it back” when they are on the ice, as the majority of players are out for fun, exercise, and friendship. It is fun for no one if a skilled player dominates a game, period, or even several shifts over the C-level, rec-minded majority. As the league grows and develops, we are looking to build a separate league, especially for skilled players, or take a full-season tiering approach while continuing the recreationally fun-centered foundation present in this vibrant Original Six League. Within the fairly evenly balanced team skill sets we have now, players can and do play all-out, but they try to pick their match-ups (esp. if they are moderately skilled).
All players must be registered with USA Hockey and rostered on a team to step on the ice for a game. All rosters are filed with USA Hockey and AHAI. Our officials are all current USA Hockey officials, staffed through AHAI schedulers. Our MPSC facility fully supports our officials as professionals as much as we support our players. We do everything by the book: in other words – no Wild West, no BS (or as little as possible). IDs are checked at the door, attendance is recorded, and everything on the ice is done by applying USA Hockey rules, AHAI regulations, and a few additional house rules. Teams come ready to play hard, have a good time, get some fantastic exercise, get off the ice without injury or incident, and help us grow the game through their being open and inclusive participants in our league.
Adult Skills Development
To give our hockey community improvement and exercise opportunities, we offer a weekly Adult Skills/Drills/Full-Ice Scrimmage class that meets on Sundays. The class is open to anyone with basic skating skills and full equipment. It is held on the full MPSC sheet and is a combination of skills/drills, power/edge and then a full ice scrimmage at the end. The session is professionally coached by MPSC hockey and skating staff and provides physical and skill-level challenges for all levels. We provide the class at 1/2 price to all Original Six League players as an additional benefit to our teams and an extension of our commitment to self-improvement, league advancement, and growth of the game itself.
