Asunto: Flight from hockey?

Perhaps it's just because the summer is here (and people don't think about hockey as much in the summer), but I've noticed a ton of teams quitting this season in my league.

I mean, I'm in division III, so I normally have teams come and go... but this season, I've seen 6 decent/long-standing teams go dead ([hockey_team=34760][hockey_team=83812][hockey_team=83780][hockey_team=79032][hockey_team=61709][hockey_team=94270]. One of those teams has been around since season 4, and a couple of the others are close to 8 or so seasons old as well.

I was actually thinking I might have some competition when I picked my bonus GS contract, but now it's pretty much down to just me and one other active team ([hockey_team=90951]) in the division.

Has anyone else noticed any attrition? I looked at the "number of teams" in the USA Hockey profile, and it's dropped about 50 from the last time I checked it (a couple of months ago).

I guess i just think it's kind of crazy to see all of those teams drop within a couple of weeks of each other.

I think it's just another example of why PPM should really look to revamp some of it's aging products.

Well that's stupid... aparently the forum links don't work for dead teams.

For anyone who cares:

hockey.powerplaymanager.c...
hockey.powerplaymanager.c...
hockey.powerplaymanager.c...
hockey.powerplaymanager.c...
hockey.powerplaymanager.c...
hockey.powerplaymanager.c...

I suspect it will perk up once October rolls around.

The turnover tends to be really high below division II, especially in the higher leagues (like 14) that are populated by teams that try out the game for a few days and then quit.

Nono... I know that. All the teams im talking about had been around for at least 2 seasons though. One had a level 13 S.A..

Looking at those teams, a few were relatively new (~2- seasons), the Flying Refrigerators were an old team that often approached the brink of losing their team even back when I was in II.2 with them (and they quit after being relegated to division III after struggling in division II for many season), and the other teams probably got tired of being stuck in division III. One of the older ones seems to have already started 4 new teams.

In any case, it is hard to make games like this interesting to new players while also not penalizing the older players and while making the game interesting to older players who have maxed out their facilities/potential.

I played the game in the beginning (look at II.3 for HC Crusaders as well from seasons 1-10) I quit for a long time and decided to come back to look at the new sports mostly.

I'm finding it extremely difficult to advance in hockey since teams that are relegating are too tough to beat and I won't have any homegrown talent for at least three full seasons. In addition, players that would actually improve my team are still being sought by bigger teams as bench/potential players and I cannot financially compete especially since I must build facilities to even begin to be competitive in the long run.

Old good cheap players while build arena and HR. Im still doing it and it works quite well for relatively new teams.

I did the same thing. Left for personal reasons, and then decided to come back and see how good I could do. Used to be the River Rats in Division II (don't remember the league, and the team has changed names). I did what Mrbrightside098 said. Buy cheap, over-the-hill players, use the real money to build the arena and facilities. I got back to II this season, earlier than I expected. So, it's a real struggle and I may get relegated at the end of this season. But, it can be done!!

I dare say there's more fun in climbing up and trying to stay up than being stuck in 6-12 of I.1 for season after season.

Never made it to I.1, First start was in Div III (I think) and I made it to Div. II. Generally stayed in spot 7-12. This time around, I started in Div IV and now I am in Div II. I can't complain. I would have liked another season to prep for Div II. But, I just refuse to let myself throw a game even for strategic reasons.

So again, hockeydude25 it can be done. You just have to be smart about it and think long term.

Well, at least I am not the only one that took some time off and have come back. I kinda got burned out from having a team that was a 11th/12th place team in Div II and not gaining really any ground to be a top 8 team.

Now I'm back with a new team and going to see what I can do to be even better. Seeing that we only have III Div is kinda sad, but hopefully it will improve and there will be more competition.