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For new arrivals to this country, one sure-fire way to integrate into Canadian culture is to start playing hockey.

But if you're from, say, Algeria, or India, or any other country where heat is the norm, chances are pretty good you've never donned a pair of skates in your life.

That's where the Dollard-Montreal Ball Hockey League (DMBHL) comes in.

"A lot of immigrants to this country can't necessarily skate, but everyone can run, so we get a good mix of players," DMBHL co-president Michael Woodall said. "If you're not that good, we've got a league for you."

He's not kidding.

Since its birth in 1991 with two leagues, 22 teams and 378 players, the DMBHL has grown into a ball hockey behemoth.

This season there are over 2,000 players, from teenagers to forty-somethings, on 140 teams in 17 different leagues, including a women's and mixed league.

Though it is focused on the West Island, the DMBHL also attracts teams from as far away as Anjou and Brossard.

Woodall, co-president Normand Plouffe and vice-presidents Bhavesh Patel and Oleh Kaluzny each spend up to 15 hours a week running the league, not to mention the time they spend playing with their respective teams.

Woodall says that as the league grows in popularity, however, the demands of the players grow in step.

For about $100 a season, a player gets referees, rink time in six West Island arenas, a Web site with updated league standings and statistics, an all-star game and trophies at the end of the year.

The newest innovation this year is an automated statistics generator developed by Woodall, a software development manager by trade, which eliminates the massive paper trail accumulated in years past.

"I find expectations are so raised today," Woodall said. "If you're a league like ours, people want to see stats within 48 hours."

The league has become so immensely popular that local NHL players have used it as a way to stay in shape for the summer. Peter Worrell, Bobby Dollas, P.J. Stock, Manny Fernandez and Georges Laraque are just some of the players who have laced up the sneakers in past years.

"I had to play against Laraque, that wasn't fun," said Woodall. "I was playing defence and I had to move him from in front of the net. It was impossible, he was like a wall."

Woodall said the pros, who are used to the rough stuff in their day jobs, are always on their best behaviour.

"P.J. Stock won our Norris Trophy (for best defenceman), and I couldn't believe it when I heard he was a fighter in the NHL," Woodall said. "He was such a clean player in our league."

Of course, the league is less about Joe Superstar than it is about Average Joe.

Eric Pelletier, 36, one of the longest-standing players in the league, joined in 1992.

He says the beauty of the DMBHL is that it allows people to continue playing when their bodies and reflexes begin going south because of the wide skill range of the various leagues available to them.

Pelletier spent the first eight seasons of his DMBHL career playing in the "A" and "B" divisions, the top two in terms of skill. Now he has dropped to the "E" and "F" divisions, but he still gets to play with the same guys he started out with in 1992.

Another fun aspect for a player with Pelletier's longevity is the fact the DMBHL keeps track of career scoring statistics, and even inducts five players a year to the DMBHL hall of fame.

"It's hard to get in to the hall of fame because if you have 140 teams, that's about 2,000 players a year," said Woodall, the league's second-leading all-time scorer who was inducted into the hall with the initial class of 1991. "So when you only pick five, it's quite an honour."

Anyone wishing to check out the caliber of play in the DMBHL can watch the league's best players in action in the All-Star games this Saturday from 2 to 9 p.m. at the Dollard Civic Centre, 12001 de Salaberry. Spectators are welcome.