Sean's team (Orange Crush, as they call themselves) had their first full ice game with refs and no coaches on the ice this past Sunday. We had to make it a whole experience. I can't tell you how fun it was for the boys.
The parents wore orange shirts and had signs and cowbells. It was so fun! We still lost but here's the funny part. The score was 7-2. Sounds bad BUT, we played this team early in the season and they beat us 17-3! Thankfully, the scorekeeper stopped putting it up after 5 but we parents keep track.
Our boys ARE improving. They are getting better every week. They are playing as a team. They are passing the puck, ON PURPOSE! They are blocking shots. Playing in their positions. AND they are learning ALL the positions.
The team we played this week obviously has a full time netminder. Our goalie-of-the-week was wearing the pads for the first time ever. But that's ok. The boys gave him a cheer anyway for giving it a good try!
Home game coming up this week. They'll be better this week than last week, I'm sure! ;-)
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Saturday, October 23, 2010
It's Not Always About a Winning Record
Well, after a brief (sort of) hiatus that included a hard drive crash and inconsistent wireless internet access, I'm back.
Sean's hockey season is well underway and luckily for me, there are NO seven o'clock game times! Yay!!!! Unfortunately for me, his team is 0-3.
It's heartbreaking to watch your child attempt something and fail numerous times, especially when it's something he loves so much. I sit there in the stands shouting encouragement to him and his team mates to no avail. I watch in horror with the other parents as the opposing team opens up and shooting gallery that ends with a score of 17-3. Mercifully, there was no score keeper that game and generally, they stop putting it up on the scoreboard after 6 or so goals. I feel very sad for my son to not know the feeling of victory. I feel like the coaches (including my own husband) should be doing a better job of preparing the boys for their games. I feel like I need to be the biggest cheerleader in the world to keep him excited about the game.
Then...I ask my son how he feels about it. He doesn't even notice the score. He noticed how his buddy passed the puck to him and he almost scored. He sees how good he's playing defensively. He knows how fun it is to get dressed in the locker room with his team and how they talk about hitting the arcade afterwards. He sees that his coaches are doing the best job they know how and making it fun for them to learn the game of hockey. AND he says, "maybe we'll win the next one."
Man, have I got a lot to learn about life.
Sean's hockey season is well underway and luckily for me, there are NO seven o'clock game times! Yay!!!! Unfortunately for me, his team is 0-3.
It's heartbreaking to watch your child attempt something and fail numerous times, especially when it's something he loves so much. I sit there in the stands shouting encouragement to him and his team mates to no avail. I watch in horror with the other parents as the opposing team opens up and shooting gallery that ends with a score of 17-3. Mercifully, there was no score keeper that game and generally, they stop putting it up on the scoreboard after 6 or so goals. I feel very sad for my son to not know the feeling of victory. I feel like the coaches (including my own husband) should be doing a better job of preparing the boys for their games. I feel like I need to be the biggest cheerleader in the world to keep him excited about the game.
Then...I ask my son how he feels about it. He doesn't even notice the score. He noticed how his buddy passed the puck to him and he almost scored. He sees how good he's playing defensively. He knows how fun it is to get dressed in the locker room with his team and how they talk about hitting the arcade afterwards. He sees that his coaches are doing the best job they know how and making it fun for them to learn the game of hockey. AND he says, "maybe we'll win the next one."
Man, have I got a lot to learn about life.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Hockey Rides Again
It's in the inbox. The roster for Limited Travel Mites. Sean has been assigned to Voorhees Team Orange! He's thrilled!
I am a bit less than thrilled with the evaluation process and the distribution of the 'talent' on the teams. Voorhees Black team has the sons of two two professional NHL players on their roster. That's THREE Canadians on one team! How fair is that???? Sean is looking at this and finding an upside, as he always does. He's just excited enough to be playing opposite those kids and the prospect of playing in front of their dads is awesome to him!
Luckily, my worst fear wasn't realized. We will NOT be having a 7 am game 50 miles away! Whew! Dodged a bullet there. AND most of our games are at home since we have two teams and a majority of the remaining games are at the rink very close to my house, again because they have two teams. Yay!
Practice starts Wednesday. First game on Saturday.
Onto NHL action, the Flyers have won three of their first four preseason games in a shootout. And only lost one game in a shootout. Four more games to come and then the real deal starts. I'll be glad to go to some games. We dropped our season ticket package back down to two seats so we'll be going to fewer games but that's ok. I'm still looking forward to it.
I am a bit less than thrilled with the evaluation process and the distribution of the 'talent' on the teams. Voorhees Black team has the sons of two two professional NHL players on their roster. That's THREE Canadians on one team! How fair is that???? Sean is looking at this and finding an upside, as he always does. He's just excited enough to be playing opposite those kids and the prospect of playing in front of their dads is awesome to him!
Luckily, my worst fear wasn't realized. We will NOT be having a 7 am game 50 miles away! Whew! Dodged a bullet there. AND most of our games are at home since we have two teams and a majority of the remaining games are at the rink very close to my house, again because they have two teams. Yay!
Practice starts Wednesday. First game on Saturday.
Onto NHL action, the Flyers have won three of their first four preseason games in a shootout. And only lost one game in a shootout. Four more games to come and then the real deal starts. I'll be glad to go to some games. We dropped our season ticket package back down to two seats so we'll be going to fewer games but that's ok. I'm still looking forward to it.
Friday, September 10, 2010
And Away We Go!
We're opening a new chapter in the little guy's hockey life...Limited Travel Hockey!!!! It's basically what some might call a "house league" in that we only play teams from our rink system. It includes five different rinks and we'll travel as far as 50 miles from home. The closest rink is actually 5 minutes from my house! Looking forward to those games!
Sean is absolutely thrilled with the prospect of playing in different "cities". He may be on a road trip "just like the big guys" he says. He also reported that he'll need to "listen to music to get pumped up for the games...just like the big guys do." We've decided to make a mix CD for this purpose. I only hope it lasts as long as the trip to Atlantic City.
I'm also getting "pumped up" for this new experience. I've heard these games are a whole different ballgame so to speak. One of our team mates last season got picked up to play a game with the house team (he's a goalie and they needed one badly). His mom said that the other mom's actually WATCH the game! LoL! I watch the games too but it's far less competitive at the mini mite level apparently. These moms were yelling, cheering and shouting when there was a bad call. I can hardly wait!
Jack is thrilled to be able to take his place with the other hockey dads standing on the top row of bleachers at the rink. That way he shout encouragement (I hope) to our boy and get a really good view of the action.
The down side to this will be my schedule. I work every other weekend and I HATE to miss a game! The 50 mile travel will also be pretty yucky when you consider a 7 am start time. Ugh! But there's always the LARGE travel mug of coffee to get me through.
I took Sean to the rink for stick time this week to shake the cobwebs off his skates and he looked like he never left the ice. He hasn't skated in about 2 months and really had no problem picking up where he left off.
This is going to be a great season for him and for me. It will be a growing experience for both of us. I can't wait!
Sean is absolutely thrilled with the prospect of playing in different "cities". He may be on a road trip "just like the big guys" he says. He also reported that he'll need to "listen to music to get pumped up for the games...just like the big guys do." We've decided to make a mix CD for this purpose. I only hope it lasts as long as the trip to Atlantic City.
I'm also getting "pumped up" for this new experience. I've heard these games are a whole different ballgame so to speak. One of our team mates last season got picked up to play a game with the house team (he's a goalie and they needed one badly). His mom said that the other mom's actually WATCH the game! LoL! I watch the games too but it's far less competitive at the mini mite level apparently. These moms were yelling, cheering and shouting when there was a bad call. I can hardly wait!
Jack is thrilled to be able to take his place with the other hockey dads standing on the top row of bleachers at the rink. That way he shout encouragement (I hope) to our boy and get a really good view of the action.
The down side to this will be my schedule. I work every other weekend and I HATE to miss a game! The 50 mile travel will also be pretty yucky when you consider a 7 am start time. Ugh! But there's always the LARGE travel mug of coffee to get me through.
I took Sean to the rink for stick time this week to shake the cobwebs off his skates and he looked like he never left the ice. He hasn't skated in about 2 months and really had no problem picking up where he left off.
This is going to be a great season for him and for me. It will be a growing experience for both of us. I can't wait!
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Summer is Over for Hockey
Sean had his last summer 3 on 3 game last night. I can't believe how great he's playing! I can only imagine how good he's going to play when he gets some real coaching in the fall. I'm even thinking of some additional private coaching for him. We'll see.
Fall Limited Travel evaluations are in September so Sean will have no hockey between now and then. I might try to get him to the rink a couple more times before then. I'm thinking of even hitting one of the other rinks like Atlantic City, which is where he'll probably play his summer hockey next year since we'll be spending more time there with the new boat.
Fall Limited Travel evaluations are in September so Sean will have no hockey between now and then. I might try to get him to the rink a couple more times before then. I'm thinking of even hitting one of the other rinks like Atlantic City, which is where he'll probably play his summer hockey next year since we'll be spending more time there with the new boat.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Amazing...
It's always amazing to watch your child. To see them learn and grow. To master a skill.
Let me tell you, watching Sean play hockey the other night was truly amazing to me. I can't believe this is the same little boy we put on the ice a year and a half ago in a Learn-to-Skate program. He's not only grown taller but he's growing as a hockey player.
Sounds funny to say but it's true. He's learning the very important skills of teamwork and leadership. I never realized it until I saw him the other night. He made it a point to pass to the open man instead of taking the shot. That's HUGE!!!! He was also the most vocal player on the bench. He was chattering to his team mates the whole time when he wasn't on the ice.
It's definitely a type of maturity that you don't see in a lot of other 6 year olds. I'm not sure if you see this with other 6 year olds in other sports. Again, that's something special about hockey.
I'll be interested to see what he does in the fall. Limited Travel here we come!
Let me tell you, watching Sean play hockey the other night was truly amazing to me. I can't believe this is the same little boy we put on the ice a year and a half ago in a Learn-to-Skate program. He's not only grown taller but he's growing as a hockey player.
Sounds funny to say but it's true. He's learning the very important skills of teamwork and leadership. I never realized it until I saw him the other night. He made it a point to pass to the open man instead of taking the shot. That's HUGE!!!! He was also the most vocal player on the bench. He was chattering to his team mates the whole time when he wasn't on the ice.
It's definitely a type of maturity that you don't see in a lot of other 6 year olds. I'm not sure if you see this with other 6 year olds in other sports. Again, that's something special about hockey.
I'll be interested to see what he does in the fall. Limited Travel here we come!
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
And now it's summer...
The summer cross-ice 3 on 3 has begun. My little guy had an amazing game! I'm so proud of him! He scored at least 3 goals and was skating all over the place! I loved watching him doing some backward crossovers!
Now, that being said I'd like to comment on listening to the professionals. At the end of the last cross ice season I was a little ticked that Coach wanted to keep Sean back in cross ice until the fall. I felt like he was ready to move to full ice hockey and didn't understand why Coach didn't want to move him up. After tonight I totally understand and will listen to the experts on this since I am just a MOM and know very little about youth hockey!
One of the parents in our group felt that her son was ready to be moved to the next level. From mini mites to mites/squirts. After his first game tonight he said he didn't like it. The other kids were definitely bigger than him. They were faster than him and have more experience on the ice. Sean, on the other hand, was kept back in mini mites for another round of cross ice and let me tell you, he did wonderful! It's giving him confidence to play with kids that have a little less skill than he does. He's getting more time on the ice. He's the senior guy on the team! His skills have improved and I'm glad Jack didn't listen to me when I said he needs to move up!
Always listen to the professionals when it comes to youth sports! That's my words of wisdom today.
Now, that being said I'd like to comment on listening to the professionals. At the end of the last cross ice season I was a little ticked that Coach wanted to keep Sean back in cross ice until the fall. I felt like he was ready to move to full ice hockey and didn't understand why Coach didn't want to move him up. After tonight I totally understand and will listen to the experts on this since I am just a MOM and know very little about youth hockey!
One of the parents in our group felt that her son was ready to be moved to the next level. From mini mites to mites/squirts. After his first game tonight he said he didn't like it. The other kids were definitely bigger than him. They were faster than him and have more experience on the ice. Sean, on the other hand, was kept back in mini mites for another round of cross ice and let me tell you, he did wonderful! It's giving him confidence to play with kids that have a little less skill than he does. He's getting more time on the ice. He's the senior guy on the team! His skills have improved and I'm glad Jack didn't listen to me when I said he needs to move up!
Always listen to the professionals when it comes to youth sports! That's my words of wisdom today.
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