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!

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.

Summer Season Starts Tuesday

Sean has his first Summer 3 on 3 Cross Ice game on Tuesday. He'll be on Team White. There are 3 teams in his division. It goes pretty quickly since there's only 8 weeks of games and some weeks we have two games...like this week!

Ironically, Flyers Rookie camp also starts this week.

Another Hockey Break

Sean will be taking a brief break from hockey for the occasion of his sisters' graduations from high school! Yay! Of course that means college. It's times like this that I wish I had encouraged more sports activities with my daughter. Can you say scholarship?

I know, realistically the chances of a child getting a sports scholarship are small but it certainly can't hurt.

Summer for the Hockey Mom

Now that the Stanley Cup finals are over (what a heartbreaker) it's time for me to focus on my own little hockey star.

We're finishing up the spring mini-season and will be starting the summer 3 on 3 cross ice season. That should take us into August and finish up just in time for fall limited travel evaluations.

Now, I've been thinking about this quite a bit. The whole limited travel business. That's what it is, a business. We knew going in that hockey is an expensive sport for both watching and playing. Here's a bit of math. In our limited travel we will be required to travel as far as 45 miles to the farthest rink in our system. Not too bad. That's about an hour each way. Add that to a seven o'clock game time (potentially) and we're looking at leaving the house as early as just a shade before six AM. Ugh! Little did I know that this youth hockey was not just going to cost me a lot of money but a lot of sleep as well! That's still a little way off though for me to worry about it yet.

The rewards are huge though. The sense of team that my child and I will experience will far outweigh the slight inconvenience of losing sleep. I am reminded of an article I read in a hockey magazine. It was about the village that raises a hockey team. The parents of all the kids join together to cheer the team on, watch the siblings, make the game and the whole experience enjoyable for everyone! I can't wait to learn this first hand.

Deflated...(sigh)

Well, it's over. The Flyers season ended Wednesday night in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals. It was a sad day in Mudville. Well, not exactly. Our team gave us an amazing ride. By most accounts we should never have even made it this far. Some even said we shouldn't have made it INTO the playoffs! Do I think they are right? Heck no! The Flyers are full of drive and passion. That's something I hope I can instill in my son. Professional sports do have a place in child-rearing, I believe.

I don't have anything more to say except, "there's always next season."

Nailbiting, Flyers pizza and..Identity Theft...???

Aside from being busy canceling credit and debit cards due to identity theft (don't get me started on THAT whole thing), I've been making a weekly appointment with my manicurist. Doesn't sound very hockey-ish. Oh, but it is. If you're a Flyers fan, you'll understand.

We've been biting our nails since the last game of the regular season. As I've previously stated, it's been an absolutely insane ride to get to this point. But here we are preparing for Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals! Game 1 should have been thrown out since it was basically a track meet followed by a shooting gallery. Both teams admitted they didn't play their best hockey. Game 2 was tighter although it didn't have the outcome I wanted. Now Game 3? THAT was a hockey game! Both teams fought hard but MY team (and dare I say, the better team?) won! I can't wait to see what's on tap for Game 4.

Julie, our hostess for all the games this playoffs, is working midnight shifts for Games 4 and 5 of this series. She will go without sleep before she'd go without hockey! Henrik the Swede, wakes up at two in the morning his time to watch the games with us via internet! THAT'S a real hockey fan! And about that Flyers pizza. We order from the same place every game. The thing is, the scoring doesn't begin until the pizza is delivered. Superstition? Well, call it what you will but we're not messing with a good thing!