Busy Hockey Weekend with Drama

We had the crazy hockey weekend this past week, the kind that R dreads because it signals that we’ve become something we said we’d never become: sports parents who cart their kids everywhere. What made this weekend difficult was that both games were kind of far away. To complicate the matter, our new car has a leaky tire, so we had to take our older car. Looking at the bright side, at least we had a second car, otherwise we would have been doomed. A was invited to go to the winter faire with her buddies, so she went to that while we drove N to his game.

The first game was at Norwich University, which I had never been to. What a beautiful arena, the nicest I’ve seen so far. The college is a huge hockey school, champions, no less. The kids had a great game, and I think they dominated. N scored about a half dozen goals, and we were all thrilled. The drive up the 89 is a little brutal, harder than the 91 in my opinion. After the game, we headed home, picked up, and then tried to run some errands. I still needed hockey gloves, and A needs new ski boots, or at least bigger ones. My new hockey OCD is targeting a new stick for N, but more on that later.

We were short on time, and I was not able to do all the things I wanted to do. Bummer. I did get some hockey gloves, however, buying the cheapest ones I could find at Stateline. They were $39, and as much as I hate to pay full price, I figure that was as good as it was going to get. Used hockey gloves are kind of disgusting, anyway, and I simply could not find a pair that fit me. I browsed at hockey sticks and was shocked at the fact that many of them were over $100. Is that insane, or what? Not for an 8 year old boy, thank you. I’ll have to do more research and scratch that OCD itch.

We didn’t make it to the ski shop, either, but such is life. The funny thing is, we were about to head over to Henderson’s to take care of her boots when N yelled out, “Don’t forget about the cat.” There goes that plan. We called mom and told her we were going to be late, drove back home to get the keys, and then fed the cat and fish. Luckily, we were only about 10 minutes late. We picked up mom, headed over to eat, then went to see the tree lighting, only to find out that it happened the night before, on Friday. We’d missed it, and the kids were bummed, especially N. He gets a little grumpy on these occasions, mainly because we missed out on cookies and hot chocolate. I can’t say I blame him. We went elsewhere to get treats, but it’s not the same as being at a big party.

The next day, Sunday, was a little more challenging because the game was earlier, and we had things we had to do on Sunday, like laundry. R woke up early and washed the clothes, and we managed to hang them up and get out the door only about 10 minutes late. The arena in Lyndon was farther than I thought, and I think we were the last ones to get there. We still had time, but you realize that some of these families don’t mess around and make punctuality an art form.

The arena in Lyndon was not the nicest place. It’s sort of famous for being cold and not so lovely, but I have to say, I’ve never seen a more lively bunch of parents/fans, and how can you complain when you have your own ice rink. Most towns don't even have an outside rink. As for the fans, they stood the entire time and were yelling and screaming. It was a bit unnerving. Their team was huge, not just in numbers, but physically, as well. The kids looked older than 8, that’s for sure. Also, they had twice as many players, not that it made much difference, however, because our team dominated. I think we scored twice as many goals, and it was never even close. N did a great job, he didn’t score any goals, but he had many chances, and came really close.

After the game, we made the long trek home but stopped to eat and let R get some work done. We also got our Christmas tree, but more or on all of this later. For now, I have a hellish Monday to obsess about.

Until then, thanks for reading, and thanks to Petr Kovar and for the pics.