A Day of Hockey, and Then Some

Like we needed to hear more about hockey? The other day, I was completely hockey-ed out, and we almost skated after supper. At some point you have to put on the brakes. I am doing the adult learn to play class, and man is it fun, though it’s early in the AM. It’s probably the only way I could do it without dragging the kids along.

After class, I went home and A&N were relentless in their quest to skate at our neighbor’s rink, so we packed up the gear and headed over. We have a lot of fun, and it’s a great way to get out and practice hockey, for everyone. N gets to pursue his passion, A gets to get her feet wet, and I get to indulge in my pseudo fantasy of playing in the NHL.

We then had hockey practice that night, and this is where it got interesting. In the past, their coach, DF, who is the embodiment of hockey, asked me if I was every willing or interested in helping out during practice. Now as you all know, I’m not a hockey player (I just play one on TV), but I enjoy toying around on the ice. In the past I’ve played with DF during open stick, and must have displayed enough proficiency for him to think I could help out. I told him I’d be happy to help, but don’t have much experience. I figured I could pass pucks to the kids or yell encouragement.

Well, that day finally came. I brought along my stick and skates, and went out there and tried to help, but in the end, I felt like I was just dead weight out there. The coaches have their drills down, I really don’t think they need another body out there, and I ended up just standing around and retrieving a loose puck here and there. If anything, I felt a little embarrassed and self-conscious, though N thinks it’s cool when I get out and help. At some point, I wanted to skate off and join the other parents on the bleachers, but you have to finish what you started, at least in front of your kids.

The other coaches were supportive, but I almost got a sense that there are discrepancies between what the main man wants and what the other coaches are happy with. With that in mind, I think my short tenure as a hockey coach is over, but it was an interesting experience.

Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to RIC for the pic.

Back in the Groove, Sort Of

It’s good to get back in the swing of our everyday lives, though some things are lagging a bit, including this blog. I can’t seem to find the groove, even though there is a lot going on, and we’re busy. That big holiday rush seems to have disrupted our daily rhythms, in more ways than one. Either way, can’t whine about, or can I?

As usual, a big chunk of our life is about hockey, and then more hockey. Even A is getting into the act, a bit, and she’s enjoying it, I think. It helps that her good friend CB is a player, and has an ice rink at home. We go over there and play, and A does a nice job. I think she is good on skates, and one thing I’ve learned is that playing hockey definitely takes your mind off the perils of skating, it makes you less afraid.

N is in a bit of a hockey frenzy, and I’m not quite sure what to make of it. I’m glad he loves the game, not just because I love it, but because he’s finding his thing. His sister has a large variety of interests, and he has in the past tagged along. Now he’s got his thing irrespective of A, and we’re all for it, but man is he into it. He wants to go out and play all the time. We lucked out in a way because our good friends and neighbors built an ice rink in their backyard, and not only do we get to skate, but even better, we get to play hockey with our friends. Two or three times a day, if we want. This helps in many ways because not only is it free, but it’s close, and we can practice hockey.

Even A has gotten into the act, though I’m not completely clear how much is just going along for the ride, and how much is genuine love for the game. I think she senses that hockey has become a prominent part of our lives, and doesn’t want to be left out, keeping in mind that in the past, almost every activity or interest that we pursued was her thing. Even still, I feel for her, and hockey is consuming. That said, I do think she enjoys it, and is quite accomplished at the game. Best of all, she goes for it, even in the face of being less experienced and perhaps a bit daunted. You have to give her credit for it, especially when her brother is not as supportive as he could be.

For the record, she is a great big sister, a fact that N might not fully appreciate. She mentioned the other day that she didn’t want to draw too much attention to her growing interest in hockey because she felt like it was her brother’s gig and she didn’t want to steal the spotlight. How cool is that? How many kids would be that considerate and selfless. I hope he realizes how lucky he is.

Anyway, that said, I don’t want her to think her place in the hockey universe is any less important, even though it sort of is since she doesn’t play. A few issues have come up, including some equipment questions. Everything she uses is second hand, except of course stuff that is a bit personal, like a jock. She complained that her gloves are small, they smell, and give her a rash. However, being a good sport, she said that she could live with it, but I feel little bad for her. New gloves would cost about $20, but the issue becomes, does she really need them? Then again, I don’t want her to feel neglected. My inclination is to get her new gloves, but we’ll see where this one goes.

One last note, the possibility of her playing in the girl’s development league came up, but we really have to see how this hockey thing with her goes. I don’t want to push it on her, but I do want her to pursue her interests, especially when I think it would give her an avenue to find a cool niche.

Boy, life sure is complicated when you become a hockey family. Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Jon Wisbey for the pic.

Car Repair

If you can believe this one, I changed the oil on Christmas day, which R kind of ribbed me about, but you have to seize the opportunity when you can, right? Christmas day was one of the few dry days when I actually had time, and granted, I could have just taken it into Jiffy Lube, but at some point you just get tired of paying for all that car repair. I may have only saved about $20, but there’s satisfaction in doing things yourself, at least for me.

Anyway, it highlighted a question I have about our new car. It came with synthetic oil, which is more expensive, but apparently offers better protection. Like I know the difference? It made me wonder if you can just put regular oil in the engine. They have sales all the time on motor oil, but not on the synthetic stuff. They say you can change the oil less frequently, but how do they know that? How do they know that it can go up to 7000 miles vs 3000? It strikes me as pure conjecture, but whatever the case, I figure I’ll do what they recommend, at least for now.

Our older car had some potential issues, as well. It makes this really soft squealing sound now and then, not very loud. In fact, you can’t even hear it when the radio is on. We thought it was a fan belt issue, that’s what it sounded like, only much fainter, and had the belts replaced, but the sound stayed. How’s that for a bummer. Our mechanic said to bring it on it and they’d look for the problem, but when I took the guy out for a drive, his hearing is so shot that he couldn’t hear a thing. Every time I told him the car was making the noise, he said he couldn’t hear it. I couldn’t believe it, the guy has lost his hearing.

In the end, he didn’t charge me for his time, and he said to just keep an eye on it. It will either get better or worse. How’s that for an answer?

Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Hector Landaeta for the pic.

The Hockey Life

Okay, like it or not (I’m the former), we’ve become a hockey family, and it’s almost comical. Perhaps the biggest surprise is how much R has come on board, and it’s a testament to how much she weight she places on the kid’s happiness, because the chaos and disorder that have inundated our lives are not the sort of qualities that she aspires to. Nonetheless, she is completely supportive of it all, mainly because she’s so happy that N has found his thing, at least for now. Somewhere down the line he may grow weary of hockey, it’s a pretty serious commitment, but for now, he’s loving it, and we’re loving it, too.

First off, there is the equipment, not just acquiring it, but taking care of it, as well. I don’t know if you’ve spent much time around hockey rinks, but one thing that really strikes you is the smell. Hockey players wreak, not unlike dirty socks, only stronger. Much stronger. Sometimes I wonder if they wear their aroma like a badge, but when those guys (adults, the kids don’t smell so bad, yet) come out of the locker room, the smell almost knocks me off my feet.

I can see where it comes from, the equipment gets soaked with sweat, but a little effort can help curb the problem, or asset, depending on your POV. After every skating session, we hang up all the equipment on the laundry line and let it dry for at least 24 hours, if not longer. It was fairly simple with just N, but now that A and I both have gotten into the act, we are talking serious amounts of equipment. Somehow R manages to get it all on the line.

Over the holiday break, we pretty much did one thing-you guessed it, hockey. Union Arena had open stick ice times every day, and we went to every single one, I kid you not. N was totally enthused about it all, and as long he was into it, I was fine with it, as well. I figured that he would be tired at some point, but every day, he asked if there was open stick, and sure enough, we were off and running. Personally, I had a blast, but I have to confess, I was pretty tired by the end of it all.

The winter has been lousy in terms of snow, but this worked out well for hockey, because all the people who came up to ski came to play hockey, instead. We had these amazing pick-up hockey games, with tons of young kids and several dads, who for the record were accomplished players in their own right. I was able to play because my role was really one of support, so all I had to do was play defense, get the puck, and once I had it, make sure I passed it to my son. The better youngsters are talented but not necessarily inclined to pass to the younger players, so that’s where the dads come in.

We had so much fun, and N got a lot out of it. Not only did he stay in shape and maintain his form during the long break, but he got some good ice time and really built up his confidence, a key aspect to this game. I see it in his play, he’s more assertive and confident, and willing to get into the mix and jostle a bit. I love it.

To add to the fun, A has gotten into the act, as well, and this is good on a number of levels. Not only is it great exercise, but playing a little hockey does wonders for your skating. Not that she needed it, but she is a little less physical than her brother, and you can see her confidence on the ice really growing. Plus, some of her friends are hockey players, and it opens up new avenues to meet other kids and find common ground. It’s loads of fun, making skating that much more interesting, and it helps her confidence knowing that she can do something that maybe she felt she wasn’t capable of at first. Plus, she’s good, better than she gives herself credit for, but the key thing is she’s at least trying it. Like Woody Allen said, 87% of life is just showing up. Even our cat is getting into the act.

Okay, as a final note on our hockey lives, for New Year’s Eve, what do you think we did? We went to the Dartmouth hockey game. They played a weekend tournament, culminating on New Year’s Eve, and I have to say, it was a great way to spend the evening. There were tons of families there, and we saw many of our friends. We went to both nights, and the players were incredible. I can’t believe how fast they skate and handle the puck, and we had a great time. I think we’ll go to more games, because they’re an affordable way to have a nice night out.

Now that the holidays are over, we can back to our regular lives... of hockey. We wouldn’t want it any other way, now would we?

Happy new year and until the next time, thanks for reading.

Here We Go Again... Maybe Not.

We ran into some more incidences that feed our parental neurosis, and I have to say, it’s yet another example of how being a parent who is too involved in their kid’s lives is not always such a good thing, for both parent and child. Sometimes you’re just better off letting things evolve naturally come what may... yeah, right.

A few years back, we had some drama with A’s best friend, YKW, and it was a complete fiasco. These things happen in friendships, and our goal is not to shield our kids from these things since it’s a part of growing up and maturing, not to mention developing resiliency. Even still, it’s hard to watch when your kid is on the receiving end of adolescent vindictiveness. I won’t go into details about the past, but I will say that it seemed terribly unfair, and I think this POV was vindicated by how the current state of our lives. Enough on that.

Now, we have new drama, and this time it didn’t come out of the blue. There are complex circumstances that make perfect sense, especially with young pre-teen girls, so when it started to develop, or at least seemed to develop, it didn’t take us completely by surprise, though again, it’s tough to watch. It was complicated by the holiday break, whereby A had lost contact.

Now we vowed not to internalize things and become too involved, so we sat back and just waited to see how things would be once school started again. Sure, there was some anxious anticipation on our part, but it was unfounded, because once school started and A got back into her activities, she saw her buddies and all was good again. I know this because I was standing there watching it all transpire, and I have to say, it warmed my heart.

Life is so complicated, why do we choose to make it more so? It’s simple, we have no choice in the matter. There is no question that more drama awaits us in the future because that’s just how life is, but for now, all is good, and I’m thankful for that.

Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Richard Styles for the pic.

Happy New Year

Hi Everyone,

Happy new year! Sorry for my absence, been getting back into the swing of things now that the holidays are over, and let me tell you, we've had to hit the ground running.

This is not a bad thing, just busy. Hope everyone had a nice holiday and best wishes for the new year. Thanks for reading, and thanks to Pedja Mi for the pic.

Watching from the Sidelines

Since our lives seem to be all about hockey, why not more? As long as N’s excited about it, I’m more than happy to oblige him. Again, he’s behind on the curve a little here, the more ice time he can get, the better. It’s always a little tougher playing catch up, but he’s getting there.

Now since I’m still in recovery, I couldn’t take part and had to watch from the sidelines. This is tough because I enjoy being on the ice, and if possible, make plays with N, even though he hates it when I meddle with his game. Plus, when you’re the only guy on the sideline, you always want to jump into the fray. Either way, I’d been told not to exert myself, so I sat this one out.

This actually worked out nicely because it gave me a chance to take lots of pics of N on the ice. We don’t really have a lot of good pictures of N on playing hockey, a fact that bothers me, though the truth is, it’s not easy taking pictures of moving objects, especially in the thick of a hockey game. Nonetheless, it’s not impossible. I also tend to be playing with him, so I can’t take pics, or I’m too busy cheering the games. Excuses, excuses. We’ve taken videos of him playing, but they are poor quality, and the still frames you get off video look terrible.

Since I was on the sideline, I could finally devote some time to pics, and it worked out. I took about 100 pictures, and some turned out nicely, though I’d like to get some of him in his game jersey. Have to work on that one.

Until then, thanks for reading.