Saturday Evening

It is Saturday evening here in our little Herd house. We are almost through the last tournament of the year and then hockey is over for another season. The boys will still have some practices as long as the ice is in the rink but the grueling pressure of organizing games and all that is done. Mykayla is winding down in skating as well except that she will have the opportunity to do a few weeks of Spring School.  The boys have a couple hockey schools in Saskatoon lined up and we want to get Myk into Summer Skate in Saskatoon on the weeks that the boys go to hockey school.

Taylor’s team is full of drama again but it did make for some exciting hockey. We won our first game last night 11-4. This afternoon they played a team from Cold Lake (where there is no hitting in this division.) It was a rough game. I stood at the end of the arena watching and saw one goal scored that should have had the whistle blown as the team kept digging the puck out from underneath Taylor.  Then Taylor actually received his first penalty ever. He caught the puck in his pads and one of the players from the other team punched him in the head. The player then got knocked down after the whistle blew but he continued to kick Taylor in the face and chest. Taylor, in what seemed a defensive move to me tried to push his skates away and one of his buddies from his team went after the player. The end result was the Taylor got a 3 minute major for roughing, and the other two boys got 3 minute majors as well. I was told later that the player from the other team should have been ejected as he was kicking but I guess the ref didn’t see it that way just like he didn’t see that what Taylor was doing was protecting himself. Then not even 5 minutes after that one of the players held Taylor down with his stick as another player came up and scored a goal. I guess the ref didn’t see that one either.

Well they placed 2 in their pool of three and went into the play off game tonight. I missed the game as Noah is not feeling well but they were up 3-0 then down 4-3 and then tied 4-4 with 1 minute left in the game. About three minutes into the overtime period they managed a goal and took the game. So now when I thought we would be able to go to church in the morning we will be watching yet another hockey game.

The stresses of the week are coming to a close. They are still there but life moves on and as we go through everyday we begin to plan and rationalize and strategize on how best to handle them. I hate being ruled by finances and that seems to be where our life is at right now. I feel like it just takes away so much from the task of living life and it is such a waste of time to worry about those things. But that is what we do.

And in the midst of it I know God is there somewhere. I struggle finding the words to say to Him. I know He is listening and when words escape me I just hope He has the patience to read between the lines.

On the positive I mentioned briefly that the kids had awesome report cards. And they really did. All three of them had consistent A’s and B’s with Taylor and Myk averaging in the A and Noah somewhere around B+. This has likely been their best report cards yet and so for that we are thankful that they are adjusting and learning and growing.

Well that is about it from here.  To those of you in NWT, Alberta, BC and everywhere else but SK have a Happy Daylight Savings.

The End of Another L-ooooo-nnnn-gggg Hockey Weekend

This weekend as a few friends were whooping it up with the ladies I was yet again ferrying kids around from arena to arena and working volunteer shifts in the canteen and raffle table while my husband did that little thing known has work. 

Taylor lost 2 out of his 3 games to place third in their pool. They played 2 very exciting games today for the play-offs on the B side. The first one came at a very early 7:30 in the morning. They played Kindersley and he enjoyed his first shut out of the year at 6-0. The final was this afternoon against Melfort, a back and forth game that at the end of regulation time was tied up at 2-2. At the end of a 3 minute overtime they were still tied up. Therefore it went to my favorite thing and the thing I hate the most. The shoot-out.  My favorite because Taylor usually does very well and it is his time to shine. I hate it because it is him and the shooters and there is no room for mistakes and if they lose then there is no one to blame but the goalie. His first shot he saved it. Then his cousin shot and got the goal for their team. It was so cute to see them pound each others gloves as they crossed paths on  the ice.  Taylor back in the net for the second time and their shooter makes the goal. Now it is the Stars turn again to shoot and their little hot dog number 17 makes his shot. Finally Taylor goes back in the net. He needs to make this save.  Melfort takes the shot and my boy the goalie “ROBS’ the guy. They win the B side Final in 3-2 shoot out win. Pretty nice way to end the weekend. 

Noah’s team had their final league game today as well.  He tried so hard to get some goals he had a break away and two other shots on net. His dad told him if he got two goals he would get a new psp game… That sort of lit a fire under his butt. And those goals will come as long as he keeps going to the net like today.

I actually did well with the planning of the weekend and as usual our friends and cousins helped out as well (not to mention my mom and dad doing some babysitting duties) I made dinner Friday and took it to mom and dads. Saturday I had lunch at home with Myk and her friend while Tay was at the rink with the boys and Noah was at the cousins. For dinner on Saturday I had lasagna I made ahead of time and fed 3 hockey boys and 2 figure skating girls in time to go back for the 7pm game. Today we did A&W after the hockey game for breakfast, did rink food for lunch and leftover lasagna for supper. We were able to have some play time at home and the kids did not have to live at the rink all weekend.  Trust me this is an accomplishment as usually the weekends are filled with rink food, fast food and little time in our own home.

Mom and Dad stopped by and Dad had some lasagna as well and after they left I hibernated in my bed and Tay fell asleep in his at 630. The other two are just headed to bed now at 830 and I am feasting on popcorn and pop while I watch the Oscars. I love my bed.

G’nite

UPDATE: Jennifer Hudson just won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. Not bad for an American Idol contestant who didn’t even get close to winning but if she never auditioned who knows where she would be now.

February Break AHHHHH

So it is the time of year that I have missed since I was in 12th grade.  February break. Laura says she doesn’t know why they have it. Well I know why. The history is that for years in Prince Albert there was a week in February that was Winter Festival Week. There were different events from dogsled races, The Country North Show, The Winter Festival Queen Pageant and some weird beard growing contest. Around this time they always had a three day teachers conference so there was no school for the whole week.  For a while when I was young they tried to do away with the whole week off and kept it to just the 3 day teachers conference. After several years of trying to get people to show up for those 2 days of the week I think the school boards gave up and switched it back to the full week off to allow people to take part in the various events around the city.

In Yellowknife, the last two weeks of March are always Spring Break. Every other year one of those weeks is spent in Arctic Winter Games mode. Alot of the kids travel to wherever the games are being held and compete in hockey, figure skating etc. as well as some really bizarre Inuit Games.  I always enjoyed Spring Break but after a life time of having a week off in February and another week at Easter time,  I always liked the split time off.

Now it is my kids turn. The bonus is that this year it works out that it is Trevor’s time off as well. We had planned to travel to BC to see Trev’s mom and dad and to try some downhill skiing.  Unfortunately Minor Hockey decided to start playoffs this week. An idiotic move in my opinion but I don’t get to have a vote. So because we have the only goalie on the team who doesn’t want to miss playoffs we cancelled our plans and decided to stay home this week. It is not a bad decision. We look forward to sleeping in and relaxing with each other. Trev registered the boys in hockey camp this week for 4 days this week in Saskatoon. They headed off this morning and were home by 530. Tomorrow will be a repeat but they will have to be home by about 415 because Taylor has a 5 pm playoff game.  On Wednesday we have decided to all go out and spend some time in the city. We will take the opportunity to spend some time with our friends there and just enjoy more family time.  We will spend the night and come home Thursday if we don’t decide to just keep going and maybe head to Regina for the weekend. It will all depend on if Taylor wins tomorrow night, then he will have a game Thursday.

In some ways it sucks that it is so cold out that we can’t really enjoy some outdoor stuff but at the same time I really love to just snuggle in and spend some time at home too.

Hockey Hockey Hockey

So I have been trying to post this for my husband and my boyz. I hope I finally got it figured out.

Hockey Again

I know alot of posts are about hockey lately but really that is what is going on for this family right now. And if I look at the other crap that we are dealing with with my mom, my dad, and my brother (not to mention marital woes) hcokey tournaments and games are a good distraction.

So both boys are in tournaments this weekend. Noah’s team played three games yesterday in Meath Park. In spite of Noah’s lack of drive to skate, they won all three of their games. They are having a good season and they have a great coach.

Taylor is in a 12 team tournament this weekend. 3 teams per pool. They placed first in their pool. Their first game was 4-3. Their second game was 7-2. The second goal was a penalty shot. They play this afternoon at 12:30 and if they win that one they play again at 5 for for 1 place.

There are 3 other teams playing in this tournament that play against us in regular league. One team is also playing today to try to get into that 1st place game. One team placed second in their pool. The third team is C’s team. Unfortunately C broke his arm on Thursday and his team lost both their games over the weekend.

So it looks like our boys are doing well. Go STARS!!

It Would Seem As If We Are Moving In The Right Direction

So since my last hockey post there has been a bit of a shift in the Atom II Stars. Right after Christmas the played St. Louis and won. Then came the Rangers game of 9-2 but we will move on from there.

They played a game against Shellbrook and won (they have won all their games against that team.) They played against the second place Sharks and lost 4-2 which is a not a bad score to lose by. At least it shows that they can compete.

They played in a tournament in Shellbrook one Saturday and the won 2 out of three games.

Then last Saturday they were in Wakaw. They played Waldheim first. They won 16-2. Then they played St. Breuix and squeaked out a win of 3-2. They then played for first place against St. Louis. They won that game too. 4-3. We weren’t there to see it as we were at Steak Night. Thankfully the cousins were there to cheer him on and he was very surprised when we showed up at their house after the Steak Night to give him the Twoonie Stick that he won. We kept the money since we were the ones that entered his name in the draw. But he got a pretty awesome Synergy stick with a stick bag.

Then came tonight. They were up against the Rangers for the fourth time this season. The scores previously have been something like 11-2, 6-2, and 9-2. This little team goes up against these bigger guys and they hardly stand a chance. We have about 8 out of 13 players who are first year Atom players.

There is one kid on the other team that I noticed last game was short, very stocky, couldn’t skate very well and couldn’t shoot very well. Stopping was another thing he hadn’t quite mastered. In fact the only thing he could do well was plant himself in Taylor’s crease and block his vision. He is bigger than Taylor and virtually unmovable. Taylor finally told his defense in the last game to get the kid out of the way but unfortunately it was too little too late. Tonight he was more prepared for this kid. The defense was more prepared as well.

We came out strong tonight. Our guys scored the first 2 goals in the first period. That got one of the Rangers coaches a little steamed. At the first intermission Taylor told his defensemen to get on top of “The Wall.” He made it clear that this kid was in his way and no matter what he did the kid never moved. The kid was also swearing at Taylor and spearing him with his stick when the puck came near. Those little defensemen really took the gears to him after that. It didn’t help much since he likely outweighs them all by about 20 pounds but at least they kept the pressure on and didn’t give him much of an inch.

Halfway through the game the score was tied. Then with about 7 minutes left in the second, the Rangers scored making it 3-2. At the beginning of the third period the game slowed right down. The ice was heavy I guess after not being cleaned between games. Taylor had taken about 20-30 shots while the other goalie had maybe seen 6. With a couple minutes left in the game our coaches tried to pull the goalie (Taylor) but a door malfunction made it difficult to get him off the ice and so the refs tried to call “too many men.” I guess they figured it out and we were not called on a penalty. In the mean time the clock had run down to almost nothing. Somehow there was a face off and our Number 8 “Heavy J” they call him on the team, grabbed the puck and carried it down the ice along the boards coming in and taking the shot with the clock running down 5,4,The goalie stood there not even moving. Heavy J took the shot. 3.2. The puck went up, the goalie stood there. The puck sailed up over the goalies right shoulder. 1,0. Game over and The Stars tied the game up and if it weren’t a league they likely would have had a chance in a shootout. Really I felt like we were in a live shot of a Mighty Ducks movie.

It really was Great Hockey. One of the kid’s Grandpa stood up at the end and said that “the goalie kept us in the game.” His daughter pointed at me and said the goalie was my son. My response, “He is good in spite of me. He works really hard.” I don’t think I have heard so many people cheer so loudly over a tie before. Boy did we need that. To us, to our kids that was a win. They performed the best they ever have against that team. They deserve to be happy over that 3-3 tie.

And this Mom, well as I said Taylor works really hard. I was so proud that he showed leadership of play in stating to his defensemen how he needed support. He performed well and I would hope in part to the talk we had on the way to the game. He said he had to figure out a way to get the “C” Kid. I told him to play his game. I didn’t want him to worry about anyone else but the things he needed to do. He (and the team) doesn’t need to and should not worry about what the other team is doing or is going to do. He needs to focus on being a goalie. Tonight he was a pretty good goalie.

UPDATE: Just to remember how brutal grade school can be….
You know Taylor’s friend “C”? I guess he was at school today saying it was just a fluky win because everytime he was on the ice there were at least 2 guys covering him. I had to laugh when Taylor told me that cuz I am pretty sure that is the part of the game. Cover your strong opponents! I would think that would be the reason that their coaches told “The Wall” to stand right in front of Taylor. Some kids are just poor sports. We have one of those on our team too. He is not a strong player and yet whenever we lose (which is alot) he tells the other team it wasn’t his fault and proceeds to blame everyone else. He then blatantly tells Taylor that it is his fault they lose and counts off to Taylor all the shots he “should” have saved.

The good thing about all of this is that I think with every comment and subsequent discussion Taylor and I have, he is learning and maturing. He is gaining good sportsmanship, compassion and sensitivity.

Attention: Fundraiser Steak Night

I am way behind on this but I need to say this now.

There is a cute little Novice Hockey Team in Prince Albert and they need your help!
If you live in PA and like Steak and Potatoes then this is the deal for you!

Saturday Jan. 20
Steak Night at Mug’s & Jug’s Ale House
5:00 to 8:00 pm
Steak, Potato and Caesar Salad
Tickets $15.00 each

Please Please Contact Me to join us this Saturday.
It should be a fun fun evening.
There will be some gift baskets to be raffled off.
Well and Trevor Herd of The Blog may even sign a few autographs.

Come on out and support those cute little Crescent Heights Novice Stars

Leave a comment here, email me or phone me or Trevor at home or on our cell phones.

Randall, Lauralea, Marc, Dixie, Steve, and Lisa take this as your official invite to join us and have an evening out.

So What Is A Mom To Do?

So Taylor’s team lost another one last night. It was to likely the best team in the league. It was a heart breaker. 9-2. And they didn’t score those two goals until the third period. I sat with some people from our team who spent the entire time talking about how good the other goalie was and how our team just couldn’t get one past him. I felt like screaming that my kid ranked first so maybe it isn’t just their goalie that is good but the rest of the team. But I didn’t. I just got up and moved.

Then tonight Mykayla says to me in front of Taylor that Taylor’s friend “C” who plays on the other team is mean. She says he is always coming up to her and saying that Taylor’s team are losers and they always lose. Okay can I say she is only 8 and why does the 10 year old have to brag to her?

Then Taylor began to cry and say that “C” spends the whole day after a game saying “9-2, 9-2, 9-2.” Not only that but then some of the other kids have joined in. Kids that don’t even play hockey.

So now I am at a dilemna. Do I let it go? Encourage Taylor to move on. I did encourage him to talk to “C” and ask that the hockey game be left at the arena. Do I go to the principal for advice on how to handle the situation? Or do I call his very nice mother and explain how this is making Taylor and Mykayla feel and try to come up with a solution? The last thing I want to do is offend anyone. But at what point do I risk my own child’s feelings.

Hockey Blues

Well tonight Taylor had yet another hockey game. And tonight they lost yet again. Dissapointment reigns in this house tonight.

Last year Taylor played on a team that seemed to have everything against them. There were kids on the team that had never played hockey before. Some kids never really turned up for practice and Taylor was a first year goalie. They had a coach who was new to town and he never really felt comfortable with how the system worked in Yellowknife. They lost and they lost alot. They had one kid on their team who was a good player but you can’t really win games with one confident player.

This year in Prince Albert, Taylor was ranked number 1 out of the 14 Atoms goalies. We felt good about that. He was put on a team that we thought was pretty strong. They came out and won their first 3 games. They were feeling good. Then they lost. And they lost and they lost. We have played probably 13 games and we have won 4 and tied 2. We have lost the rest. The kids struggle every game. There is lots they fall short on. We have good kids on the team. So why is it that they can’t seem to buy a win?

I know I know it is just a game and they are just kids. Last year we had several people say to us “Well at least he is getting lots of shots.” Yes he gets lots of shots but how do you sit in the dressing room night after night and tell your kid that there is a positive to losing time and time again.

And tonight when we came home our boy was up in his room. His dad went upstairs to say good night and Taylor began to cry. He thinks he sucks. He is the goalie and when the score is 6-1, 8-1 or 9-3 it is hard not to look at the goalie. It is hard for the goalie not to look at the goalie. It is hard to tell your 10 year old that alot has to go wrong in a hockey game for one kid to be able to score 7 out of 9 goals. It is not all the goalie. It is the defense not being there to protect the breakways and the rebounds. It is the forward line not keeping the puck in the opponents zone. It is the way that noone plays their positions and noone passes. And yes, it is also the goalie not keeping his stick on the ice or keeping the weak ones out.

The frustrating part is that there is very little we can do about all of it. The coaches need to pull these kids together. The kids need to go out and play with a better attitude and as parents we need to tell our kids we are proud of their effort and know that they when they do their best they will be successful.

It still sucks to lose but we know winning isn’t everything.

I Really Want To….

post something here but I am just too tired. Have been up since 3 a.m. and on the highway to Saskatoon at 4 a.m. airport run, shopping trip and Goal Tec lesson. Came home to 1 hockey practice, one hockey game and 4 very exhausted members of the herd.

More tomorrow…..