Re: Being a Hockey Parent
 

Wow it's been a minute since I posted here. My kid graduated high school and we just dropped him at college. Here he is with his new college coach Joel Cormier when he visited Cam's U18 team last year. He's attending Eastern Kentucky University.

http://i.imgur.com/iM03EEa.jpg

Re: Being a Hockey Parent
 

^^^Awesome, Scott!!!

Re: Being a Hockey Parent
 

Very cool, Scott!

Re: Being a Hockey Parent
 

Early season. Two banners and crushing with the boys(12U) and started out okay with the girls(15U), 3 games 9 points (7G/2A).
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/...sb6ntsxcf.jpeg

(Pic, in Denver, off camera view)

Re: Being a Hockey Parent
 

Almost unbelievable start for the Little One with the girls. Has 35 goals in 12 games(a 12U playing 15U). Gets shut down regularly after the 1st, not to mention getting a shadow defender regularly(this happens with the boys as well). Wish we lived in Boston or Minnesota, would be fun to compete with far better competition & girls her age(though the girls are great friends, she’s fine age wise).

http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/...smmgoopcs.jpeg
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/...sudodohl0.jpeg

Re: Being a Hockey Parent
 

Been a minute. Lifes been crazy traveling with the kid. California is the wrong state to play AAA hockey. Next week we go to Quebec for 10 days.

Had a little coaching and player drama this year but whats a youth hockey season with out it.

If anyone sees a ccm p46 in right hand shot intermediate please buy on spot. CCM causing me hell discontinuing my kids curve in anything but adult. WTF

Re: Being a Hockey Parent
 

Great to "See" you, Mike! Have fun in Quebec!

I am not familiar with the pattern, but I'll look for it in the two hockey warehouses I frequent.

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Was in western chicago earlier this year for tbe ccm invitational. We should be back in Chi with a spring team or next season. Will try to set something up. Think it would be good for the kid to meet the boss.

In all honesty we Cali boys are soft. I dont know how you guys in the mid west do it. Coldest I have ever been was Chicago in winter -15 with wind abd it looked like a beautiful sunny day

Re: Being a Hockey Parent
 

I assume you’re in Canada right now, Mike. I hope it’s been a fun and successful trip so far for M.
I’ll check the Pure Hockey here for the Int 46.... They tend to have a bit of leftover stock, but don’t inventory many Int sized sticks.

Re: Being a Hockey Parent
 

Hope we can get something together then, Mike. It will be warmer then too. :D

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Found the last 3 P46 sticks in Quebec. Hit all the stores in the area. Also found a Warrior W71 curve is so close and still in production. My understanding is that its a Malkin pro stock clone.

Quebec was a lot of fun. Boys made it to Quarters but were eliminated by a very solid Quebec area team that lost in the championship.

We just finished up states and did better then expected. Beat the Jr. Kings once and then lost to them with 6 seconds left in the 3rd very close game. If we had beaten them we would have made the finals. Kings won states.

He started playing roller again. Playing for middle school. Also playing on a travel team that is all kids from his Jr. Sharks team.

Already panicked about next years tryouts.

Re: Being a Hockey Parent
 

He'll do great, Mike! :tu

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Today was cut day. M survived. We lost 5 skaters from last years team and it was a very hard day. A very succesfull AA club in the area had a mass defection to our club. We had 1 kid from our team who is now going to boarding school and 1 who moved away before tryouts. So in all 7 new skaters to the team. This time of year is the absolute worse i felt so bad for 2 of the boys that my eyes got a little watery when I saw them getting pulled aside before the list was posted. Those boys had been on the team for 4 years. Having to tell your child I know hes your friend but at tryouts you have no friends on the other side just sucks. M smoked one of the kids who was cut a few times.

M has been playing a lot of baseball lately as well. Hes been on some tournament teams and its so different from hockey. Here in Cali there are so many travel ball teams and not making a team just means you make a different team. There is so much less stress with baseball. I had prepared M for the worst and told him he would be able to play more ball and we wouldnt be as broke. He was a ball of nerves all weekend and tried to mask his happiness when he found out.

Being a hockey parent is tough. On the flip side now that its bantams I get to worry about concussions. The 04 team had a kid who got 3 last year and cant play anymore. Hes done permanetly. Well theres always baseball.

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Good to "see" you, Mike, and I wish M all the best with whatever he chooses.

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Good for M, congratulations on a successful tryout & more OT shifts to pay for it!:r

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After shutting down the offer to billet w/ the Lady Ducks, the Little One signed with the NAHA Prospects...should be interesting. Thoughts and prayers for my AMEX.

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:lr :tu

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Bought a SPARX sharpening machine. This thing is awesome, should have done it years ago.
Deciding factor was Pure Hockey(our only shop) said they were going to a flat $10 rate for a sharpen. I don’t remember the last time I paid for a sharpen and that’s good, because I never knew what I was walking out with half the time. Oldtimers at the shop, the ones I knew were fine(most of them), but there is so much turnover and never knew what you were walking into. When that happened, was a coin flip.
Abs skates were sharpened at Pure on Thursday and I put the edge checker on them before running them through the SPARX and couldn’t believe how far off the edges were. Took 8 passes with the SPARX to get them even.
LM is coming over this morning to run his skates through(we have a drop in at 12:30 today). Going to check his edges before. Though he’s terrible about keeping his skates clean.

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Had a fantastic time at USA Hockey Multi-Districts. Also got to meet Kendall Coyne.

https://i1091.photobucket.com/albums...su32usaiy.jpeg

https://i1091.photobucket.com/albums...sdazn0jvp.jpeg

This puck is coming back at you, sniped top right.

https://i1091.photobucket.com/albums...scgcxzxbw.jpeg

https://i1091.photobucket.com/albums...scwujbh0o.jpeg

Can’t even smile....??

https://i1091.photobucket.com/albums...sc5cye9nd.jpeg

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Good God, why did those come out so big?

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Very cool I found this. I played hockey from age 4 through high school. I played for lots of teams over the years manly AA and single A travel teams. Played high school and won 2 back2back state championships. Hockey was my life when I was young. I figured out young hockey and golf were my sports and I was damn good at both. I was one of the top ranked juniors in WV as a kid. I had a few college hockey offers but manly golf with schools all over the country wanting me. Manly d2 a few smaller D1 schools though. I didn’t want to go far from home and signed with a local D2 school with a pretty good golf scholarship. I miss hockey everyday and going to the rink. I’ve played a few throw back nights and can’t tell you the feeling of getting back on skates. There’s nothing like hockey because you can go throw a football or go shoot hoops anywhere.

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Cool pics, E.J., I don't care how big they were. :D :tu

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Thanks, Tom.

Chayse, you should start playing beer league. I play a couple times a week & have no plans of stopping.

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I played for 27 years until I broke my leg and ankle last summer. Nothing like it! :ih :D

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On the ice or motorcycle? Are you hanging up the skates or just healing up?

That sucks, I did not know that... Sounds painful, hope the recovery has gone well.... You were playing multiple leagues/nights a week, right?

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I was playing on 3 teams, E.J., averaging 3-4 games a week. Last summer, took a check and had an awkward fall, broke the fibula, the ankle dislocated and my foot turned 180 degrees.

A week later they did surgery, plate and 6 titanium screws in my fibula, 8 weeks off my feet and then another 6 in a walking boot.

Leg seems to be completely healed, the issue seems to be the ligaments. A year after surgery and my ankle is no where near what it was. I fear my competitive days may be over, hoping maybe to get it good enough to play in an over-40 league or a house league at some point.

Probably a lot more info than you wanted, but there it is anyway. :r

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That’s brutal... Sending good JuJu for the ankle.

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Thanks Brother. I still dream about playing all the time.

Re: Being a Hockey Parent
 

Wow. 3 years since I last posted here, and a year since anyone posted in this thread!

My kid is starting his senior year at EKU but it's looking bad for hockey. They are definitely not playing the first semester and hoping to play by the second.

In his Sophomore year, he had the biggest game of his life, 'The Bourbon Barrel' is an annual contest between EKU and UK, since they are so close together and share a rink. UK is a much bigger school and honestly a better hockey team.

Here's a clip, the game was tied and EKU was on the PK. Cam stole the puck and flew down to score shorthanded on his former U16 teammate to take the lead, which held up and EKU won the game.

https://www.facebook.com/ScottBakerO...10780042800188

They even did a post-game interview with Cam:

https://www.facebook.com/ScottBakerO...10780046720286

Here's the most recent pic of me and him, hockey related that is. We flew up from Florida to see him play last year (2019), sadly we've yet to get to more that 1 game each year.

https://i.imgur.com/AJXnLxr.jpg

Re: Being a Hockey Parent
 

You must be very proud of Cam, Scott, and that short handed GWG is a lifetime memory. Hope hockey is able to start back up soon.

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That’s awesome, Scott!

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https://iili.io/26Ocw7.md.jpg

3-0-1 in Dallas, heading to Championship tomorrow.

Re: Being a Hockey Parent
 

Good luck tomorrow to you and your daughter, E.J.!

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It was the little lady & didn’t finish. It’s tough to win a Tier 1 tournament, or even get in Championship, frustrated to lose that one. Think they were better, but guess not Monday.

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She already dumped her “second place” medal. Those don’t matter for her...��

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Sounds like a fierce competitor, E.J. Still deserves 'grats for a super tournament. :wnr

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Fun run, 4 straight weekends on road, one blitz(practice) weekend, then Dallas(tournament), Minnesota (Showcase) & Detroit (tournament). Played for two championships, lost both games. But all said, started 10 in our 1st raking and currently sitting at 14th in the Tier 1 rankings, things could be worse. Maybe they are, both the pup and I were tested for COVID today. She’s pretty junked. I just feel hungover, but haven’t had drinks since Sunday. Should know in 24-36 hours. Send positive thoughts.

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***I’ll add, yes, that’s pushing things and so, this shouldn’t be some crazy surprises. Mom is a nurse and we’re and cautious as can be, other than travel. No restaurant, no big gatherings, masks. But roll dice....we’ll see.

Re: Being a Hockey Parent
 

Congrats on quite the run for your daughter, hope she didn't dump these 2nd place medals.

Saying prayers for both of you.