Being a Hockey Parent

[E.J.]

Originally Posted by Ahbroody

EJ how did your son do at state high school select tryout?

Was waiting to respond until they actually played a game... But he made the team and they play their first exhibition today.... Have NO IDEA what to expect....

Truth be told, it has been a less than stellar experience so far. VERY POORLY run so far from the administration aspect.... Close to zero communication(worst I've had in all my years of sports with the kids), schedule set and then cancelled completely to start from scratch.... LM is excited to be out there, but it has been a bit of a clusterpuck @ best....

So I guess we will go to the rink and see what happens. Prepare to be picture bombed....

[E.J.]

First day with the Utah High School Select Team.... No practice, no skate...just show up and play. Matched up with the Regulators and beat them everywhere but the score board(3-3)..... It was fun and regardless of what I said above, besides the off ice stuff, the on ice stuff.....it is going to be fun with these guys.... Give them a few games....

[E.J.]

[E.J.]

Just ordered the RBK Chicago "Red" and Ottawa "Black" socks.... I can't have him going out looking like that....

Added a few stocking stuffers.... Tis the Season....

[Ahbroody]

$hit that reminds me. In the mail tomorrow.

[Ahbroody]

Boy got recruited to play for this unofficial roller team formed from
Basically its all 6 year olds that are supposed to play mite 7-8 year old players. I said maybe. They want to go play in some tourney like 1.5 hrs away next week. Not so sure.

He's currently trying to do a between the legs Michigan on roller. hoping he will be able to pull it on ice by mid summer. He is obsessed with trick shots. I showed him this video and he says he wants to learn all this. I think roller is awesome for learning puck skills.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rOQl...e_gdata_player

[E.J.]

Took a beating on the ice today with the Select Team.... The team looked a mix of tired and disinterested. Jackson spent 3 separate occasions in the box(cross check, elbowing, high stick)...the last giving them a hat trick worth of kids in the box(pictured)....

All that said, it was ice time and the parents seem to be a nice bunch....so it wasn't a total loss.

[E.J.]

New mouth guard courtesy of Mike(ahbroody)... He says he really likes it and most important, he has it in his mouth....

[Ahbroody]

There is something missing from the pictures. Hes missing his chew toy hanging out the front.

[Eleven]

Originally Posted by Ahbroody

There is something missing from the pictures. Hes missing his chew toy hanging out the front.

Hah!

I am on the board for my son's league, and this weekend the rink was packed with games from house, select travel and my son's team hosted 2 AAA teams for a round-robin weekend.

Saturday night I got an email from the board, there was some incident with a select travel game. Apparently a bunch of kids from one team didn't have mouth guards and they got warned. A parent went to the pro shop and bought enough for all the players but the coach refused to make them wear them.

Then it got out of hand. In the end, the coach got enough penalties that he cannot coach again until there is a hearing.

I don't know 100 percent of the details, because there was even more issues with another game. In this one, the Refs were berating the parents working the clock, even using derogatory language towards the players.

Oh the wonderful world of Youth Hockey!

[E.J.]

Couple of the Little One this weekend... Man it was a physical game, the coach even said something apologetic to me after....(the team they played did need to be reigned in a bit). I think sometimes he feels like he needs to protect her... But truth be told, I think she is the most physical kid on their team.

[E.J.]

Originally Posted by Ahbroody

There is something missing from the pictures. Hes missing his chew toy hanging out the front.

Originally Posted by E.J.

New mouth guard courtesy of Mike(ahbroody)... He says he really likes it and most important, he has it in his mouth....

[E.J.]

Originally Posted by Eleven

Hah!

I am on the board for my son's league, and this weekend the rink was packed with games from house, select travel and my son's team hosted 2 AAA teams for a round-robin weekend.

Saturday night I got an email from the board, there was some incident with a select travel game. Apparently a bunch of kids from one team didn't have mouth guards and they got warned. A parent went to the pro shop and bought enough for all the players but the coach refused to make them wear them.

Then it got out of hand. In the end, the coach got enough penalties that he cannot coach again until there is a hearing.

I don't know 100 percent of the details, because there was even more issues with another game. In this one, the Refs were berating the parents working the clock, even using derogatory language towards the players.

Oh the wonderful world of Youth Hockey!

WOW..... Yea, who wants to have a kid wear something that is proven to protect.....

That said, at this point....and I have said it before in this thread....nothing from parents and coaches in youth sports surprises me anymore.... Disappoints, yes....surprises....nope....

[E.J.]

How did the boy & the Steam do this weekend, Scott?

[Eleven]

Originally Posted by E.J.

How did the boy & the Steam do this weekend, Scott?

Pretty much what we expected. We hosted the #10 team, Indy Ice and a team closer to our ranking, #65 Pittsburgh Selects (coached by Mario Lemieux's brother). Our boys are ranked #58 in the USA.

We beat Pittsburgh the 2 times we played them and lost to Indy both times we played them. Pittsburgh did beat Indy once, so they got a great moral boost.

We lost 4 very good players to Indy 2 years ago, 3 defensemen and a goalie, so they are our most hated rivals. Sadly, we haven't beat them in 3 years, so we cheered Pittsburgh in their victory today.

[E.J.]

Happy Holidays....

[J0eybb]

Awesome Christmas Pic.

[Eleven]

That Christmas pic is great!

I forgot to mention earlier, when we were leaving the rink after the games this weekend, one of our dads came up to me and asked if I'd be interested in buying a stick he just got for his kid. He ordered it online and forgot to check if it came with stickum. His kid hated it and only used it this weekend.

So I was able to pick up an Easton Stealth RS intermediate for $75.00, its less than a week old and was only used in 4 games. The dad was so pissed, he thought his kid was being spoiled about not wanting to play with it without the stickum, but he didn't want to just give the stick away.

My kid won't stop growing, and luckily there are a handful of boys on the team bigger than him, so I'm working the 'Hand-me-down' angle as often as I can. Got him X60 skates last month, then this stick, and we also got him an Easton Synergy girdle from one of the families for him to try.

There are a few boys on the team who swear by girdles as opposed to regular hockey pants. The ones we just got are only 1 size larger than my kid is wearing now (which is too small) so I don't think he will be in them too long, they look snug but I'm told they are meant to be. I like the idea of all that extra protection being form-fitted, so we'll see how he likes it. Anyone have experience with the girdle and shells?

[E.J.]

Originally Posted by Eleven

So I was able to pick up an Easton Stealth RS intermediate for $75.00, its less than a week old and was only used in 4 games. The dad was so pissed, he thought his kid was being spoiled about not wanting to play with it without the stickum, but he didn't want to just give the stick away.

SCORE!!!!!!!!

[Ahbroody]

Nice that's the price on the youth version.
I checked out the youth version and Easton returned to making the youth sticks with the kevlar wrapped blade on the Stealth RS youth same as the big version. At 70-75 its the best made/longest lasting stick for 8U. The EQ50 was a pile of $hit in the youth version, blade chipped and broke easily. Micah has been using the S19 I grabbed for $40 for about 4 months and its holding up well. Thats skating 4-5 days a week. Hoping between this one and the other we will make it till late summer and the clearance sales.