Being a Hockey Parent

[E.J.]

Originally Posted by Ahbroody

Forgot to recap.
They went 2-2 in LA. He had a ton of shots on goal in game 4, but no puck luck. That said he's a puck hog and a dangler. The coach didn't have much positive to say about him from the weekend even though he produced a lot. The coach has said until he starts passing he won't be going to SoCal for tourneys. He's a real young first year October birth. Team is almost all second years. While he admits he's got skill he lacks team play.

Going to be a long year so hopefully he gets it by February

That is disappointing to hear..... Hopefully it turns around....


Look at this pylon out there tonight at the Ratings and Conditioning session....

[Eleven]

Ouch. So my kids team lost 6 players from last year, including the head coach. He took a job in Michigan, and took his son with him

We upgraded 1 goalie that we lost (actually 1 goalie was cut, he struggled a lot last year) and we added a decent Defenseman (another kid who was on the team a couple years ago, he came back) but we added 1 more D and 3 more Forwards who have never played AAA hockey.

The coach, who was the long time assistant coach since the teams inception, warned us all that the new kids would be 'works in progress', so we all knew it could be a rough year. Our first games this past weekend were a slaughter-fest. It was ugly. The worst losses we've ever taken as a team.

My kid, along with the core group of kids who've been on the team for years all looked OK, but I'm worried that their confidence is going to get shot to hell if things continue like this.

We're heading up to Detroit for a couple games on Saturday, against 2 very good Tier 2 teams so we'll see how those go. I know these 2 teams aren't quite as strong as the team that shellacked us last weekend (Pittsburgh 98 Selects, coached by Alain Lemieux) but I'm still pretty worried!

My kid has gotten physically stronger and bigger since last season and we've been doing strength training since the spring. There is a personal trainer at our gym who has worked with him once or twice while he was between clients and Cam likes the guy, and so do I, he really knows what he's doing, especially with teenagers. I'm thinking of paying him to work with Cam regularly, but the wife always seems to complain when I talk about paying trainers

I'll post again after this weekend, keep your fingers crossed for my kid and his team!

[E.J.]

Sorry to hear, Scott. Hoping for better results this weekend, consider my fingers crossed!

My son, Jackson, never did get called up to the AA/AAA team like he had hope. For me it was bittersweet, as he'd go from a big fish to a small fish, so to speak, not to mention the far higher costs. The coach did ask him to come to every practice that doesn't conflict with the A/AA or HS team, so I look at that as free ice and hopefully he'll be able to travel to Chicago or the other Eastern tourney they plan on playing....later in the year. The extra practice with this coach is worth its weight in gold. His team with this program is going to Vegas as an A....it will be his first time playing out of State or any stay & play travel for that matter. We're both pretty excited to see how it goes.

So last night, I ask the little one about how her private power skating lessons went and what they worked on. She tells me they were working on backwards crossover strides & I respond... "You're going to be a better skater than your dad before you know it." Her mom rolled her eyes and said "She already is." I don't mind saying my pride was a little shaken, even though I know I'm no skater.....

[Eleven]

1 win and 1 loss this weekend. The team looked better but I think it's going to be a long year

My kid has become fascinated with Paul Bisonnette, he loves his Youtube channel and of course at Perani's in Detroit they had some of his apparel. One t-shirt had a bunch of campbells soup cans 'ala Andy Warhol that said "Biznasty...Panty Soup" on them. The wife wouldn't let him had that one, but there was another that said something like "One knee slapshot -- Biznasty" so we got him that one instead

Here is the shirt, I was close:

[Ahbroody]

Little man just got called by the coach of the Atom Inline Jr. Sharks team.
He was offered and accepted a spot on the team for this year.

He's been getting screwed around by his ice coach a lot. To the point he wants to go to a different team.


Like that shirt. Kid wants a shirt that says he dangled.

[Ahbroody]

http://www.hockeymonkey.com/bauer-ho...ite-le-jr.html
Kill it with fire. I like white and black skates like the Reebok White K, but that is over the top. Roller buddies like it.

[E.J.]

Have two kids get them, one the solid black, one the solid white and then go kill it Zebra......

[E.J.]

One too many times in Players Bench the last few weeks and the Little One broke my spirit and took home her "Landeskog."



Not a bad quiver of sticks.....

We have 6 kids. At one point we had 4 of them in travel hockey. It was challenging but a ton of fun.

[Ahbroody]

Originally Posted by CigarDojo

We have 6 kids. At one point we had 4 of them in travel hockey. It was challenging but a ton of fun.

Can't imagine. I'm dreading when I have 2. The 14 month old has already developed a fascination with a little hockey stick and hitting a puck.

EJ buy her a Miken accuflex already. She will love it. Gotten some local parents to buy it now. Nice curve, good flex. Micah likes that RBZ. He wants me to paint his Miken white. Lol

[E.J.]

Originally Posted by Ahbroody

Can't imagine. I'm dreading when I have 2. The 14 month old has already developed a fascination with a little hockey stick and hitting a puck.

EJ buy her a Miken accuflex already. She will love it. Gotten some local parents to buy it now. Nice curve, good flex. Micah likes that RBZ. He wants me to paint his Miken white. Lol

Agree,...I can't imagine paying for 2 kids in travel.... Hell, the costs to just have 2 kids playing hockey(HS & travel and House) is taxing.

I forgot about your recommendation for the Miken....that's next!



First High School game for the year is in the books.... The Little Man got what his mother referes to as a "Barlocker Hat Trick" ..... One goal, one assist and one trip to the box..... Nice win for the boys....

I am still not super confident as to where we are going to end up, as I question our goaltending. He is going to get a lot of ice time though.....he's our only one. Playing 3 games a week right now.... I assume they are going to have to just put some skaters in net for JV games, give him some rest.

I was out of town on business and was not able to be there to take pics, but grandma sent me this....

[E.J.]

Though the Little One has been ill, I still had practice today..... I think I am really going to like this assistant coaching gig....

[Ahbroody]

Is she transitioning to full ice this year?

[E.J.]

Originally Posted by Ahbroody

Is she transitioning to full ice this year?

Nope, 2 more years of cross ice. All House Mites go cross ice year round here and there is no travel mite teams.

Talking with her head coach, he also coached her last year. We found out our goalie was out for our first game, a week from today. He said "We now need to find a kid who wants to play goalie." I told him that Abby would do it, if needed, that she has done it before.... He said, "No.....she's not playing goalie." and started laughing.

His son then said something about him and Abby playing travel together & the coach then ask if we were considering the pseudo travel next year(Lightning Program), he'd be coaching. I said that Abby would have to play up to do it(the guy that does our local rink doesn't like kids playing up)...Coach apparently didn't remember that Abby is still 7 and an '05..... He said not to worry, she is too good to be playing Mites next year and that he'd fight that battle for me.....

This is going to be a fun year.... Though being on the ice, I may not be able to tell the story with pictures.... Mom isn't great with the camera....

[Ahbroody]

Jerseys for new Jr inline Sharks team. Had meeting today. Only 10 skaters and two goalies. They expect his team to win narch winter nationals and aau Jr Olympics in summer.

Here is a pic from when me and my two sons coached my daughter Mackenzie's team. We had a blast.

Here's when my boys were playing. We wound up playing some really good team from Russia in a tournament. They beat us 5 to 4 but we were the only team in the tournament that did halfway decent against them.

Here is my other son Dominic. My two boys almost always made the same team because they are only a year and a half apart.

They are both older now and only play adult hockey. It was a lot of fun while it lasted but I admit I'm kinda glad it's over. It was a lot of work.

[E.J.]

Good stuff, Eric! Especially love that you and your sons, coached your daughters team... What a great experience that must have been....added bonus, State Champions!!!!


Mike, do they actually go gloves with the unis as well? Thought maybe because it was all Mission, maybe they got and deal and that made it a sweet deal?

Originally Posted by E.J.

Good stuff, Eric! Especially love that you and your sons, coached your daughters team... What a great experience that must have been....added bonus, State Champions!!!!

Yeah it was a hoot! We were lucky enough to win state 2 out of the 3 years we coached the team.

Tons of fun, and tons of bonding time with the kids.