Being a Hockey Parent

[E.J.]

Great stick and puck session with both kids today.... My God I am getting old...

Fortunately Michelle doesn't skate, it assures that I will never be the worst skater in the family....

[Ahbroody]

Worked till midnight bed around 1am. Up at 6am to give wife some help with the baby. Pushed out the door with the boy and his two sisters to go to roller hockey at the wifes request to give her a few hours rest.
Feeling awesome for 5 hrs sleep. Sure I will hit the wall at work tonight.

On Wednesday he played in a Hawks scrim practice one squirt goalie one shooter tudor switching every 15 min. They had two shifts mites second shift was squirts and peewees. He played in the mite group. He walked into the locker room ahead of me came walking back out after seeing some peewees and said "no way Im playing against those kids." Then he saw a few kids he knew and settled down. He scored one from his stomach against the shooter tudor but that was more because everyone watched the shot to see if it would go. He did beat the one squirt goalie once by banging in a rebound.
Stars scrimmage early this afternoon against trivalley.

[E.J.]

Mike,

Is Micah doing all day camp? There is a 8:30-4:00 M-Th/8:30-Noon F camp local that a guy I know is running. I can get a smoking deal, Jackson is in, but I am considering having Abby do it. I know she'd say yes, but I wonder about her attention span for that long.... I really question getting into day 3-4....not so much the on ice stuff(twice daily), but all the off ice stuff.....




Yesterday was a good day, both kids playing back to back.... Ab's was AWESOME, was passing the puck REALLY well and scored a few times. Working with her at S&P twice over the holiday really seemed to give her a little bump.

On the flip side, the Little Man is seeing his varsity minutes drop to nothing. 3 shifts last night.... Wasn't on the ice long enough to even give a report on how he played... I know he is frustrated, but he is going to be a Soph on a team that is stacked deep. Still missing 2 of our top players, but when everyone else is there....minutes are nonexistent for the LM. The coach even said as much, apparently singled him out in the locker room after the game, paraphrased "I know your pissed & you'd be playing for any other team in the State, but we're loaded and your time will come."

He'll get enough minutes in the JV game tonight to put a smile on his fact.... Now let's hope they can sneak a win against the old men....

[Ahbroody]

The camp is from 9am to 12 its 3 hrs and only 12-15 minutes is off ice break time at the midway point.
The camp is really well run and he is skating almost constantly in one way or another. I dont think at his age I would attempt an all day camp. When hes 8 maybe.

He is the youngest camper by a year, but kicking some a$$. Today he won an Event for his team. They were doing the gauntlet drill where all 7 coaches use the sticks to shot cones at the kids as they skate through the nuetral zone. He out lasted everyone 25+ kids age 10 and under. Jumping and dodging cones like a champ. He got mobbed after he won and the smile on his face made the whole camp worth it. I think when it was just him and the other kid left the coaches went after the older kid harder. Still. very impressive. The second time they did the drill he made it to the final four.

He was getting lazy with his stride, but this camp and his competitive nature to win are fixing his stride because of his desire to win different races.

[E.J.]

Few from yesterday....nothing great, but a few pics all the same....








JV got their asses handed to them tonight.... Close game that was blown open in the third... Lost by 3, but it didn't seem that close.

[Ahbroody]

Day 5 of hockey camp.
So far we have also done practices/scrims on tuesday (cougars) and thursday (hawks) nights.
Last night he played about 1.5 hrs on the ice between the scrim and the improvised Gretzky hour after the scrim and only left the ice when the Zamboni came out.. That was on top of over 3 hours at camp. When we got home he looked at me and said thanks dad I had a lot of fun today.

Hes learning to work with a coach he doesnt like. The coach who made him cry in the private skate lesson months ago is one of the main coaches. He is spending a lot of time working with Micah. Ive had to explain to Micah that while he may not like a coach and they may be mean he has to listen and repsect the coach because they are trying to help. He said hello to the coach he hates this morning.

[E.J.]

...and the skate weights are in..... Skate weighed were apparently an 8D unless otherwise specified... All information is from the totalhockey.com website. If my math skills are working(I am no engineer), in parentheses is the total % weight difference from the lightest skate, the Bauer Total One.

.5 lbs doesn't sound like a big deal, but 25% difference in the weight does....

Bauer APX - 1.62 lbs (6%)
Bauer X7 - 1.80 (15%)
Bauer Total One - 1.53
Bauer One 100 - 1.88 (size 9) (19%)
Bauer X:50 - 1.84 (17%)
CCM Crazy Lights - 1.88 (19%)
CCM U12 - 1.84 (17%)
Easton EQ50 - 1.96 (size 9) (22%)
Easton S17 - 1.74 (12%)
Graf G5 - 1.98 (23%)
Graf G5 XI - 1.96 (22%)
Graf G75 - 1.90 (19%)
Graf G35x - 2.08 (26%)
Reebok 11K - 1.98 (23%)
Reebok 10K - 1.90 (size 7) (19%)


How is that for a slow Saturday afternoon....

Did have a nice drop in session for the Little One this morning.... Her brother starts camp on Monday....

[Ahbroody]

We banned micah from hockey today. He has been on the ice roughly 20 hours since sunday. He kept trying to get into the garage to shot pucks so we went out and bought some seedlings for our garden and he helped me plant. He wants to play tomorrow morning in Cupertino. Got hockey camp all next week with optional skates with the Cougars on tuesday, Hawks wednesday, and Stars thursday. Tryouts for the clubs are all the last weekend of the month.

Talked to a lot of travel parents at the camp and as Al and I have talked most are on Als side. Many said travel mites is largely not worth it if I can get him to redshirt and many felt even if not just have him do small group lessons. This throws a wrench in the plan. The Stars coach seems my best bet for a red shirt and Micah really likes him. If not will just do house mites with the optional weekly extra skills skate. He will now a lot of the boys in that.

Update on the protech dent mouthguards. Micah and I both really like them and its great for speaking and drinking.


Because I know this will get a rise out of a couple of you and may result in Al actually posting to call me a nut bag. Behold. Fairly certain one of the only if not the only custom youth 11 Graf conversions in the US. In talking to the guy who wedges his skates we were discussing the radius on the Grafs and how the holders just seem undersized. Enter a pair of cheap Bauers.

The guy swapped them for free basically and now.


Hes been skating on them for 2 weeks and loves them. Yes they are wedged. To give an idea of how big the Graf boot is I really could have fit a Bauer/tuuk size 12 holder on. While the Graf boot is awesome the youth holders are extremely undersized. He is a lot more comfortable skating backwards and has not lost any speed.

I fully expect Als wrath. Maybe Scotts.

[Eleven]

Originally Posted by Ahbroody

I fully expect Als wrath. Maybe Scotts.

Hah!

Whatever works, works! I only brought up that whack sharpening job previously because of the one parent on our team who's kid insisted on having skates sharpened virtually after every time on the ice.

I just see dollar signs flying out the window!

[E.J.]

Those mouth-guards look crazy.... Are they as thin as they look? You just bite on them???


As I said before, I think the Tuuk conversion was awesome and I am confident you hold the Western United states record, if not the US record for smallest Graf/Tuuk conversion....

[E.J.]

Just watched their(protech dent mouthguards) video clip on the website...

I didn't look further, but do they mention reduced concussion severity or the like?

[Ahbroody]

Yup they are that thin. You heat them up bite down run your fingers around the front and side to shape then place your tongue against the back and suck in. Doesnt fall out. Purpose is only for concussions as wearing a cage. Science behind it says it does the job.

I may be the record holder. Im good with that.

[Ahbroody]

Hows the blade on your daughters total one holding up.
What I have found is that the cheap youth sticks have cheap blades that get chewed up fast exposing the fiberglass. The Easton yth S19 has a true basket weave blade as does the warrior widow, but the cheap sticks dont. He digs in the corners and in front of the net so much he trashes the blades on the cheap sticks pretty quick.

[E.J.]

Originally Posted by Ahbroody

Hows the blade on your daughters total one holding up.

Needed a new tape job, so I figured I'd let you decide. Almost 5 months, conservative estimate, 30 ice sessions. I cleaned everything off that stick, what you see is stick.

[E.J.]

Forgot to mention yesterday, that I may end up coaching the Little One. Ran into an old friend at the ice center. We started chatting and he ask if I wanted to coach with him. His youngest son will be a second year mite. He has been an assistant for years with his older son and said he'd "throw his hat" into the ring and take the head job, if I sign on.

Anyway, he said he'd have to get it cleared, as he will continue to be an assistant for his older son. But if it is a go, sounds like I'm going to do my first hockey coaching..... I'd already sort of had thoughts of offering up my help to whoever was her coach, but it will be nice to have that guy be a friend I have known for 25 years.

[E.J.]

Speaking of sticks.... LM wanted a TotalOne and needed a new stick anyway, so I ordered the TO & figured the X60 could become his back-up. "SNAP" goes the X60 the day before the TO gets here....

Now I need to get another back up.... I wait...and wait, well....because I just dropped $230 on a damn hockey stick.... During this time, the LM's slap shot has gone to chit. It is the different kick point on the TO and he cannot figure it out.... "Dad, I need the X60 back."

Dad orders an X60, comes in the mail earlier this week. LM has now figured out the TO and his slap shot has never been better..... Life of a Hockey Parent....

[Ahbroody]

Yeah he made it 20 hours on the ice between sharpenings between the camp and the practice/ scrims.
It seems that it had something to do with the way the guy sharpens. Before we put the tuuks on he had wedged the original holders and he wanted to grind down the toe. I had to tell him not to do that.
The new sharpener were using seems to be a little more together. I went in to pick up his skates on duty in uniform the other day and he didnt charge me.

Yesterday at camp the coach he hates. Told him his backwards skating and transitions were looking good. He still doesnt like the guy. . For his age though I think hes doing well just by learning to work with a coach he doesnt like. This week theres also Cougars practice tuesday night, Stars wednesday night, and a Hawks scrim Thursday. Tryouts are at the end of the month. Need to talk to the coach of the Stars about a redshirt so he will go to that. He loves the Hawks scrim so sure he will do that, tonight have to see if he wants to go.

Mike,
If he doesn't have Eagle gloves already you need to get him those. The leather they use in the palms is supper soft and as you know feel is everything. Don't forget custom made sticks. Using a stock stick and cutting it down causes an incorrect lie. This should up his goal count considerably. Besides, having a kid use a cut down stock stick is just barbaric! Also, tailor all his jerseys, to large and the wind resistance will slow him down, to tight and he won't have the freedom of movement needed for his slap shot.

[Ahbroody]

Luls. I knew I could get you to post with that picture.

He already has X3 Eagle Gloves but they dont fit yet. Next year they should. . I got them on a clearence sale from hockeymonkey for 18.99 just like almost all of his gear is sale or clearance except skates and helmet. Those are the two areas that I think matter most. I guess Im also hypersensitive to the skate issue as I have always had skate issues and he has my feet. Must be doing something right he is pulling backhand spinoramas while still 5 and scored on one during a shootout drill last week at camp. .

As for camp hes doing very well and is stickhandling well in traffic along with being trusted to play D during the scrims every so often. He had 3 breakaways today, but isnt lifting his shots so he isnt scoring on these goalies on his breakaways. Must be the clearance sticks fault, better go buy him an S19 or other stick like the other kids.
Hes definitely having a lot of fun and is going to be sad when its over.

[Ahbroody]

E.J. this is the stick he has been using its the lousiville xlite at totalhockey. Its cheap and with there occasional 15% of sales can be had for $25.50. It doesnt last that long though and you can see exposed fiberglass in the toe and heel which makes me concerned.


This is probably less ice time then your daughters, but that said hes very aggressive with his stick and always weasels his way into the faceoff circle. In his scrim today he took 3/4s of his lines faceoffs pretty much whenever they didnt have him playing D. there is actually a chunk missing in the heel. The toe on the otherside is uglier, but that is the side with the divet missing in the back.

Edit
Oooo and TH is having a 15% off sale till the end of the day.