As my wife often yells at me "you turned that kid into a diva about his gear. Everything has to fit just right!" As I always respond when you aren't thinking about something fitting wrong you can focus on skating and playing. He may switch eventually, who knows. I know switching to a 50/50 increased airflow which he liked. That flow is long and his head gets hot.

Saw Drew Remenda sharks color guy this morning at the roller rink, bald as a babies bottom. He saw Micah and his hair and got the hugest smile on his face.

As to the tournament. They played 3 thirty minute games and destroyed everyone. Had two shutouts. Micah and his buddy went off apparently. Micah got 9 goals his buddy whos 7 got the same or one more. Conflicting reports have come in. The teams remaining they should take easily. So looks like they will take the tourney. Will get some pics tomorrow. From what I hear it was a steady dose of buddy taking his distance shots and Micah crashing the net banging things in and screening the goalie. Had a few breakaways also. :-)
[Reply]

Image
The boys destroyed their age division. They won all games and beat one team 2x. The kid who played goal looked good. It got so bad in all games today we were making them pass 2x before taking a shot on net.

Micah coming in on the right and shooting.
Image
[Reply]

Fine Job! Congrats to Micah and his team!
[Reply]

Almost makes me want more kids.



Almost.
[Reply]

Yeah where am I right now?

The rink for Hawks Sunday skate.
[Reply]

Summer League Varsity schedule just came out(Little Man will play on both the Varsity and JV squads this year).... 4 of the 12 games(every Monday night game but one) are at our home ice(5 minutes from home) 15 minutes following the Little One's Summer Sessions....

Just enough time to change, while the Zamboni makes its rounds & out to watch a game....never having to leave the arena....

Funny how little things will make you smile in the morning......... In a nutshell, that makes those nights SOOOOOOOOO MUCH EASIER FOR DAD.
[Reply]

Today I had to ban the boy from the garage.
He was trying to shot pucks. Trying to explain to a 5 year old you are worried about burnout is difficult . The Cougars mite skate starts tomorrow and I had to explain it was bad for him to play everyday.
[Reply]

As long as he's the one choosing to shoot I don't think you have to worry about burn out.


The burn out I have seen over the years is when the parents push to hard.

:-)
[Reply]

:-):-):-)..... I told the Little One enough, but that is because I get sick of hearing it....

I agree with Al, as long as they(kids) are seeking it out/pushing to play more/damaging your sheetrock and denting your garage door.....have at it....
[Reply]

I know but he was on the ice for about 5 hours yesterday between the tournament and Hawks skate. I just felt a day would be good. I actually worry about self burnout with him a little. He would play roller or ice everyday if he had the chance.
[Reply]

Ordered new gloves and a jersey/socks combo for the Little One. She is SOOOO much different than her Brother. He would go forever and just say "they're fine" when I ask about any piece of equipment, she tells me before I ask. "I need new gloves, these are too small."

She also informed me that she was sick of wearing her brothers old jerseys and needed her own... Anyway, she will get her way.

Today was a very "hockey parent" morning.... Up at 4:50 to take the Little Man to drop in, I was sitting drinking coffee at 5:30, well into the morning and thought to myself...yep, this is the expectation... Back to pick him up at 7:15, took him to a breakfast of champions at McDonalds and then dropped him off at school. Ran his gear home, pulled it to air out and shot off to work....
[Reply]

Yikes. 430!!!! fock I usually go to bed at 1230 1245. I am hoping to avoid the 430 am.

Yeah Totalhockey had that 20% off today. Combined with no shipping and no tax and me and Micah got us some new helmets on the way. I went with an easton S9. I was tired of my old CCM that was pure birth control. Out here lots of guys like to wear birth control helmets. Old ass Jofas, and other crap.

I almost bought the CCU crazy lights for the boy. My wife convinced me that I was focking with a proven skate which was just stupid given his feet problems.
[Reply]

I probably should have ordered a stick yesterday.... I know I am going to have to buy one SOON, so losing out on that 20% was just plain stupid.

I know you don't go with icewarehouse because of taxes, but I have been VERY, VERY impressed with them(this being my first order). Shipped same day and because they are close, standard shipping takes 2 days. Order a $10 t-shirt(one time) and you become a member of their club and all orders(including that one) are 10% off....

I hate to undercut my local hockey shop, but how do I turn down a 17% difference(10% plus 7% tax) on gear & all it costs me is a 2 day wait?

I think you are right to stay with the Graf's, at least for now.... If you REALLY wanted to, you can always try to find a closeout CL's at the end of the year and give it a try on the cheap. If it didn't work, you could dump them at a skate swap for close to what you paid.
[Reply]

Yeah the discount yesterday was impossible for me to turn down. When you way in 20% no tax almost 10% + no local shop markup of 10-15 per helmet. I think I spent 150ish and local I would have been over 200.

Adding in the fact the helmet selection for kids sucks here it just made sense. Against Als suggestion I am giving the messier project helmet a try. Mainly because it comes in extra small. So many kids are using small helmets which dont fit right. We tried a few different helmets local and both were not right. The only one that did was one of his buddies in the pic above. The kid who went to the net has a bauer helmet with a rachet system in the back. Forgot the model number but couldnt find anything close locally and definitely not in his size. A couple of kids at that tourney had the M11 helmets. Talking to some dads they said it fit extremely well because of customization. Went with the caged version and with the discount it was the same as a highend bauer. If we dont like it we will return it.

Actually should have gotten another stick, but to much in ice fees.

You see the brand new Graf G75? Not a fan looks like a bauer supreme one.
[Reply]

It is an eyesore..... Maybe just the photo...:-) Assume they will go with an entire line of them based off different boots....


Image

Looks like everyone has to have an $800 skate now....:-)
[Reply]

Yeah that shiz is ugly. The blue ribbon really fugs it up even more.

Mike spent friday night/ sat morning puking like a demon. Stomach virus. One of the girls has it now.
Worked friday night till after 11. Didnt get to bed till 1230. Micah started puking at 430. Never really slept from then till 630 when I left for work. Worked a special event from 7-3 for hockey money. and patrol from 3-11. 16 hours on 4 hours. Then back up this morning at 7 for Hawks Sunday Skate. Even after everything he wanted to go. I feel like crap. He is already asking about Cougars on Tues and Stars on Thurs.
[Reply]

YUCK....the stomach flu is BAD NEWS. There are few worse ways to spend a weekend. It is doubly bad for me, I don't deal with other peoples, including my own children, vomit. Sometimes even watching someone puke will send me over the edge & I'll lose the contents of my stomach. Smelling it will almost guarantee it and if I actually have to clean some up....I just take a bucket with me.

Fortunately, Michelle is a nurse and she can deal with about anything without blinking an eye....
[Reply]

Yeah I have grown immune after having everything you can imagine all over me at one point or another. But working swings and raising the kids has been a great privilege. When first son was born I used to have wear a respirator to change him. I just laugh now.

As to next year, it has become apparent both lower clubs want him to play next year. No redshirt they want him to play up. So now my wife and I have to make the decision. What we will likely do is allow him to play up and play only in the cross ice tournaments as the pace is much slower then full ice. If they ask us to participate in full ice tourneys I will just say hes unavailable that weekend. So he will likely play for the Cougars because its the closest and cheapest and the Sharks house league mite with his buddies that are moving up. The Cougar practices are well run and I think he will get a lot from them. This will also allow him to play the Sundayu10 games for free as they allow all travel kids to participate in then at no additional cost. Looks like about 2500 in fees for next season between both. 1k for house and 1500 for cougars mite travel. We would do blackstars but its 30 min drive no traffic and return drive on weeknight practices in traffic is an hour to 1.5 hours
[Reply]

OUCH....

That said, I am excited for Micah....:-)
[Reply]

Lol from what I remember the Hawks are almost 3k for the season.
Part of the reason we will pick the Cougars less travel obligations, less cost, closer home rink and doing it he has access to unlimited pub skate at the house rink, Sunday house U10, friday house practices, and the Cougar practice all included. Bang for buck its the best deal and given all we want him to do is skate and have fun it seems the best option.
[Reply]