I am really excited to hear how Vancouver goes.... Don't forget the camera!

GOOD LUCK, M, KILL IT!
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The Little One had new mitts and a new helmet delivered in the past week.... Guess when we're not spending money on travel fees, it's replacing old equipment. Out go TO's and an 8K, in come APX2's and an 11K.


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Nice gear. M loves Vapor gloves as do most kids.

Vancouver was kind of a bust. The boys went 1-2-1 for fourth out of 8 teams. The first game the went down 5-0 in first period then played that team which won the title to a 2-2 game. It sucked as they just had no jump and had never played together and it took them a bit to gel. The 2nd game they won 7-2.

The 3rd game was the real *****. They tied 5-5 but I and the coaching staff who had a former NHL player on it openly stated we got jobbed. We had so many kids get basically tackled on breakaways or tripped by the last defenseman back it was insane. I had 2 separate parents from the other team say we got screwed. They even gave them a phantom penalty call with 1:50 left of a 5-5 tie game after a brutal non call on a trip where the kid literally stuck his leg out and our kid went airborne. It was so bad we started laughing. As a result of the tie we were not able to play our first opponent again.

The fourth game for 3rd place was against the most heavily penalized team in the tournament. Amazingly in our game against them I think we took more penalties and even had to kill of 1:40 of a 5 on 3. We were the least penalized team in the tournament playing the most penalized team. We had a kid get horse collared in that game get called for interference. With 2:-)0 left our best defenceman who never said a word or raised his hands was crossed checked in the head comming in as their goalie froze the puck. He was given an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty to offset the other teams penalty. Our coaches damn nearlost their minds. It was a 3-2 game and it looked like we were going to tie it up. After that they just didnt get it done.

As a whole I was very proud of our boys. It seemed like going up there was just an effort in frustration. Wjile many parents were nice I felt the officiating was less then balanced. We didnt ice the best possible team as a few of our best players couldnt go so we ended up with 3 house kids basically. Unfortunately ifwe had the missing 3 kids I dont think the oofficiating would have been a factor. I dont think I would bother going again unless we can ice a true team.

Micah had 3 goals and 2 assists and drew probably 70-75% of the teams power plays. The boy was chopped tackled, tripped and crosschecked so many times driving the net. In the fourth game he was on the ice for the last 4 minutes and busted his a$s trying to get the tie. In the very first game after going down 5-0 he had a beautiful open ice hip check where he flipped the kid and skated straight to the box as the whistle blew. Trying to find video. It was one of those mouth open moments followed by some laughing once the other kid popped back up. One of his coaches in the locker room said it was a great hit and gave the kids a spark.
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At the end of the month we are doing the Carmen Starr tournament in Los Angeles with a different team. This team has two other kids from the Vancouver team on it. The team is more balanced, but I dont know that its better. I am thinking this was kind of a waste as M is not a regular with this group and the coaches will only see him for 2 practices before the tournament. As such I am guessing he will get stuck on the 3rd line unless he goes off in the first 2 games of the tourney
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Hate that, Mike! All the adversity, still a solid showing! Tell M keep working, kid is a monster, I've told you! I look forward to his teens!
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We were at tryouts locally tonight. Skipped all the other clubs, more so just timing related to comp soccer for the little one and the LM making the U....and we knew where we wanted to play(getting a little hard push not withstanding) But she crushed day one, assume she will move from a kid on the team, to a "player"... No one tougher on my pups & she may have been the best kid on the ice as an '05 in an '05-'04 tryout.
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...little add, GOOD GOD this has been a fun spring! 4 years ago if you would have said my son could skate with the University of Utah, I'd have smiled at you and bought you another beer. The Little One, following big brother, has always been fun....but admittedly, it's getting smile inducing.... I LOVE being a hockey parent! Hell of a ride so far!
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You have to love some ice time with USA Miracle on Ice Hockey Team member and current UW Women's Hockey Team coach....

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Sweet!!
As for us we are leaving for LA at 5am on Friday morning for a 2pm game in Anaheim. Then a 630am game Saturday morning in Anahiem, then Saturday 545pm in El Segundo. Sundays games are El Segundo at 945am and Paramount (right next to the lovely city of Compton) at 4pm. Possible game monday if we finish 2nd or 1st. Not holding breath.

He got asked to play in the Junior Olympics qualifier in Corona for roller this weekend as well. A club approached us and said if he coukd play a couple of games they would love to have him. So we may play in some games Saturday morning and Monday. Sunday games are out as they conflict with ice. He seemed uninterested when I told him. Lol
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Nice weekend, Mike!
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That was the longest hockey weekend of my life. I cant beleive how much I drove. The end result was pretty amazing. This group of NorCal 05s went down and smacked around teams from Arizona Alaska and SoCal. Even had to overcome a little BS when certain SoCal Club sent out a mix team of kids from multiple clubs half in practice jerseys with kids from teams we had played already. Still beat them. The boys destroyed the first 4 teams they played but in the 5th game we played at Paramount. An Olympic size sheet with water patches and soft ice. The boys play a quick tape to tape passing game. On the Olympic sheet with bad ice it was a series of miss passes and errors that saw them go down 0-3. They scored 3 in the third to tie it up but then lost in overtime when one of our D man crapped the bed falling down at the point resulting in a breakaway goal. That set up a rematch for the final. The final was a 5-3 win which we largely dominated. 2 goals came when the second string goalie was put it and gave up 2 very very soft goals. As a whole the 2nd team from AZ we played was classes as were the parents and im glad we won. Multiple kids didnt shake hands, they had to be stopped from hitting our kids gear on the ice with their sticks and the parents had a million excuses for the loss. Our kids played clean hockey taking very few penalties all tournament.

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Love it!
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So after the Grafs ended up being too big I took what I thought was the safe route and ordered 28ks (the new 16k replacement as 30k is 18k and ribcor is 20k)to replace is 18ks which are falling apart. He is *****ing about the heel being sloppy. Im guessing they changed the heel fit in the redisign. We were tempted to go Bauer Supreme 170s, but he had lace bite on the top and didnt think starting with Bunga Pads on brand new skates was the best option. This kid is such a diva with his skates.

Reebok is supposed to be pulling the plug on hockey this year. Really worried CCM wont replace the Reebok fit profile with a new line. The RBZ line has to much arch for him and unless you get the actual $400 RBZ skate the boots are really soft. The Tacks are supposed to fit like vapors. So im hoping they create a 3rd line like Bauer. Hope I wont have to buy a bunch of skates and stockpile them.
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So the 28K's are a no go? You're running out of options.....:-)
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My daughters first goal.

So proud of her
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Awesome man. Something so awesome about watching your kid have fun and score at this game.

Ej he skated on the 28ks and he was sloppy. Going to need to rebake and get the heel a lot tighter. Tied them up Ieft them with the heel area compressed. Going to need to get a much better heel lock. So weird as 18ks had a much tighter heel. This crap drives me nuts. I am making these work as everything else is fine
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Joe, STINKIN' AWESOME! Congrats to both of you! Fun stuff....
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Just bought my first Jr. Sized Stick for the Little One.....NOOOOOO....

LM got new pants to head to camp with Utah. He's been playing for a year without belly pad in his pants, says he doesn't need it.... Told him there was not a shot in Hell I was sending him up there with his current pants, suck up up and break them in.....it's like 5 good skates?

100% different from sister. She wants new gear without needing it, he doesn't want gear when he does....:-).
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So practices are in full swing for us here. We tried out and made the Sharks 05 team. Team is very deep and very fast. Even though its a first year squirt team which usually plays B it appears everyone thinks the team will play A level. They were discussing travel plans. Apparently we will do at least one SoCal tournament and one tournament in Colorado. There is a tournament in Oregon I want to go to as Canadian teams tend to come down but it doesn't look like we will be going. One of the big plusses about this team is the director of hockey operations son is on the team so we seem to be getting extra ice. Both this week and next we are getting 4 practices. Some are split ice, but I cant complain about 4 skates a week.
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