Hockey Update

Via

Hockey is almost over. Just one more practice and Bud will be hanging up his skates until next season. I’m amazed at the progress he’s made since October. He was barely able to stand up and now he flies on the ice. 

Monday was a special night. They had the college hockey players line up on the ice holding their sticks up and as they announced each player they skated through the college guys. It gave me visions of the NHL was pretty awesome.

If he sticks with it he just might be the next Lundqvist (or Ryan Miller, if you prefer?). They’ve been playing cross ice games without goalies (It’s hard enough for them to score without one.) but Bud can’t stand the thought of the other team scoring so he races the other team as they head up the ice and blocks the goal. He’s surprisingly successful at blocking shots and clearing the crease. (Not that I’m scouting him or anything. Nope.)

We did have an “incident” we had to address though. He inadvertently tripped another player and that boy skated over to Bud and had some words (remember, they are 5) and Bud slashed him with his stick! The other kid slashed back and they started tussling and fell on the ice and kept slashing at each other. I was practically jumping over the boards yelling at Bud to knock it off watching in horror! (It was the end of practice and the coaches had congregated at center ice and weren’t paying attention.) When he got off the ice he immediately asked me (like he always does), “How did I do today, mommy?” I checked him into the wall and told him I never want to see that type of play (until the NHL) every again! I took a deep breath and told him that slashing anybody with his stick is unacceptable, even if the other player does it, he should not, under any circumstances, do it back, and he certainly shouldn’t start it! 

I don’t know who the other player was otherwise I would have apologized to the mom and made Bud apologize to the kid. They are a sea of red and white and are all but indistinguishable when they are skating around (I solved that by putting Bud in a Ranger jersey…so now the other parents know exactly who my kid is. Awesome.) The good news is that he hasn’t done it again. 

The more I think about it, the more I like the idea of him being goalie. More padding and almost zero contact. That sounds like the right combo for Bud!

Lily