Damon and his team win the finals!

Happy Hockey Day in Canada 2012!

Shoulder to shoulder hit, clearly NOT a penalty shot.  It didn't matter in the end.

Sometimes goalies happen

The most important thing I have learned as a parent is, "Never say never." This past weekend, I learned that this applies to hockey too.

Matt and I always vowed that none of our kids would be goalies. NEVER. Aside from that astronomical cost of goalie equipment, the experience of seeing the 12th goal slide past a 5 year old Patrick convinced me that neither my heart, nor my stomach could handle being a goalie's mom.

Damon really enjoyed his experiences as a goalie, and to his credit, he was a pretty decent goalie. Still, it was easy enough to convince him that his size and strength as a defenseman were far more valuable to his team.

Back in December, in the middle of a crazy weekend, Campbell had his first turn in net. Matt was accompanying Patrick and his team on a weekend away series. Damon had a tournament near Grandpa Bob's house, so the girls and I were there with Damon. Campbell's coach's family offered to keep him for the weekend so that he wouldn't miss the team Christmas Party and his turn in net. Damon's team lost in the semi-finals, giving me just enough time to get home to see Campbell's game. The photos here are of him on that day.


First a little bit of background, at the beginning of the season, MB, one of our players really started to stand out. By December, he was easily scoring 8 or 10 goals a game. His parents cautiously decided to move him up to the next age level so that he would be challenged a bit more. So when Campbell first played net, MB dominated the play, and Campbell only saw 3 shots on net. 1 went in, but we still won because MB scored a few hat-tricks.

That same week we had an "interlock" game with another arena's team, and no other goalies would have a chance to practice, Campbell got a second chance in net. This time he faced many more shots, and showed some impressive moves, helping his team win the game with a score of 5-2. Campbell won a "Super Sport" award for that game and I heard from all of the other parents how wonderful he was.

After watching everybody on the team took a turn in net, our coach needed to decide who was going to be in net for playoffs. I knew that he was impressed with Campbell, so I told Matt to tell the coach that he could have Campbell in net for alternate games, because I needed a week in between to recover my nerves. So when the coach asked Matt if Campbell would be the goalie for the playoffs, Matt looked down at a beaming Campbell and said, "Sure".

For weeks, Campbell let everybody know that he was going to be the playoff goalie. Family members, classmates, our family doctor, the cashier at the grocery store, they all knew that he, Campbell, would be the goalie for the playoffs. When it came time for a haircut, Campbell decided he needed a goalie haircut. So he asked Patrick who the best goalie in the whole wide world was. Patrick named a few names, and I did some google image searches. No offence to Patrick Roy, Ken Dryden or Dominik Hasek, but when we came across this photo of Martin Brodeur, it was clear to me who the best goalie in the whole wide world was, the one with the haircut that best suited Campbell! The next day we were at the arena all day for Patrick's school hockey tournament. Every hockey acquaintance we ran into at the tournament heard this, "I have da same haiwcut as da best goalie in da whole woild. Mawmmy, what's his name again? Oh yeah Mahtin Brodeu. An' I'm the goalie for da playoffs." At this point I was humouring him, but hoping that this was a phase and that a few tough games between the pipes and he would be singing a different song.

So Sunday rolls around, and we are playing against the top team in the league without MB. This team is used to winning with double digit scores. Campbell made some good saves, and that old feeling of dread in my stomach started to go away. He let a few in, but he got better with each save. By the third period, I found myself hoping that they would get another shot on him so that he could save it again! And I must say that he was just so cute doing it! My stomach was hurting, but that was from all of the cheering and laughing that we were doing watching him hop around in net. He kept his team in it, and the final score was 4-1 for the other team. The shots on net were 31-8 for the other team! He stopped 27. At his age, the goalies normally stop 50% of the shots. The other team's coach came to the bench, where Matt was as an assistant coach, to tell our coaches that the goalie was phenomenal. He asked where the goalie's dad was and Matt raised his hand. And he told Matt that he had a goalie on his hands. Other parents said, "that kid needs to be a goalie." In the hallways, I overheard strangers who had watched the game, "Did you see that kid in net, he was awesome."

When I got to the dressing room, I was surprised to see a teary-eyed Campbell. He was devastated. He wanted nothing less than a shut out. Matt and I reminded him that he played a very good team and then the coach started giving a speech about what an outstanding job Campbell did. Every parent and child from the team came and congratulated Campbell on his performance before they went home. That gave him some comfort.

His brothers gave him respect for the rest of the day. Damon was offering to carry his equipment to the van for him. Patrick was fussing over him all day. And little Campbell just basked in the glory.

So I learned that goalies do happen. And so does shameless bragging. Never say never.

Weekend Delirium

I have been having a lot of vivid weird dreams, but some have been kind of creepy. For example the one where I look out of the dining room window and see a young woman with long brown curls walking in our side driveway area and opening the gate to our yard. The next day, I notice that our gate is open.

In the early morning hours of Friday, I vaguely remembered somebody walking into my room. But that's all I can remember. I woke up before the kids and went to the washroom. The box that I keep the medications in is normally stored on the highest shelf and it was sitting beside the tub. Then Patrick woke up and wheezed out, "So what am I doing today?" I asked him, "What is going on? Are you sick?"
"Yeah, I'm sick, don't you know that? I already told you that?"
"Did you come into my room in the night?"
"Yes, and you got up and came to the bathroom and gave me medicine."
"Did I give you the right medicine? What did I give you?"
"Yes, you gave me my blue puffer and told me to take my orange puffer in 15 minutes."
"Oh, that was good advice."

Thankfully I did the right thing, but I am disturbed by the fact that I am "sleep-parenting".

So I kept Patrick home from school, but he had to come with me to Damon's hockey tournament. When we got to the tournament, I was shocked to see that the majority of team siblings had taken the day off of school! Including the Campbell's teacher's children! Of course Campbell and his teacher were both at school. The families on this team have great team spirit and the siblings make a great cheerleading squad.

Damon's team lost 7-2.

Patrick had team photos that day, so despite his difficulty breathing, he suited up for photos. Then he undressed and watched the team practice and rested his lungs. Of course this was a "fun practice", both times he has missed practice it has been the 2 times the coaches have taken it easy on the team.

Matt took Damon to the tournament on Satuday. They lost their first game 7-2 again, and then they won their next game 15-0! Damon would not believe either of us when we told him that his team would not be playing in the semi-finals. "But Mom, we scored FIFTEEN goals, why wouldn't that count?"

The girls and I took Campbell and Patrick to Campbell's practice. Matt is an assistant coach for Campbell's team, so when Matt is away, Patrick goes on the ice to help the kids who are having difficulty with the drills. He is a very patient and compassionate boy. He has an amazing gift for working with children younger than him.

Kira plays with her "boyfriend", the youngest son of Campbell's coach, but this day she was not being very nice to him. She would only let him colour in Campbell's colouring books, not in any of hers. When she bought chips, she wouldn't let him have any and threw a tantrum when I insisted that she share with him. I talked to her about sharing, and pointed out how badly he must have felt when she treated him like that.

After a quick lunch, we were back at the arena for Patrick's AAA game. They played the second place team and they were winning until the last few minutes of the third period. Normally, our team is totally dominated by this other team. That wasn't the case this time. Patrick played a really great game. I was in awe of his grace and strength. I knew that he was having trouble with his asthma during the game, but it really didn't affect his play.

Kira played with an older girl, another sister from the team. She said that the girl was her best friend, and they had a great time. Eventually another sister from the team joined them and Kira came stomping over to me. "Why does J have to play with that SUUUPID girl? She's my best friend, why is she playing with that SUUUPID girl."

Patrick came home and changed and rushed off to a birthday party for one of his teammates. These boys are on the ice together 5 or more times a week. So what do you think they would do for fun? Of course, they played hockey. The parents rented a party room at an arena and the last half of the party was spent on the ice. Patrick had fun, but was very tired at the end of the day.

When I woke up this morning, the furnace was not working. It wasn't too cold in the house yet, but with the temperatures as low as they have been recently, you cannot go too long without a properly working furnace.

On Sunday morning, I made poached eggs on toast. Damon was thrilled when one of his eggs had a double yolk. He felt very lucky. I had never seen that before and figured it was a rare fluke. Then Campbell and Kira wanted seconds, I cracked open Campbell's egg and found another double yolk! And then Kira's was another double yolk! Damon wanted more eggs after that. He figured that at some point we'd come across triplets. To his disappointment, the rest of the eggs were singletons. So I googled "double yolk" and found that there are many superstitions about double yolks. Some say it is a bad omen, others say it is a sign of fertility. It seems like something from one of my strange dreams. All I know for certain is that the kids sure enjoyed their eggs.

Then Matt came home from work (yes, he was working on a Sunday to finish a project that is leaving tomorrow) and picked up Patrick to take him to an away game. We had high hopes that they would end the regular season with a win against a team they have beaten before, but the game ended in a tie.

In the meantime, I took Campbell to his last regular season game. I told him that it is his last chance to score any more goals this season. Based on his performance when it was his turn to play goalie, he has been chosen to play as goalie for the playoffs. I think he was having a difficult time focusing on goal-scoring, his focus was already on playing in net next weekend! His team lost 8-2, and Campbell was given credit for one of our goals. Everybody was hacking away at it, and Campbell insists that in the end the other team knocked it in.

When Kira first saw her "boyfriend' at the game, she asked his mom if she could hold his hand. He refused and clenched both hands together. Then she asked if he would colour with her. He politely declined. She asked him to come and sit with her, he preferred the company of some older boys. The little man was giving her some of her own medicine. Finally when she bought a bag of chips, she was very eager to share them with him, and he was ready to forgive her. All was forgiven over a bag of RINGOLOS.

I should tell you that during all of this hockey, Hanna is having a great time. She loves sitting on my lap and she watches the game. Very much like her brother Patrick at the same age, she turns her head and follows the play down the ice. She stops watching only to flash her dimples and coo for the moms who fuss over her.

When we got home from hockey, the furnace seemed to be working again. What a huge relief. We ate some lunch and waited for Matt and Patrick to arrive. They arrived and got ready to leave again. It was time for the Timbits Jamboree immediately following a local AHL game. Matt and all three boys went.

Us girls stayed home. The plan was to bake muffins and cookies, but in the morning's excitement over double yolked eggs, they were used up and I forgot to pick up more. So we made haystack cookies instead (sugar, margarine, cocoa & oats). Around this time, I noticed that the furnace was not working again. So the girls and I went upstairs to snuggle up and watch "Maggie and the Ferocious Beast". Puck slipped away, and I assumed that he was just going to get a sip from his water dish. I went down to the kitchen to find that he had eaten 3/4s of the haystack cookies off of the kithcen counter. BAD dog!

The boys returned with their arms full of signed souvenirs. The highlight was that Campbell had insisted that Matt needed to buy him the team's goalie's rookie card, and later on they met the goalie and Campbell whipped out the card and had him sign it! Cool! A few of the players signed Campbell's hockey stick too. They all got hockey cards and some life-sized Sidney Crosby posters. (Scratch under they eye is courtesy of Kira. Campbell thinks it makes him look tough.)

I let Matt know about the furnace's status and what the troubleshooting guides said to do next. At Patrick's game, he had talked to one of the parents from Patrick's team who owned a heating and cooling company and he had told him something to try. He followed the advice and it worked. At least for now.

I'm still waiting to wake up from this dream.