Hockey

Isaac (in the black jersey)

I was not keen on Isaac playing hockey for many reasons; it's expensive, the time commitment is huge, the negative aspects of the game, I was afraid he'd get hurt (he rolls his eyes when I say this) and I'm usually not a huge "team" sport fan but after observing him watch every NHL game on tv, keeping track of all the players and their stats his father and I caved and let him join a hockey team 4 years ago.  Most of the kids on his team had played hockey since they were 5 or 6 but Isaac joined when he was 12 and caught up pretty quickly.  We have had a backyard rink each winter for the past 9 years so he was a good skater and had played a lot of hockey on his own shooting pucks into the net over and over again, sometimes until after midnight.  Scott added lights to the rink the first year when it was clear that daylight hours were not enough.

The league he plays in is a non-checking league so that makes a huge difference as far as the amount of injuries.  He usually practices 2-3 times per week and has at least a game per week and with the season starting mid-October and not finishing until mid-March it makes for a lot of time spent on the road and at the (cold) rink.  The upside is that most of the other parents are a lot of fun to be with and so it is kind of a social time for our whole family and Isaac loves every minute of it and is always eager to go play...even to practice.  Having our older son Cameron living away from home while attending university it makes it easier to be constantly away with Isaac.  I marvel at some of the parents at the arena who have 2 or 3 kids in hockey on different teams and somehow manage to get everyone where they need to go and keep their households going.

This week we are going to be at one arena or another for the next 6 days.....it's almost over for another year...thank goodness.