The Hockey Update

I decided the hockey update should be separate, because it’s rather long, and some folks just may not care, so it’s easier to skip over when it’s separated.  Plus, it gives me a chance to showcase some pictures of my two favorite hockey players.  Oh, who am I kidding…that’s the real reason I made a separate hockey post. 😉

To summarize what’s going on:  my oldest son, Jamie, has been playing travel hockey since he was 8, back in 2010.  (Travel is a higher level of hockey than “house,” which is basically rec league hockey, where everyone makes the team.  In travel, you have to actually try out and be good enough to make the team.  Well, unless you’re the coach’s kid. :p )  After this year, Jamie will be in high school, so this is his last year of travel.  (His high school is small and desperate for hockey players, so it’s a given that he’ll make the team next year.)

For the first two years, Jamie was on team A.  I was team manager, so he pretty much had a guaranteed spot.  That team fell apart in March 2012 (read about it here), but after several tryouts, we did find another team, Team B, where we were quite happy for two years.  And then…that team fell apart.  Sigh.  So we were at it again.   It took two weeks, but we found another team (Team C) that we ended up making great friends on and having fun, if not winning lots of games. (I’d rather have the friends than the wins.)  In the spring, the coaches promised us some changes to make things better, and told us they would be with us through the end of the next full season (March 2016.)  And then, at the end of the spring season…wait for it…that team fell apart. :/

We’ve spent the last four weeks trying to find a team for Jamie.  (And I thought two weeks of tryouts was hard last year!)  It has been extremely trying for our family.  Please understand that I am well aware that our hockey troubles are inconsequential in the grand scheme of things, but hockey is a Big Deal to us…it’s as much of a social phenomenon as a sport, where we’ve made lifelong friends and watched our boys grow so much in so many ways.  Everything we do for nine months out of the year is planned around our sons’ hockey schedules, so for one of our sons–and especially the oldest–to be without a team has been quite jarring to our family psyche.

On Friday while I was at the DIA, Jay and Jamie were at yet another tryout.  This was actually a second tryout for a team that I haven’t even included when I’ve listed all the tryouts we’ve attended in past posts.  It was the first one we went to, and the reason I didn’t mention it was because it was, well…awful.  It was disorganized, low-level, and just not what you’d expect of a travel hockey team. :/  And yet–they offered Jamie a spot on the team that night.  Yes, that’s right, Jamie was offered a spot at the first tryout he went to.  And yet, as much as I love my son, I know enough about his abilities to know that if a team is offering him a spot the very first night, that’s not a very high level team, especially since Jamie would actually be “playing up” on this team, ie, playing with kids a year older than him.  My final reason for not returning to this team was pretty simple: the tryout was so bad, Jamie actually told me he didn’t want to go back!

But then you fast forward almost four weeks, and well…things change, don’t they?  The reality is, this team has a big name, but it is a new team that, as far as I can tell, is made up of mostly house (lower-level) players.  It’s not close to our house, so even after Jamie failed to make any other teams, I was still against joining this one.  I figured if we were going to play “glorified house hockey,” we could just play real house hockey for a lot less money and a lot closer to home!  However, as most hockey people will tell you, once you’ve played travel (and especially if you’ve played it for five years), it’s rather demoralizing to go back to house.  Sounds snobbish, but it’s just the truth.  So, when no other teams came a-knockin’, both my husband and Jamie decided that they should give this team a second look.  Especially since the coaches really wanted him–they not only emailed my husband earlier in the week, the coach called and personally invited Jamie to come back.  And, let’s be realistic…after hearing, “Sorry, but your son just isn’t what we’re looking for” so many times in the last four weeks, it was rather nice to have someone say so adamantly, “We’d really like Jamie to come play for us.”

The truth is, this team is probably closer to Jamie’s true skill level than most of the others he tried out for.  There has been a big shakeup in teams of his age division in our area this year, and his choices were either very high-level teams that he wasn’t qualified for, or mid-level teams that already had enough players.  :/  So while I wasn’t excited about him playing on what will probably end up being a low-level travel team, I did see the positive in that he has the potential to be a real leader on this team.  While I’m the first to say my son isn’t a super-star, he is a darn good defenseman, and he has a tremendous work ethic, and I suspect he has more experience at travel than most of the kids on the team, despite the fact that most or perhaps even all of these kids are a year older than him.

So…Saturday morning, my husband called the coach and accepted the spot on behalf of Jamie.  I’m still pretty skeptical, since the coach was doing a pretty good sales pitch on Friday night (and I develop sales training, so I know all the lines!), but my husband thinks it’ll be fine.  FYI, neither my husband nor I attended that first tryout; due to schedule issues, I dropped Jamie off and then we had a friend bring him home. That friend’s two sons attended the tryout as well, and even he chose not to take them back.  However, my husband said that the tryout he saw Friday night seemed well-run and well-organized, so he is insistent that this won’t be as bad as I’m thinking.

So, while it may not be ideal, we do have a team, and for that, at least, I’m grateful.  It does feel good to know that my son’s abilities are appreciated by someone.  They were really excited about having him–and they don’t even  know that he comes complete with his own team photographer. 😉

Jamie loves that shot above because it shows off the “flex” in his stick.  He even made it the background on his phone, lol!

Thank you to everyone who has listened to me whine and carry on about hockey for the last month.  (Especially my dear friend Tonia, who has been the recipient of many long texts and emails in the last four weeks!)  I know that hockey problems are not really important, and in the grand scheme of things, this period is just a blip on the radar of our lives, but I can’t deny that I am extremely happy that the tryout period, at least, is over!!

And because I love both my sons, I have to give equal time to the other one, who is just so cute at 9-years-old. 😉  Lucky me, to be the mom of not one but two defensemen!

Thanks for reading!!