Rec Hockey

The boys have loved playing on the Coaldale Cool Canucks Rec Hockey League for the past three years.  We are really going to miss it when we move to Edmonton.  Here are some recent shots of them.  At the end of the season, there is a big game for a "stanley cup" at our Enmax centre here in Lethbridge.  This is where then minor hockey league plays.  We rent the facility and have a huge even there, complete with a jumbotron, announcer, singing of the national anthem, red carpet, instant replay, fan cam, kiss cam, t-shirt gun, door prizes--you name it, its there.  The coaches all dress up in shirts and ties and the players come out onto the ice like rock stars--they all get their names and pictures up on the jumbotron.  It feels like the closest thing to the NHL!  And its way more fun.  :-)

Whenever I watch William and Ryrie skate I can't help thinking of their beginnings and feeling a lot of gratitude.  This rec league has been a huge blessing in their lives--to help give them a bit of an identity and lots of confidence.  When I watch Owen skate I feel amazement at his fluidity and poise.  And it is also sweet to watch him make decisions that might take away from the glory of making a goal--no mistake, he loves to make goals, but when it is better to assist someone else or give someone a chance who doesn't often get one, he will do it.  Yesterday I saw him right in front of the net pass the puck to a girl who never gets it rather than take the shot.  It was pretty sweet to see.  He has taken a boy under his wing this year who started out hating hockey.  Owen talked to him and skated really slow with him during the warmups and made sure he was on the same shift with him, and it made all the difference.  The boy stopped crying and complaining when it was hockey practice and started enjoying himself.  When I watch Tommy play hockey I have a hard time not smiling.  He is so little and so cute, but he seems to have a sense of what is happening all over that huge stretch of ice.  He steers himself in the right direction and skates fast, but he knows when to hold up or stop and turn, so he can get to the place he needs to be in.  He was goalie yesterday, which has been his dream for the past two years so that was extra special.  He was very aggressive in the net.  he told me that he figures he's had lots of practice because he is often goalie when he plays floor hockey with his brothers.