Hockey Season in Full Force

The hockey season, while it began for us in September with an introduction camp, is now in full force. The season officially started the first weekend in November for the boys.

Chay is playing Tier 3 Termites. He has a few players from last year's team on his team this year. Two kids are also in his 1st grade class. He does miss some of the kids he did play with last year that are on other teams.

The twins are playing Tier 1 Termites. They are on the same team, which does help out for scheduling.

Chay's play has picked up a lot in the offseason. He had an excellent game yesterday. He was aggressive with the puck and scored four goals. He was a bit of a force on the forecheck as well and was quick to get back on defense. I think that yesterday was the best game of his career. He looks better on skates and is now starting to shift left and right with the puck to avoid defenders. I think the coaches noticed his play too because he got a lot of fist bumps from them throughout the game for his efforts.

Jace has been loving hockey. He needs to figure out what a game is for though. When its his shift, Jace is more likely to be just skating around, looking at everyone, seemingly oblivious to the fact there is a game going on. But he's having fun and he isn't the only 4-year old out there that gets distracted.

When the season started, Jenner went back to not-liking-hockey. He refused to participate in the first practice. During the first game, the only thing I could get him to do was sit on the bench, fully dressed in hockey gear. But he did not go on the ice. A couple of times, he stood up to take a shift, but then sat back down. Coaches kept asking him if he wanted to play and he said 'no'. When it was all over, the teams lined up to shake hands. Jenner didn't want to go. Then the players all skated to the other end of the ice to leave for the day. At this point, Jenner stepped on the ice and skated with them. The coach said that Jenner had a big smile once he stepped out there. I told Jenner that his smile is too big for his helmet when he's on the ice!

On Saturday, the twins had another practice. Jace eagerly got on the ice and Jenner didn't want to do it. Jenner did agree to put on some of his gear, but not his skates or helmet. He wanted to sit on the bench. After a few minutes, Jenner and I made a deal. If he went out and practiced, I would take off his gear on the bench instead of in the locker room. He agreed and got dressed the rest of the way and had lots of fun in practice.

Saturday was a long hockey day for us. The hockey teams had their annual pictures. Chay's team started at 9:15. Then he had practice. Then the boys had a bite to eat from concessions. The twin's pictures started at 12:30 and practice at 1:30. It was after 3:00 when we left the arena. We had a short break then we heading up to the UND hockey game that evening.

On Sunday, it was game day again. Jenner got dressed without any issues and went on the ice like it was no big deal. So this week, Jenner had his first practice and his first game and he said he had fun. Jenner was more engaged in the game than Jace. The twins are not the best skaters yet, but they are improving. And they are having fun, which is the most important thing.