So You Want to Play in the NHL

Brendan is an avid reader. We all are, really. They joke that when I die, it will be both easier and cheaper to annex my house as a library than to move all the books I’ll have accumulated.

On a recent trip to the bookstore, Brendan selected the Dan Bylsma book: So You Want to Play in the NHL: A Guide for Young Players.  He’s been working his way through the text, taking it in little by little and allowing himself time to digest and interpret his learnings.

After reading for a while the other night, he paused for a few minutes to write down a quote from the book that struck him as important – for both him and for sharing with his coach.  It read: “When you can skate faster than you can pass the puck, then you don’t have to pass the puck anymore.”

Seems like good advice.  For an 8-year-old or, even, for some current NHL players….

Regardless, I loved that he felt it was important enough to pause his reading, write it down and commit it to memory. That’s good learning.

I imagine when he’s done with the book, it could be a good read for a hockey mom as well.

And for the record, Bren does want to play in the NHL.

Stars

So, in watching the plethora of sports available in the month of October (NFL Football, World Series Baseball, Start of Season Basketball and Hockey of course, among others) we’re all witness to the effects of stardom.  From the dismal display of Cow-wonder-boy Tony Romo to the triumphs of the New York Yankees, the drama of the Celtics versus Bulls to the ovations for Ovechkin, October sports delivers it all. 

But, here’s the things about “Star Athletes”:  We create them.  Sometimes, a player is labeled a star because of potential – of expectations.  Sometimes, it’s because of actual performance. Regardless, it’s usually due to a confluence of factors: athleticism, charisma, marketability, interest, rebellion, uniqueness, controversy.  Somewhere in the process, something about an individual captures our hopes – our passions and desires for what we want our team to be – or, in some cases, what we want to be ourselves.  We like to believe our stars represent the  best of us.  But, in reality, we often exalt those that represent the worst as well.

The reality of sports stars, however, is that it takes a whole lot of concerted effort from a wide variety of individuals to help them attain – much less maintain – stardom. And that’s where a bit of perspective is helpful – in looking at the entire constellation as opposed to the brightest burning star. The unglamorous roles of trainers, equipment managers and even coaches must be coupled with the hard work and determination of teammates – those that hold the line, catch the pitches, inbound the ball and make the assist, to catapult a star into being.

As it is with everyday life, the goal is to make a contribution. To be a part of the team.

As I’ve said here before, it is one of the things that makes me most grateful to have become part of the world of hockey. In no other sport do I see same level of appreciation for every role player – in addition to the stars. As my own son navigates the sometimes slick lanes of youth hockey, I try to remind him that the goal isn’t for him to be the highest scoring player on the ice.  It is for his team to win the game. Sometimes, he has to remind me of that as well.

That’s one of the blessings of having a grounded “star” player.

No Life

At a recent Squirt hockey game, I saw a little girl wearing a shirt that read: “I have no life. My brother plays hockey”

I’ve often felt this is the case for our younger son, Mitch. He’s basically grown up at the rink. Heck, he was still in-utero when Brendan took his first skating lesson — and has been at the rink nearly every week since.  While I’ve often commented on the challenge (and joy!) of having a child who is incredibly passionate about something, I believe the greater challenge of parenting in such a family is to make certain the sacrifices required of everyone else aren’t such that siblings truly have “no life”.

I’m hoping that we’re finding a good balance wherein Mitch enjoys his time at the rink, making friends and playing with other hockey siblings and cheering-on his big brother. But, also one in which he knows his hopes and dreams and desires are equally important. Even if they aren’t hockey related. Even if it’s just to watch Star Wars. Again.

I wonder how the parents of players like Ovi, Green, and Backstrom handled it?

Because it’s not how, it’s how many.

Yesterday, the Blue Ridge Bears Squirt team opened their season with a win at home.

The official start of hockey season is reassuring around here. It gives structure to our schedule until spring. Knowing already when and where we have travel games, coupled with which of the Capitals’s home games we’ll be attending allows time for little else for the next several months. You schedule in a few, key family holidays and the precious few (two?) remaining weekends are left intentionally,  blissfully empty.

The home opener (and it seems we Bears always open at home, thanks to our fantastic scheduler!) is like watching the Bears awakening from a long, summer hibernation. The weather yesterday was fittingly fall: cold, grey and blustery. Perfect for a chili fundraiser and the warmth of a home hockey game. Watching our rookie parents acclimate to the pace and action of travel games is encouraging.  We again have a great group of parents – and kids – all excited about the journey we are embarking on.

Yesterday’s win wasn’t pretty by any account except the final score. The Raiders opened up with a goal in the first minute. We struggled getting shots on goal, tallying only 16 the entire game. And we allowed 21 to be taken on our own goalie while giving our opponents 6 Power Play opportunities – 4 in the second period alone.

The veteran Bears played well – but the scoring came from some unexpected sources – with one of last year’s “part-time” players opening up the season with a hat trick – including one short handed, all-heart-and-desire goal. Little #81 Lawrence Dupont, still a Mite, stymied the Raiders along the blue line, streaked through the neutral zone to drive the net and take the shot – which was blocked by the goalie only to see Dupont collect his own rebound and bank it in off the back of the goalie and into the net. Seriously.

Adding to it two goals by Beers and one by our “big man” Szalankiewicz (all great hockey names, no?) we beat the Reston Raiders in the end 6-3. The rookies got their first real taste of league play and even had a few shifts on the power play.

We rushed home to cheer for our other home team, the Washington Capitals as they welcomed the Nashville Predators to the Phone Booth. Again, not a terribly pretty game – but in the end, a point is a point. Or two.

As Peerless, put it “Because it’s not how, it’s how many“.   One win down. 17 to go.

Hockey: Magic and Miracles

So, recently there has been a flurry of youth hockey activity on the internet.  The YouTube sensation of then 4-year-old Josh Sacco reciting Herb Brooks pre- Miracle on Ice speech followed today by the video of 9-year-old Oliver Wahlstrom’s ”magical” shootout attempt. (Makes you start to wonder what’s in the water up there in Boston, eh?)

Watching these kids, I realize how truly small the hockey world really is. For my two boys religiously watch Miracle on Ice – though they prefer to reenact the scene where Brooks runs the team “AGAIN” and “AGAIN” … as they try to see which will be the first to quit.  Sibling rivalry and all that. And Brendan has always worn #80 in honor of his first love of hockey, that Gold Medal winning team.

And tonight, Brendan, who has already “won” the title as the best 8 year old shooter in Virginia will compete against the same from the state of Maryland to determine the winner in the Washington Capitals Youth Hockey Shootout. Like young Wahlstrom, Brendan too plays “up” against 9 and 10 year olds, having been a member of the Squirt travel team since he was 6.  Yes. 6.  And playing up a year for the Washington All-Stars. Difference being we do NOT live in a hockey mecca.  And Brendan does not enjoy the benefit of having elite hockey playing parents. It’s really all him.

It is unlikely that he will attempt the kind of dazzling display seen in the Bruins video. But, his patience and persistence will likely result in some stellar goals. As his mom, I expect the experience will offer Magic.  And I’m saying my prayers that, if needed, he gets a Miracle too.

Gotta love this game!

Of Happiness and Hockey

I recently read the book “The Happiness Myth“. It’s a great read that provokes me to rethink some of my previously held notions about what makes me happy and why.

Coupled with the recent deluge of articles and special reports on the topic of happiness, I’ve reached one conclusion: People are happiest when they have a shared experience.  After all, isn’t that why we prefer to GO to sporting events or even to watch with other fans at our local sports bar?

As Jennifer Michael Hecht, wrote in the book, “the game of watching sports has rituals, parties, heroes, and opportunities to scream your lungs out, slap hands with your neighbors or suddenly embrace one another in a fit of joy”.

Sounds like a hockey game to me!

It is in the shared experience, whether it be victory or defeat, that we find comfort and happiness. 

As the Washington Capitals look to their season home opener tonight against the Toronto Maple Leafs, I am wondering about the rituals of our Capitals fans.  I know many have them – things they do, items they wear, places they visit before a game in hopes of feeling a part of the team.

For Caps fans, its become a ritual to wear the Red. Conveniently, red has always been one of my favorite colors. I know I have my own game day rituals and plenty of red attire…. do you?

Charlottesville: On the Map

On Sunday September 20, three of the Charlottesville/Blue Ridge Ice Hockey players competed in the semi-final round of the Washington Capitals Youth Hockey Shootout.

Brendan competed as a shooter at the Mite level (as he only turned 8 this past spring – although he’ll be a third year Squirt this season…) and we also had two goalies compete – Bren’s Squirt goalie, Reid Pritchard and his rookie year goalie, now a second year PeeWee, Zach Hale. The semi-final round witnessed the 4 best shooters at each level from Maryland and Virginia squaring off against the two best home-state goalies.

In the end, both Brendan and Zach Hale made the finals – and Reid BARELY missed ( I think one of the shooters gave up on the second goalie after realizing there was no chance for him to win after he missed his first shot on her! But I digress…)

There were a few “entertaining moments” during the shootout…. First, there was all the talk in the locker room about how far the Bears had travelled to compete… the nearly 3 hour drive was infinitely more than those that were coming from Ashburn, Reston and Montgomery.

Then, there were the other mites.  As Brendan stood, waiting for the Zam to finish and take the ice, the Maryland shooters were lined up across the way. All four from the Montgomery Blue Devils. One player looked at me and said “Is he a Mite?” and when I answered yes…he asked “from WHERE?”… when I answered Charlottesville, he intoned “Is that CBHL?”

Without Bearing out (pun intended) the long story, I merely winked and said, “Sure is”…. without going into the painful details of how our Bears had beaten the Blue Devils just this past March to advance to the Championship game.

Brendan beat out shooters from two of the best teams in the state — the Reston Raiders and the Ashburn Xtreme…and beat two goalies, including a GINORMOUS goalie from the NOVA Ice Dogs…scoring on 5 of 8 total shots to easily win the VA side of the competition.

In goal a few rounds later, Zach Hale seemed to SWELL in size with each shot he faced, stopping all but 3 of 16 shots on goal to handily win as the PeeWee VA goalie.

The super cool thing about all this is that, in the end, it really puts Charlottesville/BRIHA hockey on the map.  2009 has been a “TIPPING POINT” year for our organization:

• Two teams making it to the Championship Round of the CBHL playoffs in March (Squirts and Midgets)
• Three Players (Keaton, Szalankiewicz and Blasik) making it to the highly competitive Washington All Stars Spring/Summer league and
• Two players (of 4 total invited!) making it all the way to the final round of the Capitals Youth Hockey Shootout

Now, our Bears go on to compete during two upcoming Caps games in a Maryland versus Virginia format. (Our own little “Miracle on Ice”)

May the best state/team/player win…. but hey… it is VA versus MD….is there really any doubt?

VA all the way!

(And now, Charlottesville is officially on the map as a hockey-happy-town!)

GO BEARS!

The Backstory

One of the things I most enjoy in life is learning the “backstory” to any situation. Maybe it’s just curiosity, maybe it’s the mom in me, maybe the Capricorn…or maybe just some quirk of genetics. But, ever since I could speak, I’ve always asked “Why?”.

My own mother will attest to this. And I will attest to the fact that, quickly, her standard answer became “Because I said so,” hoping to dissuade me from further inquiries. (Note to my fellow parents: Don’t try this at home. It doesn’t really work!)

As a professional, I’ve sometimes been accused of being confrontational. Those that know me, however, will tell you it’s really just inquisitive. I believe to be a good marketing pro, you need to understand the backstory. To really know how and why we’ve arrived at this point. Context helps everyone and does dissuade a deluge of “why?”

Relative to hockey, one of my favorite topics of backstory is a player’s selection of jersey number. Ovechkin selected #8 because it was the number his dear mother wore as an Olympian. Crosby wears #87 because his birthdate is 8-7-87.  The Great Gretzgy wanted #9 in honor of Gordie Howe, but it was already taken on his team…so he went for #99 instead. Brendan selected #80, in honor of his first love in hockey, the 1980 USA Hockey Gold winning team. All great, interesting backstories.

With the start of a new hockey season facing us, I  had a long talk with Mitch the other night. For the last few seasons, he’s been wearing numberless jerseys or his big brother’s hand me downs. This season, he’ll get his own jerseys, with his name and (hopefully) number of choice. So it was time for the number talk….

When asked, he first blurted out “6,742!”  (he’s 5, mind you…)

Um. Hmm. “Mitch, that won’t fit on a jersey. We need only one or two numbers.”

So began the contemplation. “Well, I could be #8, but Ovechkin is already 8. And I’ve been wearing #80, but that won’t work because when I play on the Bears with Brendan, we can’t both be #80.” (We’ll save the explanation of that impossibility for another day…)

I offered that he could be #81, which is close to Brendan’s number or #63 for his own birthday. He said no. “I don’t like 6’s or 9’s, they look too much like the same I can’t remember how to tell them apart.” Fair enough.

And then, again with the 5 year old wisdom, he inquires: “Can I be 80 and 8? Like Brendan AND Ovechkin?”

“Well,” I offer, “you could be 88!”

So there you have it. The official selection of the jersey number. And a pretty decent backstory to it as well…his two favorite players, combined. And, hey, from a marketing standpoint, I could always offer that its just “one better” than Crosby….

Thumbs up

Brendan travelled to Ashburn this morning to compete in the qualifying round of the Washington Capitals Youth Shootout. It was a rare chance to see him compete against kids his actual age…not a year (or 4) older!

As I’ve said before, Bren doesn’t really excel in drill situations…he’s more of a pace of the game kinda player. So, he’s not in his element in a shootout competition. As always, the youngest players take the ice earliest, so Bren was on the ice by 8:00…and as always, he’s a slow starter…barely making it out of the first round of elimination. But, then, he hit his stride and figured out the formula of the drill.

In the final elimination round, he was the only one of his group of 5 to make 2 out of 3 shots. He realized he’d made the cut before we did…and while standing on the ice waiting for the other players to shoot for the tie-breaker, he flashed his wicked little grin, nodded his head, and gave a quick thumbs up.

It’s all good.

Kettler, here we come.

Goalie Armor

My youngest son Mitch finally got to suit up in full Goalie Gear during a recent Stick & Puck session. We’ve been explaining to him for over a year that he had to 1) get really good on skates and 2) be big enough for the pads to not swallow him before he could play in goal ON the ice.  Well, now that he’s 5, we finally relented and agreed to put him out there to give it a shot. Much to this hockey mom’s dismay.

He struggled with the outdated and still-too-big chest protector. Flailed around on the ice a bit in the overwhelming leg-pads and catcher/blocker. Luckily, he had his own helmet, stick and skates! After attempting a few stops on shots from his big brother, he was frustrated and discouraged. But, by stripping away the stick and giving him his regular hockey gloves, we got him to practice just SKATING in the heavy armor. Then, he realized that with all that padding…he could have a great time just flinging himself to the ice and sliding. It may have been unorthodox, but, it got him to practice scrambling up off the ice just as much as the getting down.

In the end, he was exhausted both from the weight of the pads as well as the energy expended just playing around. He’s no longer convinced that goalie is the position for him. Yet. He suggested we invest in newer, lighter and better fitting pads. And that he will work on getting stronger so he can handle them better.  And that in the meantime, he’s gonna practice his shooting….just in case.

Wisdom. 5 year old style.