Special Thanksgiving Edition Hockey

Coach Dan put together a few extra skates with the unoccupied ice time they tend to have around holidays at Willowbrook and I participated in the one today. There was a pretty good showing... a lot of the guys with boys who play hockey had their kids playing and, of course, they skated circles around us old folks.

I had a really good game (thus confirming to me that a week off every now and then is good for the hockey soul) and I'd missed playing so I was ready to roll. And luckily I was on a line with Iginla and Drury (okay, not really but one was in a Flames jersey and the other in a Rangers jersey and they each got a goal, so that was nice).

Anyway, our team lost but that's okay. It was fun.

So, after 2 hours of playing hockey, then doing a little gear-comparing in the parking lot with Scott TCG, I lugged my goalie gear back in the building and suited up again. It was a public skate and a crowded one at that with lots of little kids, so I was quite the spectacle. Quite a few little kids just stared at me, mesmerized by the Sta-Puft marshmallow lady.

One, who looked like he'd already been crying and snotting himself from the trauma of skating for the first time, saw me, burst into tears, and screamed, "MOMMY! WHAT IS THAT??" I think my inflated countenance was the final straw for his overstimulated, stressed out little mind. It was funny.

And then on the ice, I was working mainly on forward and backward c-cuts, just pushing back and forth from different angles and trying to end up back centered in front of the "net." It was such a small movement that it was fine even with the crowd. They let me have the crease and that's all I needed.

Eventually the kids who play hockey (and even some of the dads) decided they needed to shoot imaginary pucks at me. One kid in a Red Wings jersey was especially trying to light the lamp, but they ALL fake-shot at me when they skated by. It was actually pretty funny and gave some context to my dorkiness, which I appreciated. Even though I'm pretty sure every fake shot went in. :)

Boy am I tired now. With every blink, the threat of me not re-opening my eyes grows. But at almost 5 p.m., it's too late for a nap.

Aeros and Wild play tonight. Go teams.