I'm a Hockey Mom and I Like it

I'm a hockey mom.  I never aspired to be one.  It didn't really occur to me.  My husband wasn't playing hockey when I met him or for the first eight years of our marriage.  But then our first child became old enough to be put in hockey.  I should have known at that point, because he was only three years old at the time.  Some parents don't start their kids that young.  I remember wondering, "Is he really OLD enough to play right now?"  And we didn't do skating lessons first - no.  He went right into hockey. 

It's so funny to watch kids play hockey when they're young.  Skating is really hard to learn, let alone to skate after a puck with a stick while being chased by other kids similarly armed.  The kids will try to take a big shot with their stick only to fall on top of the puck.  Or they'll skate over to the puck and then keep going right past it because they can't stop.  I love this one kid who, every time he comes off the bench, trips over the edge and does a face plant on the ice.  I'm sorry to say that I laugh...every single time he does it.

You know what I really love?  I love how, when a player gets injured in a game, all the other players on both sides get down on one knee while they wait for the player to be assessed.  When the player gets up again, the kids smack their sticks on the ice as applause.  I love it!  Now that's great sportsmanship.

I'm such a hockey mom that I can put on all the hockey pads by myself now and do up the skates, and I only put the elbow pads on backwards occasionally.  It's like a puzzle, I swear!  The first time I did it I was sweating and cursing while my son was saying, "That's my LEFT shin pad, not my right.  That thing over there is my NECK GUARD, it doesn't go on my wrist!  You're supposed to put on my shorts AFTER you put on the jock!"  There should be a course, or something. 

Don't get me started on when I had to do the goalie pads by myself when my husband was away.  Whew!  I felt like I had really accomplished something when I got those things on right.

I've mentioned in a previous post that my sons call our oven 'Ovechkin'.  The other day we were in a sports store looking around and I noticed something.  "Hey, Ryan!"  I called.  "Look at this!  This hockey stick has the same name as our oven!"

I guess I still have some things to learn.