2/23 Blog: Hockey is taking over

This has been our first year of being an official hockey family. When we asked Ben on his 5th birthday what sport he wanted to play when he turned six he said ice hockey. Maybe it was because his dad is a Red Wings fan, maybe he heard another kid talking about it, but he chose hockey. With that response we signed him up for ice skating lessons for his birthday. He had a class once a week for about 6 months.

The next Fall when he turned six we put him in the Cincinnati Area Hockey Associations (CAHA) "learn to play"program. This was a clinic type program where the kids learned how to play, from stick handling, how to skate, stop (that one is important) and the rules of the game. Ben did this for the entire Winter season. When it ended, he still liked it.

So this Fall when he turned seven we signed him up for the Mite league. This is they youngest level in Hockey, 5-8 year olds by birth year, so I guess 20002, 2002 ad 2003 kids where in this level. He has loved it, playing official games, learning different positions and of course winning some games here and there. A few months into the season we got a call about a "select" team. Arnie and my first reaction was "no way" at this age, because we assumed it would be a traveling team and we aren't ready to give up every weekend. The coach promised it was all teams within 2 hours who we would play, so we let him try out and he made it.

Throughout the season it has been a game here or there for select, with the exception of two Sunday were the poor thing had 3 games. With select because teams are traveling into town they often do double headers, that along with a normal CAHA game means a long day. But again, he loves it....I am tired watching him and he wants to skate more. So for most of the season our life has been a Mite clinic Monday night, CAHA practice Thursday night and one or two games per weekend, not too bad.

And then this week hit. It is the CAHA tournament this weekend, the last games of the season. So this week he had his normal CAHA game Sunday, select game last night, practice Thursday, game Friday, games on Saturday and then will have a select game on Sunday. Then we go to Tuesday and Thursday practices running up to our one "away from home" tournament in Cleveland in three weeks.

Ben can't wait to go away, for a 7 year old that is just beyond cool. My kids LOVE hotels as it is, always an adventure and the thought of him being with 12 of his buddies in the same hotel is just over the top for him. Even the girls are excited because "all the sisters will be there to." So our life is a bit hockey heavy for the next few weeks. We try to make the most of it, going to games and practices as a family so we can all still eat together, etc. If it is a really early game (like the 7:20 kind) me and the girls will skip it, I just can't bear to wake them up. But for the most part we are his biggest fan and cheer along as much as we can (or as loud as we can).