March 17, 2018: Avalanche

The whole day didn’t start right.  When we arrived at the park, the first game of the day was coming to an end.  The undefeated team that we were playing next was losing.  They ended up with their first loss of the season, as the team with the most skilled kid in the league took them out.  Good for them and all, but I wanted us to be that team that gave them their first blemish.  But due to our game being scheduled AFTER their game, we’d have to settle for giving them their 2nd loss.

It was the last floor hockey game of the season.  It was the rematch; the match up with the team that kicked our butts the last time we saw them.  The game that had some drama in it.  I really wanted us to win this game; it started off well enough.

Getting that first goal I thought was huge.  High fives for everybody.  And as the first period ended, that would be the only goal scored.  1-0 lead in what was shaping up to be a nail biter.

I did my normal between period thing.  I went to our goalie, and started taking off their pads, getting ready to strap up our next goalie.  But then our coach said no.  He would keep the same goalie in net for the 2nd period.  Looking back now, it reminded me of when Lou Piniella changed up our starting lineup for that playoff series vs the Dodgers.  Why?  Haha… it’s only 4-6 year old hockey.

But the next period was not pretty.  3 consecutive goals had us looking up at a 2 goal deficit.  But then our kid scored his second goal of the day, and pulled us within 1.  3-2 was the score going into the final period.  There was the first instance of drama in that period, and it involved my son.

Heading into the corner to get the puck, another kid came rumbling in, trying to do the same.  Problem was, this kid was probably 50 pounds heavier than my son; I’d love to see his birth certificate.  So when their bodies met, physics tell us who the loser would be.  The kid ran my son over; my son laid crumpled in the corner…

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You want kids this age to be aggressive, no doubt.  There are too many of them who aren’t.  But at this age, there is a fine line between being aggressive and being reckless.  I don’t know what this coach tells his kids.  Remember, this was the same team who had a kid who was slashing other kids.  Is this something taught?  Is this something encouraged?  I sure hope not.  It’s easy to make that assumption, with this coach taking these games a bit too serious for this age group.  I want to win, everybody does, but making sure the kids are safe and having fun is number one right now.

Well, the third period wasn’t fun.  An avalanche of 4 straight goals, and a 7-2 loss for us.  But do you think our kids cared?  We lined up to exchange “good games” and then the kids were presented with their trophies, smiling from ear to ear.  Then they started running around chasing each other for the last time this season.  Seeing that made it easy not to be mad about this…

I shook hands with the kids from the other team, and the coaches too; I don’t think our head coach did.  And as we left, the coach from the other team came outside.  I told him “good game”; probably not what he expected to hear from me.  But I wasn’t going to let him think I was bothered, and I know I’ll see him again.  He coached a baseball team last year, and I’m assuming he’ll be back this year.  And as my wife shared a few of her thoughts with him, and he justified it as “it’s hockey”, I did remind him that his kid ran a couple of our kids over, one of them being MY kid.  We left it at that.

This whole situation presented a good learning opportunity for my son.  We talked about what happened in the car ride back home, me caring about it more than he did at the moment.  But I told him, you’re going to get knocked down… just like you’ll take a baseball off your leg, or get fouled in basketball… but you get back up… you keep playing.  Maybe he’ll remember, maybe he won’t, but this much I do know.  There will be many times life will knock him down; I want him to keep getting up.

As for me, I’m good.  I’m going to keep coaching my kids the right way; I don’t know and can’t control how others may coach theirs.  And just like with all my other Chicago sports, my memory will be very good.  After all, we’re only just getting started…