I’m going to call this our first official hockey road trip.

Sunday, we ventured from the middle of Long Island to Stanford CT. Conneticut, you say?!?! That’s another state!!! In reality, Stanford is 1 hour 15 min away with no traffic, (but when is there ever no traffic in the tri-state area), and a lot closer than some places in New York State. But I got called a lousy mother one of those hockey parents anyway for dragging my kid so far away to try out for a team he probably won’t make. Apparently according to some, staying home to play xbox would be better for his overall development as a human being.

Oh, you caught that too. I said he probably wouldn’t make the team anyway. I guess that makes me a meanie as well – setting my son up for failure. Well, if you knew the Red Chief, you would know he is a fantastic skater! He has a lot of talent as well, and no sense of urgency whatsoever. The downside of the primary hockey parent being his hippie yoga loving mom. The dads get out there and tell their kids to fight for the puck; Red Chief gets off the ice and mommy says, “Great job, honey. Maybe you should consider being a little more aggressive next time though. But great job.”

What can I do? Scream at the kid? Way to take the fun out of hockey. So this is my solution… For three tryout sessions he is going up against some of the best travel kids in the tri-state area; he’s never played travel. And after the tryouts, we discuss what happened, nice and calm. And I still tell him that he did great because he doesn’t have to be the best kid on the ice but he has to try his best. Then we point out things we saw that were good. “You see how that kid went through the circles like someone was chasing him? That’s what you want to do. You want to use this time to try to get faster.” “See how they go for the puck? That’s what you want to do.” “But you really did great out there and mommy had fun watching you.”

I’m no saint, and it is a little frustrating watching him at times, because he is just not used to playing at this pace, but he is doing great, and I am asking a lot of him. And he has to learn sometime.

I guess it will be easier to teach him to be a little more aggressive than to teach the kid that cross checked and boarded another player to be less aggressive. God help his parents.