And yet, there are times when being a Puck Hog is not a bad thing!!
Aidan is currently on two teams. He has to be on a House League Team in order to play on his Travel Select Team. The Select Team is a precursor to the big travel team he hopes to make next year. It's kind of like the All Star team: the 28 best players of the House League out of 144 kids make the two Travel Select Teams (LA 1 and LA 2--Aidan is an LA 1).
The 28 are really good, too. At least 10 of them were on the same Travel team last Spring, of which 8 (a couple will move up to the next age group division) will likely be on the same team this coming Spring and will (hopefully) make the big Travel Team next June (for the 2014-15 season).
But, I digress. . .
Aidan's House League team can be good. But they can also be really really bad. And they have been really really bad lately.
They spend their practices working on passing (good) but not on foot skills (not so good!). Several of the kids on the team look like they just started skating--even after a 8 weeks!!--not long before the season started. They have gotten better, though. But, it's hard to work on passing skills when the boys don't really know positioning or how to get there.
Last week was a major wake up call for Aidan. He spent most of his House League game just standing around waiting. No one was passing to him and he came off the ice sooo frustrated!!! I have never seen him so frustrated!! In fact, the mood carried into the next day. So not like him when it comes to hockey!
So, I talked to Coach Troy, his coach he takes lessons from on Monday morning. He said Aidan should be scoring 10 goals a game. I said last Sunday he had scored 0. He said, Aidan should get the puck and go and score. I made a face. . .he responded by saying, parents may not like it, but that's what Aidan should be doing.
Okay then.
I told Aidan what Coach Troy said and I have to tell you. . .the relief was not just visible but palpable.
And it paid off, too!! He scored 9 this morning. And his team won 24-2! : ) Chatterbox and super happy and excited since!!
And he's doing great with his Selects Travel team, too! He is making some great plays, scoring and being a good team mate.
Aidan's team scored right after this. . .that's my boy digging for the puck and then he passed it to the boy (they are in white) in front of the goal who then shot it into the goal and scored!!!! (Ashburn LA1 Selects v. Frederick--final score 20-1)
My kiddo during the game watching and being prepared. (Ashburn LA1 Selects v. Reston--final score 22-2)
And now, in a couple of minutes, we'll be off to the Ice House again (fourth time this weekend) so Aidan's team can play the Big Travel Team for an Exhibition game. . . : / Hopefully, the boys will keep this in perspective. . .
Have a great week!
2 comments:
Whoo Hoo! Way to go Aidan!!
I say this gently because I know you're fairly new to hockey, but Aidan should absolutely not be scoring 9 goals in a game, and his team should never score 24. It should be up to the coaches to control their players, but if they aren't willing or capable of doing so, you'll have to be the one who speaks to Aidan about sportsmanship. My boys are older now, but when they were little we explained that when a game goes from being a "competition" to an "exhibition" (when they were up by 5/6 goals or more), scoring becomes showing off, or showing up their opposition. If they continue to do this past a certain age, the other team is going to react very differently.
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