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State Tourney Day One

State tourney day one, or should I say night one didn’t go our way. After an almost five-hour drive across Florida (including the cluster fuck that is I-4,) we finally made it to the hotel just before 5:00 pm. The drive to Wesley Chapel is always miserable. We were lucky, however, that the weather cooperates. Our hotel was allegedly fifteen minutes from the rink. That estimate of time is apparently representative of driving at midnight because it took us almost forty minutes to get to the hotel from i-75 at 4:00 pm.

While our hotel is closer to the Tampa airport than the rink, it is a great location. There are several restaurants, a beer garden, an ice cream shop, and even a liquor store, so I guess all is not lost. Consequently, we had a great dinner at Brick City. The hubby and I shared a Margherita pizza while the Mayor enjoyed some chicken parm. I loved the pizza! I’d definitely go back. After dinner, we stopped at the beer garden to enjoy some beers and ciders with some fellow hockey parents.

We finally headed to the rink around 7:30 pm. Their first opponent of the tournament was the Makos. All year, the teams have been pretty evenly matched, so it should have been a good game. Well, the first period was good. Our Hawks started the scoring with a beautiful goal in the first. They played a solid first period. However, The second period was an absolute dumpster fire. The hockey gods were not on our side after the first period last night. The squad gave up five unanswered goals in the second period as the Makos capitalized on small mistakes. They also had all the puck last night. There was no puck luck happening for the Hawks last night.

The final score was 7-1, which was obviously a disappointing start to their state tournament. Post-game, we got the Mayor some food before heading back to the hotel. Naturally, the only thing open at midnight was fast food. Unfortunately, the fast food wasn’t so fast. Once he finished eating, he took a warm shower followed by an ice bath. We finally headed to bed well after midnight. It was a long, exhausting day. We’re heading to the rink shortly for the first game of the day. Let’s hope day two of the state tourney is not as disappointing as state tourney day one.

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Volleyball

Well, I finally got to see Goalielocks play volleyball. Good news, they won. Bad news, I know nothing about the sport. I’m going to have to learn a whole new vernacular. In fact, I though the game was over when they scored 15, but it’s actually 25. Goalielocks and his crew played the Olympic Heights Lions. Tonight was the first time I’ve been at the school since Jake graduated five years ago.

Goalielocks is a setter and played two games tonight. He had some great serves and some great play. Well, at least I think he did. To be fair, the serves were good because they got his team points. It was fun to watch him with his team. He definitely is enjoying the varsity volleyball experience. Their team definitely has a lot of spirit and plays with a lot of gusto. You can hear them from a mile away.

Tonight is the last night of my forty first year or as I like to say twenty seven plus fourteen. It’s always a blessing to be given another trip around the sun. I won’t lie and say that forty one has been fun or even a decent year because it hasn’t. Quite frankly year forty one was a complete abortion of a year. If it were an Uber driver, I’d give it one star. Fortunately, every day is a new opportunity to live one’s best life. Here’s to a brilliant forty second trip around the sun and a big fuck you to the forty first trip!

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Super Sunday

No surprise here, but our Super Sunday was spent at the rink. This was definitely a source of angst when the schedule first came out. The Mayor had two make up games Sunday afternoon in Pines and Coral Springs. Originally, the games were supposed to be at home, but a fire at the rink derailed that plan. The first game was a biggie because if they won it, they’d make states. Spoiler alert, they won!

They played the Florida Warrior, who they hadn’t played previously. I thought we got off to a bit of a shaky start, but once the Mayor got the scoring started it was all over. The boys ended up winning 6-0 with goals from five different kids and tons of assists. That’s exactly what you want to see on the scoresheet. Admittedly, we were all a bit nervous because the kids hadn’t practiced for over a week. Thank god they weren’t too rusty.

Between games we headed to Publix to grab the Mayor a sub. They barely had any time between games, but he needed to eat something. The second game was a much harder contest against Goldenwolves Black. It was a good, fast-paced game with little drama, but in the end they lost 2-0. Honestly, they could have won the game, but couldn’t finish. The Mayor had a great opportunity, but his stick broke on the shot.

Naturally, like everyone else my age, I wanted to see the halftime show. The two things i was excited to watch were the Air Force Heritage Flight Flyover and the halftime time show. Fortunately, I was able to catch the flyover right before the Mayor’s game started. And as luck would have it, the game ended minutes before the show started. I was able to watch the halftime show with my fellow hockey mom and dads as we collectively reminisced over the music and artists performing. It was magical.

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Panthers

The Florida Panthers are so fun to watch this year. In the sixteen years since we’ve been here, they’ve never been better. I was worried when Coach Q got fired that the wheels were gonna fall off, but they haven’t. In fact, interim head coach Andrew Burnette, one of my favorite MN Wild players, had done a fabulous job since taking over the reigns. In fact, he was just named as one of the head coaches for the NHL all star game. Hopefully, Viola and company will do the right thing and make him the permanent head coach.

As I started this blog, with writer’s block, Barkov scored a beauty of a short handed goal. The Panthers now have a commanding 5-1 lead over the Canucks heading into the third period. This team is just so good. Huberdeau is so good and deserves so much more recognition than he is given. He’s has multiple games over the last month with more than four points. I love the way he plays. Duclair, Gudas, Ekblad and company are so good. I hope this is their year because this squad is good.

This evening started with the Mayor’s hockey practice. For the first time in a long time, it was cold in the rink. Naturally, the cold rain and standing water in the parking lot didn’t help the situation. Thankfully, it’s always a good time at the with our Hawks 16u family. Now we’re back home enjoying the comfort of the couch and a nice warm blanket as we take in the Panther’s game.

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Shoulders Suck

I don’t know about you, but my shoulders suck these days. Perhaps it’s because I carry all my stress in my neck and shoulders. Or maybe it’s the sitting in a desk chair for twelve hours plus daily over the last seven weeks. Whatever it is, it’s not working for me.

After work, I did a yoga practice that targeted the shoulders and neck, which should help. I won’t probably see any real benefits from it until tomorrow. Who knew at level 41 stress and sleeping wrong could cause so many issues in the shoulders? Apparently, being a side sleeper for the last 41 year hasn’t helped my current situation.

I’ve been alternating heat and ice on the neck and shoulders hoping to relax and take down the inflammation. If I don’t take care of the neck pain, it will grow into a massive tension headache. This would be no fun for the last two days of AEP. That’s right, the finish line is in sight. Two more miles, I mean days, to go before this thing is finished. Woohoo!

Speaking of injuries, the Mayor’s stab wound tolerated the hockey well. Amazingly, he even showered and cleaned the wound after his games. This morning, however, he showed up with a hurt hip. He’s struggling to walk. Hopefully, his hip will recover quickly. I’m off to bed. I need all the energy I can muster for these final AEP days. Anyway, did I mention shoulders suck?

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Finish Line

I feel like I’ve been running a marathon and the finish line is in sight. Like any race, AEP has been exhausting and exhilarating mentally and physically. It will be nice not to spend over twelve hours a day talking on the phone for a change. So if I haven’t called lately, I’ll be back to calling friends and family once AEP is done.

When I was running a lot of 5ks, the finish line always led to a final surge. Naturally, I almost always felt like I wanted to throw up immediately afterwards. However, in the hours and day after the benefits were well worth the hard work. Fortunately, this will also be the case with AEP. Starting next week, we’re actually allowed to take off as much time in December as we want, which is amazing.

While I worked all days, the hubby and the younger two headed to Ellenton for games. Of course I had to work on the one weekend both boys played at the same rink on the same day. So lame!! I did, however, watch the first three games on LiveBarn. Instead of watching the fourth game, I’m nervously writing this blog. Goalielocks is net, which as we all know makes me nutty.

The Mayor’s leg has healed sufficiently, so he was able to play today. He looked great. Please keep his teammate in your prayers as he broke his leg in today’s game. Unfortunately, he caught an edge and slammed hard legs first into the boards. It was absolutely gnarly. Thankfully, it wasn’t worse, but spending your night in the ER in Ellenton isn’t a dream come true.

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Scary Moment

It was a scary moment Sunday when the Mayor took a skate blade to the thigh. The Mayor played in the annual Thanksgiving tournament last weekend. Unfortunately, the schedule was such that I had to watch every game from home while I worked. Thankfully, the Ice Den has Livebarn now, so I could watch the game. Additionally, my hubby was keeping me updated via text.

While watching Sunday’s semi-final against the Fury, the Hubby texted me that he was taking the Mayor to get stitches. This was definitely a scary moment for me as I had no idea how or where he was hurt. Unfortunately, he was kicked in the thigh with a skate. The resulting wound looked like a stab wound and was 3 cm long.

The medic at the rink tended to him once they realized the severity of his injury on the bench. Unsurprisingly, he was trying to convince the medic that he should be able to go out and finish the game. Mind you he still finished his shift after taking a skate to the thigh. Once the report was filed, my hubby took him to get stitches.

While it was a scary moment for all of us, it could have been much worse. The skate blade narrowly missed his femoral artery, which makes me shudder to think about. If the artery had been cut, the injury would have been catastrophic. Needless to say, we’re investing in compression gear to protect against the skate blades. In the end, he got five stitches and can’t skate for a week.

The referees did not call penalty on the headshot or the kick to the thigh despite USA Hockey’s commitment to player safety. The Livebarn video of the incident wasn’t great due to where it happened on the rink. Our manager requested the security video from the rink, but the director told her that was impossible. Again, so much for a commitment to player safety. Thank God there’s no delayed offsides or icing on PK’s anymore. USA Hockey is out of touch and useless.

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Crushed It

I crushed it today at work, which was fabulous. Yesterday started quite slow, but turned out fantastically. Here’s hoping the rest of the week goes just as well. Perhaps I was inspired by the raise I was given. I had no idea I was getting it until I saw my paycheck. Color me surprised. Surprise or not, I’ll take it.

Back to excuses, my hubby reminded me that Goalielocks used to use homework to get out of doing chores. I probably excluded it because it was so far fetched. Truly, he’s never known for doing his homework without being pushed or at all for that matter. The Mayor came up with a ridiculous excuse in Utah, but I can’t remember it at the moment. I’m hoping Jake will remember it because it brought back the memory for him of the socks and shower episode in Orlando.

I also crushed my workout this morning. Mercifully, it was the ab and arm workout, which is by far the easiest of the three Dayan. I’m not looking forward to Friday’s workout as it looks like a real ass kicker. I’m now in week 4 of BBG 1.0 (now known as Kayla Itsines High Intensity 1.0.). This is the second time I’ve done 1.0 although it’s much different this time around. I look forward to seeing what the next eight weeks hold.

Prayer request: tonight the Hubby is cooking for a friend. His friend’s young baby was diagnosed with bacterial meningitis last week and was given a dire prognosis. Thankfully, he is proving the doctors wrong. Nevertheless, the family is need of support, prayers and meal. If there’s a financial need, I will share it here. Please keep them in your prayers.

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Crazy

It’s crazy to me that after a letter from our state hockey league addressing poor parent and coach behavior that people still don’t get it. Last weekend there was a squirt A game (I mean u10a) on the West Coast in which a parent opened the door to argue a call. Let that sink in for a second. It wasn’t even a rec game where you’d expect that kind of uneducated and uncouth behavior from a parent.

To be fair, it was a squirt a travel game filled with future NHL stars. Obviously there was a lot of skin in the game. So much that this dad felt the need to open the door to tell the ref there were too many men on the ice. Spoiler alert the right number of players were on the ice for both teams. I’ve seen a lot of crazy things in my years as a hockey parent, but a parent opening the door to the ice sheet during a game takes the cake.

Naturally, this set off a lively conversation on the youth hockey forum. People, the majority in fact could not believe parent could behave this poorly at a game. Unsurprisingly, the guy did have a few defenders okay two defenders. Their argument, by the way, was that he’s a good dad and was just concerned about the ref’s missing a call. After all their kids work so hard and should lose on the account of a bad call. Again this was u10a game in southwest Florida and there was no missed call.

Eventually the moderators had to shut the comments off because these two jokers were getting ridiculous. They couldn’t understand how we could judge someone as a bad person/dad for their actions at the game. There is a Grand Canyon size gulf between disagreeing with someone’s actions and judging them as a bad person. My dude made a poor decision and needs to be held accountable, but he probably is a good guy. Anyway, you can’t fix crazy.

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No Surprise

No surprise here, but Coach Q resigned his role as head coach of the Florida Panthers. The Panthers are off to their best start in years and could be a serious contender for the cup. Fortunately, for all that is wrong with the Panthers, the team made the right decision on Coach Q. To keep him behind the bench would have been a mistake of disastrous proportions. The Panthers, along with the league, would have lost all credibility.

I, like many hockey fans, are still reeling from what happened in Chicago. How many other cases has hockey covered up over the years? How many other recommendation letters have they written for monsters allowing to continue their predation on vulnerable athletes. To be clear, this isn’t just a hockey problem. It’s a sports problem from the lowest level of the game to the highest level of the game.

For years USA Hockey has required participating coaches, managers, officials and hockey directors to complete Safesport training. Moreover, USA hockey built a reporting system by which Safesport violations could be reported without fear of reprisal. Or at least that’s what they say. But here’s the deal. When you report a Safesport violation, USA Hockey assigns it back to the USA Hockey affiliate for investigation and disposition.

The setup is problematic for many reasons. Perhaps the biggest problem is the close relationships between those on the affiliate board making it impossible for impartiality and discretion. If you report a SafeSport violation report, your identity is supposed to remain anonymous. Unfortunately, the victim’s identity too often becomes public inowledge or worse they’re persecuted for reporting a violation.

This is a problem that we have to solve. The days off sweeping Safesport violations and sexual abuse under the wrong have got to be over. We can no longer tolerate winning at all costs, including ignoring serious allegations like Beach’s. Kyle Beach has bravely stepped forward to tell his story. However, there are probably thousands of athletes that continue to suffer in silence. Until something changes, it can come as no surprise that the abuse of athletes will continue. I love hockey and my Florida Panthers, but I want to watch them play with a clean conscious.

As for work, I had a long but productive week. Nonetheless, I am ready to go to bed early and catch up on some rest. The morning workouts continue to go well, but its tough to get out of bed. Tomorrow Goalielocks and I are heading to see Luke Combs in concert. Its going to be epic.