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Player of the Game

The Mayor was the Florida Panther’s player of the game last night. The Florida Panthers Scholastic Hockey League (FPHSL) chose him for the honor last weekend. They provided a number of questions for him to answer for the feature. His first answer to why you love hockey was “hookers and blow,” but obviously that response didn’t make the Final Cut. (In case you’re curious, there’s actually a book on Amazon called Hookers and Blow Save Christmas.)

We’re quite proud of our player of the game. Meanwhile, he was a bit embarrassed and asked me not to post the picture on Instagram. To everyone that texted, messaged, or hit me up on social media last night, thank you. I loved hearing from so many people that have been on this hockey journey with us. You guys have made our hockey experience incredible. At any rate, it was a nice way to cap off hockey season. Although it did keep me up way past my bedtime.

Prior to the Panthers game, I was calling all my previous PurpleStride team captains that haven’t registered. It was all part of our national registration day. Fortunately, it was a success. Our efforts yesterday have paid dividends and will continue to do so as the week progresses. Honestly, we have the best working group ever. I love being a part of our PanCan affiliate. We have the best volunteer group in the world. If you or your teen is looking for service hours in the South Florida area, please let me know.

Today’s accountability tracker:

  • Workout: 45-minute spin class, plus 15-minute cooldown courtesy of Apple Fitness
  • Book: Book: Marcel Proust’s  Finding Lost Time. 
  • Blog: done
  • Word of the day: exoskeleton. As in I heard the spider’s exoskeleton crunch as I stepped on it.
  • Today’s song is Sweetness by Jimmy Eat World
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Night Alone

Thanks to the Panther’s game and volleyball practice, the hubby and I have a rare weekday night alone. Naturally, we spent it as most couples would by putting in a frozen pizza for dinner and watching hockey. The biggest decision we had to make tonight was if we’d watch the Minnesota Wild or the Florida Panther’s game. We opted to watch the Cat’s as they’ve been on fire this season.

The first period ended in a 1-1 tie. Hopefully, the Cats can put a couple in during the second. Meanwhile in Ottawa, the Wild are still losing to the Senators. In fact, they’re down two goals at the end of the first. Like the Cats, they’ll need a big second period. The Mayor was not super disappointed that his practice was cancelled as he could now go to the Panthers game with his buddy.

My day at work went better albeit it was still super slow. Nonetheless, I still managed to have a decent today. My midday run, again, resulted in me losing my cookies, which sucked. Not to be overly insouciant about it, but I threw up and went back to finish my cooldown. I think throwing up for the entirety of all three pregnancies has made me numb to it. The run itself, however, went pretty smooth. I’d like to get back to running at least a mile a day daily, but I’m not sure my body can handle that presently.

The new program I started isn’t big on beef, so I’ve been looking at different types of meats. First switch I made was to swap ground bison for ground beef. I cooked some great lamb loin chops Sunday nights. It’s a nice cut albeit it had more gristle than your typical lamb chop. Next time I’ll buy regular lamb chops as they’re easier to eat. In addition to lamb, we’re going to give some elk steaks a try.

P.S. The Wild are now tied 2-2 in Ottawa!

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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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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.