Stanley Cup Playoffs Archives - The Hockey Mom Fit Life

May 26, 2019May 26, 2019

Consistently Inconsistent

I’ve got to admit I’ve been consistently inconsistent in maintaining the blog over the past twelve months. It’s not for a lack of trying, I assure you. Rather it’s a function of pure exhaustion and competing priorities. As May winds down and we approach the end of school, I’m looking forward to the relief that the start of summer begins. Our schedules slow down and life becomes somewhat calm and balanced. Of course, calm and balanced in a house of three boys probably doesn’t fit most people’s definition of calm and balanced.

Since the corporate run, I’ve continued to train using the Couch to 5K app to gradually increase my mileage and running time. Due to the May heat, most of my training has been inside on the treadmill. Fortunately, my AirPods and closed captioned episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm have carried me through the nine weeks of training. Last week, Jake and I ran a 5k in Delray. I’m still slow, but was still managed to take two minutes of my time from the corporate run.

For the past week, the weather here has dried out considerably, so the Mayor and I have been running in the evenings. It’s significantly more difficult to run outside versus the treadmill, but it feels great. There’s nothing better then running with my boys and our little Piggie. Athena has transitioned back to running quite well. Although much like mom, she’s also out of shape. Since Maya’s cancer scare, we’ve been reticent to take her out running in the heat. After a course of antibiotics and some CBD oil and CBD treats from Honest Paws, Maya is doing amazing.

Tomorrow Jake, the Mayor and myself will run another 5k. Since the summer heat is here, the run will kick off at 7:00 am. Undoubtedly, I’ll be lamenting my decision to run when I have to wake up tomorrow at 5:15 am. Of course afterwards I’ll feel much better and be happy with my decision, but getting out of bed is going to suck.

Today we’re laying low in anticipation of running tomorrow morning. Fortunately, I was able to meet up with my dear friend Jessica last night in Palm Beach. I met her this year on Momcation 2.0 (Cayman Island edition) and we hit it off right away. We had some fabulous drinks, food, conversation and laughs. It was an awesome night. I’ll write more on the beauty that is Momcation in a different post later.

We are, of course, like most hockey families counting down to the start of tomorrow night’s Stanley Cup Finals. It’s lamentable that we’ve had to go so long without hockey at nights. I’ve tried to catch as much as the World games (Go Finland!,) but it’s tough when you don’t have the channels playing the games. Nonetheless, tomorrow hockey returns and we cannot wait. It’s going to be interesting to see how the Bruins come out tomorrow after quite a bit of downtime. On the other hand, I’m curious to see how the Blues’ rooking goaltender Bennington is going to handle the pressure. Should be awesome! Who are you cheering for?

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May 20, 2018May 20, 2018

Already?

Already? Really weekend just like that you’re over. It seems like just five minutes ago it was 6:00 pm on a Friday night and the work week was behind us.. Yet here we are, nary a blink the eye has gone by, back to Sunday night and the beginning of another work week. Although we accomplished as lot this weekend, it feels like we made no progress. I could definitely use a third weekend day to make me more productive around the house.

In exciting news, we continue to add-on to our new tank. In case you missed it, we’ve installed a 120 gallon saltwater aquarium in our living room and our remodeling the room accordingly. Saturday we added a kole tang, macro algae for the refugium and a couple of coral frags. Thankfully, the new creatures are acclimating to the tank very well. Both the frog spawn and green star polyp corals have opened up, which is exciting. They’re small frags, so we’re anxious for them to grow and cover more of the rocks.

Goalielocks is leading the project for the aquarium as he is the marine expert in the household. We’ve had several freshwater aquariums and a nano saltwater tank before, but this is still a major undertaking. Maintaining a saltwater tank is a lot more complex than maintaining a freshwater system. Nonetheless, Goalielocks is well prepared. Moreover, the tank is really starting to take shape and look great. We’re anxiously waiting for our paired clownfish to host in the anemone, but they’re taking their sweet time.

In other news, playoff hockey continues to be great. The games have been high-octane and thoroughly entertaining. Tonight the Vegas Knights, the first expansion team to reach the finals, won the Western Conference title and are advancing to the Stanley Cup. Not for nothing, but the Florida Panthers’ missteps clearly had a positive impact not he Knights. After all, it was not too long ago that the Cats fired Gerard Gallant (huge mistake) and sent him packing in a taxi. Then they dealt both Reilly Smith and Jonathan Marchessault away as part of the expansion draft. Along with Lars William Karlsson, these two gents make up the Knight’s lethal top line. Needless to say, they’ve had a pretty good season.

Tomorrow night the action will be back in D.C. as the Caps take on the Lightning in a must win game. The puck drops at 8:00 pm, so I am assured another late night. With the adrenaline of playoff hockey, who can sleep right after a game ends? I know I can’t. It would be nice to have a Florida team in the Stanley Cup Finals, but I’ wouldn’t be disappointed if the series went to seven games. I know, I know I’m a little greedy, but the hockey has been outstanding and I don’t want it to end.

In non-hockey news, I have to wish my Great Grandma Brown a very happy 102nd birthday. You read that right, she’s 102 years old. For context, when she was born we were two years into World War 1. When I think of all the changes she has witnessed in her lifetime I’m astounded. I can’t fathom how much our world has changed in the 102 years she’s been on this earth. It’s an incredible thought. Moreover, she still lives independently with her little dog. I hope I got her genes. Please join me in wishing her a very happy 102nd birthday.

I had thought about going back to the daily prompt and writing about narcissism tonight, but I just didn’t have it in me tonight. I thought hockey, saltwater aquariums and my great grandma would be infinitely more interesting. I’ve written about narcissists before anyway and really don’t wish to give them anymore airplay.

Wow, almost forgot there was this huge wedding this weekend. I didn’t get up to watch it. Don’t get me wrong, I like the pomp and circumstance, but I am not a morning person. Later that day I watched the highlights on Hulu. It looked like a beautiful event. Of course, the single best picture of the day was of David Beckham. Who else watched the wedding? What did you guys think?

May 17, 2018May 17, 2018

Late Nights

I love playoff hockey, but the late nights get tougher with each passing year. This year’s playoff run has been full of drama, fun to watch and a little gross (thank you Brad Marchand.). Admittedly, I’m sad that my Wild didn’t make it past the Jets in the first round. Nonetheless, there are several Minnesota boys to support in the conference finals. Of course, as I’m writing this I have the Mayor to my left – cheering on the Lightning and Goalielocks to my right cheering on the Capitols. This makes for an interesting game experience.

My favorite moments of this playoff season are Dustin Byfuglien manhandling two players at once like they’re a toddler. The man, pure and simple, is a beast. He’s unequivocally one of the players to watch during the conference finals. Check out these awesome clips of Byfuglien being Byfuglien. The first clip even includes a nice view of Fleury’s ear tickle on Blake Wheeler. Yeah, you read that right.

I can’t wait to watch the Jet vs. Knights game tomorrow night. Both teams are incredibly fun to watch. Plus between the the Knights’ amazing pre-game entertainment and introductions, you know with these two teams you’re going to get a fast paced, physical game. As for now, with the Caps/Lightning game winding down, I should probably head to bed.

P.S. I thought about posting the infamous licking video, but honestly can’t bring myself to give that guy any publicity.

June 29, 2017

Wheels Up Pt. 3

The hardest of part of travelling out of state for hockey tournaments is trying to fit all of the luggage and all of the players into the trunk. It’s a bit of a game as you fight with the hockey bags, maneuver the suitcase and ultimately decided you can live with the sticks in the passenger compartment. Success comes with a true sense of accomplishment once you finally get it all to fit. Once we got the luggage jigsaw puzzle figured out in the trunk, we headed to my parent’s house in the Northern suburbs. The ride home was filled with the boys laughter and excited energy. They were excited to finally make it to our destination, and we were too, but we were exhausted and they were wired.

Michelle vs. the Trunk

Can she do it? Will she do it?

Victory is in hand!

Once at my mom’s house, Michelle and Andrew got acclimated and felt at home – like most people do at my parents- in short order. My mom was ready for us with plenty of fresh cookies to go around. My dad, two weeks post hip surgery, was surprisingly agile and mobile compared to what I had expected. My parents and my niece and nephew were thrilled to see us and our friends. Thankfully my parents were able to help us convince the boys they should take a nap before we headed to the Wild game. They fought taking a nap, but were soon asleep.

After a nice, lengthy nap we got ready and headed down to St. Paul to see the Minnesota Wild take on the Chicago Blackhawks in game 4 of round 2 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. It was a must win game for the Wild, so the Mayor and I were hoping our squad would show up. While I’ve been to several Wild games in Minnesota and Michelle had been to several Chicago home games, our boys had only been to Florida Panthers games. This was going to be a completely different experience for them.

We got to the game with plenty to spare having hit much less traffic than I had anticipated. Since we had the kids, we couldn’t really pre-game at McGovern’s or Tom Reid’s so we headed into the Excel Energy Center after buying some nice souvenirs. The kids were quick to notice that unlike at the Panther’s games, a lot of the crowd starting to file in was already drunk. Fortunately, neither the Mayor nor Andrew were shy about sharing their observations with others. They were a magnet for trouble and for the second night in a row, Michelle and I were convinced we were going to get shot or beat up on account of their mouths.

The pre-game started and their mouths were agape. The game experience in the Excel Energy Center is second to none as is the energy in the crowd. Having only been to Panthers games previously, the boys’ mouths were agape. They had never seen a building alive with that much energy. For them, the experience was incredible and one they still talk about to this day. As the festivities continued, the fans continued to file in and the boys continued to comment on how they were so drunk they had already spilled beer down the front of their pants.

Unfortunately for the Wild, the most dynamic part of their game was the pre-game and the introductions. They were flat the entirety of the game. The few chances they did have, they did their best to make Crawford look like a god of goal tending. While the Wild’s play was lackluster, the entertainment from the crowd around us was not. A couple comprised of a Wild and a Rangers fan, got into a huge fight and at the behest of the surrounding crowd and his other friends, he ditched her. There was drunk goal to the right of us that managed to fall down two rows barely spilling her beer and not hurting herself.

Perhaps the best moment of the game, was when Andrew started talking smack to the two fans sitting behind him and the Mayor. They were both drinking and one was spitting some chew. Andrew felt compelled to tell him that he was going to call his mother and let her know that her son is a drunk that chews. Thank god they had a sense of humor and thought that the boys were hilarious.

By the skin of our teeth, Michelle and I survived another adventurous night with our crazy boys. The Wild lost and the Blackhawks went on to become Stanley Cup champions that year. Two years later, the Mayor still talks about how incredible it was to be in the Excel Energy Center that night and be a part of the experience. Making new memories and sharing great experiences with my boys, their friends, and my friends is one of the best parts of having our kids participate in a travel sport.

Part 1 and part 2 of the story can be found below:

Wheels Up

Wheels Up Pt. 2