Isn't the third time supposed to be the charm? Thursday night was the annual Moms versus Mites hockey game - my third year of playing - and all I can wonder is "who invited AJ to play?"
My little turkey racked up about 10 points against the Moms team. What a difference it is to play against a kid who's become really good! When the first line of Mites went out at the start of the game, of course AJ was part of it, and of course he volunteered to do the face-off. Which meant, yeah, I was there for the first puck drop, too.
The game was fun in the sense that it was challenging. I had to try my hardest. It was not fun to realize my best wasn't good enough.
It made me proud to stand with the other moms and listen to the joking complaints that someone had to find a way to stop AJ. He was identified as the biggest threat. I gave them all permission to go after him with all they've got. When that didn't work, I finally did it myself. I reached out with my stick and...
"Mom, you tripped me!" AJ sounded shocked as he got back on his feet.
"Yeah. So what's your point?" I skated past him.
"That should be a penalty." He caught up to me quickly.
"I didn't hear a whistle. Too bad."
Of course, he then found the puck and skated all the way down the rink and scored. His way of dealing with it, I guess.
This was probably the most organized game I've played in yet. One of the coaches would announce in advance which kids would be going out next, so the appropriate moms could be ready. The men also, I suspect, had done some advance planning to make it harder for the moms to score. A mysterious 2' x 4' showed up in front of the moms' net at one point. Or the net tipped over. Or was turned around. Or was replaced by one of the little nets the Mites usually use in their goalie-less games. Or disappeared all together.
The guys probably didn't need to work that hard. We moms had fun, but just weren't that good. In years past we've always had at least one ringer on the team, but not this year. I couldn't resist pointing out to the other veterans, "Remember how we used to come back to the bench and say, 'okay, we've got to let them score a couple now'?" That wasn't the case this year.
It's weird, and sad, to think that if Sydney doesn't choose to play hockey next year, then this was my last game. At the Mite II level, the players take on the Dads. And if Sydney does decide to play, I can't help but think what a different experience it will be to play against a first-year player, instead of my third-year hotshot.
The other recurring thought during the game... I have GOT to get my own helmet. The stink of Jeff's helmet just doesn't fade. In fact, I think it was distractingly bad. THAT was my problem. I'm sensing a possible excuse here, and I'm going to skate it.
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