Setting new goals

Through three seasons of hockey, we've listened to AJ ask some variation of:

• Why can't I be goalie?
• When can I be goalie?
• I just want to be goalie. Please can I be goalie?

But Mite 1s don't have goalies, and so he's had to wait. And wish. And dream of the day he no longer has to skate hard, but rather can wait for the puck to come to him.

Finally, at a game Thursday night with his three-on-three team, AJ's dream came true. Except it turned out to be more of a nightmare.

Raise your hand if you never want to be goalie again.

He was so excited in the beginning. The cool helmet. All those pads. As he practiced in the locker room dropping to his knees and getting back up, you could almost hear Herb Brooks' words pumping him up, "Tonight, we are the greatest hockey team in the world. You were born to be hockey players -- every one of ya. And you were meant to be here tonight. This is your time."
But then the game started, and AJ discovered the goalie helmet was too small. And the goalie glove was almost impossible to close. And when you drop down to stop the puck, on ice it's hard to get back up while wearing those oversized pads.

  

AJ summed up the experience, "That was not what I thought it would be like AT ALL!"

 

"If the helmet hadn't been hurting your head, would it have been better?" I asked.

 

"No."

 

"So do you want to try being goalie again some time?"

 

"Noooooooo!"

 

And secretly I smiled and breathed a sigh of relief. Considering the cost of goalie equipment, I'd say we just dodged a bullet. The cost for AJ to play in this league might be the best investment we ever made.

 

He did make some good saves during the game, and his form was impressive. But for the most part it was premature. He'd drop to the ice long before the puck reached him, often giving the opposing player a chance to skate around him for a second shot because AJ couldn't get back up quickly enough to stop him.

 

By the final 15 minutes of the game, AJ was not just crying, he was sobbing. So loudly I could clearly hear him from the stands. Jeff and the coaches shouted encouragement from the bench for him to hang in there, but AJ was in pain. The helmet was squeezing his head, and worse, was squeezing his glasses into the sides of his head. Finally, one coach ran for the locker room and got AJ's regular helmet. They sent out another player to stand in the net just long enough for AJ to skate to the bench and change helmets.

The final six minutes of the game, plus the shoot-out period afterward went much better for him.

 

But the lesson has been learned. Being goalie is a painful experience, literally and figuratively. No official score was kept, but it was obvious our team lost. By AJ's tally, the score was "something like 17-7, but that was just the first period. After that I stopped counting."

Painful. Yet I can't help smiling.