Hockey Saturday

Just another Hockey Saturday. I was able to catch one of Hugh's goals. (He's in the red and black jersey on the right- "shooting".) They move so fast- it's hard to get a good picture.

Especially- because I have to wedge my camera in between the fence lattice to get a picture without the fence lines-- so I patiently sit with my camera in position and then wait for them to skate in view to snap a shot. I just happened to be in the right spot.


Hunter- he splits his time as goalie and forward. (Meaning some games he plays one position or the other...) So he was forward this game- and it is fun to see his personality.
He kinda stands off and is patient... he waits for the puck to pop out of a glob of kids and then skates hard to get it and score. (We nicknamed him 'Sniper'.)



Hugh is more aggressive- all the time. He attacks the puck or player with the puck. So he is always on fire mixing things up. (His nickname is " The Jet".)


The boys take turns entertaining Heath. They tied a shoe lace to his little scooter- so they could drag him around. What nice brothers!









Hatricks turn to be pony. Poor Hatrick- he's feeling the pressure of living up to older brothers and his name. He's been saying lately he doesn't want to play hockey- and we couldn't figure it out -- WHY? He is sooooo good. (He plays up a league even-the 8yr old division... he's 5 yrs old.) Today he said he wants to go by his middle name instead of Hatrick. I think he feels it's a burden to try and always score a Hat trick in every game.
(Which we tell him- that's not realistic!)

So today we talked to the coaches and asked if he could play with his age group. (We didn't place him on the 8 year old team- the coaches put him there. They are more "intense" about Hockey than we are, if you can imagine....Their thinking is, "It would be better for him to be challenged by the older boys than dominate his age group.") We said we'd prefer he dominate his age group. :0) That's fun too, no? And he did.. he scored three goals in his first shift.. . so the other coach asked that he not shoot the rest of the game. He had to pass off to teammates. We'll see which team he wants to play. Now that he realizes he is good at hockey maybe he'll want to play with the older boys. Who knows? I just felt bad- he didn't want to play because he felt like he wasn't good at it. And have I permanently scared him? Is the name Hatrick a burden? I was the third child in my family. I know the challenge of not being the "baby" but not being a "big kid" either. I know the challenge of trying to live up to older siblings. Then on top of it- being the third boy.. I didn't want him to feel like "he was suppose to be a girl". (My dad is the third boy in his family. I've heard him say that.) So I thought Hatrick would be a great name for him. He would always feel secure knowing we were thrilled to be having a third boy... my Hat trick. I didn't think he would feel like he had to constantly make Hat tricks himself. (I will say though- the first time he did... EVERYONE at the rink was SO excited for him. It's kinda a novel name- so most people know him at the rink- even if we don't know them personally. ) So I'm nicknaming him the "Dominator". :0)... okay truths out- no one really calls them these nicknames.. except me. To tease them. I have to live up to the "embarrassing mom" role. They say I embarrass them when I am just being normal- so sometimes I really try to ham it up- so they can know what real embarrassment feels like. ( I mean, standing next to them when one of their friends walks by- is soo embarrassing! Saying bye to them when I drop them off to school--- soo embarrassing!)
Okay- I've got to go... Saturday chores are calling.

Laura