Patton's With Passion: Hockey Season

This is another reason for the delay in updating our blog.
Ice hockey season is underway, and we have not just one child on a competitive travel league, but TWO. At least they are on the same team! They both play for Allegheny Badgers , the mini-mite division. The mini-mite division is a 5 and 6 year old age group. Rylan is only 4, but he's been skating since he was 1, and taking ice hockey lessons since he was 3. He also had played dec hockey since he was 2. Since he has been so determined to learn and practice, we decided to sign him up for the team as well. I was a little nervous about the age gap, but he's fitting in quite well. Being friends with the biggest, most experienced kid on the team is a plus, too! :) Add his protective brother to the mix, he's just fine.

Brayden has decided to be a goalie. He has always seemed to lean toward defensive positions in hockey, even in dec hockey, so it wasn't a big surprise. Plus, he loves to dress the part. More hockey equipment= more fun for him. He has not yet had any "official" goalie training. Just back yard and basement practice. There should be goalie clinics coming up in December, and we'll be sure to sign him up. I was recently told by a fellow hockey mom friend that goalies are permitted a FREE 3 hour admission to "stick time". This is sort of like an open skate, but with open hockey practice. It sounds like a good deal, but I don't know about big kids, teens or adults shooting pucks at my 6 year old. I guess he'd get lots of practice though, right?

We had our first game on Saturday. Because there aren't many mini-mite division teams, we played a mite team- a division up. We lost. It was good for them to learn formations, off sides calls, etc. Brayden was goalie the entire time, out of 29 shots on goal, he allowed 9. Not bad for his first time. Luckily, he wasn't upset by it. He had a great time. Rylan did well, too. He played good defense. He helped his goalie brother out by blocking some shots.

Bryan caught a couple of good blocks by Brayden and I will post a video clip of it soon!

Suiting up for a practice. It takes about 20-30 min to get both boys suited.