Tryouts. Selection letters. Exhibition games. League games. First tournament of the season.
The minor hockey season scoots along. This weekend, my son's team plays in its first tournament, heading south to St. Thomas, hometown of San Jose Sharks Captain Joe Thornton.
The kids (can I call 16- and 17-year-olds who are bigger than me "kids"?) are in a five-team event with the neighbouring Dorchester Dragons (not part of our league), Whitby Wildcats, Barrie Jr. Colts and the host St. Thomas Jr. Stars (they are in our league; we have a loss and a tie against them so far).
The tournament starts with afternoon and evening games tomorrow. It's a PA day, but even so we might not have a full bench as some of the teens choose their part-time jobs over hockey.
I'm looking forward to one (or two) games against Barrie. Two years ago, my son's team played Barrie at a Silver Stick qualifier in Woodstock and at Barrie's tournament, losing each time.
West London and Barrie played a classic minor hockey game in the final in Barrie that year, full of speed, hits, back and forth leads and lots of goals. Barrie won, all against a backdrop of extreme winter weather and West London parents nervous about both the game and the drive home.
The drive that night was one of the slowest, most tense I've done as part of the minor hockey drill. It went from freezing rain north of Toronto to an unploughed Highway 401 between Kitchener and Woodstock where one had to guess where the edge of the pavement was.
Thankfully, everyone got home safely.
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