Twilight season

Playing his twilight season in minor hockey brings new scheduling issues for my juvenile/hometown university student son.
Keen to play city juvenile, even if it means no body contact and being in a house league instead of a competitive loop, his big issue is the schedule. University classes trump all other activities, and if there are a lot of games on Tuesday nights when he has classes, it's game over.
Always keen to lace 'em up, he's also added to the mix by signing up for the University of Western Ontario intramural league. He's already reconnected with teammates who were with him on teams when he was a tot, or older, to represent Kings University College at UWO, along with new friends from near and far. That league always plays Monday nights and, he says, will trump juvenile commitments.
It's good he's still interested in playing and finds it fun, but we're rapidly moving along to new priorities.
Keeping kids involved in minor hockey through their teens is a challenge, even here in the heartland of minor hockey. For example, our home West London Hawks are unable to field an "A" major midget team this year due to a lack of qualified players born in 1994. This comes on the heels of a remarkably successful run by local boys born in 1993 who fared well in an A-AA league last season.
But back to my main point. We'll see how this season goes - my son might be one of those dreaded part-timers or fade from the scene altogether.
Usually by this time, he's been confirmed as a competitive team member. First sorting skate for juvenile is two weeks from today.

Juvenile deadline

The deadline is almost here and I'm still waiting for a decision from my older, hockey-playing son about whether or not he wants to return to the ice to play juvenile.
The on-again, off-again minor hockey program for 18-year-olds who don't have the time or talent to play Junior Development or Jr. C or B is on the upswing in London after collapsing in a bog of disinterest and dishonour a few years ago.
Back then, kids who wanted to play juvenile were subject to a city-wide draft which put on-ice foes from different neighbourhoods together on the same teams, disrupted friendships and eliminated the joy of representing the association some kids had played for since tyke.
The new system sees teams fielded representing neighbourhood associations and, usually, tries to accommodate friendships, although I hope not at the expense of competitiveness.
Other communities, Collingwood for example, have rebooted their juvenile programs to keep kids in hockey. That and the fact that more registration money is needed to keep programs viable as numbers fall in younger age groups.
In London, playing juvenile means playing by house league, not competitive, rules. Therein lies the rub for my son, along with the fact he'll be starting university classes at Western. His joy, his biggest contribution as a West London Hawks defenceman was a spirited willingness to play the body. That won't be the best skill in house league rules juvenile.
Whatever he decides will be fine, although if he doesn't play I'll miss the minor hockey experience greatly. I'm thinking his ultimate decision rests will whatever his friends and past teammates decide.

The Last Supper

Tonight's the wrap party for this season's hockey team. It was my son's major midget year and, unless he decides to taper down with juvenile or decides to coach, marks the end of his minor hockey team involvement.
It's a pot-luck house party, a tip of the hat to frugality after mounting an epic road trip to a tournament near Nashville last January.
Over the years, the team parties we've attended have taken many forms, from cramming into restaurant booths, to renting a bowling alley, using a community hall and trucking barbecues from whomever lived closest to backyard parties and the aforementioned pot luck. Loved them all, but the best was likely reserving a private room at the Mandarin and letting the teens go wild at the buffet.
For the third year season in a row, I've taken the best of our hockey photos from the winter and compiled them as a slide show on a DVD, complete with family-friendly music. I've already put snippets on YouTube and Photobucket (55,000 image views since November!), so much of it won't be a surprise.
But I did sneak something in that'll surprised our 20-something coach, thanks to his mom.

West London Hawks Midgets at Toronto Avalanche tournament

No Cinderella ending

Well, so much for Cinderella endings. This final tournament for my son's team will be remembered not for a career-capping trophy, but with a teammate's surgery, crazy penalty calls that thinned out our already sparse bench, and a dicey, winter drive home from Toronto - on April 3!
The boys won all four round-robin games at the Toronto Avalanche tournament, but the third and fourth games proved costly. Game 3 saw a referee influenced into giving one of our most gentlemanly defencemen a two-game suspension for kneeing. Game 4 saw one of our assistant captains hit awkwardly into the boards and breaking and dislocating his wrist. He left the game for a nearby hospital where he was soon in surgery. The same game saw another of our forwards tossed and suspended for a game for reasons not apparent to spectators.
All that left us with 11 skaters for a semifinal game against Espanola, The game was scoreless going into the third when Espanola scored a pretty one. A few minutes later, they added a second that I'm sure our goalie would've loved to have back.
We had a goal in the second called off because the referee thought it was deflected by a high stick.
If the game could've been scored like a boxing match, we might've won as we held the edge in play through most of the game.
And speaking of boxing, that's how the game ended. Espanola's goaltender and one of their skaters taking punches at one of our forwards while the linesmen inexplicably declined to intervene. One said something like, "If they want to fight, it's their choice."
Ah, the drama of minor hockey.

Minor Hockey Moments

Minor Hockey Moments

A little silly at the end of Game 5 in the playdowns between West London and Brantford midgets.

Hockey Tonk: West London Hawks in Nashville

Our midget hockey team's foray into Nashville and Franklin, TN., in January 2011 is documented on You Tube by yours truly.

Minor Hockey Moments

Ironic? In their midget playdown series, the West London Hawks lost to Brantford 7-1 on Friday night in Brantford. On Sunday night, West London beat Brantford by the same 7-1 score to even the eight-point series at four each. Looking forward to next Sunday and Game 5.

West London Hawks Midgets vs. Brantford playdowns

West London Hawks Midgets vs. Brantford playdowns

We'll take football over minor hockey today

Right about now my son's midget team was supposed to be playing in the final for their last West London tournament championship.
But, alas, last month the convener cancelled the midget 'A' division after receiving interest in only three teams and after seeing no hope of sourcing a fourth to make it worthwhile.
Other midget divisions did go ahead - just not at our level.
I'm think most players and dads might've missed hockey Friday and Saturday or even this afternoon. But right about now, as 6:20 pm EST approaches, no one is thinking minor hockey. It's the beginning of the end of all those dreams by Pittsburgh Steelers players and fans as the Green Bay Packers prepare to become this year's Super Bowl champions.

Minor Hockey Moments

West London Hawks 5, London Junior Knights 1.
In his first game back after suffering a knee injury in a tournament in Nashville two weeks ago, defenceman Riley Croke scores first hat trick of his
minor hockey career - including road hockey.

Minor hockey moments

West London Hawks major midgets vs. Sarnia Jr. Sting,
Jan. 30, 2010, Kinsmen arena, London, Ont., Canada.

Minor hockey moments

West London Hawks vs. North London, midget A-AA,
at Kinsmen arena, London, Ont., Canada.

Channelling Ward Cornell

Channelling Ward Cornell

Channelling Ward Cornell

Music City Cup not ours

If the object of out-of-town tournaments is fun, my son's midget team is a big winner. If it's to actually capture the trophy, well, not so much this time.

West London Hawks midgets pose with manager Larry Heald
at Famous Dave's in Franklin, TN. This barbecue restaurant
 was No. 1 for teens and parents.

We drove 11 hours to play in a four-team tournament in Franklin, TN, just outside of Nashville on the weekend and along the way enjoyed being tourists in Nashville, shopping in Franklin and Ohio, a little bit of poker and social drinking, the amazing Famous Dave's BBQ  (everyone should eat here) and a couple of excellent Cracker Barrels.
And we played four excellent hockey games against teens from Florida, Texas and Alabama. We won the consolation game and, if I may be so bold, would've won the championship if we didn't have three kids out with injuries, the latest being the son of our manager who damaged his knee early in the first game of the tournament.
No hockey tournament is complete without drama and it seems every time we cross the border for a tournament in the United States, something odd happens.
This time, it was during the final round robin game against South Florida, a team which started the season on a sad note when its coach was killed in a car accident. Players are wearing patches honouring him.
Of course the same players who have the class to honour their coach don't necessarily play the game with honour. Profanities directed to our bench, cut throat gestures and strange comments (the most polite was "Why don't you go home?") were part of the Florida approach.
The strangest thing was when a Florida player skated into a stream of water being spit out by one of our players. The player thought he was the target of a spitball and went to complain to the referee. Neither the referee nor the two linesmen saw a spitball, but believed the Florida kid and tossed our player out of the game. That was followed minutes later by tossing one of our trainers, who happens to be the father of the tossed player, out as well.
We lost the game and maybe respect for all things Florida.
That's the thing about travelling far afield to sports tournaments. You're doing more than playing a game. You're representing your city and country in the eyes of other teams and onlookers. How you act plays a role in the image people form about your home.
We hope we left people in Franklin and Nashville with a positive image of London and Canada. We came away loving Tennessee. Florida? Not so much.
Oh, and congratulations to Houston, winners of the Music City Cup. They beat Florida.

West London Hawks Midgets

This video was shot by Art, one of the parents on my son's midget hockey team. It's the West London Midgets in their parent-purchased third jerseys playing neighboring Oakridge London. This time we won, 4-1.