PeeWee A State Hockey!

Last weekend we made the trek to Alexandria with the Hermantown PeeWee A team to battle for the state title! We were so honored that they asked us to go along as their backup goalie! It was such a fun experience for Andy.

Our first game on Friday, and the adrenaline was a'flowin!

Intros...

Blondies on the ice!  Let's go team!

Gettin in the zone!

We did what we could do from the stands, but the team did the real work on the ice.  We won our first game 9-1 and advanced to the semi finals!

Warmups for game 2.  We knew this game would be harder.  I don't often get to hear what the coaches say to the kids, but coach Buckley held a team meeting including the parents the night before and went down the list of things the kids needed to do if they wanted to win game #2.  Forecheck.  Backcheck.  Make the short passes.  Good goaltending.  Most important?  Have fun.  It was very cool to watch him talk to that team.  It was very apparent that those kids look up to and respect him very, very much.

The game wasn't looking good right from the start.  The other team scored first.  And then they scored second.  And then they scored third.  Two long periods crept by.  Then the third started.  4 minutes into it, we finally scored a goal!  And then, that team decided it was time to really start playing the game, so they went on ahead and scored 4 more, just for fun.  My throat kinda hurt at the end of that game.  :)

Winner winner, chicken dinner!

We were going to the championship game!  Of the state tournament!  The stuff these kids have dreamt of for so long!

Heeeeere we go!  I am certain there were more nerves in the Hockey Mom section than there were on the ice.

Warmups...

And we even got a cool light show for intros!

The team skated their HEARTS out!  Unfortunately we did not come out on top on the score board, which is what the rules say you have to do in order to win, I guess.  The team doesn't look all that excited here, but man, second place in the STATE is absolutely nothing to hang your heads about!  What an awesome season and tournament!  Great job team!

Now, I did not keep track of how many hockey games Morgan attended this year.  But when she had to miss birthday parties both of the last two weekends because we were travelling for hockey, I knew I needed to do something special for her.

Friday afternoon we snuck away from the group and headed to the spa.  Morgan got a mani/pedi and I got a pedi.  I got to drink cucumber water while I was there.  My toes are a gorgeous shade of teal/minty seafoam green.  I wish I could remember the silly OPI name of it.  It was something beachy, which is perfect because it reminds me of ocean water.

Morgan chose an awesome shade of neon pinkish-orange that is perfect for her.  We had a GREAT time being girls doing girly stuff.

It was a great weekend!

XOXOX

NH

P.S.  I'm done writing about hockey for a while.  hehe.

Yep, I'm still alive.

I'm sorry.  The last week or so has been crazy busy.  When I finally get 5 minutes at home, blogging was at the bottom of the priority list.  I will hopefully be better about it now.  Here is a recap of what I've been doing.  Can you guess?  I'll give you a hint.  It starts with HOCK and ends with EY.

Andy's team did not advance to regions this year.  They gave it an AWESOME effort, but unfortunately they only took the top 3 teams in the district, and sadly, we came in 4th.  Those boys played their hearts out and improved so much this season!  I'm very, very proud of each of them.

We were very honored that our PeeWee A team invited us along with them to their region tournament as a backup goalie, since they had advanced and only have one goalie on their team.  So last weekend, we traveled to Grand Rapids with the team.  They won all three of their games, and advance to state, which is next weekend!  We are so excited to be a part of this experience.  Just to have Andy suit up and be on the bench is such a cool thing for him.  We will travel next weekend and cheer loudly for the PeeWee A's!  Here are a few pictures of the win securing the teams spot in the state tournament:

The cellie around the net!

I love this picture.  The girl on the team has more important things to worry about than getting in the middle of that stench.

Andy congratulates his fellow goalie!

Yes, the team went blonde for their trip to regions.  Derek's mom has nicknamed him Marilyn.  You should see his sick flow when his hair isn't all sweaty.

Champions!

Way to go team!

Two days later, we were off to our next adventure.  Our High School team advanced to the state tournament with an undefeated record, so we traveled to St. Paul to cheer them on.  Four days of hockey, friends, and a little too much fun.

Mini donut sugar lips.

I guess I have a thing for taking pictures of goalies.

A pretty view from our hotel room.

Have I mentioned how I love Instagram on my phone?

Yes, I believe I have.  Sooo cool.

We cheered, painted faces, shook our pom poms, but ended up losing in our championship game.  With a record of 30-1-0, our HS boys had an AWESOME season!

So, now we are back home, with one day to calm down before another short work/school week before heading off to state with the PeeWee A's.  I'm so excited for the upcoming weekend!  Please keep us in your thoughts that we come out on top of it all!  Since this team has adopted Andy as their backup goalie, they have urged us to become part of the team.  I couldn't say no.

It's just hair, right?

Must get glasses straightened.  Ugh.

It's a little orange, but that's ok, we'll see how long it lasts before I make him get the buzz cut.  It's almost summer, right?

So again, here I am apologizing for yet another post about hockey, but you can be assured there will be another about next weekend too.  We have a dance show coming up in a few weeks, so hopefully the blog posts will be changing gear for those of you who couldn't give a rat's behind about hockey!  I happen to like it quite a bit.  :)

 XOXOX

NH

Yet Another Post About Hockey.

Sorry.  I can't help it.  Soon it will be dance competition season, and you'll get sick of me posting about dance.

Saturday we had a fun outside hockey day at our rink.  There were a bunch of games, mostly played by the Pee Wee teams in our association, there were Hawkdogs and brats, fire pits to keep us warm, and perfect weather.  We were worried that it would be too warm out to keep the ice frozen, but it was pretty good.

I will take this moment to re-live one of the top 5 most embarrassing moments of my life, since it occurred at the beginning of this fine hockey Saturday.  About 10 minutes after I got to the rink, I slipped on the ice and fell.  Flat on my back.  I hit my head on the ice kinda hard.  I was carrying my purse, various hats, mittens, and jackets for my family, and two bloody mary's in traveler coffee mugs.  Just a word of advice for you all - if you fall on the ice and hit your head, try as hard as you can NOT to spill two bloody mary's right next to your head that just hit the ice.  People kinda think that you cracked your head open and are bleeding all over the place. 

I wasn't bleeding.  I'm sorry to those of you that thought I was.  The goose egg on the back of my head is much smaller, my headache is gone now, and my sore muscles are healing.  Thank you so much to all of you that were concerned for me and came running to my assistance.  Like I said, I like to make a grand entrance.  I can't believe I wasted most of two perfectly good bloody mary's!  I hadn't even had a sip yet!  Grrr!

Ok, embarrassing moments out of the way, I will now share some hockey pictures.

The boys found retro throwback jerseys to wear.

We won our first game 11-0!  Then, it was time for the parent/child game!

Tired already guys?? You've only played 2 shifts!

We even had a hockey mom take part!  She is more brave than me!  I give her TONS of credit!!

Father/son punches being thrown...

The gloves are dropped...

At least it wasn't the boxers that were pulled up over his head!

I think everyone had a fun day!  In case you can't read the scoreboard in the background, the kids beat the parents 11-4!

XOXOX

NH