The Joy of Playing the Game

Hockey is an expensive sport. Ask anyone with kids involved in hockey and they will tell you, it is a big financial committment. It is also the greatest game on the planet, an opinion, I’m convinced, you can only come to if your child plays or you yourself have laced up a pair of skates and hit the ice. There is truly nothing like playing hockey, which is way parents all over the US continue to shell out ridiculous amounts of money for their children to slap a puck around a frozen arena.
This past weekend my son’s team played in the NY State championships for his age level. His team was one of the 8 that qualified to represent their part of the state in this final tournament. The best of the best. It was a pretty big deal.

His team played their little hearts out, won 1 game and lost 2 which prevented them from moving on in the tournament.  After losing 6-1 in their third game, which was a must win for them to continue in the tournament, all the players flew off the bench, hugged their goalie, and smiled at their cheering parents before shaking hands with the opposing team and heading off to the locker room.  They knew they gave it all they had.  No regrets.

We were so proud of our kids.  They played hard till the end, despite the score.  They played because they love to play the game of hockey.

Here is a picture of the team when they came out of the locker room after their last game together.