Went to a hockey game

Insert all the bad jokes here. They were true.

My cousin's son is a hard core hockey player in his home state south of the Mason Dixon line. His parents decided to send him to a camp up here, in a state where hockey is wicked intense.

Over the weekend I brought the boys to the rink 7 miles from our house for the 9:40pm game, the team's second in a tournament that followed the camp. They played against a team from Montreal. Within five minutes of the game, a Canadian player repeatedly hit and kicked a player from the home team. The beaten player ended up with a broken ankle. The aggressor was never penalized, I guess because the referees didn't see it

That led to a game with 16 year old boys constantly tripping, hitting, slamming, and other aggressive acts. I'm familiar enough with hockey to know that is part of the tactic. However, even seasoned hockey parents told me this was going too far.

It did go too far. The game was called because the players were fighting too much. We literally went to a fight and a hockey game broke out.

But this was great. A blessing really. One of my guys has been nagging me constantly to let him take up hockey. This is a kid, who along with his brother, plays (deep breath) soccer, basketball, t-ball, and tennis along with starting on a swim team this week. Aside from the ridiculous number of sports he plays there is no way in hell I will

1. pay the outrageous costs for hockey equipment (I learned one of those sticks alone can cost up to $150)


2. deal with 4:30am practice times or tournament games ending at 11:30 at night


3. encourage my children to participate in a sport that expressly endorses fighting

So there we were in the dark parking lot past midnight and I told him never to bring up playing hockey again. Because if he does, I'll ask him which part of that evening he enjoyed.