Well…for us anyways.
(For now – anyways).
Cam has decided that after 3 years of playing goalie in rep (AA) hockey he’d like to try out for player next season.
And tryouts for next season begin tonight.
I have no idea where he’ll end up next year (AA – likely not, AE – dunno, Select – possibly). I do know it will be an entirely different year from the last 3.
He has been between the pipes for 3 years. All the kids he’ll be trying out with have been playing the game for 3 years.
While I’ll miss seeing him in all his gear and seeing him make some amazing saves and having the crowd cheer for those saves, I will NOT miss the stress of my little boy being the hero or the zero in a game. I think as he gotten older, he’s felt it more. He seemed more stressed out and anxious this past season.
I will also not miss the twice-as-big-as-everybody-else’s hockey bag.
I will also not miss having to help him strap his pads on while all the other parents are outside at the snackbar getting their coffee’s. He’ll be able to totally dress himself.
I will not miss the sound of a puck cracking off his facemask, helmet or neck protector.
I will miss his nightly re-enactments of his favourite saves after every game.
I will miss the fact that – yes, goalies are a little crazy and Cam was very suited to his position in net due to him being a little crazy.
I think Sean will be coaching again next year, so I will miss having him sit beside me in the stands. But I know how much he loves coaching, so I’ll have to find the least obnoxious hockey moms to hang with during the games (I am not a screamer, shouter or ranter). As a goalie mom I spent the few games I did get to watch standing at the end he played at by myself or with Sean, wringing my hands and quietly cheering him on.
I hope he does well at tryouts and I hope he has a great year playing out.
But I won’t be one little bit surpsrised if we see him strapping the pads back on next year and trying out for goalie again…it’s IN him.
Here’s Cam with Sean after their tri-county championship win last year. Cam recieved the MVP/Player of the Game award – he deserved it – they won their year end championship in overtime. I thought I was going to have a heart attack, but in the end I was bursting with pride.
Cam in action:
And here is a small compilation of some of just a few his saves from one of his games:
Kath – copy & pasted from wiki:
Higher-skilled players will typically play on a ‘representative’ (a “rep” or “travel”) team that will travel to play rep teams from other areas. Rep teams are classified by skill. Not all cities will have teams at all skill levels, depending on size and the popularity of hockey, however even small communities may field multiple level. (For example: Orillia, Ontario with a population of 30,000, has four distinct skill divisions for 7-year olds.) The classifications are typically not certified by any external organization, so there is speculation about what levels are truly better or stronger than others. A particular association might have an HL (house league) team that is stronger than the rep teams because their players either showed little interest in the tryout process or team picking decisions were poorly done at the rep level.
AE (“Additional Entry”) is the introductory level of rep play
A
AA
AAA is the highest caliber of minor hockey
We don’t have AAA where we live. And we we talk about it we say “triple A” or “double A”
As I type this reply he is changing into his player equipment…sniff sniff….
I played goalie (now seems to be universally called ‘keeper’) in soccer for years, so I know the anxiety of being the hero or zero. And my dad still relishes in telling the story of the penalty shot goal that wasn’t – except it was about an hour overtime and raining and the ref just wanted to get the h**l outta there…and so it was zero, not hero and a second place trophy and a lot of tears that day.
Enjoy your (relatively) stress-free year next year. BTW, what do the different levels stand for (AA, AE, select – I have no idea which is good, better, best?)
Go Cam! Ah this just got me excited for the ‘hockey mom’ thing…can’t WAIT! Hopefully Will’s current obsession with the stick will remain!