Congrats to our Hockey Daddy!

This is long overdue but congrats go out to the hockey dad of our clan Thomas for receiving the award for Volunteer of the Year!  In case you missed it the number of things he did this year was long...Housing director for AAA Omaha hockey, squirt level commissioner, squirt select team manager and that's just the things he had names for!  He organized many activities and events as well. 

Happy Father's Day

Father's Day wishes go out to the awesome dads of our wonderful hockey sons!  Happy Father's Day Joe, Dave, Chris, Ken and Brian!

More Congrats!

More congrats are in order!  This time it goes out to our other hockey son Isaac who has been drafted to play for the Twin City Steel.  In case you have been following, yes that is the same team as Marshall.  Looks like Dean Hockey will be traveling to the cities this season:)

One last congrats goes out to Isaac for his high school graduation!

Congrats!

Congrats goes out to our Hockey Son Marshall for being tendered with the Twin City Steel!  We are all proud of you!

To All of My Boy's Moms

Happy Mother's Day to the wonderful mom's of all the boys that we have been lucky enough to have come into our lives!  Thank you for sharing your wonderful children with us and letting them become a part of our family!

Teresa, Liz, Julia, Cheryl and Michelle you are amazing women!

The Dean Family

Peter the Great!

When you first meet our family you learn very quickly that we are HUGE Colorado Avalanche fans!  The truth is though that I AM a huge fan and my poor family have been brainwashed to ride the train.  The other thing you quickly learn is that Mommy adores Peter Forsberg, former member of the Avalanche.  On the day we found out Kaiden would be a boy, I would not take no for an answer he would have the same middle name as Peter the Great.  Years later, with honestly no prompting from mom he chose to wear the #21 as his hockey number.  Just a few months later Kaiden announced to us that someday he wanted to be the Captain of the Colorado Avalanche when he grew up.

One evening during the last summer I got up for work and Thomas tells me that we won't be going to Salem in October(our already planned vacation).  He pulls up for me the information for the newly announced retirement ceremony for Peter which just happens to be in October.  He says to me not to argue that we don't have to go, because he doesn't want for me to miss the retirement of my all-time favorite player. 

Just a couple months later I am standing in the entry way of a hockey rink in Minnesota(we had traveled to watch our hockey boys play) trying desperately to buy tickets. When I finally get an attendant they inform me that the event is already sold out.  This was only three minutes after tickets went on sale.  Then she told ME that this was a popular event!  A couple hours later I bit the bullet and bought tickets on StubHub for a more expensive price, but it was worth every penny!

Our trip was quickly upon us and was filled with all sorts of hockey related events.  On Friday we attended the Avalanche practice.  Here's a hint to all hockey fans...its FREE!  Cloudy couldn't believe how fast they all skated for "old" men.  Kaiden enjoyed watching Matt Duchene and Ryan O'Reilly spend the last part of the practice playing baseball with pucks.  Once practice was over we were able to hit the ice ourselves and the kids loved getting to skate in the same place that their team does!


The morning of the retirement ceremony we drove around Denver purchasing pretty much very Avalanche piece of merchandise I could find!  Before hitting the game we strolled around downtown Denver and ate dinner at the Hard Rock. 

The time came though to get to watch them raise Peter's banner to the rafters.  I knew that it would be special to be there with my family but when he walked out on the ice to be honored the feeling was so much more than what I thought it would be.  During the highlight video of his career Kaiden kept saying"Wow that is so cool."  Sometime in the actual ceremony I looked over at Cloudy and she had tears in her eyes.  Whatever their honest reason for coming they knew those moments were important to their mommy and they wanted to share it with me.

The score of the game was unimportant as we left that night.  The kids had an amazing time at their first NHL game.  As we were walking to the car Kaiden asked me if Peter had ever been the Captain of the Avalanche to which I had to tell him that he had been only an alternate captain.  He looked at me and said, "I don't need to be Captain mom.  I'll just be an Ace Captain like Peter."

-Veronica

The Great Move

This may not be entirely true.

Home is where the heart is…or in our case where all the kids, hockey bags, and smelly gear can fit and our old house was just not cutting it anymore.  Veronica and I had been searching during the summer for a possible solution to the fact we had outgrown our home in the four years we had lived there, but we struck out at every turn.  On a whim I was sent to look at a house that I was not impressed by at all – the amount of work it would need to make it a home for me was more than I cared to take on.  However, Veronica saw it and was ready to move.  The size was a major selling point not to mention a family room with a fireplace, and 5 nice sized bedrooms the smallest being larger than any of the room at the old house.

At that point I was set off on a mission, a mission to paint and get the house ready in 2 weeks for the big move.  Every wall in the house was the exact same color – a cross between honey and burlap so not something we could live with or very long at all.  I started in the hockey boys’ bedrooms – the first I was out to be wild and crazy so I painted two of the walls orange and two slate grey walls with black and white trim throughout the room.  Cloudya still holds to the fact that the grey is actually lavender – she may be right but I keep telling myself it is grey and someday I will convince everyone that I am right.  Next came the bedroom that one day will hopefully be a guest bedroom leaving the walls the same color I added vertical striping in blue.  The stripes started as something I thought would be cool but in the end I realized my yard stick was not straight and I had to make some adjustments adding to the work load.

Kaiden's bed Avs and Sharkstuff everywhere

The kids’ rooms became my next task Kaiden’s was easy enough as he wanted his room to look the exact same way it had before so the Colorado Avalanche bedroom was reborn.  Shaded ice took on the wall color and two wide stripes in maroon and blue blocking in by black stripes made of hockey tape.  Decorations were added and a hockey bedroom any Avs Fan can be proud of came to life.   

Cloudya's overly colorful room

Now if you know Cloudya she is all girl and totally wild when it comes to what she wants – so her room looks somewhat like a fairy attacked a paint store.  She has walls painted purple, green, and a Caribbean blue with everything trimmed out in pink accents – like I said a lot of color.  There is no doubt the room belongs to a princess – just you would never know it is a HOCKEY PRINCESS.

While I love painting by that point I was kind of beat up and running out of time; packing during the day, painting and unpacking at night takes a lot out of you.  The only rooms that have been painted since the move is the Family Room and entrance of the house, both Veronica has picked some very bold colors.  A deep purple for the Family Room and a nautical blue for the entrance into the house, making both of these rooms my favorite.  As time moves I am working on pieces here and there and adding new décor to the house in every room and I will eventually be done. 

Veronica was able to see something more than I had, which is often the case as I am more of a realist.  The house is coming together and everyone can actually spread out and have a bit of space which is by far the most important thing.  I have my fingers crossed that we don’t outgrow this house too soon. Besides if we do the poor soul that moves in here will never get the stench of hockey bags out of the garage no matter what they do – I know I have tried.

Fluffy's Flow Takes Home the Gold!

 We warned you about Isaac's gorgeous hair, but we weren't the only ones that felt that way.  Check out the link to a story all about his hair winning an award!

 http://nahl.com/news/story.cfm?id=4591

To Grade or Not to Grade

Edmond de Goncourt is quoted as saying "A painting in a museum hears more ridiculous opinions than anything else in the world," however with the development of youth sports his quote is no longer accurate.  Now it could be worded to replace paintings with outstanding younger players within team sports.

He's not really mean, he just wants his hockey stick

This year I managed to cause a scandal all on my own when I took the advice of all of our hockey boys, two former professional players, several coaches, and our own back and forth conversations and choose to send Kaiden through the move up process.  Now if you are not familiar with our club the process is really pretty simple - you sign a form that says you are interested in moving up, your player must test on testing day, and in the process they must place in the top 35%.  So we went through the process and Kaiden managed to place well above the required percentage.
Now we were very excited about the opportunity for him to play up when we found out he had managed to pass all the areas he needed to(What parent wouldn't be) - and then the phone started ringing.  The rings where just not the ones we had hoped they would be(you know the kind that are of congratulations).  Instead I was cursed at, told I cheated, and even accused of a coverup.  I also had a hockey mom who happens to also be a board member drop the F* Bomb repeatedly on me at 8am because she felt it was dirty and low down, then the same woman called back and apologized only to turn around again and send my sons private information out to several people within the organization(YUP SUPER CLASSY to try and destroy a 6 year old that has great talent).  

We held our heads high and made sure we have supported Kaiden every day since the moment  he signed his form to apply for grade up.  Since that day Kaiden has scored several goals against much older goalies and players, become quite a stud at getting assists, and made a travel select team(WAY TO GO CAPTAIN!).  Looking back on it there have been a few moments that made me think if this worth it but it has been.  The love for hockey is there and he is growing under the direction of a wonderful house coach .  So will we move him up again when the time comes - oh I am sure we will, and my advice to everyone else out there jump on the opportunity just prepare yourself and your player that not everyone will be happy you have talent in your corner.

Congrats to the other Outlaws!  You are the elite!

- Thomas

Welcome Back to Hockey: A Family Affair

Yes...it is January and we are still writing about the beginning of hockey season.  So our resolution is to get this bad boy caught up and to keep everyone more up-to-date. 

Back to August for the time being!  This year our club hosted a huge Back to Hockey event so everyone could get enrolled, fitted for gear, and check on fundraiser information.  One of the last minute activities of the event caused our phone to buzz.  As it stands when the club's number comes up on the cell phone we sigh before we answer it.  The last minute activity was a drop-in hockey type tournament for all the kids that came out to register.  What it meant for us was having a little under  a week to try to get on-ice and off-ice volunteers.

Thomas and I split up the work and he did all the off-ice organizing and I did all the on.  As we roused up volunteers we were still short several on-ice helpers for the younger age groups.  So I shot a quick email to the boy's coach to see if I could get any helpers.

I was surprised as several of the boys turned out to help us out on the ice(our boys included of course).  So what we had was a number of AAA boys, several Omaha hockey coaches, and four hours of ice to control.

The most entertaining hour of the day should have been the first one.  This hour was all the younger skaters ranging in age anywhere from 4-8.  When it comes down to it though age is deceiving in the sport of hockey and a large number of these players had really just started skating.  Chris ended up coaching Kaiden's team which however it happened at check-in ended up with decently skilled skaters.  Poor Isaac though ended up with a lot of kids who had never even skated before, but handled it like a trooper.  It was fun to watch both boys trying to give the Captain various pointers.  However, the most entertaining thing came when one of the coaches told Kaiden he had scored enough goals and let someone else have a try.

The funniest part of the day came in the last hour.  First off the boys were only suppose to help with the first two hours, but they all stayed the whole time.  In the last hour we didn't have enough bantams come out to form two teams so we divided the AAA boys up and had them play as well.  We offered it to Cloudya, but she chose to run the time clock, so her and her buddy could goof around.  Kaiden however did not like the fact that he had to not only sit on the bench and watch his brothers play, but he also had to do it wearing a helmet.

Watching those poor tired boys play with a bunch of bantams was hilarious.  Kaiden from the bench is yelling all sorts of funny comments to each of the boys(when he wasn't asking if he could go out on the ice).  Isaac chooses to use his stick as a microphone after someone figured out how to turn the stereo on.  In the last couple minutes of the game they decided everyone should come out on the ice and see if they could help break the tied game.  When that happened Kaiden jumped out there with everyone(wearing shorts, skates, helmet and gloves only).  It didn't take long before he showed everyone that he loves to play with the older guys.  In the last couple seconds of the game a AAA player scored the winning goal.  However, he just happened to be one of our goalies.  His celey was the best!

The rest of the day my house was invaded by the AAA volunteers.  They were sprawled all over my tiny living room in blankets trying to get warm!  I don't blame them it was a long day on the ice and to top things all off they had to go to practice!

Regardless of how tired we were we all had a lot of fun and were able to make our little army a bit stronger!

- Veronica