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

Happy Holidays from our team to yours!

Pride and Prejudice

There is always some kind of game on in our house rather it's hockey, football or basketball.  It doesn't take very long before the Captain asks, "Who are we rooting for?"  On the day of the boy's first scrimmage we weren't looking forward to that question.  Our AAA 18s were playing the AAA 16s.  You think that Kaiden would naturally want to cheer for his brothers.  However, if you refer to his bio you would learn that one of his heroes is Coach Jake.  The team that Coach Jake coaches is AAA 16s. 

So on the way to the rink to watch Kaiden asked who the boy's were playing.  In which we responded, "Coach Jake's team."
For a moment he looked puzzled in that six year old kind of way, but then he asked, "Who should I root for?"  Even at such a young age he knew that this was a hard choice his brothers versus his favorite coach. 

In the end he came up with the solution to cheer for his brothers and few of his other favorite players and to only cheer for Coach's team if they were winning.

-Veronica

Stay tuned for a week long slumber party!

The Oops Baby...

So every once in a while friends of yours may actually admit they have an oops child.  Sometimes that oops is in the form of the first born, or the youngest and sometimes even sandwiched right in the middle.  Well I will proudly admit that we have An Oops Baby and his name is Isaac. 

Now Isaac is a special kid.  He is the fun loving, outgoing, ball of energy that is bound to get himself into whatever mischief may happen to be around and if there is none he can always make it.  Along with that and his little grin that is contagious to anyone that sees it, Isaac has a head of the craziest hair I have seen on a boy ever.  In hockey terms Isaac hair is CRAZY SICK FLO – now if you don’t know what they means well you are on your own but in laymen’s terms it is simply sexy hair.

As I have already established Isaac came to us as a bit of an unexpected blessing.  In one of the crazy shovels of players Isaac came to live with us for what was supposed to be a short stay along with another player, Brett(there is plenty more you will hear about him).  Things always managed to have a way of falling through when it came to finding him a new house, and he was fine with sharing the open basement with our 11 year old.  Pretty soon the kids knew he was not going to leave; he had come to love the food and his own little corner of space he had carved out.  It was not long before Veronica had accepted the fact he was not going to be moving and she was plotting out ways to move people around to make room for him.  I of course was worried about how having 6 people in our house was going to work not to mention two hockey players.

I finally broke and agreed to Veronica purchasing a bed for him still I had no clue where it was he was going to sleep once I had the bed.  But the bed arrived and Veronica pushed and finally after getting rid of the couch I have loved more than any other piece of furniture we have every owned, Isaac finally had his very own space bed and all.

Now Veronica and I both know the exact moment Isaac became part of our family and there would be no way he would ever be allowed to leave.  That moment came in the form of a cuddle session on the couch(similar to the one in the picture).  Isaac was lying on the couch taking up all the room and the next thing we knew Kaiden and Cloudya where there with him.  The three of them all nestled together watching TV.

There is not a day now we can’t think of our very own little oops baby being anywhere else but home with us.

-Thomas

And the Bodies Hit the Floor…

Before anyone gets alarmed, the title sounds a little scary and ominous really I picked it because it works when you have players arriving and crashing wherever they can for the first day or two.

Before you can truly appreciate how crazy things were this year let me explain what happened in previous years.  In the past the players have arrived on the first weekend of August.  Around 2pm on Saturday afternoon they would meet at the rink to fill out paperwork, sign housing checks, meet their new families for the first time, and to see who they knew on the team.  After the meeting was over players would follow their host families home, unpack into their rooms, and generally they would head out for dinner and back to the hotel to stay the night with their parents one last night.  Come Sunday there was always a large BBQ everyone sitting around chatting, getting to know each other, host families caught up with each other and met the new players, then once things were done the boys would move the rest of their things in and spend the first of many evenings with the family.

However, this year things were a little on the crazy side with things happening in rapid fire style.  The boys all arrived on different days, there was no Team BBQ, and we were all flying by the seat of our pants.  Needless-to-say, with the level of chaos we had going on players were arriving and families were not ready for them.  Our Chris was the first to arrive – and I was ready for to an extent.  We got him moved in, ate dinner with his family, Chris and I hit a movie, we got him enrolled for school and he was off to a great start.  Somehow though in the mix of everything Veronica just happened to be working so I was one parent short for a few days, but we made it through. 

Things were off and running well, until the phone call came.  I have already told you the housing director is the guy that fixes all problems, and I was handed a fun one right away.  One of the boys arrived in town to not only find out his room was not ready, but his family was not even in town.  They had taken off to get their son moved into college.  Normally this would not be a big deal except the players family had not planned on being in town for more than the day because their younger son had school the next day.  Being the guy I am I packed him up like a stray puppy and brought him on home to meet the family.

Now because I felt bad I made some homemade spaghetti for him, and Veronica had to work that night so I let him crash in our room and I took the couch instead of making him sleep in the front room.  The evening was progressing well until another player’s parent called me during dinner to ask directions, and had a list of questions a mile long.  As the phone was ringing I made my plate, grabbed my garlic bread and headed to my chair to eat, but quickly had to leave all of that behind to get on the computer and pull up paperwork.  Sitting in the kitchen I realized I was extremely hungry, cooking all day does that to me, so I made myself a plate.  Now if you remember, which by this time I had forgotten, I had already made my plate once.  Thinking the conversation on the phone was wrapping up I headed back to my chair to find a drink, a plate, and a fork waiting for me.  The boys of course found this extremely humorous.  Passing the second plate off to Chris, my eating machine, we had a little laugh after I got off the phone finally.   The night was the first in many nights where more than one player would end up at our house during a transition.

One of those very transitions brought us Isaac, our little mistake.  Isaac as you will find out is the laid back, easy going kid that nothing seems to ever faze.  He started the season living with another family and another player altogether, but as things shook out both of the boys left their first home.  While during what was supposed to be a brief transition we ended with Chris, Isaac and another player on the team all crashing here until we could get the extra boys moved.  One of the players was a short stay, although he became very fond of my cooking and you will hear about him very often, Brett also known around here as Scooter, moved into a house with a fellow player about three days after starting his mini vacation with us.  Brett made a pretty good impact and has his own quote that is repeated very often around here – “Dude. Go to bed!”  All spoken with an extremely thick North Dakota accent.  While we were sad to see him go it was a sigh of relief with one less mouth to feed, and one less body on the floor of the basement. Not to mention the lack of “Dude, go to bed!” being shouted at 11pm when everyone else was still awake.

Isaac was not as easy to get rid of, every day I thought we were a little closer as he kept telling me he had a place to live but needed to clear up the details.  It was pretty evident though he was not going anywhere fast.  After two weeks we gave up, and Isaac found a permanent spot in our hearts.  He volunteered to sleep on the couch in the front room or in the basement, he even said he would share Kaiden’s slidebed.  Eventually we ended up tossing Cloudya into Kaiden’s room and he took over her bed while we made the final adjustments of adding another body to our very small and overran boarding house. 

With everything said and done now I look back on it and would not have it any other way; I would still toss my hands up in the air and start singing...let the bodies hit floor.

-         Thomas

Stay tuned for more on our little…I mean tall oopsJ