Hockey News

This morning (Saturday), the Zombies had their first of two games this weekend, winning it 3-1. It was an especially satisfying win since they lost to this team in the third game of the season by the same score. That game was at 3:30 in the afternoon, and the team looked really flat. It was good to see what they could do when they were firing on all cylinders, which they definitely did today. Heck, it was almost a shutout since the other team got their only goal with less than a minute left in the game.

At this point, the Zombies are 5-4-1 and in 4th place with 11 points. If they win their game tomorrow morning, they could conceivably jump to 2nd or 3rd place since there are two teams tied for second with 12 points. First place is probably not possible since that team is 11-0 with 22 points. That said, Lucas's team played really well against them, losing 2-1, so if they meet in the playoffs, I like the Zombies' chances.

Lucas started out the year wanting to play on offense, but after a couple of strong defensive games, the coaches played him at defense. He didn't like it at first, but after playing it for a while, he's gotten much better and actually likes the position. He's been playing defense since before Christmas, and I suspect the coaches are going to keep him there for the rest of the year since he is fairly reliable. As a result, he's not likely to score any more goals this year, but that's because he'll be doing his job of keeping them out of the Zombies' net!

So that's where we are with his hockey. I know I uploaded a picture of Lucas and his best friend Zach in their hockey jerseys a few posts back, but here's one from their game (in mid-December) that I managed to get both of them in. Kind of a neat moment.

I have a bunch of other hockey photos that I need to sort through, including a hockey birthday party where Marilu played against Lucas. Once I pick out the highlights, I'll get them uploaded for your viewing pleasure.

In a last bit of hockey-related news, you may have heard that I've been taking skating lessons. Yep, finally taking the plunge and becoming a real Canadian, I guess. It's been going very well, and tonight, for the first time, I played a "game" for about an hour and a half at a community rink with Lucas's teammate Matthew, his brother Gavin, and his dad Mo. It was kids against the adults (most of the time), and to say I had a blast would be an understatement. I was already talking about it, but now definitely looking forward to playing in a league next year, albeit at a very low level. We will truly be a hockey family at that point. 

The Kid Awakens

Lucas's birthday present from his godfather Jason arrived today. It's a Kylo Ren voice modulator mask. To complete the effect, he put on a hood and added the lightsaber he received from his Uncle Steven a while back. See below for the final product.

Christmas Eve 2015

Here's the 2015 installment of "The Boys on Christmas Eve." I've combined the best of my photos and ones I stole took directly from Tracey's Flickr page. Next year, I may refrain from taking any since you can tell the kids aren't sure which way to look in most of the photos, with some of them looking at mine and some looking at Tracey's. That said, the photos still look good.

Might as well get the "serious" ones out of the way first since they didn't stay serious for long.

And then chaos ensued.

Since it was a green Christmas, Tracey was able to get an ultra-rare picture of the kids playing in the backyard. Don't expect to see too many repeats of this picture in the future. Unless we all win the lottery and move south.

For past installments of Christmas Eve, go here and here.

Brand New Year

One of Lucas's "presents" from Santa were 2 very good seats to the Senators-Panthers game tonight, including parking passes in one of the best lots. You can tell I'm getting older since that was one of the highlights for me. Marilu had a bunch of schoolwork to do (though I think she just ended up watching Homeland instead) so Lucas brought me. Here's a picture of him with the ice behind him so you can get an idea of how good our seats were. Also, if you look closely, you can see his Zombies shirt that he got at his hockey team's Christmas party. You can't see it in this picture, but it has their logo on the front as well as his last name and number on the back. Pretty nifty shirt.

In other news, Lucas had his first guitar lesson this afternoon. I wasn't there, but according to Marilu, it went well. I'm really interested in re-learning (I played a little bit in high school) so we'll probably practice together during the week.

That's all for now. I'll post something more comprehensive soon.