Week 3 of 4-on-4 was on Thursday, and it's still a horror show. Two kids out of 8 still absent, and two losses of 3-1 and 6-3. So if my math is correct, they've been outscored 33-8 this season. Not fun, and even at the end of it, Lucas said, "This is getting embarrassing." I'm keeping my fingers crossed that there will be a reshuffling of the teams soon, but I still have no plans to ever do 4-on-4 again since I've heard similar stories from parents in other divisions.
On a higher hockey note, Lucas participated in a separate 4-on-4/drill session this morning. It's organized by one of the parents from the IP team he played on 2 years ago. He rents ice almost every week during the off-season so that the kids get a little extra ice time. We were a bit nervous about it since the roster for this week was primarily kids who played Novice A and competitive (Lucas was Novice B), but he went out there and hung with them pretty well. Don't get me wrong, he was not one of the highlights, but he definitely didn't look like he didn't belong. So we were happy, and I think it gave him a little boost of confidence that might have worn away from the other 4-on-4 debacle.
It's been a few posts since the vacation pictures so I'll continue that here today. I don't have too much to add since they are mostly random photos (and a few from our trip to mini golf) that speak for themselves so enjoy!
Last but not least, Lucas's baseball team meets together for the first time tomorrow. It'll be 1/2 meet the team and 1/2 first practice. It should be fun, and it'll be nice to have sports photos not involving hockey skates for once.
I forgot to mention in yesterday's update that Lucas's 4-on-4 hockey team (the Gold team, as each team has a different colored jersey) had their second set of games on Sunday, and this week didn't do much to change my negative feelings. Once again, his team was completely dominated, losing their games 3-1 and 5-0. I'd like to say Lucas is playing well, and it's the rest of his team that is the fault, but honestly, their goalie is about the only shining spot. I know that sounds crazy, given the fact that they have been outscores 21-4 in four games, but if not for the goalie's stellar play, you could probably double the goals against.
The other problem with the league is attendance. I already mentioned that they had no subs in their second game last week, but thankfully, this week was better as they had 6 skaters plus the goalie. That still means 2 kids didn't show up, which is sad considering it's only the second week. The only upside is that the other teams were in the same situation. In fact, in the game after ours, one of the teams only had 3 skaters so I'm not sure if they ended up having to forfeit or if they were able to get a skater from another team.
For the first issue, it should get fixed within a week or two since I'm told they rebalance the teams if there are outliers on either end of the win-loss column, and I would assume Gold is at the very bottom right now. As for attendance, I don't know what to say. Marilu and I are both the types of people that, if we sign up for something, we go to it. Unfortunately, it appears many parents don't share that belief.
Next game is on Thursday so we'll see how things go this week.
Whoops, before I sign off, I wanted to mention that we registered Lucas last minute for spring baseball after he expressed a great deal of interest. He did a sortout for it on Saturday and did surprisingly well, considering he's never played "real" baseball before (i.e., T-ball doesn't count). He has a few friends he knows playing, and he might even end up on his best friend Zach's team, which would make both of them very happy.
I think games for that will start next week, so I'll keep you updated.
Lucas had his regular dental checkup a couple of weeks ago, and it turned out he had two cavities. He had a very small cavity when he was younger than didn't require a filling so our trip this morning to the dentist was to get his first "real" fillings.
As expected, he was really nervous, but once we got there, he was a champ and got the procedure done without any issues. Here he is during the break between the two cavities being filled.
This past Saturday, the Zombies had their year-end affair. While it was sad for the season to end since it's been the best one yet, the kids had a great time. It was held at a local martial arts place that does a lot of these parties so they know how to keep the kids entertained. There were LOTS of relay races, which was a good thing since the energy level in that room was through the roof.
Here they are, preparing for one of the relay races.
This relay race was particularly funny. There was a tunnel that Lucas was a tad too large for so he found his own way of getting through it.
Once the coaches were done helping out with the races, they got hugs from all the kids. Cute moment.
One final hockey game for the Zombies, albeit with mini sticks.
All that running deserved a pizza party!
Coach Lucas cuts the cake with the coolest cutting knife ever.
Afterwards, the kids got trophies and hats with their logos.
Lucas shows off his trophy and (in my opinion) the really cool Zombies hat.
Later that afternoon, Lucas started his 4-on-4 season. Coming on the heels of the party (and a great season with the Zombies), it was a major letdown. First off, let me explain how it works. Each session consists of two 25-minute games. Depending on the schedule, they could be either back-to-back or with another game in between. There are refs but no coaches (parents work the door), and every minute and half, the horn blows, and the kids have a line change. Also, there is no offsides or icing so the whole thing falls closer to a pick-up game than organized hockey.
All that said, no biggie. Everything sounds good. Here's where Saturday started going south. In the first game, our team was missing one kid in the first game so we had 6 players (plus goalie), and the other team had 8. It doesn't sound like much, but two full lines makes a difference stamina-wise. It probably doesn't help that Lucas and Matthew (another Zombie who is on his 4 on 4 team) were likely worn out from the party. As a result, they ended up losing 7-0.
It got way worse in the second game. Two of the kids had to leave so we had a whopping 4 players. That meant they had to play the full game with no line changes. If this was a pickup game on a community rink, it wouldn't be a problem since they'd just take players from the other team to even things out. In this case, though, the other team had 9 players (8 plus the goalie). Surprisingly, they had a much better showing, only losing 6-3, with Matthew pulling off a hat trick. Still, the whole thing left a bad taste in my mouth.
All that said, there is still hope for the season. Because they don't do sortouts and just place kids on teams randomly, they apparently do some reorganization after the first weeks to try and balance the teams. In addition, I just noticed today that one of Lucas's classmates got placed on his team so I'm assuming his parents must have signed him up late. Whatever the case, it's good to have another body in case other people fall through like on Saturday.
I'll keep you apprised of how it goes as the season progresses, but I wouldn't expect the same kind of enthusiasm as I've had with the Zombies.
My mom asked if I would be posting more videos of Lucas riding a horse from our second trip, and since there are a bunch of them in my folder, I figured I'd do that today.
During our second trip, we made it up to the barn twice, and Lucas rode both times. He did a couple more "advanced" things this time, such as riding with no hands and riding by himself so he definitely made some progress. It'll be interesting to see how this summer goes.
These videos (8 of them) are from my camera, my mom's phone, and possibly my (or Marilu's) phone. So the quality is better in some than others, but let's face it, they all look better than the hockey videos. :) Also, I didn't watch all of these through since I could only take so much horse riding, but hopefully y'all will enjoy them.
Yep, that was a lot of horse riding. I'll return to photos in our next exciting entry.
So it turns out that the team the Zombies played yesterday was definitely up to no good. Apparently, I was just one of many people who contacted the convenor yesterday, and she talked to that coach prior to today's final to let him know he is not allowed to double-shift their best players. From what I heard from someone who watched both games, that team didn't play nearly as well today and consequently lost. It's a shame that our kids didn't get to go to the finals as as result of this, but as I said to one of the other dads, the silver lining is knowing that even though the other team cheated, they needed two overtimes and a shootout to beat us.
Pictures from hockey games are never as good as watching them, but since none of you are here, I guess this will have to be the next best thing. As mentioned yesterday, I was really into the game so I didn't take that many pictures, but here are the highlights.
The other Novice B semifinal was right before ours, and the kids came out of the locker room early to watch the end of the game.
You may notice Lucas's different colored socks. He wanted to wear them like that after watching his friend Carson do the same thing a couple of weeks ago, In that case, though, it was because Carson's parents forgot one of the socks. The superstitious sports fan in me didn't want to let him do it, but I acquiesced and sure enough, they lost. Never again!
The warmup skate.
Last minute huddle by the bench prior to the start of the game.
These next three show an example of Lucas using his body to break up a play. Kid has the puck, Lucas knocks him off of it, and the play goes the other way. Woohoo! Apologies for a bit of blurriness. The net around the ice makes it difficult to focus with the camera sometimes.
Doing some defensin'. :) Incidentally, the kid in white next to him is in his class.
Bringing the puck out from behind the net.
Lucas waiting for the whistle when it was his turn in the shootout. Words can't describe how nerve-wracking this moment was for me. I remember yelling out, "If you score, I will buy you literally anything!" Alas, it was not to be. Both goalies were phenomenal.
The boys congratulate their goalie Matthias on a good game after the shootout. What a great group of kids.
So that's that for Zombie hockey this year. Like I think I said in the last post, they have their year-end party next weekend, and then Lucas's first 4-on-4 game is about 2 hours after that is over. There will still be a little Zombie influence as his good friend Matthew (#12 in the picture above) is on his team. Should be fun!
Alas, the Zombies season has come to an end. But what a way to go! After a back-and-forth game where the lead changed several times, the final score was 3-3. Since this was a semifinal game, that meant overtime. The first OT was four-on-four, and when no one scored, there was a second OT that was three-on-three. And still, no score! So on they went to a shootout, the first one we've seen at the youth level. It looked like it would be a quick affair as the other team scored on their first shot, but then our final shooter (of the group of 3) tied it up. Both goalies then went on to shutout the ENTIRE rest of the lineup (11 more kids on each side) and restart it from the top. The kid who scored in the first round repeated with a second goal, and when our first shooter was unable to match it, the other team emerged victorious.
So we lost, but it was probably the most exciting and nerve-wracking game of hockey I've seen in my life, NHL included. There was even a bit of controversy! The other team played their two best players back-to-back at center for the entire game. Prior to the playoffs, the coaches were specifically told by the convenor that they couldn't double shift or shorten their bench so this gave the team a considerable advantage. I actually intend to email her so she can keep an eye out for it tomorrow in the finals. Hate to see a team win it all by circumventing the rules.
But other than that it was a great game. The parents on the other team are probably the only team that is as loud, if not louder, than our parents so suffice to say it was a noisy affair. By the time the shootout started, I was wondering if my heart could take the excitement. I was literally shaking, and I'm quite sure I have a few more gray hairs.
I did take a bunch of photos, which I will post as soon as I can, but I'll admit they probably aren't that great. I was too focused on the game to pay much attention to the camera. Still, keep an eye out for those.
Oh, lest I forget, Lucas had a pretty good game. Not his best, but he didn't make any mistakes that resulted in a goal. I was happy to see that he was one of the 2 starting defensemen on the 4 on 4 period and the only defenseman at the start of the 3 on 3 period. It's good to know the coaches have that much confidence in him.
Lucas's team has their end-of-the-year party next Saturday, and then a couple hours after that, Lucas has his first game of 4-on-4 hockey, which is something he'll be doing until the summer. So the hockey never stops! :)
While going through my photos, I realized I'd missed a folder of photos that I downloaded from my mom's iPhone from both trips. Almost all of the photo subjects from our first trip were covered by photos I've already posted, but I liked this one so here it is for your viewing pleasure. Just a nice shot of Lucas with Grammy and Grampy Kevin.
In keeping with the posing theme, here's Lucas with Jared and my dad.
Let's close out the poses with one of the family.
Looking at that photo, I figured now would be a good time to show how much weight we've lost since last summer. This next photo was taken last month during our trip to Washington DC. Quite a difference, eh? Trust me, it was a LOT of work.
In hockey news, Lucas has his semifinal game at 9 AM tomorrow morning. In the regular season, they easily beat tomorrow's opponent 4-1. However, if the playoffs have proven anything, it's that the regular season means nothing as the team that went 13-1 didn't make it out of the round robin so they'll still need to play hard. I'll be sure to update as soon as we get home to let you know how it went.
As part of catching up, I want to get the big sets of photos out of the way first. The biggest of them tend to be vacations so those are at the front of the queue. I've already posted pictures from our first trip to Massachusetts, which was just me and Lucas. We had such a good time that we ended up going back later in the summer, this time with Marilu.
I think this first one is from the drive down to Massachusetts. I got a kick out of it since it's WWE overload. Not only does Lucas have the John Cena shirt on, but he's holding the championship belt, has a wrestling figure on his lap, and if you look closely on the right side of the picture, you can see part of a cage for the action figures. That's some serious wrestling love!
Once again, we went up to Kevin's barn so Lucas could ride the horse. Here are some photos from that visit.
Showing off my 4th of July shirt with my dad. On a side note, ugh, I was looking awful. I'm glad we've been working out since that trip.
No idea what Kevin was laughing at, but it sure looks like it was funny.
And for today's final picture, Lucas brushes down the horse (Honey?) before riding her. He really enjoyed the riding and taking care of the horse so I expect he'll be back up at the barn at least once this summer.
For those of you keeping score, in between the Massachusetts trips, Marilu and Lucas had a trip to Newfoundland, in which she took loads of photos, However, unlike past trips where I've gone through the photos and tried to guess as to what was happening and who was who, I've decided to let Marilu do her own blog posts at some point in the future for that trip. So if anyone wants to nag about that, you now have the appropriate point of contact. :)
I don't know why I couldn't remember how Lucas's team did in the playoffs last year, but thanks to the magic of the blog, I was able to look at this post and see the exact details. Turns out they did almost as well as this year, coming in 2nd place in their pool but losing their semifinal game. Hopefully, it'll be a better result this time around. Interestingly enough, I made the comment, "The Coyotes had far more scoring chances, but the bounces just never went their way..." That's the story of this season! Good to know some things are consistent year to year.
So, as promised, today begins Operation Post-A-Bunch-Of-Pictures. Or Operation PAPOP for short. I've got summer vacation, winter vacation, sports, family visits, March Break, and all kinds of other stuff ready to go. In order to keep it manageable though, I think I'm going to limit it to 5 photos a day, unless it's a series of photos that requires more. And like I said, I will be doing my very best to post at least every other day. Every day if I'm feeling productive.
So without any further adieu, let's get it started. In my post last month from our first Massachusetts visit last year, I said I would follow up with some videos. It took a while, but here they are.
We'll close out today with Marilu and I looking our best at the Agriculture Museum back in September.
As mentioned yesterday, the Zombies were already a lock for the semifinals before playing their final round robin game. However, they finished the round out in style, beating today's team 4-2. And to be honest, the score wasn't as close as it sounds. Lucas's team was up 4-0 late in the 3rd period and they stopped playing hard, at which point the other team scored 2 garbage goals in the last couple of minutes.
Zach's team won their game handily as well, 6-0, so both of their teams end the round robin with 3 wins and 1 tie, earning them the #1 seeds. Next Saturday, they will play the #2 seeds, and on Sunday, the winners of those games will play in the championship game. We're keeping our fingers crossed for a Zombies vs Panthers (Zach) final!
In other news, Marilu and I had a fantastic time at the Garth Brooks concert last night. I can't remember all the concerts I've been to so I don't know if this was the best concert I've ever been to, but it was at the very least top 3. I'm so glad I finally got a chance to see him since I've been wanting to since the mid-1990s. Rather than post another picture of Lucas playing hockey, here's a snippet of Marilu and I singing along to "Friends in Low Places" last night.
So tomorrow will begin what I hope is a deluge of photo posts so with any luck, my mom won't be nagging me about the blog for a couple of months. :) Love you, Mom!
Whoops, it's been just under a month since my last post. My bad. I guess the combination of us going to DC over March break and then my mom visiting for about a week made it slip my mind. The plus side is that I now have a bunch of pictures to post, which I'll be doing shortly. My plan right now is that starting Monday, I'm going to update with a photo post every other day until I am all caught up. Considering the large number of photos I have, that'll keep you entertained for at least the next month.
Before that, though, I'll update you with the latest hockey news, for those of you who don't already know. Last week (on Easter Sunday, actually), Lucas's team had their third playoff game, which they won 3-0. This puts their record at 2-0-1 with one more game tomorrow morning. However, as luck would have it, one of the other games that was played today guaranteed the Zombies no lower than #2 in their pool, which puts them in the semifinals. We've elected to not tell Lucas though so he plays hard since #1 is always better than #2! On top of that, his best friend Zach's team is likely going to be #1 in the other pool so I don't want him to throw the game so he plays Zach in the semis. That can wait until the finals! :)
I'll be sure to update with the results tomorrow and probably add a few photos in advance of Monday's post. I'd post some now, but Marilu and I are getting ready to go see the Garth Brooks concert (woohoo!) so it'll have to wait. *humming "Friends in Low Places"*
