Hockey: Gotta Love It...

This morning I received an email plea for help: Will you pull pipe for the new arena? I felt obligated since they might pay me minimum wage and I figured I had nothing better to do such as removing the old and installing the new windows on my trailer, aside from other things. There are just some things a guy might do for hockey that he might not do for anything else. It's sad, really. The guys on my mediocre team from last year are trying to suck me back into playing again and I'm struggling to tell them no because I can't come up with any high-quality excuses such as, "No, I'm teaching Sunday School and I need my rest on Saturday nights," or anything like that. I'm such a sucker.

Micah started hockey practice on Thursday. For those of you who play in a normal league, that might sound odd - unless the rink you play on has natural ice. Micah made sure that we all attended, and he wouldn't miss the planning meeting afterward! I warned him as I got him ready that getting back on his skates wouldn't be as easy as getting back on his bike. Well, I was wrong. He did really well. Except for crashing heavily into the boards a couple of times trying to prove he could skate faster than most of the 10-year-olds on his team (he's 6, and he can).

Anyway, when I pulled out Micah's equipment to get him dressed, Judah looks at it all and says, "Hockey?" Faith and I looked at each other for a couple of seconds and thought, Did you teach him that? He kept saying "Hockey!" all practice long, even when he went to bed.

Yesterday we had "the talk". You know the one I'm talking about - which team we're going to convince Judah to cheer for? Micah was pretty broken up when I told him I wanted him to cheer for the Oilers. I think we even saw a tear in his eye. I'm not sure if he thought I was joking or serious. I was serious! Faith said Aslynn could cheer for the Flames with him, but that just wasn't good enough for Micah. I'm on his side on this one, folks; Aslynn is a pretty fickle hockey fan. If someone wore a pink jersey on the ice (or even in the crowd), that would be her team. Looks like we're going to have a war on our hands over Judah's allegiances.

I'm sure Judah will have a mind of his own like Micah did. I'm hoping that "Oiler exposure" will work as the best tactic for winning his favour. I'm afraid that Micah has way more Flames memorabilia, but Judah no longer sleeps in Micah's room (I made sure of that!). I've been wearing my Oiler jersey more often lately, but Micah keeps pulling out his Flames blanket, his hat, his pants, his hoodie, his posters, and a whole hoard of other evil distractions.

To top it all off, the battle of Alberta is tonight: Flames vs Oilers in Edmonton. We're recording it. Micah won't be able to watch it because it's on too late. I sure hope the repetition of Micah watching it again and again will have a positive affect on Judah - win or lose, it's going to be a battle of mammoth proportions over the next 18 or more years...

- Mark

PS: GO OILERS!