đ„ đThe Crazy Things That Become Normal When Your Kid Plays Hockey
5am games, freezing rinks, hockey hair, forgotten sticks⊠and the smell that never leaves your car.
If you donât have a kid in hockey, there are a few things about our lives that probably make absolutely no sense to you.
From the outside, it probably looks like we willingly spend our weeknights and weekends sitting in freezing cold rinks while our kids chase a tiny black puck around the ice.đ„
And honestlyâŠ
Thatâs pretty much exactly what we do.đ€Ł
But hockey life is its own world, and there are some things only hockey parents truly understand. Along with the hockey hair and hockey teeth, hockey life is also known forâŠâŠ..
đ·The Smell
Letâs start with the smell.
No one, and I mean no one, can prepare you for the smell of hockey gear.
The first time you open a hockey bag is, to say the least⊠shocking. By year three, youâre convinced there is some science project growing in there.
Some hotels even set up spots outside the guest rooms for hockey equipment because they know that smell can linger for days-and theyâd still like future guests to come back.
And theyâre not wrong.
There have been times when my son took his hockey bag out of our car days earlier⊠and the smell was still so bad my daughter, her friends, and I had to drive another car.
đ And the smell may have actually saved us once.
One time my son and I traveled out of town for training and stayed at a hotel. We stupidly left his hockey bag and stick in the car overnight.
Well⊠the car got broken into.
The stick was stolen.
But the hockey bag had been opened and everything inside was left behind, including his $800 skates.
To this day we are convinced the thief opened the bag, got hit with the smell, and immediately thought:
âNope. That bag wins.â
The smell is real.
âïžThe Early Morning Games
Non-hockey parents think waking up early for school is tough.
Try waking up for a 5:00 AM hockey game. â°
Which means alarms going off at 3:30 or 4:00 AM.
There were mornings when the alarm went off and I just stared at the ceiling thinking:
âHow did this become my life?â
You throw on whatever warm clothes you can find, grab coffee, and drive to a rink before the sun even exists.
Half the parents in the stands look like zombies.đ§ââïž
Meanwhile the kids jump on the ice like itâs the middle of the afternoon.
And the parents are all sitting there thinking the same thing:
âDear God, please let the coffee kick in before the second period.â
đ§đ§Surviving the Cold
Another thing non-hockey parents donât understand?
Rinks are freezing.đ„¶
Doesnât matter if itâs January or July. Somehow every rink feels like youâre sitting inside a giant freezer.
Hockey parents adapt.
We knew where every Starbucks near every rink was located.
Coffee became less of a beverage and more of a survival tool.
Some parents even brought portable heaters to the stands.
And I had what I called my âhockey coat.â
This thing went down to my knees. It wasnât cute. It wasnât stylish. But it was warm, and thatâs all that mattered when youâre sitting in a rink for six hours.
Tournament days would start before sunrise and go late into the evening.
And just when you thought maybe you could sleep in the next dayâŠ
The championship game, the âchipperâ ,would be scheduled for the morning.
So you bundle up, grab another coffee, and do it all over again.
đThe âI Forgot My Stickâ Moment
Every hockey parent has had this moment.
You finally get out the door.
The hockey bag is in the car.
Everyoneâs dressed.
Youâre already running late.
You start driving.
And then you hear it.
âMom⊠I forgot my stick.â
Every time that happened my head would explode.đ€Źđ€Ż
Iâd immediately say:
âJust borrow one from the rink.â
And the response was always the same.
âNo, I canât. Mine is the only one I can use.â
Of course it is.
So now youâre doing the mental math.
Do we turn around?
Are we already too late?
How far have we driven?
Because somehow the one thing you absolutely need for hockeyâŠ
âŠis always the thing that gets left behind.
And yet, if you asked any hockey parent if they would do it all again; the freezing rinks, the early mornings, the smell, the chaosâŠ
Most of us would say yes in a heartbeat.â€ïž
Because hockey life might look completely insane from the outside.
But for the families living itâŠ
Itâs some of the best chaos there is. đ