Tag Archives: hockey

day 3816: scenes from the altoona squirt hockey tournament.

day 3816:  scenes from the altoona squirt hockey tournament. I.

just one week after taking home the first place trophy in the 11th annual frozen tundra, odin’s hockey team was back on the road playing in the squirt tournament in altoona, wisconsin.

weirdly, for second year in a row, after driving 2 hours, we asked who remembered the hockey stick? d’oh – none of us! oh well, good thing there are other lefty players with loaner sticks.

the first game against baldwin, it was tough to watch odin’s team lose in last three minutes after having led entire game, 5-4. i think that perhaps they were just a little too confident after winning every game last week. a good character building game!

lesson learned, the team kicked into gear and handily beat amory, wisconsin 5-0. odin got an assist!

for the third and final game, the team handily beat altoona 4-0 and earned the second place trophy!

as in the previous tournament, the team is playing really well as a team. it’s so much fun to watch them come together as a cohesive unit.

below are just a few of scenes from the last day of the tournament:

in the above photo, austin nundahl connects with the puck and scores!

day 3816:  scenes from the altoona squirt hockey tournament. II.

bo milutinovich scores under pressure from altoona players.

day 3816:  scenes from the altoona squirt hockey tournament. III.

at the end of the tournament, the teams line up on the blue lines to receive their participation medals.

day 3816:  scenes from the altoona squirt hockey tournament. IV.

sweaty odin skates up to get his medal 🙂

day 3816:  scenes from the altoona squirt hockey tournament. V.

after the medals were received, they got their second place trophy and foisted it up in the air. i was a little nervous they might drop it!

day 3816:  scenes from the altoona squirt hockey tournament. VI.

the odds of getting a newspaper friendly team trophy shot with all eyes open and looking towards the camera and no goofy faces? zero!

day 3816:  scenes from the altoona squirt hockey tournament. VII.

we safely transported the sweet second place trophy home and took it to the hockey arena to sit next to their first place trophy from last week. odin thought it was a good idea to buckle it up!

day 3809: the viroqua thunder take first place in the frozen tundra tournament!

day 3809: the viroqua thunder take first place in the frozen tundra tournament!

whoohoo, odin’s hockey team, the viroqua thunder “squirts” took home the first-place trophy in the 11th annual frozen tundra tournament in west salem, wisconsin.

the viroqua Squirts bested west salem 10-0, menominee 3-2 and la crescent 9-2 to make it to the championship game against black river falls. the thunder won that game 9-2. the team is playing very well as a team with lots of passing and scoring coming from a range of players. odin’s still loves playing defenceman and he’s doing a great job with his fellow defenceman, holding the puck at the blue line and sending in strong shots towards the goal. to assist the offense. he’s getting at least one assist a game and even scored a goal from the blue line!

the whole team is really fun to watch. i think it’s going to be a great season.

update: kris and i wrote up a story and contributed it and a photo to the local papers. we’ll probably try to do this more often. i’m taking photos anyway and it’s great publicity for the hockey program and i’m guessing the kids like to see their photos in the paper.

next time we’ll remember to have them take their helmets off.

pondering the odds of winning the “chuck a duck” lottery. twice.

pondering the odds of winning the "chuck a duck" lottery. twice. I.

if you’ve ever been in a hockey arena, you’ve probably encountered the “chuck a puck” fundraiser which is a type of 50-50 lottery. you buy pucks to throw on the ice in-between periods. the closest puck to center ice wins 50% of the take and the hockey association takes the remaining 50%. i usually never participate, as i find we donate enough money to the association via concession stand sales and i tend to avoid gambling when i have a very low chance of winning as there is usually a puck chucking savant in the crowd who has chucked way more pucks than i have and stands a much better chance of winning.

pondering the odds of winning the "chuck a duck" lottery. twice. II.

i was amused to see at a tournament in west salem, wisconsin that the association had introduced a bit of randomness into the lottery by handing out rubber duckies. i thought it was a brilliant way of “evening the odds” – who could possibly predict and account for the “funny bounce” the duck would inevitably take?

turns out, one guy won two of the four “chuck a duck” lotteries ( and a separate conventional ticket raffle )!

someone smarter than i can calculate the odds on that.

day 3774: doing drills at a laura stamm power skating clinic.

day 3774: doing drills at a laura stamm power skating clinic. I.

it’s the beginning of hockey regular season so we’re spending more time in hockey arenas. and this weekend we spent even more time than usual as we signed odin up for a laura stamm power skating clinic in baraboo, wisconsin. the well-regarded clinics are taught all over the country and usually cost over $200 but the baraboo youth hockey association subsidizes the cost and it costs just $75 if you’re not part of the association ( $35 if you are a member of the baraboo youth hockey league ). so it’s quite a deal for an intensive 6 hours of skating split over 2 days.

day 3774: doing drills at a laura stamm power skating clinic. II.

drills! drills! drills!

in this drill, the kids skate fast and drop down and alternate sliding on each knee without standing up.

i am certain that i could not do this.

day 3774: doing drills at a laura stamm power skating clinic. III.

lots and lots of drills to improve their skating backwards skills.

day 3774: doing drills at a laura stamm power skating clinic. IV.

and maybe a bit of goofing off with friends who give odin a hard time when his poppi is trying to take pictures 🙂