Tag Archives: tournament

day 3480: the first day odin played offense and scored a goal.

day 3480: the first day odin played offense and scored a goal.

as many of you know, odin has been playing hockey for years. and for all those years, he has played defenseman and quite enjoyed it. but for whatever reason during a tournament in la crosse odin’s coach asked if he wanted to play right wing which is an offense position. he gladly accepted.

all the game play is different for a winger and i thought he’d spend a lot of time making mistakes and being a little discombobulated with the change. but he proved me wrong ( not uncommon ) and did a great job picking up passes from defense and moving the puck down the ice and passing to other teammates, disrupting the opponents and working the boards.

and he was at the right place at the right time in front of the net and scooped in his first goal ever against a tough goalie.

even sitting up in the stands, i could see the look of surprise on his face. quite a moment. i don’t know if it was coincidence or not but his goal seemed to rally the team and they scored several more before losing in a close game.

i doubt he’ll soon forget his goal on his first playing offense against the formidable la crosse team.

i should add that his team came in last place in the tournament. they played four games and lost all four. they weren’t going to play in the tournament because it was against teams that aren’t in their conference. they were all teams from bigger markets with larger pools of players to select from who play on ice all year round. but one team dropped out and the organizers needed another team to play on short notice so we went. they lost handily to the best team from sheboygan, wisconsin but played well against sun prairie and la crosse. the viroqua underdogs were evenly matched with both teams having similar shots on goal and could have one those games if they could figure out how to get more shots past their ace goalies.

they’ve lost most games they’ve played this year. but that obscures the fact that they are a solid team who is playing with a ton of heart and have lost many games by just a goal or two or in overtime.

when the pieces come together they’ll be formidable.

day 3130: scenes from the altoona hockey tournament!

day 3130: scenes from the altoona hockey tournament! I.

odin’s team played 3 games in altoona, wisconsin this weekend. they had a great time bonding by the pool at the hotel and playing against some great area teams on the ice.

odin’s team is still quite young with many 7 and young 8 year olds on their “squirt b” so they will often struggle against more seasoned squirt teams with 9 and 10 year olds, though they always have a great time playing even when they lose. every game you can see them get better and better and i have no doubt that after a season of learning how to play together as a team they’ll be quite competitive.

this time they lost two close games and tied the third.

somehow i forgot my camera in the hotel for the first two games so i was only able to shoot the third. bad! bad! bad!

here the team is getting ready for the game with a little cheer by the net. odin is number 64 with the red mouth guard.

day 3130: scenes from the altoona hockey tournament! II.

odin didn’t get a chance to practice his new goalie skills and instead played defenceman which is his “comfortable” position and means he spends a lot of time keeping the puck out of the defense zone and playing it up to the offense.

day 3130: scenes from the altoona hockey tournament! III.

more chasing the puck down…

day 3130: scenes from the altoona hockey tournament! IV.

pausing momentarily to watch the puck after he hit it back up the boards out of the defense zone to one of the offensive players on his team…

day 3130: scenes from the altoona hockey tournament! V.

and if odin does his “job”, then one of the offense can drive the puck down the ice and score a goal! which they did 🙂

day 3130: scenes from the altoona hockey tournament! VI.

another great drive to the goal by viroqua which led to a shot on goal…

day 3130: scenes from the altoona hockey tournament! VII.

and yet another great drive to the goal by viroqua which led to a goal…

day 3130: scenes from the altoona hockey tournament! VIII.

and again! another drive by viroqua with a shot on goal. hard to believe it ended up tied 2-2! a great game by both teams.

day 3130: scenes from the altoona hockey tournament! IX.

the team was in great spirits despite the two losses. and after 3 games in 2 days and late nights by the hotel pool it was finally time to drive home and take a nap 🙂

day 2765: scenes from the mighty mite hockey jamboree.

day 2765: scenes from the mighty mite jockey jamboree. I.

in our continuing adventures as hockey parents, we spend many of our weekends at hockey games. this time it was the “mighty mite hockey jamboree” at Winter Rec-Fest in la crosse, wisconsin.

in the tournament, “mite” players from around the region get together and play each other in quick games, 20 minutes each, 3 games in a round, 2 rounds total ( got that? so they play 6 teams, total. ).

it’s a great way for the young players to build up confidence and play a variety of teams with varying skill levels.

odin did a great job playing defenseman and even managed to score a goal!

here, he’s skating away from the net in the blue and white jersey after scoring his second goal in a game, ever ( defense doesn’t get as many opportunities to score a goal as offense )!

day 2765: scenes from the mighty mite jockey jamboree. II.

odin, sitting on the sidelines. they swap out players every two minutes. for this game, they split up the team into two separate teams playing “four on four”, allowing for two players to sit out every two minutes. if you think about it, it’s that’s a lot of skating over six twenty minute periods!

day 2765: scenes from the mighty mite jockey jamboree. III.

while he loves playing defenseman, he’s also been enjoying being the goalie. at this level of play they don’t need all the gear and the, er, goal, is to just get them used to trying to keep pucks out of the net. odin stopped quite a few goals and let just a couple get past him. given his love of defense, i wouldn’t be surprised if he wants to be a goalie after he gets a little more confident in the position, though it’s hard to say if it’ll be his favorite position since the defenseman gets to skate around a lot more which is pretty fun too 🙂

day 2765: scenes from the mighty mite jockey jamboree. IV.

even when you handily beat a team, it’s important to give them an honest “great game” and a “high five”. ’cause, as odin already knows, it’s no fun to hear “you suck!”

day 2765: scenes from the mighty mite jockey jamboree. V.

odin, right in the thick of the action! i have to admit that it’s big fun to hear other parents yell out his name when makes a great defense play ( he’s number ‘5’ ).

day 2765: scenes from the mighty mite jockey jamboree. VI.

odin is all smiles ( through his mouth guard ) getting ready to get back on the ice after a break beating all three teams they played in the first round.

day 2765: scenes from the mighty mite jockey jamboree. VII.

at the end of the tournament, everyone gets a medal.

day 2765: scenes from the mighty mite jockey jamboree. VIII.

after all his games are done ( they beat five out of the six teams! ), of course, there’s no way odin will leave the tournament before catching the other half of his team play a period or two their last games from the top of the stands.

day 2765: scenes from the mighty mite jockey jamboree. XIX.

yeah. but what about screaming at the kids on the opposing teams 🙂