Hamburg Hawks Last Hurrah

I’m thinking about parenting tonight and I’m feeling sort of melancholy. Our son started playing hockey in the Hamburg Hawks house league when he was in the second grade. He played his final game for the league tonight. Eight years on the ice, eight winters of driving 30 miles to the rink every Saturday and Sunday, once for practice and once for the game. Eight years of 6:00 am practices, for which we had to leave the house at 4:45 am.

And I wouldn’t trade a minute of it for anything. We’ve literally watched him grow up on that ice, from a tough little second grader, through the years when it seemed he spent more time in the penalty box than in the game, to the young man I saw tonight. He played with heart, especially tonight, and it was bittersweet because we all knew that this time in our lives was ending.

Through eight years, the boys in this house league have played with and against each other countless times. They’ve learned sportsmanship, how to take and give a hit, how to listen to a coach, how to work together on the ice, and how to rib each other in the locker room. Their coaches have given of their time, energy and hearts, with no pay in return. The experience has helped shape who my son becomes as a man.

As parents we’ve all cheered for our kids, becoming friends along the way. It was a toss up who would go for the Tim Hortons on a given 6:00 am practice, but someone always did. I’ll miss seeing them from week to week, but most of all I’ll miss watching their sons continue on their way to becoming men.

From Coach Klumpp who told each boy “you’re a champion young man, you’ll always be a champion” after they won that year to Coach Cislo who called my kid when he sat in Children’s Hospital to dedicate the game to him, and every coach in between–we say thank you. In every possible way our experiences at the NIKE base, watching our son play in this house hockey league, have been extraordinary.

I’m conscious of the fact that these changes bring with them new experiences and Tallon plays lots of sports so it’s not that I’m worried about missing his games. More so I realize that this has been a big part of our family experience and as our kid rushes toward graduation, I just want to slow him down. To slow it all down and make it last a bit longer. I wish I could keep life as it is right now, it just doesn’t seem like it could possibly be any better than this.