Saturday was Hockey Day in Salmon Arm, but for me it turned out to be Sunday.
That’s because I’m still celebrating my five-year-old son’s first goal for the Initiation Black Penguins in Sunday’s game against North Okanagan.
For a kid who could barely stand up on his skates at the beginning of the season, this is a major milestone.
I must admit to having some trepidation for him starting hockey. We were initially going to try out the Mini-Backs program, which would run for one hour every second week. But ultimately that program was dropped this year, leaving Salmon Arm Minor Hockey, which practises twice a week and plays once a week, as our only other option.
This worried me a bit, as I had no idea whether my son would even like hockey and this sounded like a big commitment. But it was hard to argue with a kid who was so excited about starting hockey that he slept for a couple of nights wearing his hockey helmet and spent hours towing his roller bag full of gear around the house.
So we jumped into our roles as hockey parents. My husband got a polite arm twisting from Roy Sakaki and came home to announce he was going to be helping out the team as an assistant. And for my part, I learned how to wrestle the kid into his hockey gear – and that’s no mean feat with a wiggly kindergartner.
My hat goes off to the coaches of these young players. It takes a terrific amount of patience to try and keep these boys and girls not only focused on learning these skills, but having fun. They are also dealing with young kids who are having to learn some of the real basics about sportsmanship, etiquette and dealing with the inevitable losses.
It’s amazing to see the team starting to make friends and the kids with one year of experience offer encouragement and advice to the younger players.
I actually did not participate in Salmon Arm’s hockey day. I think the family had a good excuse. The Black Penguins headed off to a hockey tournament in Lumby, where they spent the day playing four games. But I understand the stands were rocking with a crowded arena full of cheering fans for Saturday’s premier contest between the Salmon Arm SilverBacks and the Penticton Vees, which was topped off by the home team win.
I think the Hockey Day events were a huge success and will go far to assist the city’s standing in the Kraft Hockeyville competition.
But we can do better. At my last viewing, the city had 595 submissions to the website. This seems like too small a number, considering there were roughly 1,100 fans at Saturday’s game. Time to put in your comments before the Feb. 9 deadline. It’s not difficult and it could have a big impact on our chances to become one of 16 finalists. Enter online at krafthockeyville.cbc.ca.