Thanksgiving Tournament

Luke and Liam holding the first place trophy from their tournament over Thanksgiving

Luke and his goalie partner, Owen

Final score of the championship

Shaking hands with our player who broke his leg right before the season began

Shaking hands with the other team

First place OMGHA B1 Squirts Gold

Luke on the far left (one end) and Liam is the 5th one up with yellow tape on his stick

Aiden had his first scrimmage game

We celebrated Thanksgiving with our friends and Finn's godparents, the Weigel's.  Despite a stomach virus that has been going around several of us over the last week, we enjoyed Thanksgiving with the Weigel's.

We quickly shifted gears after Thanksgiving as Luke and Liam played in their first hockey tournament as Squirts over Thanksgiving.  They played in the Minneapolis Cup and won first place.  It was a very exciting weekend for all of us to watch them as they played against some very good competition and worked hard each game.

In Game #1, we played Minnetonka and won 6-0.  In Game #2, we played Orono and won 5-0.  Finally, in the championship game, we fought from the start and came away with a 2-0 win.  None of the teams scored on us which was even more exciting for Luke and his goalie partner, Owen.  We have an amazing team that works very well together and plays really good defense.  It was a fun weekend with an awesome ending!

Aiden had his first scrimmage with his North Stars team.  It was fun to see him play and we enjoyed watching him in a game situation. He loved the competition!

Our Sports Weekend

Aiden got his turn as a goalie with his hockey team

He loved it, but I think we will stick with skating.  We definitely don't need another goalie!

Finn is getting his room painted over Thanksgiving.  This is a picture he asked me to take to remind Daddy to paint his room.

Aiden had his final basketball game of the fall season

Aiden's second grade "Blue Jays" team dominated.  They won all of their games.

Coaches John and Shelly debriefing after the game and medal ceremony.

Basketball finished strong for Aiden over the weekend.  His second grade "Blue Jays" team really dominated all the other teams they played.  They have a handful of very coordinated, fast 7 year olds that are quite good at basketball.  Aiden had a great time and learned a lot in the process.

Luke and Liam are playing in their first Squirt hockey tournament over Thanksgiving.  They start on Friday and will play three games (finishing Sunday).  Their team is already playing quite well together so we are excited to see several games this weekend.  Luke is really enjoying the position of goalie and he shares it with his new friend and goalie mate, Owen.  They have already become very close friends and team mates.  Liam is coming along in his ability to handle the puck and skate through the defenders.  He scored his first goal at our game over the weekend.  We are very excited about a fun season!

Winter

Liam completed his Iowa Hawkeyes lego helmet!  This was his souvenir from the Iowa game that he worked on for several weeks with John.

Finn is doing his "homework" while his brothers do their homework

Its only a matter of time before the snow will start to stick and won't be going anywhere.....

The boys are excited, but they might be the only ones.

Crazy Hair Day at school!  

Luke and Liam had their first Squirt game over the weekend.  Luke is #1 and Liam #17.

First game was played at Parade Ice Garden which is where Mighty Ducks 2 was filmed!

We have had our first taste of bitter cold winter temperatures this week.  Temps dipped into the negative windchill a few mornings and it felt like January rather than November.  We have also had a couple light snowfalls so it is only a matter of time before the snow doesn't melt and stays with us for longer periods of time.  John managed to get the boards up in the backyard so we can build the annual ice rink.  We ordered the tarp and now we will wait until the temperatures are right before starting to fill the rink.  

The boys are enjoying hockey thus far.  Luke and Liam had their first game as B1 Squirts and Luke said, "it was the most fun he had ever had at a hockey game!"  He really enjoyed playing goalie in his first game and he will be the first to point out that no goals were scored while he was in the net!  We won the first game with a score of 3-2.  

Aiden is also enjoying his hockey season although he won't start playing games until after Christmas. Aiden is also playing basketball and has really enjoyed it this year and continues to improve.  He is hoping Santa brings a basketball goal for the driveway this Christmas.  

Halloween and Hockey

Aiden's new jersey for his North Stars team this year

Let's GO!

Aiden is #87 this year (Luke was 87 last year)

Pumpkin carving

More pumpkin carving

Liam's pumpkin design

And the finished products from left to right: Hockey sticks, NHL logo, Skeleton, Witch on a broom

Luke and his sorted candy!

Sorting their loot!

Our band of pirates

Finn and his buddy, Kathleen
 

Liam and Luke at their first squirt B1 practice

Exactly three years after Luke and Liam started hockey as first graders, they had their first squirt hockey practice (Nov 1, 2014 to Nov 1, 2017).  What a difference three years makes!

We have had a big week since the last time I wrote a post for the blog.  Aiden began his 2017-18 hockey season as a Supermite One.  He moved out of the Mite category and onto the Supermites which are a bit faster, stronger, and a more experienced group of kids.  He is on the North Stars team with one of his best buddies, Anders.  He has an awesome green and gold uniform and proudly wears #87.  We are excited for an upcoming fun and challenging season!

Luke and Liam survived their first year of travel hockey tryouts last week.  They began on Sunday (for Luke) and Monday (for Liam) and didn't finish until Saturday.  It was a stressful and grueling process; albeit, perhaps more stressful on the parents than the kids!  Everyone was given a random number at the beginning of the week and each night they posted the numbers and which groups each child would be placed in based on their overall abilities and how they performed at tryouts.  We had to be at the rink each evening sometime between 5:00 pm and 8:30 pm and not always at the same time for both boys.

On Sunday evening, we received the results of their tryouts.  Luke and Liam were both placed on the same team which was our primary concern since they are now entering the world of travel hockey which means they will have a few travel tournaments, one overnight trip, and twice the amount of ice time each week.  The time and money commitment just increased substantially.

They competed against 4th and 5th grade peers and ended up being placed on the B1 Gold Squirt team with Luke as a goalie (first year for this) and Liam as a skater.  The highest level team is the A team followed by B1, B2, and C.  The majority of their peers fell into the B2 or C category which are good hockey teams, but the B1 teams are harder to get on particularly as a 4th grader.  Luke and Liam were among 9 fourth grade kids who made a B1 team.  A total of only 16 fourth grade kids made either an A team or B1 team.  We were very proud of them for working hard all week and doing their best each night.  Making the same team at a B1 level was icing on the cake!

One ironic twist, we are on the same team as Finn's godparents son (Jack) who is a 5th grader.  Luke and Liam have been skating with Jack since they were two years of age in the backyard at our old house where we shared a rink with Jack's family.

Lastly, we all dressed up as pirates for Halloween.  John and I had random pirate costumes while Luke and Liam dressed up as zombie pirates.  Aiden was Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean and Finn was a basic pirate.  It was a fun night trick or treating and running into several friends.  The weather was quite cold this year, but the boys didn't seem to mind much.  They ran from one house to the next without stopping for at least an hour.  We have more candy than I know what to do with at this point....