Wearing a Target

I don't know if it's true or just a lousy coincidence, but it seems to me that my little league hockey superstar is wearing a target.

In the last seven days he has been knocked around significantly in a little kid, no hitting league. Whether you call it boarding, body-checking, body contact, accidental contact, charging or whatever, it's not allowed. At the novice level, there is no hitting.

And yet, C took a hit so hard into the boards that the team nurse had to take him for the concussion exam. That was one game.  Right at the end of the game. (Unfortunate.)

The next game he played he took a skate to the thigh which came with a secondary forceful kick and resulted in a black and green bruise the size of a puck.  That was his first shift that game. (Coincidence?)

Tonight's game, his team was leading 8-2 or something. We don't keep score if the spread is more than 6. It could have been 14-2 but the scoreboard would only ever show 8-2. I think that's fair and appropriate. What is NOT fair or appropriate is a deliberate slash and shove which takes my kid out at the ankles and into the boards. This results in him being carried to the locker room. With 2 minutes left in the game. (Now I'm mad.)

Yes, I get it. He often has the puck. Yes, he rushes up the boards. Yes, it's frustrating when your team is losing. Yes, he's fast and hard to catch. But here's the thing.... he IS THE SAME AS YOUR CHILD... absolutely precious. He loves hockey. He loves the fast paced game and he loves to have fun.

Why do I feel like he is wearing a target? Why is this making my blood boil?

I get these are all young kids and they get frustrated when they are losing or can't keep pace, but why are they acting out towards other players in an angry, malicious way? I stop short of saying "with intent to injure" on purpose... Because I can't in my heart believe anyone of the players would ever want to cause a serious injury. But damn it, we are getting close.

I will not blame their aggression on professional hockey. I will not suggest the NHL game is too violent, but I am stretching to find anything else to explain it.

For the record... my kid is no suck. He has a higher pain threshold than my other son. As evidenced by their simultaneous ear aches and bike injuries where doctors marvel that he isn't screaming when his brother is.  If C says he's hurt, he's hurt.

So what am I to do, as his mother?  But also his HOCKEY MOM. He lives to play. I live to see him play and be happy. I understand the sport and love the sport.  I can't protect him on the ice. (Though I surely was tempted to jump the boards and attend to his injury myself tonight.)

I'm not innocent in any of this either. Last year he took a bad hit, smacked his head and sat out a game. He wasn't hurt, but scared. The next game he played I got waved to the bench because he wanted to quit mid game. That was the pivotal moment when (without really giving it serious thought) I took him by the shoulders, looked him in the eye and said "no, you don't quit. You are not a quitter and your team can not do it without you. You are faster and stronger than anyone on the ice and they DO NOT push you around. Get in there and out skate them. Beat them on the scoreboard."  Since then, he's never questioned it.

Maybe at that moment I made the wrong choice. Maybe I should have taken him out, walked away from the season and enrolled him in soccer, or wrapped him in a bubble and settled for less physical pursuits. But that's not him and that's not me.

So, instead I'm wide awake while the rest of the world sleeps. And at dawn I will drive him, on snowy highways, to his game because it's Saturday. And that's what happens on Saturdays when you are a hockey family and your son plays little league. Whether his ankle is too swollen to put on a skate, or even if it hurts to walk and he does't play, we'll at least be there with the team.

I'm going to have faith that these accidents are just accidents, and sometimes bad things happen in threes. However, you can rest assured that I'm going to keep a watchful eye on this and I will file formal complaints against players and coaches who identify or label my C as a target. Because that's what any hockey mom would do and that's exactly what HIS hockey mom will do.