Like many youth sports these days, parents know the hockey season never ends. Summer training to prep for the season, the season itself, playoffs and then…. Tryouts. Oh, the dreaded tryout.
Each year as parents, we ritually sit in the stands watching our children display whatever skills they have acquired through the thousands of hours of our driving and their playing. In my case, my kids also destroyed a garage door shooting pucks, somehow roped me into coaching them for 13 seasons between the two and while earning a lot of grey hair, I had to endure Andrew’s total dislike of hockey as a 6 year old (but of course, he wasn’t allowed to quit! He is Canadian!), and experience at least 2 heartbreaking cuts at tryouts, one each.
Andrew tried out for “The Edge” in Calgary last year because he needed a change. School. Hockey. And life. Plus, his big brother was off to college. So he and I made the trek to Calgary, Tara and my hometown, for tryouts. I read him the riot act after game 2. He was awful. We didn’t talk for a few hours after that. But, he rallied for games 3 and 4 and he made the team as one of the last players on the roster. Pivotal moment.
He had his absolute best school and hockey year. To say he improved a lot would be a massive understatement. To say he grew up a lot would be even more-so.
So this year was different. This year, he wanted to STAY in Calgary. To stay at the school he was at. To stay with his girlfriend. To stay living with grandma as a mini independent human (financially …. Definitely NOT independent!!). For the 18U Edge team, they were the best team in the country last year. The Edge had Landon DuPont, who was granted exceptional status to play in the WHL as a 15 year old following kids like Connor Bedard, Connor McDavid and Sidney Crosby as others who have been granted exceptional status by Hockey Canada. The Edge is really really good and the truth was, Andrew was going to have to have an incredible weekend.
As parents, we know there are maybe a dozen key moments that determine the course of the next few years. Is life a river? Absolutely. We all end up in the ocean eventually. But who you marry, where you go to college, what your first job is, whether you have kids, and …. Perhaps … if you make the 18U team in Calgary…. Are some of those dozen moments that set out your path for the foreseeable future.
No matter the outcome, things will work out. They always do, because in part, they must! But Andrew played the best he could have played. He scored a nifty end to end goal in game 2. Got a great assist in the Allstar game with 50 seconds left to go down 5-4 before DuPont scored with 13 seconds left to send it to overtime (I cannot express to you how good this kid is at hockey.) And, in overtime, Andrew had an amazing 3 v 3 shift where he almost scored, then backchecked to break up a goal. To my shock and amazement, was the 5th shooter in the shootout and scored the winning goal. He called me after he got out of the dressing room.
“Hey…”
“Hey Dad. I bet you didn’t have me scoring the shootout winner on your bingo card today?”
“No kid, no I didn’t.”
The calibre of hockey was amazing. He will always be able to say he played with who is likely to be a top 3 draft pick in the 2028 draft. And no matter what happens, there won’t be a moment of regret or anxiety. Just a whole heap of gratitude. And a whole bunch of life to live.
Wow very cool. Congrats to your family on nurturing such a great achievement into existence.
Andrew has found his groove....Still needs skates to be as tall as Pops though!