Hockey Drama

It's fall, and it's time for our busy household to start up the seasonal chaos of hockey. With two kids in hockey, it's pretty  much guaranteed that we will spend way more hours in a cold ice rink than we'd like. I love that commercial about the child asking his dad about the number of games they played, the number of hot chocolates purchased, the number of games they lost and won, and most importantly, the jersey number. That pretty sums up our life. And it'll get exponentially nuttier when Quinn signs up next year.
But there's also the unexpected and crushing drama we've had this week.
A few disclaimers, though:
- our kids play at the house league level, not rep or travel
- I have no desire to see them play at the rep level
- I am not disillusioned by dreams of grandeur - I am quite realistic in my lack of expectations re: the scouts coming to our door
- all we'd like is for our kids to develop a skill and love for Canada's game

For the past three years, Devlin has played with a particular team. He's made some great friends, and of course, his hockey skills have developed. In fact, we offered him the opportunity to try out for another team this summer (the rink is closer) and he declined, citing his desire to continue playing on a team with his friends. He missed a few weeks last year as a result of an injury, which in turn, caused him to more cautious on the ice. Not an overly aggressive player to begin with, this may or not have affected how he was evaluated by the team coach.
(and here's my short rant: for a team that consistently lost EVERY game in the regular season, there was no logical reason for Devlin to be taken out during a power play on the off-chance their team could score, even when they were 5-0. Devlin challenged his coach on that decision and was told, the team needed a scoring chance. Whatever...)
Every fall, the hockey league assesses the skills of the children who have signed up in order to slot the kids into the teams of the appropriate skill level. This year, Devlin failed to make the cut for the team he's played on for three years, with kids of comparable skills as his. The team with majority of his hockey friends.
Then there was the issue that it appeared there were not enough children to form another team, as only 24 kids were assessed and of them, only one goalie.
While we waited to officially hear of where Devlin would be assigned, his father looked into vacancies on other teams. And we debated on how to break the news to our child who was looking forward to another season of hockey with his friends. I wanted to wait until we had more information about the hockey season so we could answer his questions, but Devlin caught a glimpse of his dad looking at another team's website. And he knew the first game was scheduled for this weekend and was wondering about when we'd hear about the game's location.
We sat him down last night. Prefaced with lots of reassurance of his hockey skills, we advised him he had not made the team. Devlin's face registered disappointment immediately. His face literally crumbled and he dissolved into tears. My heart broke.
I cursed this stupid assessment routine, and I most definitely seethed inwardly about the politics which we know occur during the sorting of players.
Early this morning, we received word about his new team. We pointed out some familiar names of other children he's played with in the past. He seemed okay with it, and I'm hoping he's managed to put behind his disappointment and look towards just enjoying being on the ice. The first practice is this weekend, and here's hoping he'll find himself enjoying the easy going camaraderie he had with his former teammates.
But it still sucks...