Another Season of Hockey... finished!

Thor's gold medal, presented after his last game, Sunday night, March 8th. "Face-Off at the Thunderdome!"
Thor got a late start in hockey this year... partially due to family schedules last fall... partially to wait until after his eye surgery. Even so, it was a fun family adventure every weekend... watching and cheering Thor and the team of Rushmore Thunder Black (squad) Mites!!



We could tell Thor was not "in shape" in January and early February... but he really did enjoy every minute on the ice. He also bumped UP a level in the league, and was now playing with mostly older kids vs. mostly younger kids last year. The coaches are great, and continually encourage the teams. This year it was fun to see the Mites (age group) grow in participation, to the point that they had a full squad of PINK-Girls!! Anika's 2nd favorite team, of course!! They were fun to watch, and ended the year winning just as much as any of the full-boy teams... having played only full-boy teams!

The hardest part about watching the Rushmore Mites(7-10 yrs olds) play in the tournaments is lack of State-wide guidelines ... each town makes their own divisions of age groups until they hit the upper levels of play (middle school age, 12 and up). So our "C" level... or "mites" can be very different from what another community. Thor's Black squad only played one out-of-town team this past weekend, the Pierre Capitols... and it REALLY got hard to watch. They had 5 goals before the end of the first quarter... then stopped keeping track of the goals... Thor's team never did manage to get a goal. The coach from Pierre was obviously guiding his players to play less aggressively, once they realized the level of skills for our boys... which was very sportsman like... but it was still hard to watch the kids get so discouraged. Thor was pretty upset after the game, and I don't blame him. He pulled himself out of the "funk"... and I helped him to focus on the fun we were going to have the rest of the time... his Morrison grandparents and aunt were visiting... and we had a fun day planned with them. They loved being able to see Thor play. Just too bad it had to be THAT game!

Sunday night's game they played the Blue Squad. They were probably our best squad of boys... and Thor's team played the best they have all season. They were ahead, 2 to 0 for the first period, then tied 4 to 4 in the 2nd... then lost by 1 point in the end! Thor usually plays defensive, and was really getting good and taking the puck away from the other team. He's just about the tallest kid out there, so size is on his side!!

I just have to tell you about the goalie on his team. He's the youngest kid on the team... turned 7 just in time to make the "cut-off" for the squad... They don't normally play goalies... so no one on the team had any practice... until the tournament weekend. They suit up in full (kid-style) goalie gear... and look like they can hardly move... but really, they do pretty good.

Anyway... Ethan was goalie for Sat and Sunday's games. His first experience was against Pierre... He stopped at LEAST 10 shots... and even caught an elevated puck in his mit!! It was incredible... No one could believe it, even the ref. He kept looking for the puck, assuming it had been a score, until Ethan gave him the puck from his glove!! Pretty cool!! Ethan did a great job Sunday night too... I think he is HOOKED!

Thor said next year he doesn't want to do football... just hockey! I guess he is "hooked" too!