While my husband and I (okay, mostly my husband) are completely devastated that our beloved Leafs, or any other Canadian team for that matter, didn’t make it (far) in the playoffs this season, we may soon have another reason to cheer.
It appears that our 19 month old son is slightly obsessed with hockey. Every morning when he wakes up, he immediately heads downstairs, grabs his two little hockey sticksand net, and says “Goal” while heading to our front door. Yes, that’s right, he wants to go and play hockey! Not to mention, “Goal” and “Ball” were two of the first four words he learned to say.
Kyle’s ball obsession started when he was young
His obsession doesn’t stop there. Kyle’s favourite “book” these days is Sportsnet magazine. He can sit for hours* and just browse, searching for hockey pictures, and hockey pictures only. Since I’m at home with Kyle during the day, I’m the one who is reading him some of the headlines in the magazines. Poor Kyle, he has to learn about hockey from his mom. Well, it’s not so much hockey that he’s learning about from me, but rather the player’s names that we see in the magazine. The thing is… I can’t seem to pronounce any of their names properly. But here’s why, you try saying: Pavel Datsyuk, Tomas Plekanec, and Milan Michalek. Hey, at least I’m trying!!
Kyle is even showing signs of playoff madness. He’s so superstitious that he always has to use the RED hockey stick. Whenever he plays with anyone, he always hands over the blue stick. The red stick in his mind is sacred. If he has it, nothing will go wrong. I’m sure that’s what all hockey players think when they don’t shave for the playoffs, right? Not to mention, Kyle hasn’t shaved once since the playoffs started!
To top if off, every night now, my husband takes Kyle to our local park to watch kids play ball hockey at the outdoor arena. It’s even became part of our bedtime routine.
Kyle also has a small obsession with Zambonies. For almost 2 weeks, that’s all he’s been saying… or signing at least. HE MADE UP HIS OWN SIGN for Zamboni. Talk about LOVE!
While he is obsessed and clearly shows a passion for the sport, his techniques are slightly lacking. And by slightly, I mean, they’re not existent. After he makes a mad dash outdoor with his hockey sticks and net in hand, he usually just sits on our stairs and makes either myself or my husband shoot the ball into the net. I guess we still have lots of time to work on his skills before he makes it in the NHL. It’s not like the Leafs are going to win the cup anytime soon anyways!
*Max sitting time actually 2 minutes, but that’s pretty good for Kyle.
As a fellow Leafs fan, I was also horribly disappointed at how the Leafs’ season ended, but I took consolation in the fact that those arrogant Canucks only won one more playoff game than the Leafs did!
As many a Leafs fan has stated in years past “Next year for sure”.
sounds like a true leafs fan 🙂
You may block me for this, but every year the Leafs don’t make the playoffs just makes my smile get bigger.
Hahah! It’s ok… to my husband and his brothers’ dismay, my father-in-law is a Canadians fan!
That is even worse hahaha.