Last year as a Jr. Thrasher!

Well, it's official.....the Atlanta Thrashers have been sold and are moving to Winnipeg! This is a very sad time for all the die-hard Thrasher fans. I'm just glad that Harrison found his passion for the game before this happened. This past season, he played Spuirt AA travel hockey at the Kennesaw Ice Forum. He was the second youngest on the team, as he played up a year. They had a tough year, but he played great most of the time. He typically played Center, and some Forward. Here is a slideshow of his season:

Champions AGAIN!!

Harrison's hockey team traveled to Nashville, TN this weekend to play in the Country and Western tournament. They started out a little rusty, but ended up winning the whole thing! Jason and Papaw Lamar went on the trip with him and they stayed at the Opryland Hotel.

Here is a video of one of his goals. He is #4 taking the face-off beside the ref.

Make a Smilebox photobook

So our trip to Canada was a blast! We flew into Buffalo, NY on Wednesday morning. We rented 2 vans and a couple of cars to drive across the border. After going through customs, our hotel (Sheraton on the Falls) was only a block away. It was right on Niagara Falls! There was a foot of snow on the ground too! We spent Wed. afternoon unpacking, eating lunch (at Hard Rock Cafe) and playing in the snow at the falls. We ate dinner at Boston Pizza and the kids played video games.

Our first game was Thursday morning. We lost 4-2 but the boys played great! We had another game later in the morning and also lost 3-0. Since our afternoon was free, we had lunch and hung out at the indoor pool for a while. We went to Ruby Tuesdays for dinner and then back to the pool for some major diving competitions between the boys. Early to bed though because of tomorrow's early start!

On Friday morning, we woke up to lots more snow! It kept snowing all day, which was cool because we don't see that in GA! We had an early game, so we headed to the rink. The boys played much better this game and pulled out a win of 5-2. After the game, the entire team had a pancake breakfast upstairs while overlooking the next hockey game. Then we headed back to the hotel for a couple of hours of rest and lunch. The first Quarterfinal game was that afternoon. It was a very close, very exciting, very tense game. I think the parents were more stressed out than the boys were. Since it was now single elimination, you must win all games to stay in it. Those boys played their little hearts out! But in the last 2 minutes of the game, the other scored to make it 3-2. Our boys tried and tried to score again, but to no avail. The locker room was quite a sad place to be. The boys were crushed. Jason told me later that all of them were welling up with tears. They wanted to win that game so bad!

We headed back to the hotel and everyone kind of did their own thing for the evening. We went over to Boston Pizza again. On Saturday morning we all met up and drove into Kitchener to visit some ex-Atlantans. They were transferred back to Canada 3 years ago and when they found out we were coming up, they invited the whole team over to skate on their outdoor rink. They boys absolutely loved this! They had goals and pucks, so they even had a scrimmage going for a while. They fed us lunch and were so much fun to talk to. In the afternoon, we drove on up to Toronto to visit the Hockey Hall of Fame. This was pretty cool as well. There was tons of hockey memorabilia from the first game back in 1917 all the way through the most recent inductees. Plus, the Stanley Cup was there! After 2 and a half hours of this, we left and went looking for dinner. We ended up at a local Italian restaurant, right down from the Air Canada Center (where the Maple Leafs play) By the time we got back to the hotel that night, it was time for bed!

Sunday morning was clean up, pack up, load up. And off to the airport we went.

New soccer pictures!

I took my "Mack-Daddy" camera to Harri's game this weekend and got some really good pictures of him in action! I am making a website for the team, so I will post them on there. In the mean time, here are a few of my faves!

Also, I just added a slide show to the bottom of this blog, so be sure to scroll all the way down for a view of Harrison's life in pictures!

3rd Grade here I come!

Harrison started 3rd grade 3 weeks ago......I know I am late posting this but we have been a little busy! Third grade has been more challenging than the previous years, which is good because he was always bored. Thankfully they are starting multiplication and cursive, something he has been ready to learn since he sees Brennan doing it. So far, we ♥ his teacher! She seems really fun and is interested in each child's progress.

In addition to homework, Harrison is also playing hockey and soccer. They are both travel teams and go through the Spring of 2010. He is on the Mite Jr. Thrasher team that plays out of the Town Center Ice Forum. They are the first Mite team to travel out of this arena. The season starts in a couple of weeks, but they have been practicing 4x per week for the last 3 weeks.

His soccer team is a U10 boys travel team. Jason decided to step up and coach this year. Their season officially starts Sept. 12 and they have practiced 2x per week for the month of August. Funny side note: the boys chose to name the team .............the Thrashers! Easy for us to remember!

He Made It!!!!

Harrison had his final tryout this morning for the Jr. Thrasher Travel hockey team. He absolutely showed off!! Even after spending 16 hours playing in the sun yesterday at Brennan's tournament, he was up at 7:15 this morning ready to play! Well, maybe not at first. He isn't a morning person, so he was a little cranky. By the time he was on the ice though, he was full of energy! During the scrimmage, he scored 3 goal and had 2 assists. He had a few breakaways and hit the crossbar on one shot. At the end, they did a shootout and he made both of his goals.

The coach came up to me toward the end of the tryout to make sure we were on board with him playing. His exact words were,"He is my superstar, we'll do whatever we have to do to get this contract signed!" Even the Director of Hockey at the Ice Forum, Yan Kaminsky (an ex-NHL player) tapped Harrison on the head and told him how good he did and then told me that he is an excellent hockey player. It was pretty cool to hear that from someone that really knows what he's talking about. I mean, of course we think he's awesome, but he's our's.....so we have to!

They will start practice in August and games will start in September. Can't wait!

*Select Soccer Tryouts*

Last week, Harrison tried out for the Kennesaw FC U10 Select Soccer team. He went to 2 nights of tryouts and boy did he shine! I went the first night and watched him show those 9 year old boys how it was done. He was the smallest one out there and he was running circles around them! He was dribbling, looking up for a pass, moving into space for a pass, and shooting on goal. It is funny how he just gets the game so well. I'm sure it helps that we had him on the field at just a week old. He has literally been raised on the soccer field, watching me and JJ play. Then he started his first soccer camp at age 3 and was on a team as soon as he turned 4.

Anyway, JJ is going to help coach his team that will start in the fall and go all the way through next summer. Should be fun juggling that and his hockey schedule!

A trophy........FINALLY!!!

On Friday night, the Red Rockets had their end of the year party and awards ceremony. We got there at 5:00 and they had street hockey set up in the parking lot. Those boys played until we made them come in at 8:00. They didn't want to stop to eat and the rain didn't deter them either. When they finally came in, they were wet (from sweat and rain), muddy and thirsty.

Coach Jeff had all the boys gather together and he handed out the trophies and individual awards, one by one. This was so special to Harrison because in all the sports he has played, for some reason, they always give out medallions instead of trophies. He was beginning to get frustrated looking at Brennan vast trophy collection. The moment finally came.......Coach Jeff started talking about this one little boy that was "new to his team this year, but he had noticed last season on the other team." He said that he felt like this young player "will grow up to be a superstar on the ice." He also joked about "the horrible jerseys he wears to practice".....which got a good laugh from the parents. He was awarded the Future Superstar Award along with his trophy. He came straight home and added it to his bookshelf. Funny how it takes such small things to make kids happy!

Parent vs. Kids Hockey Game

Last Sunday morning, Harrison's hockey team played against "The Dads." For some reason, none of the mom's stepped up to help out the parent team. I thought about it but Jason told me I would get hurt! He was probably right, I can barely skate!

Anyway, about 10 dads put on their ice skates and hit the ice. Of course, Jason welcomed the opportunity and did pretty well too! They had a 30 minute practice game, which often consisted of all the boys on the ice against 5 dads. Then they had a real 10 minute period and at the end, it was tied up at 3.....so they did a shootout! Just for fun, they let all the players take a shot on the goalie. In the end, we somehow let the kids win. Jason got a goal and Harrison got several throughout the hour.

Red Rockets Playoff Game

Harrison's hockey team had their playoff game this morning at 7:10 AM, yes, I said AM!!!!! Anyway, they started out playing so good! He played defense the entire game and had several chances to go up and try to score. In the first period, he got his second (and last) goal of the season! In the end, we lost 4-1. Which means our season is over. Had we won, we would've played the 1st place team on Sunday morning. We were very proud of the whole team, they really wanted to win and it showed!

Hockey Skills Competition at Philips Arena

Harrison's hockey team went to watch the Thrashers play the Calgary Flames today at Philips Arena. Afterwards, they dressed out and had a Skills Competition with the other Mite players from around Atlanta. It was cool for him to be able to skate where the pros had just played! They had different stations to go to and compete in. There was a shooting drill, a speed competition and a shooting accuracy drill. He did well in all 3 areas. At the end they had a scrimmage. I think he liked this part the best. They got to sit on the benches that the NHL players sit on during their game and the horn sounded when they scored! Although he didn't score, he was skating very hard. Here are some pics from the day!

Harrison the Sports Machine!

Harrison's hockey season is in full swing! The season is about half over and he just keeps getting better. His team, the Red Rockets, is definitely still learning how to play and in some cases, skate. Harrison is one of the faster skaters and is a heck of a defender. He is finally understanding the game and reading plays as they unfold. He loves the game and I don't see him asking to quit any time soon!

Harrison enjoyed his one season of baseball and did get one in-the-park home run! He was able to experience all the positions on the field but his favorite part was batting. They had a team party at Stevi B's and added another metal to his collection....which he was NOT happy about because every sport he has ever played gives out metals. He really wanted a trophy because Brennan has so many and he is getting jealous!

He has decided to hang up his baseball cleats and get back out the soccer cleats in the spring, which Jason was happy about ;-)

Hockey update

Harrison has completed 3 sessions of ice skating lessons and one session of cross-ice. In cross-ice, he learned how to skate with full hockey equipment on, and carrying a hockey stick. Then they learned how to skate with a puck too. He loves it and is looking forward to one more cross-ice session, beginning mid-January. Then it's on to a real team!



He was able to skate on the NHL ice at Philips Arena back on Dec. 22! It was put on by the Thrashers, but the players weren't there:-( Anyway, he spent one hour taking lessons from Darren Elliot and Jeff Odgers(ex-Thrashers that now do commentary for games) He loved it and we enjoyed watching him too. We stayed for the game afterwards for an extra treat!

Fall is so busy!

I haven't written in a while, so I thought I would write about Harrison's activities for the fall. He started back in soccer a couple of weeks ago he moved up to the Under 8 league. His first game was on Saturday and he was goal scoring machine! After his game he had ice skating lessons and tested to complete his third 8-week session. He will begin the cross-ice program in November. If all goes well, he will go into another hockey program in January and be able to play on a team in March. He still enjoys skating and is ready to add some hockey into the mix!

Ice skating

Harrison completed his first 8-week lesson at the Ice Forum. He got a certificate and a badge. He will start the next one next Saturday. He is doing really well with it, and he enjoys going! He asks almost every night if he has ice skating tomorrow. When we tell him "No," he says "AWWWW.....man!"

My first blog

Just to get everyone up-to-date on Harrison: Right now he is in Kindergarten, and he loves it! He has learned so much and comes home every day with funny stories, knowing new things, and using big words. He never stops amazing us with what he says. He has grown to love hockey! We have been taking the kids to Thrasher games for 2 seasons now and he really wants to play. We looked into it and before he can start playiong, he has to take ice skating lessons for 18 weeks. So, he started them on January 28. He can skate better than I can, he has even learned to skate backwards! He is still playing soccer, actually he starts back up tomorrow. We thought that since soccer and hockey are such similar sports, we will keep him in both as long as he can handle it. Well, that is all for now. I will post more detailed stories as they unfold.