Congratulations, Champions

To my boy and his boys…..Congratulations.  Be proud.  You left it all on the ice.

After 8 months of play the hockey season has come to an end and this phenomenal team came out on top.  Even after being moved up from Squirt AAA in the Valley League to the Elite Division, they managed to remain in first place through to the end of the season.  During three weekends of playoff hockey, they won the quarterfinals, the semifinals, and ultimately the Championship game, against Concord, at the Haverhill Valley Forum. 

Squirt 1 wrapped up the season with a super impressive 32-4-3 league record and are now the Valley Elite National Champions. 

After #81 strolled into the locker room one day and cheered, “LET’S GO BOYS,”  the 2018 CAYH Squirt 1’s team motto was adopted….and they did just that time and time again until the final buzzer of the final game!

Those are the stats and the facts.  More important to me, as a mother, are the lessons learned, the friendships forged, and the memories created.  These boys are together two hours at a time at least four days per week.  That doesn’t take into account tournament weekends away, team lunches/dinners, spontaneous sleepovers, birthday parties, BBQs, and hours clocked on facetime when not actually in the same car, room, or rink.  They have each other’s backs, they lift each other up, they motivate each other, they applaud each other, they are each other’s biggest fans…and occasionally critics…and that’s ok too.  Both of my boys have learned that the relationship amongst teammates is something to treasure.  I love that they have that….I love that they appreciate it…..I love that they recognize it as a luxury not to be squandered.

These boys text each other often….and most certainly after the final game of the year.  A game, worth noting, that marks the end of…in many cases….a five-year run of skating together (maybe even 6!).  Another mom stumbled across their text chain on Sunday.  In it Thatcher wrote, “I can’t believe this was the last time that we’ll all skate together, but we’ll be brothers forever.”  He gets it.  Team.

I have no words to properly describe the absolutely devastating Humboldt Broncos Hockey team tragedy that occurred this past weekend.  Weighing on our minds and certainly our hearts while watching our boys huddle up on the ice were those families, friends, coaches, teammates….and everyone who touched their lives.  A team is a very important dynamic.  Dare I say that a hockey team is a thing unto itself….another level of friendship and camaraderie….often times precious beyond words.  My heart is broken for them as much as it swells for my boys.

We owe a giant THANK YOU to Cape Ann Youth Hockey for the volunteerism that takes places amongst coaches, staff, parents, directors, and more.  Thank you for nurturing this family of skaters, thank you for the hours, the guidance, the encouragement, and the commitment that you all make.

Thank you in particular to the coaches of CAYH’s Squirt 1.  You’ve given these boys something that no one else could.  Frank, Jamie, Scott, Fred, Brian, and often Todd, THANK YOU.