Just the thought of writing this post brought back the butterflies, the nervous excitement and the overwhelming amount of pride that I felt on that day, back at the beginning of February. Yes, I know it's almost the end of May now, but I have to get this recorded.
Let me set the scene. Ethan's hockey team was going into the State Squirt B Tournament with ZERO wins for the season. That's right, ZERO. None. The kids were not discouraged though, they had been playing well and improving with every game, and they all just love playing.
Friday night, they are set to play against the #1 seed of the tournament and beat them. Saturday morning was a tough game and they came out with a tie. Game 3, they were down by 3 goals going into the 3rd period. This was the game they will never forget.
During the 2nd intermission, they were so down on themselves, seeing that the score was 3-0. I was told by another parent to "do something". We normally do not go into the locker room during intermission, but when I did, my heart sank. The bench was lined with kids and coaches, heads hung, looking defeated. I knew by looking at them, they had beaten themselves and unless something changed at that moment in their heads, the 3rd period was going to be hard to watch. That's when I had them all stand up, I fired them up with jumping jacks, push-ups and some cheering. Then, it was like the scene from a movie as our parents lined the hall and chanted as the team took the ice again. These kids were AMAZING! They had 4 unanswered goals in the 3rd period to win the game. And it didn't end there.
Game 4 was a pretty easy victory, and this left them going into the championship game on Sunday against the only team they had tied that weekend.
The team was convinced that I had done this, but I knew they had it in them the whole time, and since I didn't have a voice on Sunday, they were left to fire themselves up. They were the first to score in the championship game and it got better from there, taking the State Championship Game with a 7-2 win.
I can't begin to describe the excitement and pride we all were feeling, and we carried it around for days. They made the paper and they made the news.
Jason's Facebook status from that weekend was "The fans at the Mad House on Madison have nothing on the parents of Helena Bighorns squirt 2 team."
Here are some pics and the newscast is at the bottom.
We made signs for the Championship game and hung them above our bleachers.
The scene after the buzzer.
Hoisting the trophy.
You are looking at the happiest kids on the planet right here.
An overjoyed little boy.
A super excited family.
And one very proud little brother.
I know that sometimes Jason thinks I am crazy and obnoxious, and I annoy him with my love and passion for these kids and this sport, but I am so grateful he took these pictures during my "pep talk". I honestly love each and every kid on that team as if they were my own.
And here is the newscast.
Glad I got this posted finally, but it was so fun to relive it again in pictures.
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