Hockey Nation

Kieran finally joined his Timbits Learn to Hockey linemates. All 30 of them. Actually I don't know how many there are. But it's fun to watch. Especially when it's not -20 deg C. It was a balmy +2 deg C on Sat. Great for me who's been recovering from the flu and strep throat.

He was a little hesitant to go, but in the end he enjoyed himself. The skating lessons from the CanSkate program really made a difference. He's not the fastest skater, but he's far from the slowest. Skating with bulky equipment takes some getting used to. But now when he falls, it's like landing on pillows, except your head...that's a little jarring.


They spend most of the 60 minutes, doing skating drills - turns and backward skating and around pylons, then they do puck handling drills. And then they play a game.
Some kids are quite good. Others are just barely skating. But it all looks pretty fun.
And they teach them the important skill of tapping your stick on the ice to acknowledge something good just happened.



He said he liked it, but would like to play a game longer. They usually only play for the last 15 mins. But today they spent 50 mins on drills and 5 or 10 mins on the game. But it was fun to watch. It's like a free for all with 4 pucks.

I can't wait til he's big enough that I can play with him.




I was unsure which way he would hold the stick. So the stick that I got for him has a completely flat blade. But it looks like he's going to be shooting right from his stick handling video. But when he's skating with one hand on the stick, he's holding it with his right. So I'm still not sure.

I have no dreams of him making it to the NHL. But as long as he learns to play and enjoy himself. It's a great way to make friends, have fun, get some fresh air and be healthy.

There's one guy barking out what they have to do. And there's 4 other dad's helping out with the kids. They break them in to 2 groups of Home and Away jerseys. And then into 2 smaller sub-groups as they do the drills.