Hurricane On Ice!

We have been very lucky this year to not have had winter at all really! We have had very little snow, plenty of sunshine and near tropical temperatures for this area at this time of year. It's hardly dipped down below freezing, so for once in very recent memory, we have nothing to complain about! However, snow or no snow, no Canadian winter would be complete without some good old fashioned outdoor hockey! For those of you not as familiar with Harrison's strange obsession with hockey, allow me to fill you in.

He wakes up and the first words out of his mouth are, "play hockey" and he runs for his stick and puck and starts the day off with a little hockey practice, in the house I might add! He prefers to have someone play net, however if we are all busy he will take shots to "warm up". He has a wicked slapshot, and that is not an overzealous hockey mom talking...he really winds up and can shoot that puck quite accurately, from a fair distance, at a very rapid rate of speed to score everytime! He is getting bored of just taking shots now, so I have introduced stick handling and perhaps not the smartest move on my part, but some body checking too! (what's hockey without a little physical contact between players?!) He's playing all positions now too...forward, defence and even goal once in a while! He's pretty good at all of them and has a very good understanding of the game for 3 1/2 yrs old. Not only does he love playing the game himself, he loves watching it on TV and live. He cheers both teams on, shouting out "good shot" and "good save", often in the same breath! He also has the entire first verse of Stompin Tom's "Hockey Night Tonight" song memorized...very cutely Canadian!!!

He started skating lessons last winter when he was only 2 yrs old and took to it like Gretzky did to hockey and Tiger Woods did to golf. We have an outdoor rink up the street at the local park, which we skate at often for fresh air and exercise. However, not long ago I decided to add an element of difficulty to our outdoor adventure. I decided to see just how good the little Hurricane really is on ice, when I opted to take along his stick and puck (one used by Team Canada 2005 to practice, given to him by Mike Fisher when I took him to watch their practices before they headed to Europe last spring...that'll be another whole blog!) and combine his hockey skills with his steadily improving skating skills! It was pretty cute and something I had to share in pictures with all of you!!! Here he is...my little Hurricane on ice!