Ethan has finished his hockey initiation program this winter. He spent the past eight weeks on the ice practicing how to skate along with learning the fundamentals of hockey. He was patient with himself and displayed a very mature demeanor on the ice (he payed attention to the coaches)! I believe he was totally inspired by all the older boys that were there with him. The smiles, the laughs and all the fun he had made it such a great experience for him and certainly for me to watch. He has really developed quite a love for the game of hockey. Around here it is nothing for him to change into three different jerseys, maybe a goalie mask, putting on and taking off pads, all depending on who he wants to be at the moment. He is learning numbers by the players jerseys and his favorite number is 87. He spent a half hour the other day organizing all his hockey cards by team into his album. He wakes up in the morning and if the Penguins played the night before one of the first things he asks us is if the penguins won and who got the goals. He is awfully cute to listen to and to watch!
He wrapped up his little hockey program by skating on the ice in between periods at the Notre Dame game of Friday. They asked all the kids about fourteen total participated to a scrimmage that lasted about four minutes. Brian helped him out onto the ice where about three thousand people fill the stands. I was able to videotape the boys from the players bench. At the end of the game we stood by the players locker room. They high fived Ethan and his friend as they walked off the ice. ND won their playoff game. It was a very memorable event for Brian and I and I hope Ethan will remember it too.
We celebrated our birthdays early this year spending the day at the Penguins practice on Friday with the kids and Aunt Denise. It was a unique experience getting to see the players on the ice so closely when we are used to watching them on TV. Saturday Brian and I watched the Pens as an early birthday present for each of us. We had an awesome time and to top it off the Penguins WON!!! Ethan would love to meet Iceburg here. The trophy is the won Brian's high school won a long long time ago when he was in high school for a state hockey title. We even spotted his name which I thought was pretty neat so I took a pic. Various trophies were on display at the game...already looking forward to our next visit I think it will be the the amusement park nearby!!!
