Written by Lake Placid 2022: Sometime in the last months of 2021 our team, the 2010 Flames, had targeted Lake Placid, NY as the destination for our big travel hockey tournament in the 2022-2023 season. Several families had been up there before for hockey tournaments with older siblings of players on our team. Even the ones who had been there before and especially those of us who had not yet made the trip to the place of miracles on ice, could hardly wait to get to Lake Placid 2022.
So, as hockey games from one weekend led directly into a beautiful Monday, mild Halloween evening of trick-or-treating with friends and family, a sense of ‘vacation mode’ started to pull the covers over the remaining hours of reality leading to hockey time in the Adirondacks. There was a Tuesday to get through, complete with the final hockey practice before taking off to get to the other side of Vermont and Lake Champlain. Wednesday would have to be dealt with in one way or another, but many of us were set to travel on that day.
I walked up to one of the soccer fields and took this picture on my way into the final hockey practice before Lake Placid 2022. Little did I know that this a preview of the beautiful skies and splendid weather we would experience in NY. We are so blessed and the blessings come in all sizes. St. Anselm College. © 1inawesomewonder 2022.
As I watched hockey practice on Tuesday night, I talked with some of the parents around the rink. It was apparent that everyone was at least halfway into ‘travel hockey tournament – hockey family vacation mode’. A few hours had to pass and a couple hundred miles needed traversing. Then it would be four solid days in the land of miracles on ice, Lake Placid 2022.
As I attempt to tell the story of Lake Placid 2022, the story lived by the 2010 Flames hockey team in a small American town on an ‘all-time’ gorgeous weather, autumn weekend in November, I jump to the end of the trip for a moment. Discussion of the Lake Placid 2022 trip was the only thing on my son’s mind as I tucked him into bed on Sunday night. He repeated how he just wished he could stay in Lake Placid.
He talked about how all of the conversations he heard, even around town, were about hockey. He said the part he loved the most was the hockey. The hockey played side by side with his teammates. His last words to me before he went to sleep were, “Dad, I wish I could play hockey like that every day”. Sweet hockey dreams son.
I walked out of practice on Tuesday night to retrieve my vehicle and pick up my son at the player exit from the arena. I had to stop and take a picture of this gorgeous foliage mixed with some hockey version of ‘Goodnight Moon’. Blessings everywhere. © 1inawesomewonder 2022.
You can catch up, and follow along on all things 2010 Flames in the following places.
You can find more 2010 Flames material in these types of articles, right here.
Then there is the team web page 2010 Manchester Flames.
The thoughts and opinions expressed here are those of the individual contributors, mostly mine, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the schools, coaches, players, or characters listed in any of these blog posts. Or, maybe they do, but you would have to ask them directly.
Either way, “It’s a great day for hockey” ~ the late “Badger” Bob Johnson.