All tied up it began, and so it ended. After an opening weekend that resulted in a pair of losses, both being good games, time passed and led to the second weekend of hockey. There was only one game this weekend, a home game against the Monarchs. The Monarchs hail from Tri-Town Arena which is just about 6 miles (as the crow flies) north of the Flames home rink at West Side Arena. These teams are generally pretty familiar with one another.
It’s early September and although the temperatures are still quite warm, hockey season is underway here in New Hampshire. It was opening weekend for the 2010 Flames and they hosted a pair of games at West Side Arena to begin the new campaign.
It was Thursday night, the final night of ‘Skills Week’. This was the first week back on the ice for the Flames players. The event was set up as a kick off to the 2022-2023 hockey season.
Okay, here is the bottom line. The 2010 Flames (Warren Team) have an opportunity to play a hockey tournament at Lake Placid, NY this upcoming season. The cost of lodging, meals, ice time, etc. is…
Perhaps, as we walk quickly away from another season that our sons and daughters played,
we should pause for perspective, all the focus on them, and for our enjoyment, the prices they paid.
We all entered these overlapping eras the same way, from the back door, before dawn on a late November morn,
but did you get through the months that followed unmarked by the passion? Love of the game reborn.
Was all of this just another drive-thru moment, capture a picture here and there, passing by, out and about?
Or did you find a place to dig in, a connection to all-time, to make it better before the love runs out?
Well folks, high school playoff hockey time came and went here in New Hampshire, and it was awesome! There are some great people in the state of NH high school hockey. The kids are the reason why there is anything to see or talk about, and remember that they deliver a whole lot more than they don’t. It’s all about the kids.
I stood at the bottom of the stairs, on the first floor of what was obviously once a Howard Johnson’s Motor Lodge. I had already packed our vehicle and I stood there motionless on a carpet that might be 50+ years old. My youngest son was next to me when I shook hands with one and hugged another to say good-bye, exiting from another hockey weekend. That is just when I think it hit all three of us, that this might be the last good-bye.