The Best Part isn’t the Hockey — Parent Playbook

David Hutchison standing by with the Stop It Goaltending U, the app parent segment. Woody?

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Hutch.

I'm calling this one, the best part isn't the hockey. So the other night I was chatting with Mattie and I asked him if he would come to the ballpark with me, not to go watch a game. And I didn't actually say I took him. I asked him to take me in fact. So we grabbed the gloves and we headed over.

We spent about the next hour throwing, pitching, hitting. It was honestly, guys, perfect early summer evening. Somewhere along the way, I realized that something had quietly changed. For years, I was the one organizing these trips. Of course, at this time, he was hitting the balls to me.

He'd wait while I tracked one down in the outfield, he'd hit me another, and of course, give me a hard time when I didn't quite get there, and we laughed a ton. It was one of those evenings that makes you wonder why you don't do it more often. And, it got me thinking about all those years that hockey's given us and everything it's given us. When he was three, we'd head to the rink thinking we'd skate for half an hour, maybe an hour, kill some time with a young kid. That was the plan, But things kinda changed because he'd wanna stop and watch the Zamboni for a little while, then he'd wanna go back on the ice and then grab some food.

I swear to you, we had days we were at the rink for seven hours messing around. At the time, I thought we were developing a hockey player. Of course, we were doing that, but we were doing something else too. We were building memories. And hockey's given us a ton.

Road trips, to camps where somewhere outside Merit, BC, we accidentally discovered we both like country music. Sorry, Woody. One time we threw a ball back and forth in a ferry lineup to kill a five hour wait. Another time we did the same thing in the middle of the Jasper To Banff Highway because the road had closed and traffic wasn't moving an inch. Countless times where we'd be talking about the game and end up talking about everything except hockey, I am sure there are lots of goalie parents out there who've experienced the very same thing.

As hockey parents, we spend so much time thinking about development, more ice, better coaching, extra training, the next camp, the next opportunity. None of those things are bad. They do matter. But I've started wondering if sometimes we overlook the development that's happening when we aren't trying to develop anything at all. It's watching that zamboni with a three year old who's absolutely fascinated, stopping for a snack because nobody's in a hurry, it's rolling down the windows on a road trip, throwing a baseball on a summer night because the weather's too nice to stay inside.

Those moments don't show up on your elite prospect's profile. Nobody gets drafted because they watch the Zamboni. Nobody gets a scholarship because they stop for ice cream, but those might be the moments you and your kids remember. They're certainly the ones that I do. Hockey's given our family some incredible experiences, taken us to places we'd never dreamt, made lifelong friends, and touched those valuable lessons that reach far beyond the rink.

I still love every bit of that. But somewhere along the way, I realized that the best part isn't the hockey. It's everything the hockey gives us. So summer is here. The sun is shining.

Go outside. Have some fun. Shoot some pucks. Throw a baseball. Go for ice cream.

Take the long way home. Because years from now, I have a feeling you won't remember every drill or, frankly, the score of any game. You'll remember the smile on their face when they asked if they could just stay a little bit longer. Turns out that's been the best part all along.

Similar to when players talk about when they retire, the thing they'll miss the most is just being in the room or road trips and the team room, that hockey ends up becoming second or third beyond just the experiences of of being around the guys.

Yeah. Amen. I mean The journey. You say.

Everything about that was good, except for the country music, which I had

knew you'd say that, Woody.

I had to put up with on the drive to Calgary with you two once.

Hey. Isn't your favorite artist? Didn't she start out as a country singer?

Yeah. Yeah. Irregardless. It's not the same.

Irregardless. Irregardless isn't a word.

Whatever. If you're gonna jump all over Cam every session, we gotta get you on irregardless.

Oh, damn it.

Why don't you like country music?

I don't mind country music. It's almost a thing where I just have to be the grumpy, bitter old man.

Yeah. I I used to be like that growing up. Everybody loved the the

the old I am. My kid came back from school in Hawaii, and she's playing all kinds of country music on the drives now. So I'm starting to get used to it. Let's be honest. Most country music now or there's a there's this balance, but I'm not a musician, but that's it's kinda like soft rock anyways, half of it.

Yeah. The the gap between pop and country music has is blurred in that line.

And there are a lot of country artists, or I shouldn't say not the artists themselves, but they have songs on their albums, especially recently, that frankly sound more like folk music to me, like folk rock, than they do cut and I that's there's my jam right there. Like, I love that type of stuff. So, yeah, I'm the the tide is turning here. I just had to give Hutch a hard time.