The Hockey Life: Catching up

Yes, I know it has been a long time since filing a post. Three months and six days, to be exact. The hiatus, which, surprisingly, I failed to announce, simply took over. I'll blame summer vacation, a 4,308-mile road trip and, quite honestly, my own laziness. Know what? It felt good.

The blog, too, wasn't alone. There are still signed pucks, cards and photos sitting on the dining room table. I'd walk past them, take a quick look and say, to myself, some other day. Well, here we are. It's time, I suppose, to bring the handful of you up to speed.

It has been an interesting spring and summer. Two unbeaten Pinellas PAL Stars rec league seasons. A lackluster tryout. A summer showcase. A pretty significant email. A fellow hockey dad helping out. And, now, we're a week away from the 2014-15 Central Florida Hockey League season, where Colin, now playing at the bantam A level, will suit up for the Tampa Bay Scorpions.

Actually, the "season" started last week, when the Scorpions, with only a single practice under their belts, posted a respectable 2-2 record in the Labor Day tournament. That photo above? Probably Colin's finest moment of the weekend. Playing on a penalty-kill unit, he beat a defender to the puck, sidestepped him, tried a wraparound, drew considerable interest and, finally, got sat upon to draw a whistle.

Over the summer, though, there were two big highlights.

Colin represented Team North Florida in the Hockey Night in Boston Summer Showcase tournament. Though he's not the most skilled player, the coach saw enough to add him to the roster. And while there were some folks and teammates who questioned his presence on the roster, he learned to take a check (getting rocked more than once), overcome the resulting and understandable timidity and, ultimately, earned a spot, as well as heightened expectations, on next year's squad.

The other highlight, which I'll remain very vague about until it becomes a reality, came in that email. Within it was an opportunity that carries with it a very important decision. Life-changing, if you ask me. All I can say now is that, should this happen, the reward of the investment of time, money and his efforts could be very, very handsome. We'll see what happens.

As for hounding, I'll do my best in the weeks ahead to close the books on the 2013-14 campaign. Looking ahead to the upcoming NHL season, we'll make morning-skate trips, as time allows, for a number of NHL teams. To this day, hounding remains a hobby, one that we're not ready just yet to give up.

As always, folks, I appreciate those of you who stop by to read my ramblings and accommodate my penchant for showing off autographs. Hopefully, we'll have some good stories to share in the months ahead.

I'll be in touch.

By the way, we're now on Instagram: cms37 and flahockeydad.  Feel free to check them out.