Hello Atom Red families!
This week, I had a player who reminded me of what it means to play minor hockey. People talk about wins, losses, ties, tournament results and how the team is doing but our Player of the Week was not concerned about any of that.
After our practice on Monday, I asked him what he liked most about the last week of hockey, his response surprised me.
I expected him to talk about our tournament success, the overtime victory, our win streak, some of the big saves he made, the breakaways he stopped or how tired after our games he was. To our Player of the Week, the best part of the last week of hockey was that he made a new friend!
When I talk to our Player of the Week about previous years of minor hockey, he always talks about how much fun he has at our "overnight tournaments." I thought that this exemplified what is important in minor hockey; friendships and memories.
Again, its not about wins or losses, its about having fun with his hockey friends which creates lifelong memories for all of our players.
Our Player of the Week always works hard at his goaltending clinics, practices and games. He keeps the tunes pumped in the change room and he keeps hockey in perspective: its all about working hard and most importantly, having fun.
Our Player of the Week is:
#30 Matthew Hoefnagels
You made me very proud as a father to know that I was able to instill into you the most important thing about hockey.