Youth Hockey, Part III (The Final Conflict)

This is not really a conflict, I just thought it sounded cool, sort of an end of the trilogy type thing. Anyway, I just wanted to let everyone know how the whole situation ended. After Brenda did some research Tuesday night and I followed up Wednesday, we thought Glacier Ice Arena would probably be the best option. I asked Shane what he wanted to do, and gave him the three options. One being staying with Atoms, two being do the 8 week "Learn to Play" at Incredible Ice, and 3 being playing Mites at Glacier. I also let him know that whatever he chose, we would still be taking lessons from Avi every week. Shane chose to play Mites (big shock). I spoke with Mike at Glacier, and he said that they had kids younger than Shane who were playing in Mites. He asked what Shane's hockey experience has been so far, I told him that he did the camp last summer, and has had 32 weeks of Atoms plus private lessons on a weekly basis. Mike thought 32 weeks of Atoms was way too much for a kid of Shane's age. I of course agreed. Mike told me they are much less strict about who gets on the team, but he still wants to evaluate Shane, probably for placement more than if he is qualified. Since we already have Avi scheduled for tomorrow, we will probably go over there either next Friday or on the 13th for their evaluation date.

Glacier has three separate Mite programs, one is Mini-Mites that I believe is a half-ice type of league, then there is Mites which is full-ice, and travel Mites that I guess he tries to arrange games with other local rinks. Mike said they are trying to build the program and get more kids there. I think in the couple of Atom sessions that Shane has left, I will let other parents know if their kids would like to do a team/game thing, they should check this out. The cost is $350 compared to almost $700 at Incredible Ice, and they are more open to letting the kids just play and have fun. For now, we will check out the 10-week season that starts in mid-March and see how it goes. I think during the summer if there is no league, we will just take hour-long lessons from Avi, then decide what to do in the Fall. All of this of course is contingent on how Shane feels, but I think once he actually gets to play games on a team, he will love it even more. I'll keep everyone up to date.