Women's hockey jamboree

Hockey has been a freakin' blast!! Don't worry I still have the dogs and they still get loads of attention, and there will be a dog update soon. We have had minimal snow... until yesterday! It came down like crazy for over 24 hrs. Can't wait to get back on the river with my beloved maniacs. Pooh Bear! is not happy that ball season is winding down (the snow makes it difficult to fetch!) but she has sharpened her skills in finding loose balls. The dog who often seems to have no brain will go zooming around the meadow and sniffing on the "Go find the ball!" command. Genuis! (or rather: p/t genius)

So I wanted to give an update on the Whitehorse Women's Hockey Jamboree - what a great time it was. So much hockey in 2 days, it was crazy non-stop hockey action. It was pretty wild also, to play against your own teammates (from the regular league) and having your opponents on your own team for the weekend. It IS a great way to get to know the other players (and their playing styles... mwahhahaha) for future reference. Plus it's so awesome to be with a bunch of people who are as obsessed with hockey as you are!

This tournament got me up at 6am to hit the rink to timekeep for the first game by 8am! On a Saturday! Only true love (or work) will do that. Here's what we were all fighting for:

The coveted trophy!


Action from the stands, thanks Sue! We were missing our awesome goalie so had to use the "shooter tutor" - not nearly as fun as whacking pucks at a goalie! :)

I like how no one took this whole tournament *too* seriously. Fun was the #1 goal!



Our team in action in the final game (in black).

Heather and I getting all hepped up on Red Bull before game #5! We had some reservations about playing 4+ games in 2 days but adrenalin and excitement (and red bull) goes a long way!



Crazy teammates!


Stanky locker room! No wait, women don't stink. I forgot. (yeah... tell that to my nostrils after 3 sweaty games in the same hockey equipment...LOL)

Here's Sue and Heather rocking out to "Sweet Home Alabama" before the final game.

I thought I was taking a photo but didn't realize I was taping... common occurrence.


My team! Totally awesome bunch o' ladies!

We managed to go undefeated for the whole tournament so.... we won! The teams also sang O Canada for the last game. What a proud moment... *sniff*

And yes, that is a combination of French and English you're hearing. Sorry for the first two lines, I quickly stopped signing after I realized this was probably going on FB/Youtube/etc and I didn't want to make anyone's ears bleed so I stopped.

The game was a close one, 3-2 and I even managed to score a goal! I'm not sure how and I was on my face at the time but I'll take it. The funniest part was when my teammate had to tell me we scored and I said "awesome! Who scored??"" and she said "You did!!" LOL


Here's a couple of fantastic photos from the Whitehorse Star - on the upper left is our little superstar, Chantele with the puck and the right is during goal #2 and that #13... me on the bottom. Oh yeah!


Celebrating post-game with the beer-skate!


Team Chaos wins the tournament! Woohoo!

That's the hockey news, and OH! I have one more little bit of news...

Meet...

Woody!!!!!

More on him later... :)

Remember...

A big shout out and THANKS to all of those who have sacrificed (and those who continue to sacrifice to this day) so much to make this country fan-freakin-tastic.

I came across a series of posters from the Glenbow Museum in Calgary that are poignant and thought-provoking.





Loki also shouts out thanks!(internally, really!)

He's just happy to rest on the couch and not have a care in the world! Now is that the face of contentment or what?? :)

And then there's this crazy maniac. HAPPPY HAPPY HAPPY 24/7!

"Thanks for fighting to give me the freedom to be the HAPPIEST DOG EVER and allowing me to run in the bush and sit on the couch all night and most importantly - play fetch alllll day every day... now if only Stacie would agree to that, life would be PERFECT!! Wheeee!" :)

Women's hockey!

Still obsessed with this hockey thing, because it's SOOOO damned fun! Being the dork I am, I took photos during our very first game a few weeks ago:

We're White team, playing against Red. It's so blurry because I was literally shaking with excitement/adrenalin/etc. Heather and I have been wanting to play hockey for so long, we're finally doing it and a wee bit excited about it.


It felt a bit chaotic as we were all thrown together and had mostly not played for awhile or even together at all. The funniest part was all the offsides both teams were getting at the beginning of the season. And I thought we might be in trouble when one of the players, on the bench turned to me during the first game and asked "what's offside again?" And I had to think about it for a second to explain! So we're "practicing" as a team on the fly. But so is everyone, so it's all good!

Luckily, it only took a couple games, and the offside issue was resolved. Yay team! And everyone seems to be having an absolute blast, which is really all that matters! Plus, who needs to go to the gym when you're playing 1.5hrs of hockey a couple nights/week? It's the best workout ever that doesn't even feel like a "workout"!


Heather peaces out on the bench. She look excited to you??

For those locals - next weekend there is a Women's Hockey Jamboree at the Takhini arena! There are 5 teams and we will be playing a minimum of 4 games. How I'm going to pull that off after only playing two games so far is beyond me. The games are freakin' exhausting!!! But it's going to be fun and I will ride the fun high for the weekend. So if you want to see some awesome, exciting hockey, c'mon out! Even though there is a varitey of skill levels, the games have been pretty fast-paced and exciting. Some so close, they've resulted in the ever-exciting and tense shoot out!

There is also a banquet on Saturday night where there will be food n' dancing and all that good stuff. Providing I can walk after multiple games that day!

So remember:

!!!!!!

(last pic borrowed from this awesome blog)