Is he tough enough-- am I ?

Sat. April 17, 2010. Ridder Arena -Minneapolis. Bailey has been playing with a group of Litchfield kids in Showcase Hockey this spring. The games are set up in the Twin Cities and surrounding cities. We get both our games on Sat., to make it one travel day....most of the teams are from the area and play one game on Sat and one on Sunday.
This is the rink on the U of M campus where the women Gophers hockey team plays.
With the exception of last year, he has played spring hockey since he was 6...in fact the first year he played Showcase, they had a game set up at Ridder Arena. So six years later he is back on Gopher ice. When he was 6, of course he thought it was so cool...now that he is 12, I guess the coolness of it has worn off and he wished he was playing at Mariucci Arena instead, because that is where the men play. :)

The arena was big, but Bailey's game was not big. They lost 0-4, in a very frustrating loss. The game got a little out of hand towards the end, lots of checking and pushing.

With the team only playing together once a week, it's always tough to come together and play as a team. The team is a mixture of peewee age kids, half the team will be 2nd year peewee's next year (which will be Bailey) and half played squirts this last season, and will be peewee's in the fall, so they have never been able to check yet. It's a learning expereience for them yet...it's been hard to blend those kids into a team...but that hasn't stopped Bailey from giving it his all.

Bailey has had plenty of body aches because of his effort. The first weekend he couln't even move the next morning, his whole body was sore. In subsequent weeks, it has been specific things....mainly his ankle, his elbow, shoulders, knees, and now his jaw. I think after a week of rest it all feels better, but then he's back at it again on Saturdays and reinjures stuff. This week is has been his ankle and his jaw that are pretty sore still. Hockey is definately for the tough. Is this how he is to be toughened up?? This mom has to look away still, when he gets checked and usually end up being shocked and saying something like OH MY GOSH--AHHHH> I think I need to be toughened up along the way as well.

BAILEY IS #11