The Cheering Squad

Today was a great day over here in My World because today was largely spent inside an arena.
I love arenas, don't you?
I love the arena smell that's a convoluted mixture of ice, sweat and deep-fried food.  Mmmmm...someone should package that smell and sell it as a scented candle......or a fancy eau du parfum or a room spritzer thingy .....they could call it DEEP FRIED PERSPIRATION or ESSENCE OF HOCKEY...

It certainly is a smell that brings back a lot of memories for me.
I'm pretty certain I lived half my life in an arena:

Learning how to skate.

Watching my dad play hockey...."GO DAD GO" we would scream from the stands and watch with awe and a swelling pride as he would swoop up the ice, shoot and SCORE!

Taking figure skating lessons with my sister.  We rocked.

Watching my little brothers play hockey and cheering from the stands:  "WE GOT THE G, WE GOT THE O, WE GOT THE GO GO GO..."

Chasing my cousins round and around the arena in some eternal game of tag.

Laying flat out on the ground looking for fallen coins around the candy machines so that we could buy some candy, gum, fries, chips, chocolate or JUST ANYTHING from the glorious, wondrous Concession Stand! (insert angelic choral singing here)

Playing pick up games of hockey with large groups of friends.  Dressing up in borrowed hockey equipment and then pirouetting out on the ice in my figure skates.


And then growing up and meeting my husband to be.....at an arena.  I remember him sauntering out of his dressing room when we first met.....he emerged with still-wet hair, flushed face and his hockey bag slung casually over his shoulder.   He was a goalie, so he must have had his goalie pads and stick nestled somewhere in there too.  He swung his equipment to the ground and his eyes scanned the room.  I'm sure they met my gaze at some point because I was gawking (elegantly gawking I'm sure because if you know me, you know I'm all grace, elegance and poise).
I may have wolf-whistled or maybe that just happened in my head.
I certainly began to wildly drool all over the place.
There's nothing like a little salivation to cement a relationship so we began dating and the landscape of our dawning love included a zamboni.
Sigh!


Fast forward almost twenty years and my beloved and I are back.  Inside the arena, that is.
We are a hockey mom and dad.
Paul has coached the past few years and our two older boys play.
I love coming to the games and heading up the cheering squad for our boys.
And I'm not shy.
I offer suggestions:  "SKATE!  C'MON SKATE!  PASS!  SHOOT!"
I offer consolations:  "DON'T WORRY, KIDS!  YER DOIN' GREAT!"
I offer unbridled joy:  "WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP!  WAY TO GO!"
Sometimes I just yell out multisyllabic noises because that is fun too:  "SHLEPTOLIPHINOGINS!"
I sit.  I stand.  Sometimes I do some squats so that I can add in a short work-out routine.
It's great and wonderful fun.

Packing is an important part of preparing to watch a game and I have gotten good at this over the years.  Packing must be especially thought-out to take into consideration my mini cheering squad.  See, when I come to the games, I come with my two younger children.  They are not currently playing hockey.  They also do not have a large amount of interest in watching their brothers play hockey.  And they don't like the cold arena.  Thereby I must pack and prepare very carefully.

So, this morning I rented a moving van to tow over all the supplies I would need.
1.  One large, warm blanket.  This would be used to drape over the hard, plastic bench that we sit on to provide some cushioning and a whole lotta warmth.  Plastic, I have found, does not warm up well and we have spent many a Saturday with frozen butt-cheeks as a result!

2.  A backpack filled with granola bars, crackers, candy, chips, apples and juiceboxes.  This is to stave off the starvation that my poor children immediately feel once they enter the arena.  I blame the eight-hundred-gagillion candy vending machines for this!

3.  Hats, scarves, mittens, warm jackets.  Because the arenas operate at sub-zero temperatures and we need to maintain our body temperatures.

4.  Thermos filled with hot coffee.  To stave off my knee-jerk reaction when I pass the Concession Stand (insert angelic choral singing here!).   I do not need to buy JUST ANYTHING because I have a coffee already!

5.  Cell phone so that I can text Paul when I arrive.  "I'm here!" I will text although those two words will most likely take me 14 minutes to text since my fingers and my touchscreen have a love-hate relationship.....

6.  And the most essential:  another backpack filled with stuffies, colouring books, cars and more stuffies.  Today we brought 30 or so.  This is to provide entertainment beyond shaking the vending machines to see if any candy will fall out.


Once we arrived at the arena this morning, we unpacked, staked out our space and settled in.
My mom met me.  My parents have graduated to being Hockey Grandparents and they often join us for these early games.

Today was the last day of hockey and the boys had two games to play.
Our one son plays forward and the other is the team's goalie.
They played great.
And, yes, I am biased.
One skated, one shot, one SCORED!  And how we cheered!
The other glove-saved, he butterflied, he covered the puck.  We cheered some more!
Those were some jaw-clenching, fist-gripping, multisyllabic-screeching games, I tell you!
My heart swelled with love and pride and love-pride.
The minis were happy too and they raced around with granola bars, dripping juice-boxes and stuffies.
And their Nana even gave them each a quarter to buy giant, gaudy-coloured gum-balls from a vending machine, so they were extra happy!

It was cold inside that arena today.
But I felt a warmth inside that comes with being all happy and stuff.
It was a good day today.
I hope yours was too.