TTP Version 7 -Powered by Bolts ,Metal and Springs..!!

[Gordon Moore]

(note the expression on the spectator's faces)


Yeah I did....um... till I see some real body checking going on in a game I defer my opinion till later. You also have to remember that my oldest is the only one who is of age to body check and he's an A3 quality player so for us, there's likely not a huge amount of body checking going on (but then again I could be wrong). I hear lots of interesting stories. Some don't deal with it very well but the puck handlers and speedsters tend to be the smaller guys so the bigger kids with less finesse even things up but taking it to those little guys who aren't big on hitting (sorry, "checking"). I guess the most fair thing I heard came from lacrosse. A parent was complaining that their son was getting pasted by the big kids and the official shot back, if you're concerned about their welfare get them out of lacrosse. You can't fault a kid for bing born big...and honestly, he's right.

I saw Matt get pasted pretty good in lacrosse and he survived. Actually he sucked it up literally because the boys seem to pick up on that vibe and his coaches were awesome, they didn't preach bravado or anything like that so the kids seem pretty attune to how to deal with their injury.

I don't know what to think is my best answer. I understand the concern but my kids jump off cliffs and (shhhhh, don't tell anyone) ride quads and snowmobiles so I don't have a good perspective perhaps.

Sometimes I watch the kids wipe out and slide full bore into the boards and to me me that can be more dangerous than body checking.

So I'm not sure. The more I watch kids, the more I believe that some are just prone to getting hurt....those are the ones that should likely stay away from a lot of things. Maybe that's too harsh....I really don't know.

[Gordon Moore]

All that said, could it wait till their 14 or 16? ABSOLUTELY and the game and their game would not be affected one iota!

[Andrew Pratt]

I never played a true contact sport as a kid...not that there wasn't contact in basketball or soccer but its of a different nature then hockey.

[taz13]

Originally Posted by Gordon Moore

The kids are in a body checking camp. Seems pretty useful. I was talking to one Dad. His kid is in a camp that run 8 hours a day for one week! yikes, thank God my kids aren't serious.

Is it the kid or the Dad who is that serious?

[Gordon Moore]

Originally Posted by taz13

Is it the kid or the Dad who is that serious?

In this case it's a little of both....one drives the other. The Dad is reliving his hockey glory and I guess the son is trying to live up to expectations. The crazy thing is....he's only 9!

If the kid asks for it then I have no problem, but if a kid is pushed into it, that's when it stopped being fun or even productive for that matter.
I still believe in summer = summer sports/activities. Winter = winter stuff. It's good to be rounded. I have come across a few kids (like 3) whose passion is hockey. It's just always been hockey and it didn't come directly from the parent. The kid knows stats, players, dates....just loves the game and has been that way since kindergarten. Those are rare kids. For the rest I think it's somewhat a parent thing as well.


Me personally, I don't care for the "a1" thing (too cliquey, too much money, too much politics, too exclusionary etc...) Nicky wants to try-out for A1 again and I'm only supporting him because he wants to try. Personally I'd rather he didn't but I'm just driving and cheering him on, so it's his decision (till he asks what to do and then I get to guide him ). Sometimes it's better to be the top of the average than the bottom of the elite (although, sometimes that drives you too...everyone is different).

[Gordon Moore]

Originally Posted by Andrew Pratt

I never played a true contact sport as a kid...not that there wasn't contact in basketball or soccer but its of a different nature then hockey.

There's contact (LOTS) in footy, no?

[Andrew Pratt]

Yes...but its illegal and at the levels I was playing it wasn't a big deal...kids don't generally slide tackle.

We played a playoff game last night in the wind and on a field that was either mud or standing water...and then it got DARK. Made for an interesting game. We ended up tied and so went into extra time which we then gave up on as it was too dark and went to shoot outs...which we won!

I got a call from Boyd Autobody yesterday that they've found more damage then AutoPac originally said and they are now waiting for AutoPac to give them the go ahead to repair or if they're going to write it off. I have mixed feelings about both options to be honest.

[Bent]

Andrew - what was the initial damage estimate?

They usually don't write them off after they start the work.
My Hydro Suburban had an intitail estimate of approx 6500 dollars - but once the autobody shop got into it, there was over 10 000 dollars in damge.
(this was on a 2000 model year Suburban 2500 4x4 with 230 000 km)

[Andrew Pratt]

Initial was around $3500 I think but IMO that was really low...Boyd then told us they needed 37 hours of labour and that was before they got to work on it. I don't know what the new estimates are Boyd is waiting to hear back from the shop on what they've found and we'll see from there I guess.

[Andrew Pratt]

Still waiting to hear one way or another. Boyd says the shop has called autopac and they're waiting for an adjuster to come and view the damages. Apparently there is a backlog of cases though and they don't know when Autopac will get to the shop so it may be awhile.

My boss told me about this site though that gives pretty accurate values for used cars. http://www.vmrcanada.com

[Gordon Moore]

My Pops just purchased a 2011 Tuscon. He didn't get AWD though....so I don't fully understand why he bought this over a car but no matter.

[Bent]

not everyone's a lucky dog.

[Andrew Pratt]

Ouch!

Gord the new tucson looks nice but its truck is too small for us.