Hockey Moms, Come in!

BootsOrHearts · November 2014

And Dads too! Sorry I've been a bad bumpie lately, I've been stalking y'all but haven't posted much on any board except PAL here and there. Work has been crazy busy. And you know, I have a 1-year old, yo.

So my question is, how did you get your kid involved with hockey? At what age did they start skating? Did they do formal lessons or did you teach them yourself? What kind of pads or guards did you use other than a helmet? How soon did they get into hockey? I've heard people talk about their 3 year old being in 'mini-mites', that seems young but ok! Baby Boots has been walking for about a month and he is pretty stable on his feet now, I'm wondering if it's too early to start skating around holding onto him so he gets a feel for it. We may be a little over eager but ya' know. We're kinda big hockey fans. Any other advice or tips?

We're in a smallish city in North Carolina now but there's some bigger cities within a few hours drive if we can't find anything local and of course if he gets big into it we'll move somewhere closer to the action.

Thanks in advance, here's some hockey hotness for you, whatever your gender preference is. (Andrew Ference from the Oilers and Anna Prugova from Olympic Team Russia)

***Not NSFW, but potentially questionable for work content follows****

ridesbuttons · November 2014

We are Canadian so hockey is well established and available.

Our kids started skating first through a program run by the figure skating club (called Canskate). The kids were equipped with skates (hockey) and helmets. Kids aged 2.5 and up on the ice - I don't actually know if there is an age restriction but a friend had her kid in at that age. Great program. We did 2 seasons of Canskate (6 months per season).

Hockey came next. First day on the ice = full equipment. Helmet with face guard, mouth protector, neck protector, full body armour, knee/shin guards, cup, elbow guards, gloves and full uniform: socks, pants and sweater. Oh yeah: skates and a hockey stick. On the ice 2x per week for practice plus games. Same season as Canskate.

Some kids started hockey without skating skills and used the support ( I don't know what it's called) to push on the ice to keep them upright. Guaranteed 2/3 of he way through practice at least one kid would be lying on the ice, exhausted or just had enough.

I have 'skated' wither kids as young as 1.5 and it's not too bad. They are light and easy to pick up. They generally at that age just shuffle if they move at all.

I do not regret the figure skating club for a second. They do a great job and when we return to Canada next year we will enroll them again for pure skating skills and power skating.

Our kids started with Canskate right around the age of 3 and DS1 hockey at 5.

Mags748 · November 2014

DS doesn't play hockey but a couple of my friends' kids have started playing in the last year or so and they started in Kindergarten (so age 5/6) on actual teams. I don't know if they play real games or just try and get the skating thing down at that age, but they start with the systems that lead into the competitive leagues around that age here.

lildevil968 · November 2014

My son is 4.5, and our parks and rec offers Hockey for 5+. We also have a local hockey club in town that some of my friends kids, and DD's friends play in. You have to be 5 as well. One tip from my friend is to never buy anything new if you don't have too. She buys all of her kids stuff at Play it Again sports for half the price.

BootsOrHearts · November 2014

@bay511 I think it's the heart shaped ass.

Karbird5 · November 2014

We just started DD in termites. She just turned 5. I have heard it is a great way to learn to skate. Pads= less fear. Our league has rental equipment for the season- really nice stuff, too. So far she has fallen a lot, but doesn't get frustrated like she did at open skate with Mom and Dad. She just gets up and gets back in there! A local dentist offered free mouth guards for the hockey kids. So far they have just done drills and open skate. They have five "stations" each with their own coach where they work on a skill like how to hold the stick or playing Simon says. So far I have been impressed. I don't think they play real 'games' until next year in Mites.

BootsOrHearts · November 2014

Thanks ladies! And glad to see there are so many little girls on the ice too!

marchbaby · November 2014

My oldest son saw some older kids playing hockey when he was 3 years old and looked at us with huge eyes and said "I want to do that." We didn't take him seriously b/c well, he was three. My husband and I had never played hockey and knew nothing about it! He continued to ask to play so when he was in kindergarten we signed him up for a learn to skate class. He hated it b/c he fell a ton. But every time he said he wanted to quit I would remind him if he wanted to play hockey he had to learn to skate and he'd stick it out. Once he finished the skating class we signed him up for a learn to play hockey class. The following year was Mite Instructional. All of these things were available through our school district.

As far as equipment, when we started with learn to skate we rented skates for the first few classes to make sure he was going to stick with it. Once we determined he was going to continue we bought him skates. He also had a helmet, elbow pads and knee pads. When he went onto learn to play hockey we bought a chest pad. For Mite I we purchased the rest of the equipment he'd need. So rather then have a huge output of cash all at once we bought a few things at a time. We continue to do this as things need to get replaced, rather then replace everything at once b/c he is growing or wearing things out we do a piece hear and there. Makes it hurt less, we spend thousands on hockey a year, its insane.

That being said, a lot of the kids who he was playing with had been skating longer then him. Most of them had dads that played who got their kids on the ice pretty early. It was frustrating for my son for awhile bc he couldn't catch up to the other kids. Last year he became obsessed and asked to do extra clinics, practiced stick handling in the basement etc and has finally caught up to all the other kids and he is OBSESSED with hockey!

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