Parry Sound ON — As he skates to the faceoff circle, nine-year-old hockey player Ryan Clark knows just how important this overtime is. This is the playoffs, so its do-or-die time for his parents. For Ryan, it’s not a big deal because if he loses, he gets to sleep in and play Xbox but this isn’t just about him. When he looks up at his parents in the stands, he can see in their eyes the determination it will take to win this overtime period and the importance. He also sees the noisemakers they made with milk jugs and rice, but more so the fierce eyes.
The windbreaker dad is wearing with his jersey number embroidered into it, the sticker of his team on each of their car windows, the Facebook posts mom gets to make after a game, the team number mom made him get shaved into his hair, the hockey parties where parents get to drink while their kids climb the rock wall….. all that is on the line for his parents. Win today, it continues. Lose and these parents are spending the next four months wondering who they are and why they haven’t filed for divorce yet.
The thought of not saying “I don’t know what free time is, I’m a hockey parent” for an entire summer is soul-crushing. What else is there to say to acquaintances they meet on the street? They can’t bring up the warm weather because that just brings up repressed memories of ice melting.
This whole scenario can be avoided for one more day if Ryan can just win this face-off. The thought of mom going home and deciding she wants to take up pickling is almost too much for him to bear. He could go outside to get away from it but dad is always outside trying to make yard level so that he can make a summer rink but the “goddamn clay” makes it impossible.
The ref stood there with the puck in his hand for what can only be described as an eternity. In slow motion, Ryan could see the movement in the ref’s arms and immediately went for it. The puck is now in play and overtime has begun. Stay with us for this developing story.
Update:
Mom just posted “Off the crossbar!!!!!, OMG my heart can’t take this.”
