Jockstrap

I realize most of the (travel) fails go way back in time before we became parents. Here's a more recent incident. It happened in late August 2021, during the pre season period. 

Pre season of what?

Ice hockey. Our son is a hockey player (hence my blog's name) who usually trains three times a week on the ice between August and March, and off ice between May and July.

Starting mid-August there are exhibition games taking place on Saturday and/or Sunday, and mid-September the regional championship starts, meaning at least one game per weekend, sometimes there's one on a weekday night as well. Busy times.

We usually have our routine down. Upon coming home, he needs to unpack his gear and leave the clothes and towels for me to put in the wash right away. Everything is pretty smelly, especially the gloves and the helmet.

Before practice or a game, I lay everything out, and Colin packs. He's been doing this since he was nine years old, so he knows it's his responsibility to make sure he has everything. 

Once he forgot his shinguards, and it was only thanks to a very nice hockey Mom who called her husband  and asked him to bring a sibling's shinguards since they didn't play today. Thank God it was a home game, and the family (unlike us) lives close by.

Otherwise he would not have been allowed to play. 

So back to September 2021.

The friendly game took place a 15 minutes' drive from our home. This is the opponent that is located closest to our home.

The players usually meet 75 minutes before the game starts. They have a briefing, they warm up off ice, they get dressed and get on the ice for further warming up and shooting a few pucks.

In the meantime us parents sit in the (heated) bistro and chat. 

All of the sudden my phone rang, it was Colin.

Oh no, did he hurt himself?

"Mom, where's my jockstrap?"

How should I know, I put everything directly from the laundry on the table for you to pack.

"Well, it's not here, and I can't play if I don't wear the complete equipment."

I know. Don't worry, I'll go get it. 

15 minutes' drive home. The groin guard was underneath the table, it must have fallen down during packing. 15 minutes' drive back to the arena.

Colin came running towards me in the parking lot.

"Thanks, Mom, love you!"

And off he went.

He missed his first shift, but then he got on the ice.

It wasn't their best game, they lost 11:2, but hey, it was just an exhibition game, and they have continuously increased during the championship.

Husband couldn't help himself and kept asking "how could this happen, you should have a checklist, imagine the game was an hour or two away, you would have missed it altogether."

Well, guess what, sh** happens, and we fixed it.

From then on Colin always keeps an entire set of textiles in the side pocket, and there was not a game where he did not have to lend something to a teammate, a neck guard, a pair of socks, a long sleeve shirt,...

Be prepared -  good motto to live by, agreed?