I thought you all might enjoy this little story, it was sent to me by…well…I won’t say who sent it to protect the innocent. Let’s just say that it’s a true story, written to many of his friends by a Hockey Dad in Canad while waiting in emergency. The names of those involved have been altered. Who knew being a hockey parent could be so dangerous. Enjoy!Hi all, I thought that I would update you on my injury status and hopefully provide you with some key lessons learned from a crazy hockey parent. Sunday morning was typical hockey Sunday for the Staal family with 2 kids in 2 different locations. Haley and Taylor kindly brought Sidney to the tournament game while I brought my oldest son to his referee’s clinic. I arrived at the Bell Sensplex in a rush and when I entered, I could see we were already 3 minutes into the game. The lobby was quite full with people and hockey equipment and I was having trouble navigating through the masses. I finally saw an opening to get through…my only obstacle was a dastardly hockey bag. I broke into a slow sprint, calculated the distance that I needed to clear and made my leap. Unfortunately, I had not taken into account that I am running on over-40 year old legs and I have lost a couple of inches off of my vertical jump. My foot caught in the handle straps of the bag and I flew, a la Superman, through the Bell Sensplex lobby. Actually it was more like Bobby Orr in the 1970 Cup final, except Bobby was wearing elbow pads and the crowd stood and cheered. The Bell Sensplex Lobby crowd stood, but stared in stunned silence. The only voice that I heard was a little girl who said, “Mommy, I think that man is drunk.” I was wearing my (insert any minor hockey association team in Canada) jacket, so her mother quickly concurred. In a daze, I made a dash for the upstairs viewing area, for time alone to take stock of my wounds and hide my from my public embarrassment. I arrived upstairs just in time to see my son, Sidney, receive his first ever major penalty and game misconduct. A proud hockey moment for any father (if your last name is Domi…)! Paternal instincts kicked in and I went down to the team dressing room to share a tender father-son moment with Sidney. Sidney: “Sniff….I just got kick out of the game and it wasn’t my fault….,”(tears a-streaming) Wayne: “So you think you have problems,….I am suffering from wicked acid reflux, I am going bald, and my elbow is killing me!” (maybe a small tear in the corner of my eye) Sidney: “But, but….?? (confusion setting in) So after a 3 hour wait at the Hospital Emergency, the initial diagnosis is a multiple facture of the elbow, a visit to a specialist on Wednesday and at least 4-6 weeks on the injured reserve list. Also, my days of hockey bag jumping are officially over….. Wayne – Crazy, (and slightly uncoordinated) Hockey Dad
Thanks, “Wayne”, for sharing! Do you have an embarassing story from the arena? Send it to contactus@canadianhockeymoms.ca