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And they all wore blue bandanas

February 16, 2009 10:35 AM | Posted by   Kelly Hrudey  

You may recall I did an article recently about minor hockey.

Well, I have another one to add and it’s really positive to boot.

This past week I was invited out to the Springbank Atom 4 Trojans as a guest coach.

Since I’ve never been a guest coach before, I was really anticipating a fun night helping out minor hockey just like so many others did when I was a kid.

Slightly embarrassing

Much to my surprise when I walked into their dressing room prior to the game, they totally embarrassed me in a very funny way when I arrived. Guess what they all wore? That’s right, blue bandanas.

After a good laugh and some good old fashioned hockey talk, we got down to business - the game itself.

Quickly I was very impressed with the job the coaching staff did with the kids.

The head coach, Dave Gosse, was away (along with assistant coach Michael Mercier) so the duties of running the bench was handled - very aptly, I might add - by assistant coaches Greg Guatto, Barrie Dalgatty, Shawn Munro and goalie coach Dave Corrigan.

Not only were they very positive throughout the game but really helpful in talking to each individual about small improvements in their game.

Receptive bunch

I also tried to add encouragement and suggest a couple of small things to make the game a little easier for them. The kids could not have been more receptive to our feedback.

The kids, Keaton, Tyler, John, Austin, Nicky, Savannah (Savy), Paul, Triston, Matthew, Landon, Connor, Kassy, Evan and the two goalies Michael and Alex were nothing short of spectacular to deal with through the game.

Unfortunately two other teammates were absent, John and Jordan, but I’m sure they’re great teammates as well.

I think it’s safe to say I had just as much fun that night as the kids.

I walked away that night with a big smile on my face.

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