Any Day in Hockey is a Good One

Yes, any day in hockey is good, even if the windchill factor outside is going to be somewhere between 15 and 20 degrees below zero (F) around the Boston area tonight! Brrrrrrrrr...

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Tony Chic - Franklin Pierce University

If you want to know something that makes me very proud and sorta makes my day, please take a peek at this very short article on my grandson, Anthony Chighisola, a sophomore hockey player at Franklin Pierce University. (It doesn't hurt that my young buddy also carries about a 3.5 GPA!) What prompted this newspaper entry in The Brockton Enterprise is the fact that Tony C is coming from New Hampshire to play closer to home, and against the team I coached for 7-years (Stonehill College).

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Because today didn't include any outside commitments at rinks, I've been able to spend most of my time on administrative things and some Internet work. My CoachChic.com website benefited from the free time, as I finally connected this blog and also updated the area where I tell members and visitors what kind of posts are Coming. You really ought to take a browse through that section every once in awhile, just to know what you might be missing.

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The other night I gave a gift of a shoulder strengthening device to a local college trainer. I left it with her to play with for awhile, and I heard later that she was showing it to anyone who would look and listen. I knew she'd appreciate the device -- and I also sensed she'd respond that way, mainly because I'd attended many of my Phys Ed college classes with young men and women who were working to become athletic trainers. (I guess a lot like me, they truly DO love their work!)

Strengthen the External Rotators

Anyway, while that young lady was psyched about being able to help some of her current athletes who have shoulder injuries, I'm just as impressed at this device's potential for stretching and stretching the shoulder area BEFORE an injury occurs. (And, while older hockey players surely do get their share of shoulder injuries, I'm picturing how much baseball players, tennis players and football quarterbacks are going to like this device.)

By the way, I've just negotiated with the inventor of that gadgets, and I hope to offer it within a few days in our new CoachChic.com Store.

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I think Dee Karl loves me (LOL). That's right (or at least that's what she said at the end of her latest blog post)! Ya, Dee pens an awesome NY Islanders' blog, Hockey Buzz. And, while you ought to read her on a regular basis if you like those Isles, you should also see why she loves this twice-her-age old coach so much! :)

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Having just mentioned the new CoachChic.com Store, I guess I should also note some good and some not-so-good news...

On the sad side, my Facebook friend, Valerie G (at the urging of her husband), wrote me to share a story about two players who had been injured recently during local high school hockey games. I'm not going to (get morbid and) share the link here, but I will say that the two boys -- from the same team -- collided with the boards a couple of nights apart. The second injury was bad enough, as that player sustained a concussion. His teammate might be even worse-off, as doctors, family and friends pray he'll be able to walk again. Darn.

The irony to all this, and the good side (if there can be one)... Currently, I have some of my very young Mighty Mite players wearing special collars aimed at limiting the kinds of spinal or neck injuries that commonly happen in collisions with the boards. I especially like those collars because I believe there's a teaching component to wearing them (or a player learns to skate with his or her head up). The reason I'm starting with my youngest players is because I sense they're the kind of things players almost have to grow-up with.

Anyway, like that shoulder gadget, the collars should be available in our Store within a few days. (Both, by the way, are EXTREMELY inexpensive.)

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Well, I have one more duty to perform before I head to bed tonight. I'd promised myself a month ago that I was going to trade-in the canvas bag I carry the Mighty Mites' blue pucks in. So, I have to doctor a small bucket for that, a lot like the one I carry my Team NEHI game pucks in.

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Oh, tomorrow morning starts the weekend, or what I jokingly refer to as two days at the "hockey wars". (That's what I'll tell Raggs the cockerpoo tomorrow morning, as in, "See ya later, buddy... Gramps is off to the hockey wars!") Yes, hockey dominates my weekends, with 5 different rink trips head of me -- to clinics, practices and games! I'm not complaining, though, 'cause "Any Day in Hockey is a Good One"!

PS: My Twitter friends and I are constantly talking about "multi-tasking". And I do a lot of that as I drive from rink to rink, especially listening to podcasts I've previously found on-line and burned to CD.