My son got a major penalty in his hockey game on Saturday. I know that doesn't sound like something to be chuffed about, but there is good reason. He's little, but he's so damned feisty. A player on the other team snowed our goalie (hockey stop, spraying snow into the goalies face while the goalie is down holding a puck. Totally unnecessary, totally done to piss the goalie off) and then stood in front of the goalie looking down, being a cocky bitch. He was about 6" taller than my son, and my son was just right behind the play, and my son saw what he did, and he came in like a fucking wrecking ball. He took this guy down. Like really took him down. 6" taller, probably 50 pounds heavier, my son just creamed him, full speed, and pushed him right over our goalie and into the net. It was a late hit. It wasn't from behind. The second he had nailed the guy (my son didn't fall, the other guy went flying) my son kneeled down on the ice and was helping the goalie clean the snow off his face. He got so much respect from the rest of the players, it didn't matter he had to serve a five minute penalty. He was looking out for his teammate.
I'm not one to condone senseless violence in hockey. Not even a little. But this was a good decision on my son's part. He's team captain, and he sent a message loud and clear to the rest of the team. The other team was getting pretty violent, they were loosing by 3, and were doing all kinds of out of control trash talk, and my son talked to his team and said take your lead from me. Don't fight, don't take stupid penalties, but don't let them get away with murder. After my son made this check the game cleaned up substantially. And to top it all off, my son scored on his first shift after the penalty. He's defense, doesn't score all that often, but he skated coast to coast, beat everyone, and went bar-down for a goal. He did not snow the goalie after his goal. He showed respect. The dude who got checked into the net got the respect he deserved.
I love watching my kids make decisions like this.
