Tryouts Underway ....Day one of tryouts provided more surprises than I thought:
Misconception #1 - I'll see alot of familiar faces.
We walked into the Indus arena and proceeded to the coordinators table. "Beauty", I thought, "I know this guy!" I'm thinking that this is a sure sign of how the session will go. The coordinator handed Ryan his tryout pinny: #83. I struggled to think of a famous Number 83 in any sport. I came up empty. We walked into the dressing room. We knew no one. Not a soul. I got Ryan changed and headed to the bleachers. I knew no one, again! What the hell! But after a few minutes, a familiar parent did wander in. Whew!
Misconception #2 - exactly the same routine as last year.
Not sure why, but this year's day one routine was quite different. Last year they tested very specific things: forward speed, stopping both directions, backwards speed, wrist shot. This year, they had the kids in some relay races with and without the puck, backwards, forwards, the focus was more on fun. I'm sure Ryan didn't realize he was being closely observed by evaluators with clip-boards.
Misconception #3 - Ryan will be passive during the scrimmage.
A major miscalculation. While he was one of the bigger kids, he didn't go around rubbing kids out. He actually showed some good puck possession during the mini-game. Some good confidence with the puck. This really surprised me. Last year he trailed the play quite a bit. During the puck handling relay races, Ryan frequently lost control of the puck and had to scramble to get back into the race. During the scrimmage, in contrast, he held onto it pretty good, showed some razzle-dazzle. I guess its true that some players are so-so during drills, but during scrimmages and games, they crank it up a notch. Evaluators are not present to see the scrimmage.
As I said before, there are about 10 divisions, some have the same number but with an "A" side and a "B" side. Also, as I said before, we're having a blast. As a family, we talked and laughed about it all night long.
Next session is Saturday. Very curious to see where he'll end up....
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