The Ditch part deux

PenzBllllllooooooowwww!

 

a few more days until the real thing. can't wait. a lot of my tv shows are ending, so that's more time to watch hockey at night.

 

? A week and a half.

 

i guess im a little anxious!

 

https://www.hockeyfeed.com/nhl-news...CUaSTV9g5cSjulOfaYfsqlpicdCgbBu0AmSeS-9_fQEpQ

 

Hey, all - I'm looking for some advice on how to best introduce a newly 6-year old to his first hockey game.

Girlfriend and I are planning on going to home opener, and want to take her son. I believe he has ADHD, and he has proven sensitive to sound, so I'm already planning on getting him noise-cancelling headphones. Other than that, I really have no idea how to help a kid enjoy his first hockey game. He's watched some hockey with me in very short spurts - it holds his attention for 5-ish minutes at a time - but with it being the offseason, I've only had replays on a few times to try and get him interested. It's not like he's really had a reason to get excited over it, with us modeling the behavior for him in-season.

I know we've got some old farts around these boards. Any experience that you guys can share in this vein? I appreciate it, either way. Here's to the season starting already, all.

 

Nice dline, hockey seems to be the best live sport, or the sport where it’s that much better live relative to tv, imo anyway. Not sure how the atmosphere will affect him specifically but I’d think that he might like the production of the NHL game.
I like to walk around in between periods ........ moving around might be good for him. Maybe buying him a souvenir early on will get him even more invested.

I’m an old fart here that has brought many nieces/nephews and now my own kids to games. Ice cream always works. I’m sure you’ll have a great time, good luck man.

 

I really appreciate it, Matty. Ice cream, it is. I think you're exactly right, and we're planning on all of that. I also think he'll like the bells and whistles, and the Panthers' mascots are always running around. We're definitely going to see the stadium as much as possible between periods - he's never been in a building like it, so I think there's going to be plenty of even simple things that excite him. And you can bet that we'll be buying him a plastic rat at the start of the game, and finding him some cool stuff to keep him happy. The organization does an amazing job with pre-game - mini floor hockey rinks for the kids to play before the game, bounce houses, all sorts of stuff that kids will go nuts for. That, and we'll get him a big ol' soda to keep him up past his bed time until the game ends.

Wouldn't be such a big deal if we hadn't just moved to Orlando for work. So what would be a regular weekly activity now becomes a 4-hour drive, thoroughly EXPENSIVE weekend trip. So while I can't wait to share the home opener with the kid (we watched the preseason game tonight, and he was glued to the TV), the fiscally responsible person in me is very, very upset.

But I think, when all's said and done, it'll be totally worth it. That's the kind of thing that made me a fan for life (first game, shoot arounds, the Beezer flipped a puck over the glass for me. Some asshole stole it, so the Beezer came back, flipped me another puck, lifted his mask and said, "Fuck that guy" to my 5 year old self). And there's not a better game to go to than the home opener against Tampa - gets you just about everything you'd want to experience in one game. Full disclosure - I was going with or without them

Alright, enough of my crap. Looking forward to the start of the season, all. Can't get here soon enough.

 

ice cream is good. depends on what other kind of food they have. kids like hot dogs too. see if that arena has any kids activities. in the concourse at the WF Arena in South Philly, they have bubble hockey to play. challenge the little man to a game and let him win. see if you can take his pic with the mascot. he will love you for it.

my 2 cents.

 

Yeah, that's a worthwhile two cents, and it's all on the list. He seems locked in on pizza and soda, but who knows what'll happen once we get there.
They've got amazing kid activities pre-game, with a mini hockey rink on the concourse, so the kids can run around and play. In-stadium they've got some fun stuff, too. And they have free packages / activities for first-timers and kids - they do a really good job with that. He'll be part of the "Kids' club" and get a ton of cool goodies.

Florida beat TB 6-3 last night, with each team playing all starters save for bottom F line and a D-man or two. Florida's top line and PP look like they haven't missed a beat, which is scary. Stralman has been a liability in his limited preseason time. -4 in two games, I believe. I hated this signing, but I'm really hoping that he finds his feet coming back from injury, and they find the right pairing for him. Bob let in a few in the half he played - potential backup shutout the rest of the game. Vasilevky played the whole game, letting in 6.

FL and TB play two more preseason games before playing each team's home openers a night apart. This always starts the slugfest and bad blood off right...

 

Sabres have Victor Olofsson on the first line with Eichel and Reinhart.

 

flyers have 3 rookies and possibly a fourth rookie making the team this year. Morgan Frost is hurt, so he may not make it, which will drive the fans nuts. he's only out a week. it should be very interesting to see who makes the final team cut.

 

BUST! Migraine disorder? WTF is that having migraines? Take 3 Advil and call me in the morning. Week to week? Wow. Must be severe to be out that long?

 

who are you slurve? never heard of you unless that is an alias?

 

sup Cat, you know me from way back when. Me and you were the big Notre Dame fans on here

 

damn - that was a long ass time ago. i think you, me, cutter and irishdawg were the only ND fans on here. welcome back!

and yes im still bitter on ND! Still hating on B. Kelly too. I thought his play calling Sat was flat and typical. very unoriginal. still can't beat anyone good.