My son’s U18 hockey team had a tournament on the weekend in Seattle. Well, more accurately, the Seattle area. Redmond, Kirkland, Snoqualmie. So the 4 of us went down to spend the weekend. So then, of course we get the questions from non-hockey-family people: did you rent the scooters? Did you go to Pike Place Market? No and no. We actually didn’t really see anything of Seattle.

The boys did pick me up downtown on the water, as I did take the ferry that goes directly from Victoria to Seattle. I didn’t drive down with them as I had puppy care planned for 2 nights, and they went ahead of me the day before. So I had a little adventure myself. My parents dropped me off at the Victoria Inner Harbour. I went through customs and boarded for the 5pm sailing. The boat was slower than planned as they notified us they were running on 3 of 4 engines, and we were late getting out on the water as it was quite a full ship! So we arrived an hour late in Seattle. It was dark already and since the boys had a hockey game and then headed out to make sure to meet me, they hadn’t eaten dinner yet.

The next day, we had two hockey games to attend. Our son is 16, but it was grade 10, 11 and 12 kids on the team, and 10 of his friends are graduating this year, so it’s their last year on the team. A few of the boys had the idea to dye their hair blonde for this final tournament, which ends their hockey season. Jordan wasn’t sure if he would. Some talked about doing it, but some didn’t want to change their hair before graduation events coming up. Jordan did decide on the trip that he would participate and they bought a drug store hair dye kit before I arrived on the ferry.

So on Saturday morning, we had time to dye Jordan’s hair before we had to be at the first game, late morning. So this is what we did in Seattle. I dyed my sons hair in a hotel washroom 😂. It turned out a little more orange, his hair started out too dark for the dye kit to really set in properly to the advertised Blonde colour on the box. He was brave enough to make a change that can’t be undone until the hair grows out and gets cut. We drove through some beautiful scenery to both games that day, and it was sunny and warm. A truly beautiful weekend. In between games, we attended a team lunch. Sandwiches, fruit and dessert in the hotel breakfast area and the coach recognized each player.

The tournament happened between a few arenas, which is why the hotel was a bit of a drive to each… it was centrally located. With the drive, having to be at the arena an hour before the game, plus game play, it didn’t leave a lot of time for much else. The boys played amazing. They really enjoy each others company, and all lines had great chemistry and really hustled. They won all their games, which got them to the semi-final on Sunday morning and then to the gold medal game Sunday afternoon.

They won Silver in the end, after showing up with all heart. So although we didn’t actually enjoy Seattle, or anything touristy, we left with some great memories. Memories of amazing hockey games, fun families that we spent our days with, playing ping pong at the hotel ‘game room,’ which was a big laugh with all of us being a little uncoordinated at times (obviously pretty much just me), and Owen bouncing the ping pong ball at his eye; a ferry ride, and of course hair dye.

Hockey tournaments are fun, and something I will miss when the boys no longer play. Although I am not the best hockey fan, and can’t follow the play half the time, tournaments have given us some great weekends and memories and opportunities to be in new places and see new scenery.

Sending Love,

Devon