Niko, Michael and the dads left on Thursday night for Kent, Washington. The boys arrived at their hotel and got their roommates - Niko is with John Godfrey and a boy from Alaska; Michael got a boy from Nevada and one from Alaska. Michael and Niko were put on the same team - Blue - along with John Godfrey and Niko DellaMaggiore! They were happy about that. Friday activities started at 9:15 for Michael with an all defense and goalie practice for 30 minutes; then forwards and goalies for 30 mintues. The Blue team is practicing with the Red team. They are then off the ice until 1:00 and have a one hour practice with the Red team. That's it for ice time! They stayed at the rink ALL day and then headed to the hotel for a 6:30 seminar. They found out some USHL and Canucks trainers will be running their dryland today. I'm sure they're no match for Jason :o)Saturday started at 9:30 for the Blue team with a game against the Gold team. Most of the players are spread throughout the four teams but the Gold team has six kids from the same club - all big D. Niko is his usual self - out stickhandling everyone and doing the great job he does protecting the puck along the boards. My scout from Kent said Niko did his little toe drag around two of their players during the game and "wowed" the crowd. Michael did land a great hip check but the checkee wasn't happy and retaliated with a hit from behind. They don't call penalities - just a penalty shot. Michael made his penalty shot!!! Bruce and Jason would have been proud he didn't miss the net :o) They have dry land at 11:00 and then face the White team at 3:30. They are on the ice again Sunday morning at 8:00 for an hour and then head home at 5:30. Not as much ice time as I'm sure they had hoped for, but there are 160 kids between the two birth years so things moves pretty quickly. The '94s are with them this weekend. The '93s and '92s are next weekend.
They are having a great time. The facility is pretty awesome. Only one sheet of ice but they have batting cages and a mini golf course as well. I'll post another update tomorrow when they are finished.
All in all they are having a great weekend. Whether they advance to the next level or not, this has been an incredible experience for them. They have made us all very proud.
