My son has been playing Little League baseball since he was 4 and I’ve been coaching the whole way. Baseball is my first sports love and I’m glad that Cory likes it enough to play. But in the last few years Hockey has come on the scene for us. I’d been missing it from my childhood and it’s harder to be interested in Seattle since we don’t have an NHL team. But I’m a San Jose Sharks fan and a couple years back I started to really follow them. This past year Cory joined me and we watched at least some of just about every game – Internet packages are great when you don’t live in the team’s city so there are no blackouts. I was really surprised at how into it Cory got. He knew all the players and after I claimed not to be happy with a player he was quick to show I was wrong when that guy did something good.
All this is leading to the Roller Hockey league. Bainbridge Island has a really excellent roller hockey program that everyone who I’ve talked to has raved about. Cory was interested in trying it but I was worried about the three-week overlap with baseball. He eventually worked on me enough to let him give it a try. I was actually happy to have a sport that I could just watch and enjoy and not have to worry about coaching duties. Well, everyone was right, it’s an amazing program. All the fans sit together and are supportive of both teams and it’s really fun to watch. Cory’s skating and overall game improved dramatically during the year. There were two high points. His Hat Trick game where his pals went out of they way to set Cory up and he delivered on three goals. And, of course, the Championship Game depicted in today’s strip. Cory really was quite nervous about being goalie in the playoffs but he had some very good defense to help and the team got ahead in both games. It was a great team effort for the year and I’m really happy for their championship. I already can’t wait until next year.