Dinner for hockey

 The twins are in conditioning camp for the next couple of weeks.  They skate for 1.5 hours every weekday evening.  And, boy oh boy, do they skate hard!  I'm definitely going to have to carb-load these kids before each session.

Normally, I tend to focus on more low/lower-carb food as I don't really eat too much carbs.  So, it's going to be a challenge for me to think of meals for these two energy-burning machines, and yet still have something that I can eat.  I might have to make myself the odd frozen low-carb dinner, me thinks.

Well, tonight, I made a creamy pesto with shrimp, peppers, and mushrooms on some rigatoni.  I started with this (I forgot to include the garlic in the picture, though, and the green cubes are frozen beet green/hazelnut pesto):

And, I ended with this:

It worked out well for me, too, as I ate the mushrooms, peppers, and shrimp, and didn't eat the pasta.

The coaches really worked them hard tonight.  At one point, I overheard a coach saying to them, "I know this is going to hurt and that sucks right now but . . ." I didn't hear the rest, though. They did a lot of battling drills today, which both of the twins really like.

During the scrimmage part, I was able to get a rare photo of both them on the ice, on the same team, on the same shift. Joshua is on the left and Katerina is on the right (both in red in the foreground).

Now, I have to think up a meal for tomorrow.  LOL

Hockey Teams

The twins are on different teams this year. If you want to follow their progress, I've posted the links to the teams' websites on the left side of the blog. Katerina's team is called the EMHA G-Force and Joshua's team is called the Confederation Ice Breakers.

O Canada!

The kids, with their theatre group, sang the national anthem at a hockey game tonight. The game was a junior (WHL) game between the Edmonton Oil Kings and the Medicine Hat Tigers. The Oil Kings won in a shootout!

Their group is in the middle dressed in white. The minor hockey teams on the ice with them are there as "honour guards". The hockey teams didn't sing. I couldn't get any close-ups pictures.

Some hockey bonding time

Some of the twins' hockey team went to a Panda's game last night. The Pandas are the University of Alberta's women's hockey team. The Panda's are Number one in the Canada West conference. The had a shut out last night, winning 8-0 over the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns.

Hockey School - Day 2

Joshua and Katerina are in the Edmonton Oilers Hockey School this week. On Monday, they got to meet Colin Fraser. He was just traded to the Oilers from the Chicago Blackhawks. The kids were excited because he talked about winning the Stanley Cup. Here are a couple of pictures from Monday. Katerina is doing a drill on ice in the first picture. Joshua (in the blue helmet) and Katerina (far left) are listening to the coach in the second picture.

Busy, busy, busy

These past few weeks have been so busy. The kids have some specialty camps and I have been consumed with them. A couple of weeks ago, the twins were at the Edmonton Oilers Hockey School. My, but they had fun!

At 8:30 am, I dropped Isabella off at the YMCA for her day camp, then I drove out to St. Albert (about 40 minutes, one way) to the hockey school. It started at 9:45 am. After settling the twins in for the day, I went home and did my errands. Then, I picked Isabella up at 4:30 pm and went back out to St. Albert for the twins. Their wrap-up time was 5:45 pm. By the time we got home, it was close to 7 pm.

They had a blast, though. They were on the ice twice a day, and they lived and breathed hockey for 7 days. Their coaches were players from the University league and from the Oil Kings. Two Oilers came by on two separate days and signed autographs and jerseys. The Oilers that visited them were Steve McIntyre and Zack Stortini. Here's a picture of Joshua and Stortini:



After that wrapped up, the girls went into the summer ballet program. They are still in it with the wrap up performance on Saturday. I drop Joshua off at the YMCA day camp at 8:00 am and then head over to the ballet school. Isabella has 1 1/4 hours of ballet, and Katerina has 3 1/2 hours of ballet and jazz. By the time we get home, it is almost 1:30 pm. Then, we pick up Joshua at 4:30 pm.

Next week is the last week of day camps at the YMCA, and then they will start back to school on September 2nd. They have had a great summer so far and they have already told me they want to do the same again next year. LOL

Maybe next year

Isabella's Last day of Hockey

The end of hockey season is here for Isabella. She started out not knowing how to skate. They taught the children how to skate although they didn't really play any hockey games. For the final day, they had a beginner's version of a hockey game to give them a taste of what's to come in the fall. Here she is doing her own version of hockey. She is Number 12 with a white jersey.



After the "game" the children lined up and received a trophy. Here she is with her coach getting her trophy.



And, of course, no hockey season would be complete without the classic hockey stance picture.

Dare to dream?

Every year at this time, I start checking in on the conference standings. We were in Edmonton when the Oilers made their last run for the Cup and gosh, it was an exciting time. The city was a sea of car flags. It was such a wonderful sight and feeling, particularly for a newcomer like me.

So, every year, I keep hoping and I keep checking the standings. Sadly, the flags are still living in Joshua's room. They need some fresh air. Maybe this year the flags will once again fly on the van.

Goalie Katerina

Saturday's game was the first time Katerina played the goalie position. She had a practice on Wednesday, but otherwise she had no experience. She did pretty good. Their team lost 3-1, but Katerina stopped 6 breakaways. She was also playing opposite hand. The goalie gear is for a right-handed person. Katerina is a leftie.

Here are a couple of clips. The first is a few seconds and shows her stopping a shot. The second clip is a few minutes long. There is a good part at about the 48 second mark where Katerina stops a breakaway.

Christmas Hockey Tournament

The kids had a blast! They played 5 games in 4 days, and they won one game. They had fun regardless of winning or losing, and at that age that's all that counts. Here they are with their tournament medals after the last game.

The Huskies in action

Here is some video of the last couple of minutes of last night's game.

Isabella in hockey gear

Hockey time is nearing so we had to see if Joshua's gear fits Isabella. Ayup.