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This weekend is IIHF Girls Hockey Weekend; our turnout has been low due to fall soccer, so our 14U team invited any available 19U girls as well as coaches and parents who play for a scrimmage. We often do a parents vs kids scrimmage at the end of the season, but that scrimmage is filled with half never-ever parents. This time all but one adult was B division or higher. We ended up with 13 girls and 7 adults, and we mixed up even teams of 10 and set up lines. It was super fun to coach two of our newer players as linemates, and to have my daughter back me up at D. We had two hours of ice and stretched it out over four 20-min periods. Three other parents also got to skate on the same team as their daughters. Faster game than the girls are used to, but they also got set up with some awesome passes that they're not used to. A couple of our typically "head down and skate with the puck" saw the power of well-executed passing. While we as coaches opened doors for the girls last season, the girls followed us over the boards and saw a better example of taking faster shifts. My W linemate for two periods was a girl last year who would take a breakout pass and dump it up the ice. She watched dumbfounded as I iced it twice. Haha. I told her it was ok to remind me that I told her not to do that!! My other W linemate only started in January and skated all summer. Honestly, her skating needs more time, but having never played a game at this level, her positioning was amazing. She held the half wall inside their point while in our zone, had some great puck battles in the neutral zone, and did a great job of passing and shooting in their zone. I'm so excited to work more with them this season!! My 03 is a beautiful skater. She had an awesome Peewee coach last year and learned a ton at the District and Multidistrict development camps this summer. I am in awe watching her. She's an introverted wallflower at school, but is a confident force on the ice. She's playing with both the 14U and 19U teams this season, and I think she made an impression with her new 19U teammates. I can take no credit for her ability; I just feed her. Big sis will never catch her..but she's taking her 2nd ref seminar today and is looking forward to shadowing our district female ref in chief this winter. My best days of hockey are spent with my kids.

Pat's came back today.

This is where we played the Qatari National Team Last Night. New Al Sadd Arena in Doha. Kids are fast, have good skills but they still are not understanding you can't skate faster than the puck is passed. We came away with a 6-4 win, 6-0 going into the 3rd. This facility is first class all the way. We get to skate against the Qataris every Sunday in August. Never thought I'd see something like this here. It's a rink you get to early just so you can take it all in.