Well, now that the Hockey Dad is back talking sports, I’ve got to share with everyone something I started doing in April. It’s been a life long dream of mine, one difficult to achieve living in Florida, but here it is. I started playing ice hockey. And what a blast! I’ve always been able to ice skate, but not hockey skate. Now I can, but as any of you who play know, the hips and core feel it the next day.

I tried some new sports creme called Freeze It, to help with my aches and pains. It does a great job on them. I applied it to my elbow (I took a hard hit there during hockey practice) and it feels like a deep heating rub, and really works fast. But one of the things I like the most about it is the way it applies. It looks like an aloe gel, so it is not all thick and goopy like some cremes, and it doesn’t smell bad like some of those other cremes and rubs either. Plus, a little bit goes a long way.

Wednesday night is my hockey night and since we are the last group on the ice for the night, we usually get about 15-20 minutes of extra ice time for free. Which is great, but it just means more hard skating. Tomorrow morning I’ll be using my Freeze It again!

Thanks, Freeze It! Can I get a deal if I get my hockey team to start buying Freeze It in bulk? Free Freeze It for life?

Tuesday night I took my son to a parent/player skate n’ shoot, which is like an open session of ice skating for hockey players. You can take your stick and pucks out onto the ice and just have fun. We had a blast. The little guy had his best skate n’ shoot night yet! We’ve gone on the last couple of Tuesday nights for the parent/player skate n’ shoot and the little guy has been losing interest about twenty minutes into it. But this time he was gung ho the whole skate! Plus, before the skate we saw his coach, who had a game of his own to play in and invited us to watch the end of it. So after out skate n’ shoot, we bought some pizza slices and coke and watched his coach play. The little gut loved it, and talked to his coach when he came off the ice.

It’s been a while since the Hockey Dad has commented on the state of Tampa Bay sports teams. That’s because in the summer we do not have a major team. Oops, I guess the Devil Rays count. But they suck and have no pitching and none in sight. The big news around here is NFL training camps start next week and everyone is watching what the Bucs will do, especially since Jon Gruden is on the hot seat. But for me, I’ve been happy with my Tampa Bay Lightning off season moves. They did not make any sexy signings, but they did make some that makes them a better hockey club. Training camp begins September 13!

Wife not only raised $2200 for her own 3-Day goal, but she helped her sister and her cousin meet their goals too!

Thanks to the following people, I don’t need to break open my wallet to fill in the blanks this year:

Alli
Carolyn
Mike from Sinus Infection
Robyn
Matthew from Blog About Your Blog
Funny Junk
Cybercelt from the Texas RV Travel blog
Karen from My Road
and Sian Lun Lau

Wife’s still working hard on getting donations for her sister’s 3 day campaign. She snagged another $200 in donations this week for her! Find out how you can help here, and you’ll be getting the link love too!

Thanks to:
Kitty
Kelly at That’s What She Said.
Vedis
Barnett Associates (Marysville WA homes)

Wife tells me that her sister got a few more donations this week, thanks to a deal wife is offering bloggers who donate.

Props to Greg Watson, Thinking Outloud, and Surviving NJ, for stepping up to the plate. You can get in on the deal too, just click here to find out more.

My wife and sister in law are walking in the 3 Day walk again this year, and my wife just met her goal last week! She’s helping her sister finish her fund raising now, and you can find out about a special deal she’s got offering links for sale she’s doing to raise the funds. Charles from C.Whyte’s blog has already taken advantage of the deal!