Patriot's Day Tournament Niagara Falls

OOOOOH is it cold outside! This weekend we are in Niagara Falls, New York for the Patriot Day Hockey Tournament being held here at Niagara University. We arrived Friday evening in order for the boys to play their first game this morning at 6:30 AM.

They played a hard game, but a dissapointing one none the less. The Columbus team beat our Strongsville Mustang team 6-0. Regardless, the boys held their heads high. Afterwards we headed out to Denny's for breakfast. Then over to see the falls for the first time. Both Phil and I had seen the falls as kids but this was a first experience for Zach and Katie. They thought the falls were cool, but thought throwing snowballs and chunks of ice over the fence was even more fun.


Here's a quick shot of the kids we were with this morning in front of the falls. Quick because A it was really, really cold that close to the falls with the water spraying all over. And B-quick because the kids were far more interested in throwing the ice and snow.

We came back to the hotel after visiting the Niagara Aquarium and managed to get the kids to nap for a bit before our next game. The boys once again played hard, and had fun. The parents cheered and yelled and mostly have laryngitis at this point. BUT despite the cheering and the yelling the team fell to a 7-1 loss. We're headed off to a team dinner and time hanging out with our hockey family, but for now the kids are off in the pool hopeing to recapture the fun that this weekend is suppose to be made of.

So as the voices of the California kids echo from the hill outside in their attempt to live the Northern life of sledding, and the sound of hockey players fill the hallway with the sound of hotel hockey I can only be reminded of the catch phrase of many Master Card Commercials.

4 hours of driving, 5:30 am -witnessing an unused sheet of ice, the feel of putting on equipment and playing your heart out. Time as a kids spending time with a team. The cost might be high, but the memories are priceless.