Playoff hockey...more than just a game!

I promise this will be the last hockey themed post...until Megan has hockey camp in August.

Clearly it isn't a secret that we are a hockey family and that we are huge fans of our AC Bulldogs. They had an amazing season, the excitement really heated up for the Harris Cup Championship and then continued on during the playoffs. Megan and Joey had a great time cheering the boys on, which meant that our Bulldogs gave us a lot of fun family memories (that Joey still reenacts all the time!) 

 The tradition at AC is that after they win the Harris Cup,the fans are invited onto the ice to celebrate with the players. (read about past Harris Cup wins here ) Our kids LOVE being able to go on the ice and this year was no exception!

 Joey was running from the stands to get to the ice, to find our hockey boy. We were so excited for him and the rest of the guys, they deserved this moment. (Side Note: this is a rare picture of Megan with a genuine smile, not forced or fake, which NEVER happens for pictures.)

 Joey found his goalie or DK found his Joey...honestly, I'm not sure who like who more.

 The playoffs were really heating up and AC was able to host the quarter final game. The last time they hosted a quarter final game, we were in Florida. Being able to witness a sold out crowd, standing room only was sold out too, was kind of a fun experience on it's on. Being there to witness our boys win, making it into the Frozen Four was pretty darn exciting.

 Amazing game...simply amazing game.

 After that exciting win at AC, the next day we were taking Megan and Joey to their first Red Wings game. (It was so crazy, this was the best pic I took and Megan wanted no part of having her picture taken!)

 Both kids were excited to watch the game and both of them were in awe of how big The Joe is.

 Joey was also super excited that they had 2 Zambonis! Seriously, he wouldn't look away when 2 Zambonis were on the ice!

Please excuse my "deep thoughts" for a moment.
Because AC won the night before, we now had a big decision to make. Do we make the trip to Minnesota to cheer on the guys or do we just cheer them on from home watching the game online? Mark knew even before they won that he was going, my parents were going and so were a lot of other fans. I was torn...pull Megan from school for a hockey game!?! I didn't know...until I sat watching the Red Wings game. Normally, watching a professional game is exciting, but for me, for this game, my heart wasn't there. My heart was with AC and not wanting to miss their game in Minn. This helped make my decision...plus a text from our hockey boy...we were all going to Minnesota!

 In a matter of days, hockey fans had custom shirts printed for each of our hockey boys, hotel reservations were made and GPS's were ready to get us there. You'll notice 5 shirts in this picture...we had an extra family member joining us for the road trip, our hockey boy's girlfriend needed to get to Minny and we were happy to be able to get her there!

 Pretty darn impressive when you stop to think about all the ups and downs AC during the regular season.

 I can only imagine what they were thinking about warming up for this game.

 The Schutte men were set and ready to cheer for our boys.

 Drop the puck!

My 2 favorite moments from this game: watching the players look at the crowd cheering after they scored their 1st goal...the smiles on their faces were priceless! Then being there to cheer extra loud when our hockey boy scored a goal in an NCAA semi-final game...awesome!

Sadly, the game didn't end with AC moving onto the finals. There were tears and then we moved on. Friends, fans, family and players rallied and had one hell of a celebration to end the season.

Taking over the basement of a bar, our kids played and our kids learned that no matter what, you cheer for our boys, you cheer for the guys that worked hard all season, you cheer for the good guys because it's not about what they do on the ice that we respect, it's what they do off the ice! They are all great guys and were had a great time watching them this year. To quote a hockey mom, "If this is how we celebrate when they lose, I can't wait to see how we celebrate when they win." AC will have their moment, I just know it! (read about our first trip to Minnesota here.)

And just like that, we were on our way back home. The trip was 100% worth it and we made a lot of memories. I know the hockey guys appreciated the support, but what they don't realize is that we appreciate what they do for us. I can't begin to count how many hugs our kids got from players, how many fist bumps Joey got or how many encouraging words they gave Megan before she stepped on the ice for her practice (which was right after their practice once a week) For that I say "thank you."