Soon to be Fall

Last night the air was cold. Not as cold as I would like - no snow yet, but it was a good start. Those long days of summer are winding down. Soon the leaves will change and Autumn will kick in. Cider, apple picking, cool night walks along the lake with the wife and hockey stick - in case of bears. I haven't seen any bears down here. They know how many hockey sticks I keep handy. It's almost time for school to start. The kids may not be looking forward to it, but I am. These are the days where a good book and a cool breeze make for a relaxing afternoon. Tyler and I played a little street hockey - more of a trick competition than an actual game. Then we made sure to pack our skates in the truck for this evening's hockey practice. These are the simple pleasures in life that you need to hold on to and remember for all time.  I want to focus this fall on stick handling the puck. We always work on skating, and hit all the different skills, but stick handling seems to come to my attention a lot lately. I've been noticing some players hesitant to hold onto the puck while maneuvering down the ice. I like to see passing, but skill controlling the puck goes along with great skating ability. We're going to work a little extra on that over the next few weeks and see how things work out. This preseason work is all about skill anyways. We worked very hard on skating earlier this summer. Many of the players kept up with some ice time, so we'll see where we stand tonight. Own the puck, own the ice, and you'll own the game. You still have to score at least one more goal than the opposing team. How hard can that be?