The Agony of Defeat

So, Thing 2 has been playing roller hockey for, I dunno, 7 or 8 years now.  The hockey season is, well, seasonal with Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall sessions.  Her various teams have gone on to the Championship game five times and five times she has walked skated away with the Second Place trophy.

I don't have photos from three of the games because for several years, I didn't have a camera that actually worked so just picture these pictures three more times and you get the idea.

So, this season, the Spring 2010 season, She gets on a team and within 2 hours after the first game, she is traded to a different team.  With a coach she's had issues with previously.  And because I'm one of those helicopter parents who thinks whatever her kid wants her kid should have, I demanded to the management that she get placed with a coach who will tell her how fabulous she is and that she can do no wrong.  Oh.  Wait.  I didn't do that.  Because I'm not one of those idiot parents.  I gave her a choice:  play with this coach or don't play at all.  She chose to play (and I use the term loosely) and her coach alternated between screaming at her and complimenting her.  And for the first time in her career, she went an entire season without ever scoring a single goal, although she had several assists.

Anyway, her team finished the regular season in 1st place, won in playoffs so guess who was going to the Championship game for the SIXTH time?  Sixth time's the charm, right?

Or not.

Her team got on the board first and then completely fell apart.  They couldn't get that puck anywhere near the net if their lives depended on it but their opponents didn't have a problem.  I thought we were going to have a Mercy, which happens when a team gets a 10 point lead and then the game is OVER, even if it's in the 2nd period.  That didn't happen but it was close.  Final score: Penguins 2, Rangers 10.  Ouch.

So, once again, Thing 2 gets her 2nd Place trophy which joins the other 5 in her trophy case.  

Who is thrilled with her trophy?  Not Kaylyn.  And who happily posed for pictures?  Not Kaylyn.  I had to take this one while walking backwards while she skated towards the locker room.

 Kaylyn and her Number One Fan, Sean.

And based on her admittedly lackluster performance this season ("I'm just not FEELING it this season."  Really?  I hadn't noticed.  Oh.  Wait.), I think it's time to hang up the skates for the summer.