They had a dream to bring Junior A hockey to our area, so they worked some magic, and through some blood, sweat and tears, brought together the Glacier Nationals Junior A hockey team. This is the inaugural season for this NORPAC (Northern Pacific) expansion team. I am still not sure how the tier system works. All I know is that Butch and Jo asked us to host a player for the season. I'll just tell you, they do so much for everyone else, we couldn't say no.
Well, one player turned into two and then one night they brought another "stray" home from practice (all with our permission). It has been difficult to find billet families this first season, but I think next year, people will be infected with hockey fever as we are. So we had three for about three weeks and now we are back to the original two. Here is a picture of the three of them in our basement "man cave" we created for them.
From left, Paul, Austin and Trevor. It is a frightening reality to realize that we are now old enough to be their parents. Where did young and cool go?Let me introduce them to you.
Trevor Perry arrived first. A quiet 18 year old from Ashland, Oregon. This is his third year of Junior A hockey, but his first away from home. He is quiet around us, but can be quite passionate and loud when playing any game. The first one of their games we watched on internet stream, gloves off!
Trevor is on the right in this picture.Paul Kinder arrived next from Detroit, Michigan. A gentle 18 year old with a fun sense of humor, he is the opposite of Trevor on the ice, he is not a scrapper. It's just his thing, "I don't fight" is what he told us. This is his first year of Junior A.
About a week later Jo said a 15 year old high school kid would be joining us. Instead they arrived home with 20 year old Austin Willenborg from Dubuque, Iowa. He is a goaltender for the team.
He jumped into the role of big brother and Anthony and Rita constantly wanted to play. His bed was under the vent that goes directly into the twins' room. Rita and Anthony removed the vent cover, the one in the basement is waiting to be replaced. There ensued a very loud game of "monster in the basement" with Rita, Anthony and the three boys. Unfortunately, when you wind up a four year old boy who has access to water, stuff happens. I suddenly heard Austin roar "hey quit, that's my bed!" Anthony had dumped a cup of water on the basement monsters. End of game!So when I tell people that I have hockey players in my basement, and then explain what that means, they think we're crazy. I think we are blessed to have this opportunity to help these young men on the road to their dreams of playing in the NHL. The boys are nice, respectful, stay out of trouble and, except for the occasional reminder to muck out the basement, are much less trouble that most other 18 year-olds we know. We are happy to provide a home away from home for them.
This is the team after their first home victory last night.
Visit the team website at http://glaciernationals.pointstreaksites.com/view/glaciernationals to check out what the "Nats" are up to.
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