Happy New Year to all HockeyNow readers and fellow hockey moms!

While the World Juniors is definitely the preeminent event at the moment, I am also planning for a busy January tournament-wise within our own family. We have an upcoming hockey tournament in Huntsville, Ontario, a local one in Nepean and a third in Smith Falls, mixed in with the usual practices, league games and high school exams.

January is also a very typical time for people to reflect on their accomplishments over the last year and make plans for the new year ahead. You can barely open the paper, turn on the TV, peruse your inbox, or flip through a magazine without being flooded with media relating to making that fresh start for 2016 and the best tactics for keeping your New Year’s resolutions.

There are no tactics for me. I’m done with New Year’s resolutions. By the second week of January, my list is a crumpled mess of frustration and tossed into the fire with the kindling (where the list might actually be useful). I’m sure many hockey moms are on my team! Instead, I’ve decided to make an anti-resolution list: a very useful list of things I will NOT do in 2016:

1.       I will NOT worry about the hockey smell emanating from my garage anymore…
(It repels wildlife – and most of humanity.)

2.       I will NOT sweat the small stuff …
(Except that coach that gave player of the game to a player who raked up five penalties in one game – grrrrrr!)

3.       I will NOT share my hockey blanket …
(I know it’s immature and selfish, but get your own!)

4.       I will NOT feel bad if – because we’re busy - my kids have both a pre and post-game meal …
(Sit-down family meals might score all the goals but snacks are the hardest working line in hockey.)

5.       Will NOT complain about the hockey schedule anymore …
(There are hockey moms out there who have it waaaaaaay worse than me!)

6.       I will NOT bother learning referee hand signals
(As my husband rolls his eyes at me yet again as I mistake an offside whistle for a penalty whistle, I figure I’m a lost cause! I am NOT going to sweat it - see #2.)

7.       I will NOT bother sewing the name bars onto the jerseys and I will NOT feel guilty about it …
(It’s halfway through the season after all … if they want to know who #12 is, check the game sheet!)

8.       I will NOT over pack healthy food for tournament weekends.
(Some people think I should be embarrassed that drive-through clerks in many eastern Ontario fast food restaurants know me by name. They may be right but I am NOT going to sweat it – see #2!)

9.       I will NOT bother trying to go to bed early on tournament weekends …
(‘There is no ‘try’, there is only ‘make fun of her in the morning – I’m sure that’s what Yoda meant.)

10.   I will NOT sit with any parent who complains yet doesn’t help out on the team!
( … unless they beat me to the only functioning heater in the arena – then I might tolerate them for an hour!)

Whether or not you make resolutions or anti-resolutions, the good news is that hockey season will be over by March at which point many of these “resolutions” will no longer be acknowledged anyway!

Happy New Year to all the Hockey Now community – especially the hockey moms holding out false hope on any of their own hockey mom resolutions!