Tournament Volunteers

It takes a lot of work to put on a tournament, probably quite a bit more than I understand. But I do know that parents have a lot of fun volunteering.

On Friday night, I managed the penalty box while Jon (Jackson's dad) ran the scoreboard and Cubby (Andrew S.'s dad) kept score. The sum total of my contribution for the evening was opening the door to the penalty box once. I don't remember the infraction, but it was a 2 minute penalty. After less than the two minutes were up the kid let himself out, because he knew, as I did not, that he could leave once the opposing team scored on a power play. I should have snapped a few photos that night (sorry Jon and Cubby) but I had the kind of job that took a lot of concentration. If I hadn't opened that door just right, there's no telling what kind of second-guessing could have ensued. Games have hinged on less. (Hinged...get it? Ha, ha, uhhh.)

The next night lots of parents were ready to do their duty for the Richfield tournament. I arrived early for my session in the booth. The previous game was still ongoing. The teams kept up the pace right until the end, but they were still tied after three periods. They played a sudden-death overtime period four-on-four, but there was still no breaking the tie. Then they had a shoot out. The first skater scored, and so did the second. The third skater missed, and so did the fourth. The fifth skater missed, but the sixth scored. There was jubilation on one side, dejection on the other. Ryan (Andy P.'s dad) can correct me if I got the sequence wrong.

Here he is watching the action in that game as he runs the scoreboard.

Dave (Max B.'s dad) did the announcing during the game.

Standing next to him is Derrick, the EMT at the game. He's been handling injured players on the ice and under-prepared parents in the booth for at least eight years. As a basketball player, he didn't have time for hockey. But he grew up on a lake, so he knows the rules of the game. More importantly, somewhere along the way he learned how to operate the scoreboard. Derrick managed one of the penalty boxes while Carl, the acting tournament director, handled the other. Many thanks to them both.

Derrick's expertise on the scoreboard came as a relief to CJ (Marco and Jacob's dad) and to me. CJ looks a little tense in this photo because he hasn't yet gotten the low-down from Derrick. The control panel looks like one of those purpose-built computer terminals, with custom designed keys that only an expert understands. With Derrick's tutoring, CJ could run the scoreboard and simultaneously tell me how to fill out the score sheet. There were no complaints from either the Irondale or the Buffalo teams, so we must have done OK.