No Snow

We are in the middle of a mildly disappointing winter—at least if one is a skier, as the person writing these words is. All we have to show for these cold weeks is a thick layer of ice in the fields and about two inches of crusted snow on top.

The best way to cope with no snow (and El Nino or climate change) is to make do with what you have. We have cold and we have ice. So Mark is lacing up the skates twice a week to play hockey over in Brattleboro and Ellinore’s hockey season is unfolding as well.

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Ellie in game mode, beating a Deerfield opponent, focused on clearing the puck from the zone during a penalty kill

Ellie practices five days each week and she is doing strength work in the gym after a couple of those practices. Her high school team plays two games each week as well, on Wednesday and Saturday afternoons. Her team is relatively strong in a league of strong teams full of players who will go on to play division I and division III college-level ice hockey. NMH is not putting up a lot of wins but we have a handful of wins and two ties and all but a few of the games has been decided by a single goal.

This winter of snow we are also following the successful runs of two teams that include former teammates of Ellie’s: Ryan’s Division 1 Boston College Eagles and Courtney’s Division III Plattsburgh University Cardinals. Both teams are undefeated and ranked number 1 in the nation. Go Ryan! Go Court!

All of us who happen to think that women’s hockey is the best have been supporting the new professional National Women’s Hockey League this year as well. (In fact for Christmas Ellie received tickets to a game at Harvard’s Landry Center in Cambridge between the Boston Pride and the Connecticut Whalers.) The tragic part of the inaugural NWHL season, though, is the injury of Denna Laing, the former Princeton and Boston Pride player who damaged her spine in an exhibition game on New Year’s day. Tributes and fundraising to support her rehabilitation are happening around the hockey world, including the NHL. In fact a You Tube Tribute includes a photograph of Ellie and her NMH team, with the girls from Deerfield Academy, honoring Deena Laing.

Yesterday Ellie broke her stick in practice. Last night Mark scored three times in his evening game. And this afternoon, after Ellie sits for her SAT test, she will join her NMH team in a tussle against the Tilton School. As we say around here, Go Hoggers!

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