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SIREN 1363 ~ Mini-Gongers
Blog — By A-Snow on January 31, 2012 3:03 PM
Mini-Gongers @ A Tourny I Went to Circa 1991
Sunday afternoon I was getting ready to leave for Minneapolis to catch a flight back to the West Coast after having spent a few days up North with the family. As a last minute get together I went to eat with my brother, his wife, and my 1 year old niece. I was in a rush to get to the airport but also wanted to watch part of the All Star Game with my little niece (got to get her started early right?) so we decided to just grab a quick bite at a local restaurant. Our waitress walked us to our table, one with a prime view of the game of course, and we settled in. I looked to my right and realized we had been seated next to a large table of boys, none of them over the age of 13, their parents sitting a few tables away chaperoning them as they ate and stared at the game on screen.
I laughed as I overheard parts of their conversation, “Ah dude! Look at the dangle!” “Look at Price…he sucks!” “You know who the most underrated player in the NHL is?” and other various takes on the NHL from the table full of Minnesota Boys Hockey players.
Ah yes, I was three feet away from a table full of mini-Gongers, still red-faced from playing in a tournament that day; warmies on, messy flow, housing food like they’ve never been fed before, and of course recapping this reason and that reason why they lost. They sat there chirping their goalie for making a save and then subsequently blowing the game for them anyway (cuz when you’re 10 its always the goalie’s fault right?). Sitting at the very end of the table was a little girl, probably 6 or 7 years old, quietly following the conversation at the table. Obviously she was the little sister of one of the boys, along for the ride, and of course so she could go swimming at a hotel too!
I looked at my big brother sitting across the table from me and couldn’t help but flash back to our childhood. I felt like I was watching us from a distance again and was reminded that I really do come from a place built on routine and tradition. When my brother was the same age as the boys sitting there he also played Hockey and we would travel to small Minnesota towns all over the place for random Hockey tournaments. I, like the little girl sitting a few feet away from me, was in it for the hotel hot tub, the hot chocolate at the game, and of course to cheer on my big brother! Let’s face it, at six years old I knew nothing about Hockey and was more concerned with what kind of candy I could get at the concession stand than what was happening on the ice, but all that time spent in barns across the state watching game after game after game planted something in me that never went away, my love for the game.
I can only hope the same for the little girl sitting at that table on Sunday during the All Star Game, that she is cultivating her own appreciation for the game through these road trips with her brother as well. Hopefully she won’t have to endure any road trip mishaps like I did where multiple pee-wee teams fell victim to chlorine poisoning at a hotel during one tourny and the whole thing almost got called off for example…which is a whole different story entirely…anyway, I hope she grows up to appreciate the game as much as I do. I also hope my niece, who was more interested in her toys than the All Star Game on TV, grows up with a love for the game as well…and she will as long as I’m a part of her life! Anyway, back to the main point.
Looking back its easy to see where many aspects of the lifestyle begin…at that very table you could see the importance of “the boys” and the team meal. The parents knew their place, and it was certainly not at the table with the team. Watching them step in only when needed, allowing the boys to form a bond in their own way, was truly something to observe and an example of how the Hockey lifestyle influences everything for those involved, including parenting. I truly believe it takes a special kind of person to raise a Gonger. A knowledge of not just the game, but the life as well, is necessary to raise up a player with enough determination to make it and survive.
My parents are not Hockey people, never were, probably never will be…and my brother, is not a Gonger. (To be clear, not every kid who picks up a hockey stick becomes a Gonger in my humble opinion, you’ve gotta love it to be one, because only love can make you crazy enough to live as Gongers do haha!) I think he made it to age 14 playing the sport before calling it quits. It’s not uncommon to see kids hang up the skates around that age, citing “politics” as their reason for leaving the game. I think this word is abused in the hockey realm and I wouldn’t cite “politics” as their reason for leaving, I’d cite a lack of understanding of the lifestyle and what needs to be done to bring players to the next level as the real culprit of Hockey player attrition.
The boys next to me in that restaurant were verging on the age of continuing in a Hockey system or hangin’ up the skates. Just by looking at them and listening to them for a few minutes I’m willing to bet I can tell you which ones will still be playing in three years and which ones won’t. Some of them are going to move up and discover they simply don’t have the talent, others will move up and discover they don’t have the drive, more still may just not be ready for the pressure and heat that comes with the job, and some simply will be pulled away by the demands of other interests or family expectations. Whatever the case may be, the group of boys sitting there will drop significantly over the next few years until only a select few remain.
Those select few will be the ones with a chance at making it as a pro. They will have proven that “politics” is just another word for the stress, pressure, pain, ups and downs, glorious wins, heartbreaking losses, and the very tool used to weed out those lacking the heart and ability to excel in such a brutal sport. They will be the ones who truly learn what it is to be a Gonger, and how long the road to get there can be. The path to becoming a Gonger is long and hard, never easy, and always painful. The weird thing about it though, is that it is also the most rewarding, fun, out of control, wouldn’t trade it for the world experience as well.
That being said, we all know that some Gongers are just born as such, and will live the lifestyle from the time they breathe their first breath to the time they breathe their last, even if they have no talent; and even some who may never even play because of physical restriction or other limitations. Some Gongers are honorary members of the world, being recognized as such because of their understanding of the world hockey exists in, or because they were brought into it and embraced it as much as someone who doesn’t play is able to (I see myself somewhere in this category). Some Gongers will never play a day past elementary school, but once its in them it never fully goes away. For whatever reason, there are exceptions to the rule as to what defines a Gonger but they will have one universal thing in common…they will love the game and respect and embrace the lifestyle that comes along with it.
The mini-Gongers sitting next to me on Sunday aren’t old enough yet to understand everything that comes with the Gongshow lifestyle, but they understand it enough to know its worth the long roadies and even longer practices. They know they are part of something both amazing and enviable, and I hope they get the chance to grow up, survive the “politics”, and come out on the other side living the Gongshow life.
Until next time Gongers, W.S.P. and embrace every second of the life, you’ve earned it!
~A.Snow
Follow me on Twitter @AmySnow17
(Also noteworthy from this blog, I’ve decided to title my little section of Gongshow blog Heaven “Siren 1363”. I’ll explain it in a separate blog but wanted to give you all a heads up that I was jealous everyone else seemed to have a cool Blog Title and I didn’t yet so I made one up! 
Watch for my posts to come up underneath that heading from now on! Take Care Gongers!)
61 Comments
good read
yep
ya?
great read once again amy
so true, reading all this i remember all the roadies and tourneys and can only help but feel bad for my poor little sis that got dragged along. some of the best family time i ever had growing up, and i wouldnt trade that or the experiences with the boys (hotel antics, locker room BS, tourney wins, league titles, ANYTHING) for the world, proud to call myself a hockey player for life and a gonger!
first off “great read”…second of all I think you have to at least have something to do with the sport or grow up into a hockey family, you cant just throw on a T that has the word gongshow on it to be a gonger, nobody wants our lifestyle watered down
You definately have to have played the sport I agree Hazer, I mean there are some beauties out there that play for fun or picked the game up as a hobby; and by all means don’t get me wrong they may enjoy the game as well just maybe not in the way myself or other gongers have enduring the long bus trips, or the long workouts, the early morning bagskates… those virtues are what make average beauties into Gongers
hasser nailed it on the head. you have to understand the lifestlye or play the game. alot of people arent fortunate enough to get to play hockey, but as long as they have that love for the game its alright
another amazing read
That’s what makes the hockey brotherhood so special. You don’t see that in other sports, where a team bands together to become something more, a family.
Solid
great read
haha thats great
great read
There was absolutely nothing better during travel hockey when you would just be sitting at uno’s pizza just mixing whatever you could find in one of your teammates drinks. We all may have gone off to different teams and different levels of play, but we all grew up on the same page. We all loved the game then and we all love it now
good read
solid read
good read i cant wait to have a son and have him play puck
great read,
Definitely a good read. Love the way you summed it up at the end.
Haha… this reminded me also of some of my teammates birthday parties as well as the year end banquets! Always a great time sitting with the other players talking trash about the season and celebrating the victories! Good times and good read!
I can only hope my kid enjoys hockey like i do
Nice to see you gettin’ your niece in there young! And interesting to hear the perspective of seeing a young version of yourself. I hear you with the “hockey people” comment. I’m not from a “hockey family” at all, my brother played until he was about 17 but he is much younger than me. My parents never took me to a rink or anything like that. Falling in love with the game is easy, and soon you’ve got a whole OTHER family … ones who ARE “hockey people” : )
Haha Fox, it’s soooo true that the “Hockey People” are a whole additional family. My hockey family gets bigger every day, but there’s like the immediate family (the gongers who make my life beyond interesting and the people I go to hockey events and stuff with) and then the extended family (the people I interact with in regards to hockey but not necessarily the hardcore fans or players I’m always interacting with). Does that make sense? Haha, I’m still a little out of it from being sick. But yeah, its interesting to me looking back on my evolution into this crazy hockey loving, lifestyle living girl I am today!
// Thanks for all of the great feedback everyone!
Im with the boys up top there. Its not something that just can happen overnight. You need to have a long love for the game and have a clear understanding of what its like to be a hockey player
Great read Amy thank you! This reminds me of a convo I had a few weeks ago with a old teammate i played pee wees with. We was talking about stuff like 13 to 14 years ago and it was like it just happened yesterday.
Just to clarify, I don’t want the lifestyle watered down either and for sure agree that you can’t just throw on a gongshow T and be part of this amazing life. It’s definitely an earned thing
great read nice pic
good read
great read
A-Snow… I think this was your best blog post yet. You summed it all up… what it takes to get through the highs and lows, and to perspire and persevere onward. I have two very young sons, but you show an insight into parenting in the hockey lifestyle that not many parents themselves have. I applaud you.
Thanks Flowman55! I think that I just notice how “Hockey Parents” handle situations differently because I grew up around it and I have always been really observant of how people conduct themselves as both people and parents. I don’t have any kiddos myself yet, but one day we’ll see if my hockey parenting techniques actually work on any little mini’s I may have in the future haha! I better make sure their father is a gonger so they get Hockey parenting from both sides lol! But seriously, thank you for the compliment on the post!
nice
nice
hah thats awesome.. little squirts
good read.
good read
good job
nice read
Great article!
very nice work
Gongshow needs to make a mini gonger brand! My siblings would get soo much of that
this is why you play the game
nice pic
Even back then roadies and tournies were where the best memories came from.
great article
great read
unreal!
great read
beautiful.
amazing
nice
Unreal
Sick
mini gongers ahhahaha
good read
solid read
cool
unreal. so true. ive met and played with a bunch of these people.
sick
cool stuff