As we enter the silly season of hockey life known as "the January Grind," it's caused me to stop and reflect on what hockey means to me and my family.  Over the years, we have seen the January Grind rear its ugly head and stir up emotions of entire organizations.  Players, coaches and parents get to a point of frustration and want everyone to know about their unhappiness.

But this is not that kind of story.

Instead, I want to share with you the perspective of  a second year Bantam parent who may be experiencing her last January Grind with the people she now calls family.

This is my son's last year as a Bantam and we do know, as a family, that life will change after the first week in March.  Some players will remain for their 2nd year of Bantams, some will move on to high school, others will try out for higher level teams, and some will decide they are done with their hockey adventure.  As I look at my son's current team, it makes my heart flutter ever so slightly to know that kids I have watched over the last eight years, will scatter to the wind and no longer be a part of our everyday life. Their parents who I adore will become friendly faces at the local grocery store, siblings that once added their own personality and antics to each game and practice will become high-schoolers in the blink of an eye.

Life will change.

This is bittersweet as I know my son, who I couldn't be more proud of, wraps up his last season as a youth player and will transition into a young man.  He has learned so much from the world of hockey - and not just the swear words!  Hockey has developed in him a stillness that I see him use in his everyday life.  A tenacity that I hope will serve him well as he enters adulthood.  The knowledge that life does not always go according to plan and you have to accept and move past it. The ability to be flexible when tough decisions are made for you.  Since he is an only child, he has hockey has given him the ability to experience "siblings."  This team has given my son a purpose bigger than himself.  Working together as a team is a skill he has learned and will use for the rest of his life. I am grateful to hockey for helping me to shape my child into the young man he is today and will be in the future.

Do you get negatives from hockey?  Sure with anything in life you get the good and the bad.  Excessive wear and tear on vehicles, having to get creative with finances, having no free time from September to March, teammates really acting like siblings and the squabbling that goes with it, and of course, moody parents and players.  But can I tell you a secret?

I'm going to miss it.  All of it.  You will miss it too.

I'll miss things like going to a restaurant together after a tough game to rehash every move made on the ice and then getting into a spit ball fight with your coach(true story and not recommended). Or things like calling each other on the highway after a long tournament weekend to see where everyone is stopping to eat because you are just not ready to go home yet.  Team breakfasts, team lunches, team snacks, team dinners, team parent beers, is anyone else seeing a theme here?  Having more team mates over than your home can handle just because you want to be around each other.  Seeing new sites together in different cities. Celebrating together for the highs in life and being shoulders to lean on in the lows. This is the family that I will have to step away from as my player ages out and moves on.

When you are in the middle of hockey season it's easy to forget that there is an ending. You are so caught up in everyday life with practices and games, running around buying gear, selling gear, picking up kids, dropping them off feeding them, and then it hits you…6 weeks left.  You will try to put it out of your mind but it's always there tugging at your heart strings, reminding you that these kids will play more games but never they'll never be together like this season. There will come a day for you too, when it hits home that the end is coming.  Change is around the corner.

I beg you to remind your players, who may get frustrated with team mates, next season, things will be different. This is the time to enjoy each other, have fun as a team, play hard today because tomorrow life will be different. Remind them that this chapter will end soon and to get as much growing and learning out of it before it is over.  Soon they may find themselves on a team without a single familiar face and that will be a new test for them to overcome.

Parents forgive each other quickly.  We all get on each other nerves, I'm guilty, but don't let it ruin what could be your players last opportunity to play with a group that they love.  Do not let adult problems spill over onto youth sports, there is no room for them and it only causes bigger problems.  Just like our players, enjoy each other TODAY, because tomorrow will be different.

So as everyone around me starts to get a bit edgy because January is just a TOUGH month, I'm in the corner getting misty eyed knowing that it is all coming to an end.  I do not know where my son's hockey choices will take him, but I do know where ever the next step is he has the ability to adapt because hockey taught him how.