Luck of the Irish

It all started, innocently enough, with my desire to get fitted for a pair of skates. It ended up, though, turning into a great hockey day.

As Colin and I drove to the Lightning's practice facility in Brandon on Monday, I figured we'd be able to watch the team practice and, if we were lucky, snag some autographs before they flew north to Toronto.

Well, we did watch the Lightning practice. Colin was excited to see his favorite Lightning players -- Vinny Lecavalier and Marty St. Louis -- skate through fast-paced drills. He even got three errant practice pucks, too.

The big thrill, though, came from the Notre Dame hockey team. We stumbled upon the Irish, in Florida for an extra day following a third-place finish in a holiday tournament, as they waited for their turn on the ice.

One of the players, Ryan Thang, felt that one of his sticks wouldn't last the practice and tossed it into a garbage can. Colin, sensing an opportunity and summoning the courage, asked if he could have it. How could they say no? Soon enough, he was the proud owner of a game-used Easton Synergy stick.

Though Colin was stoked to get the stick, the adventure went far beyond that. When I told Irish coach Jeff Jackson that he had a tryout, he asked why Colin wasn't suited up. The Irish, he said, needed someone to play the slot on the power play. All Colin could do was look up at me, asking where was his equipment.

Jackson, I believe, laughed the loudest at Colin's question.

After talking with some of the team staff during the practice, we figured it would be easy to get Thang to sign the stick. What we didn't expect, however, was that the Irish, to a man, would also follow suit. In fact, the players couldn't get off the ice unless they signed Colin's stick.

As I stood back, taking in the moment, I had a hard time figuring out who was enjoying the moment the most -- Colin or the players. Smiles came easy, hair was tousled and memories were made.

Looking back, it would have been easy enough to head home after the Lightning practice. I'm glad we didn't. Once again, hockey provided the backdrop for another father-son bonding moment. And the Irish, one of the nation's top-ranked college teams, gained a couple of fans.

It was, indeed, a great hockey day.