After surviving the chaos of the first day, you'd think the drive home would be a peaceful, smooth ride. But let me back up for a second — the night *before* the snowstorm, we decided to drive up to Salmon a day early to beat the weather. Great idea in theory, right? WRONG. It was pitch black. We had never driven up there before, and I was *convinced* we were skirting along the edge of some massive cliff, just waiting for one icy patch to send us sliding to our doom.

Spoiler alert: We survived.

Turns out, on the drive home from the tournament, when it was light out, we discovered the terrain was flatter than a pancake. Like, we’re talking “if we slid off the road, we might get stuck in a snowbank” flat. No cliffs. No perilous drops to certain death. Just wide open, flat land. My panic for nothing! Classic.

The Thumbs Up War
Now, let’s talk about the *real* action – and I’m not talking about the game. I’m talking about the Thumbs Up War.

There we were, watching our Jr. Steelheads battle it out on the ice when the ref made a call so bad it could’ve only been explained by temporary blindness. One of our parents (you know the one) couldn’t hold back and shouted, "Nice call!" — you know, in that sarcastic tone hockey parents have perfected. Before we knew it, a parent from the opposing team shot him a thumbs up. Now, to be clear, this wasn’t a friendly thumbs up. This was the kind of thumbs up that said, “I see your sarcasm, and I raise you a passive-aggressive gesture.”

Well, guess what? That fired me right up. I shot her back a thumbs up with equal sarcasm. And that’s when the thumbs up battle really took off. Back and forth it went, each one of us cranking up the sass. I’d like to think I won when I threw in a double thumbs up for good measure, but I’m sure she’s telling her side of the story where *she* came out on top. We’ll call it a draw — for now.

The AirBnB Adventures
Back at our cozy little AirBnB, we stayed with two other hockey families. When the snow really started coming down, it was a team effort to keep up with the shoveling. Every hour, on the hour, someone was out there with a shovel. I swear, we shoveled enough snow to build an igloo village. But hey, it was all about that team bonding, right?

Meanwhile, inside the house, chaos reigned supreme. The little kids — our rink rats — discovered a chair that was clearly designed for someone’s sweet grandma. You know the kind that raises up, lowers down, leans back, and tilts forward to help you get out and stand. But to these kids, it was not a chair for resting. Oh no, they saw it as a full-blown amusement park ride. They took turns launching each other up and down, leaning so far back it looked like they were about to take off into space. Giggles echoed through the house as they treated this poor chair like the world’s slowest, but somehow most exciting, roller coaster. Forget hockey, this was the real entertainment!

Body Sleds
All the hockey siblings wanted nothing to do with watching their siblings play hockey or sitting with their parents by the Buddy heaters. Nope, they had their own agenda, and that was running around like maniacs in the freezing cold until they broke a sweat. But, did anyone think to bring a sled for these wild rink rats? Of course not! So what did these resourceful kids decide to sled on instead? Themselves! They took turns launching each other down snowbanks, using their bodies as makeshift sleds, sliding and rolling down hills with reckless abandon. No sled? No problem- they became the sleds!

Side note… I didn’t know this story until a few days ago, almost a year after it occured….I was too busy having a thumbs up war.

The Feather Fiasco
Of course, no hockey weekend is complete without some mishap. One of the older siblings, bored out of his mind, got a little too cozy with one of those portable buddy heaters. Next thing we know, his jacket melted! And not just a little. Feathers were flying everywhere like some kind of snow-covered pillow fight. You could barely see through the flurry of white fluff in the air.

We had to act fast. Enter: duct tape. In true hockey family fashion, we wrapped him up like a mummy, trapping the remaining feathers inside. He looked ridiculous, but hey — desperate times call for creative solutions. And, really, what’s a weekend without a duct-taped child running around?

So, to sum up, we survived icy drives, won a thumbs up war, outshoveled a blizzard, and discovered duct tape can hold a person together. Just another weekend in the life of a hockey family, right?

Stay tuned for the next adventure — who knows what will happen next!