The off-season is flying by and a big part of the off-season, in addition to getting the race cars and a lot of the things back in gear on the race side is spending time with the family. For me, the off-season is about my three boys and my wife Terri. However, the last several weeks have been a transition from drag strips to ice rinks.
We went to a Thanksgiving hockey tournament for my son Bob in New Haven, Connecticut. We spent the weekend with the entire hockey team and the kids went to their first finals. It was really exciting for me to see how competitive these kids are at such a young age. They won two games on Saturday, which put them into the finals on Sunday. Although they didn’t win the tournament, coming in second and getting trophies as a team was fun the team and for me, especially to see Bob get his first trophy. He carried the trophy with him all day long even when we went shopping on the way from Connecticut, and at Austin’s hockey game.
In addition to their second-place title, Bob scored his first goal in that tournament. That goal was a turning point for him. He’s in a very competitive league and he’s one of the younger ones on the team. To see him get his first goal was as special for me as it was for him.
This past weekend Bob and his team had another big hockey game which the won with a 2-0 score. Bob had one of the two goals in that big win over a local state rival. At this rate, they could potentially reach the state finals and win the championship. I really enjoy watching the boys play hockey and to be able to attend a lot of the games during the off-season is great.
It is amazing to watch my sons and their friends. One day in the hotel, there were seven kids, all seven years old, sitting shoulder-to-shoulder playing Nintendo DS. What I didn’t realize was that they had their games synchronized. They were playing a race car game against each other. They were so intent on competing with this game, which is why I took a picture of them playing. Bob is sitting on the blue chair in the back. Then my youngest, Cameron, was sitting in-between the boys looking at the games. I remember playing Atari when I was a kid, so this was fascinating to watch.
In addition to all the hockey games, I can’t forget to tell you about my favorite holiday – Thanksgiving. Ever since I can remember, Thanksgiving is the only holiday as a family that we spend together. The Tasca family is a big family and as you can imagine, we get pulled in a lot of different directions as most families do around the holiday time.
Although Christmas we all go our own ways, Thanksgiving is a holiday that we spend together on the Tasca side of the family. Thanksgiving is, without question, my favorite holiday because Thanksgiving is more about family and appreciating what God has given us as a family and to celebrate that day together. We spent Thanksgiving at my grandmother’s house. We watched football games and ate too much, although I was good because I want to stay in fight weight here with the season just around the corner.
Coming up, I’m going to the PRI show (Performance Racing Industry), which will be the time first for me. Then I’ll spend a week at the race shop and with the guys getting a lot of the final plans in place as we approach the season. I’ve got more hockey in my future here and we have a big Christmas tournament with Bob, so we’ll be somewhere up in Massachusetts, so it will be exciting to see them compete again.
More hockey updates in my next blog! I hope everyone is enjoying their off-season. We’ll be back on track very soon.
-Bob
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