Thread: Ducks to buy Glacial Gardens in Lakewood.

They're creeping in. Saw a guy at the Mimi's Cafe on Lakewood Blvd in the restaurant with a Ducks jersey on. I wanted to dump his split pea soup into his lap.

is that asian girl still managing the day to day hockey leagues there? I hope she's gone.

Originally Posted by nosoupforyou

is that asian girl still managing the day to day hockey leagues there? I hope she's gone.

she is a friend of mine, and no, she doesn't work there anymore.

Well, now to go out and skate with my son you have to pass the USAH level 1 coaching cert and then the module for mites/mini mites. This is fine and dandy, but there are no courses or clinics online or in person until September. Thank you Ducks for screwing the parents over

^ that sucks man!

regarding the beer league, they wont allow any subs under any circumstances to play if your team is short handed. you can't even sign up as a fulltime sub under their rules, pretty weak.

spjon - its funny that you post this. My mom and I are driving my 5.5 year old up to TSC because we weren't impressed with the Lakewood program. We stopped by one Sunday and there were a bunch of moms out there running it. Gasseau was no where to be seen that weekend and it looked as sad of a program as he was getting at Aliso Viejo - which is just sad. They didn't have a handle on the kids, there were kids wrestling and messing around on the ice.

There really are no words to describe how sad their Mini Mites program is. We paid for 13 weeks and they spent 40 minutes of a 60 minute practice teaching the kids how to fall down and get back up. No stick work, no skating or drills, just falling and getting up. This prompted us to look for other programs and the only one worth the money and time was the one by Sandy's brother James at TSC on Friday afternoons. We never did get a chance to hook up with Sandy and see his method. We're SO happy with the program at TSC but hate the drive from South OC. We figure we can keep him there for a few months and then he'll be old enough and have the skills to join a team closer to home. Around here, there is nothing teaching these kids the basics. Right now, he skates with a private skating coach on Tuesdays. He's a great little skater but the stick work needs, well, work. It was non-existent in the Sunday program at Aliso. In the three weeks he's been training with James Gasseau he's learned more than he did in the 26 weeks we had him at Aliso.

That rink used to be one of the top programs but its gone downhill fast. Even the manager of the program knows it. And its a Ducks program too. My kid wouldn't wear the Ducks jersey either. When they told him he couldn't participate without it, he turned it inside out and wore it that way. He wants to learn how to play hockey in the worst way but there is nothing for his age group down here. James Gasseau keeps the kids in line and focused. My kid has the attention span of a gnat and I've never seen him so focused on something when he's out there. He's not as good as the other kids in his group but most of them are a year older and have been doing this for months.

I won't participate at Lakewood if its going to be all Ducks rah rah crap. The Ducks programs I've seen in the OC have been about the physical side of hockey and thats not hockey. We participated in one lesson with the J Serra Ducks team and their coaches and there was a kid who was grabbing kids jerseys and pushing them down to the ice while the coach laughed. I won't let my kid participate in that crap. Sorry.

johnmac, Sandy I know also does a lot with the Jr. Kings and coaches on of their teams as well. If it was the week where there was 2 groups, I might have been in the middle group with about 6 kids. Was this the post Ducks change?? I know Sandy's wife helps out with the kids who cannot skate, and Courtney who works with them is a die hard Kings fan and is really great with the kids. The middle group is for kids who can skate and are working on puck handling and passing and then scrimmage for the last 30 minutes. I will say, that with the learn to skate hockey class (the 4 week session) they do not have consistency with the kids who show up so it is hard to keep those classes fluid and moving. If you are ever there and see a kid with a grey jersey with a #5 on it, that is my son.

Is your son skating in the Vachon division of the Legends league?? How do you like that? Is it worth the $475?

Sandy's whole thing is let the kids play and discover. He had the kids play tag for 5 minutes, stopping them 2 minutes in to show crossovers and how it can help turns, then said so and so was it and you could only tag them on a turn...more play and just fun. If you are a stickler for structure, then it can be tough, but the weeks Sandy runs the clinic the kids are drenched in sweat and tired as all get out, but they had fun just playing tag and being trains.

Renovations have begun, new paint on the outside rebranded The Rinks Colors no name yet. I play at night if anyone is there during the day, could you take a few pix and post them here?

I noticed that they painted itast week sometime, it was wearing its new colors when I showed up for my game on Sunday. My game is at 5:30pm this Sunday, I'll snap and post a couple pix of the exterior and any potential new interior changes.