L.A Kings Lil Kings Learn to Play Hockey Program

We had wanted to do the L.A Kings Learn to Play Hockey program last year but missed out due to several factors. Oh but this year we were so on it. What a wonderful opportunity. The cost is 150.00 for 1 hour lessons for 6 weeks.

Lil' Kings Logo

Also the equipment includes the following:

Helmet, Shoulder pads,Elbow pads, Shin Guards, Gloves, Pants, Equipment Bag, Hockey Socks, Hockey Stick, Ice skates and a Lil' Kings Jersey.

Here is his confirmation.

Son's confirmation of his registration

A good thing to remember if you aren't able to be registered this year for March 2015, sign up for the waitlist. You then will receive an email next year to get registered before it opens to the general public. And here in lies my story. I had received my priority waitlist email while we were waiting in line on October 3rd at L.A Live to get our picture taken with the Stanley Cup. Although, I didn't know it at the time. So with all the excitement of getting our family photo with the cup, I arrived home and opened the email to see that they would be opening up registration on Monday, October 6th at noon. I checked with my husband that yes, this was still our plan and proceeded to wait for Monday morning.

In the email it stated that we would receive another email by 11am. So there I was on my computer diligently checking and checking. You know hitting F5 to refresh both my email program and the webpage. Why? Because last year it seemed like the program sold out so fast. Also I needed to verify if the rink close to our home would be on Sundays like last year or on Saturdays. This was due to my husband's work schedule. This was our first choice rink. If not, then we would be going to Anaheim. So 11am came and went, nothing. 1115am , then 1130am. Then I checked the email from Friday thinking maybe I am not on the waitlist. No, it stated thank you for being on the waitlist. I said to myself: "Just breathe, patience!" At 1156am, I hit the F5 button for the umpteenth time and there it was, the Golden Ticket just like in the movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. 

I refreshed the website page and clicked the link to register. Checked to see if our home rink was on Saturdays, nope so I clicked back to register for Anaheim. Entered all our information. Oh yeah, they ask for sizes for the equipment. I didn't have that information written down. Height, weight, all the equipment sizes. I vaguely remember measuring him for fun late summer so I had an idea. I guestimated his height. He is actually 2 inches taller than I wrote down. Oops. Good thing there is a fitting at Hockey Monkey Irvine in February. So that was completed. We received the confirmation. Alleluia! I am planning on a blog series of the six week program so come back and check for that. We start on March 28th 2015. 

First Time Shopping for Hockey Helmet, Skates and Face Guard

When we were shopping for the first pair of skates, hockey helmet and face cage for our son, I (Mom) was hesitant to purchase off of the internet. I didn't want the hassle of returning items if they didn't fit so we went into our local hockey store (lhs: abbreviations you see on hockey forums) to measure and purchase. The brand I chose was CCM just because that is what I grew up seeing on the rinks in my neighborhood in Canada.The sales associate tried to steer me towards Bauer. But I stuck to my choices.

Here we are at our local hockey store

Now what I had read on numerous websites was that CCM was a size down from the street shoes. So our son was an 11 and we purchased a 10. We tried on an 11 first since that is what the sales associate brought us but it didn't fit. It was too loose in the heel and he couldn't walk without the heel going side to side. I also didn't want to spend a lot, in case you know, our son didn't like the sport. So I chose the CCM RBZ 40 youth hockey skates.

CCN RBZ 40 Youth Skate

For the helmet, websites said to measure the circumference of the head and I found that the fit for the CCM helmets at least were exactly what I read. We purchased a CCM 06 helmet. I wanted an 04 for less money but the 06 was all they had in store. I think 04's were being phased out.

CCM HT06 Youth Helmet in Size S

The face cage was a different story. I didn't research it well enough. We were at the store and we were looking at the face cages. You would think: "Ok just picked up a size small helmet, we need a size small face cage."  Right? Wrong, wrong, wrong. Face cages at least the CCM cages need to be a size smaller than the helmet. Confirmed this at home, on the internet, after we had the helmet and the wrong cage purchased. So we made another trip to the store. But not a total loss, we were able to take advantage of the 1st free skate sharpening the store offered us. The x-small size cage fits perfectly. Also the store didn't carry every face cage that is on the website. I was looking at the CCM FM06 at $24.99 but ended up purchasing CCM Resistance 300 at $49.99 since that is what they had in store. Knowing what I know now, I would not hesitate to buy the 1st choice over the internet. Since this was our first time purchasing equipment, it felt right to do an in-store purchase. They also installed the face cage no problem.

CCM Resistance 300 Face Cage in size XS

I am sharing here our experience since I couldn't really find any information before hand. Hope it helps!

Stanley Cup Family Photo

Update: Here is our photo. Thanks to LA Kings!

I was sitting at my computer last month when this popped up in my facebook feed.

I immediately clicked and signed our family up to get a photo taken. Apparently it is quite the popular thing and it was all full within minutes. Lucky us! I will update once we get the photo. Now what to wear....