Karen Poulin is the quintessential hockey mom - the chauffeur, the chef, the housekeeper, the team scheduler and the vice president of the Burlington Amateur Hockey Association in Vermont. One would think that being a hockey mom to three boys wouldn't allow for the kind of time to take up a new athletic endeavor.
But in the midst of navigating through carpools, folding laundry, creating schedules and organizing her own personal schedule, Poulin needed another outlet. She wanted to find a more active way to take part in hockey, the sport that all three of her sons have played growing up in Burlington, Vermont.
Each year, Burlington Area Youth Hockey organizes a parents-versus-players game at the end of the season, and Poulin, who grew up as a figure skater, eagerly jumped onto the ice. After that game, Poulin realized she could take matters into her own hands.
Each year, Burlington Area Youth Hockey organizes a parents-versus-players game at the end of the season, and Poulin, who grew up as a figure skater, eagerly jumped onto the ice. After that game, Poulin realized she could take matters into her own hands.
"I had so much fun playing," Poulin recalled, "that I said, 'I have to do this!' "
Poulin grew up training as a figure skater, but spearheaded an over-30 womens hockey league in Burlington. She found that other women had the same passion not only for athletics and for fitness, but also for wanting to challenge themselves and to learn about the sport.
"I would have never guessed that all these women are so committed to it," Poulin said. "The numbers just keep growing and growing, and we're always trying to get others to join us because we have so much fun doing it."
A long-distance runner and a former marathoner, Poulin found a new athletic challenge in playing hockey - how to properly sync every element together into one action. She likened learning how to play hockey to learning how to drive a stick-shift automobile.
"We love it so much because it's something you can improve on," Poulin said. "And for all of us women, it's given us a total appreciation for what our kids can do."
Poulin's three sons have all attended the Tim Thomas Hockey Camps, and they plan to attend the camp the week of July 11 in South Burlington, Vt. Poulin's son Colton, was featured on several local television stations in the Burlington area after he scored a goal on Thomas - one of the camp's crowning moments, when each skater gets a chance to shoot on Thomas, a Vezina Trophy winner and finalist and a 2010 United States Olympian.
"He was only seven, and I have to say, I was really proud of him," Karen Poulin said. "But Colton didn't say too much about it. He didn't brag about it. But when he talked about it, he smiled. He could have used it as an opportunity to brag and he knew that people were talking about it, but he didn't use it against people. But it definitely boosted his self-confidence as a player."
Still, watching her sons take part in the camps motivated Poulin to approach Pavel Navrat, the managing director of Tim Thomas Hockey, about organizing a day camp for adult hockey players through the Tim Thomas Foundation.
"I told Pavel, I've got a group of women, and if you run a women's camp, we will fill it," Poulin said
It was full, and the adult camps have become a staple of Tim Thomas Hockey Camps. This year's adult camps will be held July 11-15 in South Burlington, Vt., and August 1-5 in Falmouth, Maine.
Poulin's three sons have all attended the Tim Thomas Hockey Camps, and they plan to attend the camp the week of July 11 in South Burlington, Vt. Poulin's son Colton, was featured on several local television stations in the Burlington area after he scored a goal on Thomas - one of the camp's crowning moments, when each skater gets a chance to shoot on Thomas, a Vezina Trophy winner and finalist and a 2010 United States Olympian.
"He was only seven, and I have to say, I was really proud of him," Karen Poulin said. "But Colton didn't say too much about it. He didn't brag about it. But when he talked about it, he smiled. He could have used it as an opportunity to brag and he knew that people were talking about it, but he didn't use it against people. But it definitely boosted his self-confidence as a player."
Still, watching her sons take part in the camps motivated Poulin to approach Pavel Navrat, the managing director of Tim Thomas Hockey, about organizing a day camp for adult hockey players through the Tim Thomas Foundation.
"I told Pavel, I've got a group of women, and if you run a women's camp, we will fill it," Poulin said
It was full, and the adult camps have become a staple of Tim Thomas Hockey Camps. This year's adult camps will be held July 11-15 in South Burlington, Vt., and August 1-5 in Falmouth, Maine.
When her three boys are putting away their hockey equipment for the summer, they see their mom packing her hockey back and ask her the same question.
"My kids say to me, 'how come we don't get to play hockey all year and you do?' "
And when her season ends, Poulin always seems to get asked the same question by her teammates and fellow hockey moms:
"When's the next one?"
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Rachel Lenzi covers hockey for the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram and is a contributor to Tim Thomas Hockey Camps.
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Rachel Lenzi covers hockey for the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram and is a contributor to Tim Thomas Hockey Camps.
