David Haugh: Thanks, hockey, for making my son stronger and helping fathers understand kids a little better

CHICAGO - One day in the dead of winter, our new washing machine had stopped working.

A hole in the garage drywall just behind my son Blair's makeshift hockey goal had exposed the water pipes to subzero temperatures and they froze, requiring a plumber to come to the house.

As the guy fixed the problem and patched the hole, he reached through an opening to the floor and picked up a hockey puck. Then he grabbed another one. And another. By the time the plumber had pulled out every puck Blair had put through the wall practicing his slap shot, the stack was at least 10 high.

Part of me was furious that my son, 14 at the time, lacked the presence of mind to think about where all the pucks he was shooting had landed. The other part relished the thought of a kid so consumed with making himself better that he never considered