Tenacious, Yes, but Forget the Lipstick

Penny Skarupa, 46, mom of two hockey players in Rockville, said this year's Thanksgiving will be celebrated in a Boston hotel because her 14-year-old daughter has a tournament there that weekend; extended family members are joining them, too.

When it comes to Sunday church services, another mom jokes, "We all pray to the hockey god."

Most kid sports have weather cancellations, but rarely does hockey. Susan Farha, 52, said that once, after a big snowfall, she made it to the rink, only to discover an unheard-of cancellation. Still, she felt triumphant. "I stood there and thought: Oh, I am such a hockey mom."

Theresa Thompson, 38, a Manassas mother of three hockey players, said her family skipped their beach vacation this summer, opting instead for a trip in January to Minnesota, where her children will play pond hockey and see elite college-level games. "My middle child wants to move to Canada," she said.

Hockey moms talk about weekend practices as early as 6 a.m., sitting bleary-eyed in the bleachers with coffee in hand. They talk about the extreme odor that seems to attach to their children's often-damp gear, which no amount of soap or washing gets out, and the cold stands where they sit and watch.

"I wear thermal underwear from September to May," Thompson said.

With all there is to do, said Kelly Tierney, 39, of Arlington County, a mother can find herself with little time to herself. "I would love to have time to put on lipstick on a daily basis," she said.

Into this way of life and intensity has come a big gust of political wind in the candidacy of Palin.

Across the country, more than 350,000 youths 19 and younger play organized hockey, including 9,200 in Maryland, Virginia and the District, according to USA Hockey, the national governing body for hockey in the United States.

Palin's eldest son, Track, played hockey through high school. Plenty of hockey moms see her as one of their own. Yet, in the Washington area -- not a classic northern outpost for the sport -- hockey moms are of many political persuasions.

Thompson said she is an undecided voter and might or might not vote for the ticket of Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) and Palin, but she said that Palin's strength is that she appears authentic. "She seems not as polished, just sort of off-the-cuff, more true to herself," she said.

Farha's son, Griffin, is a goalie on the Churchill High School team and plays AA travel hockey. A day after the Palin speech, she decided to create her own bumper stickers: "Hockey Mama for Obama."