“That’s sick,” Nason says. “You have military parents?”
I shake my head. “Nope. I was looking for simplicity when I went shopping.”
“If we were smarter, we’d have all pitched in for a handful of those enormous ten-person tents,” Denny says as he stares at the tent he’s mostly finished setting up.
“Little late to suggest that now,” Zenia says, shoving him. “But since I broke my poles, I’m sharing yours. So you kinda get your wish. You have a roommate, bestie.”
Denny gives him a demure look, and I laugh.
“Where’s little Ty this weekend?” Zenia asks.
“With Tyler. Where else?” Denny answers. “I sure as hell wasn’t going to bring him on this adventure. He’s not even one.”
“Too bad. You gotta get him on skates.”
Denny nods absently. I don’t know the whole story about what goes on at his house, but the snippets I’ve heard is that his baby mama died just after childbirth, then her brother, Tyler, showed up. Apparently, she and Tyler were very close, so close that she named the kid after him, something Denny hadn’t realized until Tyler showed up on his doorstep, distraught over his sister’s death and wanting to help with the kid.
All that, I’m relatively sure about. The part I’m less sure about is that Ithinkthey’re together now, though Dennyis a relatively private person. While we’re friendly enough teammates, we’re not exactly friends. What I know is via Felton who says little on the subject because it’s not his life to share, which I totally respect.
My attention is distracted when I catch Coach watching me. His tent is to the side but in clear view of mine. I grin.
CHAPTER 6
SHIVELY
If there wasanything I couldn’t have prepared for, it was my team deciding to walk around naked as if they’re on a reality show where people are forced to brave the wilds of Canada without clothes. Generally speaking, I don’t care in the least. They’re plenty comfortable without clothes, though some put underwear on once they dried off. Most decided bare is the way to go—including Dasan.
Does he know he’s driving me absolutely insane? Watching his dick between his legs with that intriguing barbell sticking through it is maddening. I know what that thing can do. I know what it feels like. It’s not just that though. Everything about Dasan is stunning. He takes my breath away like no one else ever has.
It’s not easy to force my attention away from Dasan and onto my team as a whole. They’re enjoying themselves, even as they struggle to get their tents up. Besides Dasan, there are only two others who manage relatively quickly and without hassle.
Ren and Felton are one of the first finished, and they go around to their teammates to assist, beginning with their friends. I smile and go back to unpacking the crates that I had delivered. There’s a maintenance road not far from here, thoughhow they brought these in is beyond my knowledge. I expected a dozen or more smaller crates, the size that can be easily handled by two men, not two very large crates.
One has a cooler of meat that we’ll cook over the fire tonight so we have a hearty meal to sleep on. There’s breakfast sausage and a farm’s worth of eggs and bread for breakfast. However, it seems Dasan took a note from my plans with his military tent. For lunch tomorrow, I have MREs—meals ready to eat—the kind that the military eat in the field.
They’re high in calories and protein, so I figured, with as much as I’ll have them running around tomorrow and the heat forecasted for this weekend, it’ll help them replenish what they use. I bought forty, so we have a bit of a variety. I’ll be honest, I’ve never tried them before, but I was looking for food solutions that were going to be easy to keep in the woods without much concern for wildlife.
Tomorrow evening, I have another fresh food delivery for dinner and breakfast the following morning. Then we’re heading back down the mountain.
This evening, once their tents are set up, we’re heading back to the water to play Marco Polo in teams. Five on five. I want them to practice listening for their teammates, figuring out where the others are by voice while also trying to find their opponents.
It might not be the best game to play and relate back to hockey, but this weekend is largely about team building, trust, and strengthening their senses other than just sight. All the extra noise from teammates who are waiting to play also serves its purpose as the background noise of an audience that they need to tune out.
I’ve been thinking about this trip for a while. After you’ve been at a career for a while, it’s easy to forget why you beganin the first place. It’s easy to lose that passion, and then it all becomes about money or the Stanley Cup.
But few kids actually begin sports with the sole goal of becoming rich, famous champions. They begin playing because it’s fun. Preseason practice is about preparing for the season, but by the time their intensive training camp is finished and the season begins, they’re already exhausted.
They’ll definitely be exhausted at the end of the weekend, but I guarantee that they’ll also be smiling and have memories they’ll carry with them for at least a little while.Andthey’ll be able to take some things away from this experience as players. Already this morning, they’ve hiked a challenging trail while keeping a beach ball in play for the vast majority of their trip. I know that they were ready for a much longer rest when we stopped at the halfway mark, but without complaint, we left again.
That’s endurance. Pushing past their fatigue to reach the end goal. Then they set up tents, which came with its own set of challenges. It was proven more effective when they did so as a team instead of everyone on their own. When I glanced back, Dasan was laughing while he helped Nason with his tent. True teammates, even though Dasan enjoyed a few minutes of watching them struggle with their “modern” convenience tents for the everyday family.
Watching them in the water, taking turns playing Marco Polo while being cheered on by those waiting for their turn, is the activity that’s had me laughing the most so far. I’m not the least bit surprised that the two players who catch their opponents the quickest and most regularly are the goalies. Their job has so much instant reflex built in that they’re used to reacting at the drop of a puck.
When we’re finished playing Marco Polo, I let them wash their clothes from the day while Mina, Seb, Reno, and I getstarted on dinner. This site is used often enough that there is a large stone circle where a fire has been many, many times in the past. Not something professionally made or even made by amateurs. Stones were gathered from around the area and simply placed in a ring to encourage the fire to stay put.
I put my team to work preparing dinner and spend the hour or so it takes to get all the components prepared just listening to them. Watching them interact. I have a team of really decent humans if I do say so. Already, I’m seeing one of the things I hoped for going into this weekend—the veterans of Winnipeg embracing our newest members.
This is something that takes a while when your interactions are strictly on the ice or in the gym. Taking them out of that environment definitely helps. They’re having a great time. Say what you will, but when your team gets along, the job becomes easier. It’s another point that serves as a reminder that this is supposed to be more than just a paycheck and a play for the championship. Sports, even highly competitive ones, are supposed to be fun.
