“This isn’t just regular hockey with some singing and dancing thrown in, Wildflower.”
“I know.”
His eyes open, and he pins me with an intent stare. “You are asking me to play a game according to rules that are going to be made up as we go along. Rules that are going to be changed week to week.”
“Yes. Fan engagement is the main priority.”
“That sounds chaotic as fuck.”
“Hockey is already pretty chaotic, isn’t it?” I ask with a laugh. “All these guys skating in all different directions all the time. The puck shooting up and down the rink. Guys scrambling to get to it. Never know where it’s going to go.”
He sits up straighter and frowns at me as if I just said the most offensive thing he’s ever heard.
“Hockey might seem chaotic from the outside, but it’s absolutely not. Everyone has a position to play. Things proceed according to a strategy and rules. Certain things happen for certain reasons. When you hit the puck in certain ways, it responds in a fairly predictable manner. Sure, sometimes things happen that you don’t expect, but you know what to do when they happen. And everyone understands that.”
I think about that as I study him.
“Okay, I’ll accept that.”
He nods.
“So, yes, this is going to be a little chaotic.”
He sighs.
I smile.
“Why didn’t you tell me that this isn’t real hockey?”
I lift a shoulder. I have to make this seem like it’s fine. Likehe’llbe fine. Because he will be. I hope. “It’s real hockey. There are just some…extra things.”
“You cannotcall this hockey, Wildflower.”
I can’t help it. I kind of like him frustrated. I think things in Alex Olsen’s life have always gone pretty smoothly. Maybe this will be good for him. “You act like we’re asking you to play atotally different sport. It’s hockey. There are just some new rules and a few songs thrown in. And, honestly, I think it’s going to be big.”
“Hockey’s already big. Why can’t we just play regular hockey?”
“People can drive to New Orleans for regular hockey. To get them to stay here, we have to give them something different. To get people tocome here, to actually drive in from other places—which we do need because we need a bigger crowd than we can get depending just on Rebel itself—then we need something really fun and unique.”
“Sutton said it’s like that baseball team from Georgia.”
I sit forward. “Yes! Have you watched them play? I’ve watched every interview with the owner of that league and read his books. He set out to create a game that people simplyhad topay attention to. He wanted to give them something that was fun the entire time.”
“Hockey iswaymore fun than baseball already,” Alex protests. “It’s often rated as one of the most exciting sports to watch.”
I laugh. “You’re not biased at all, of course.”
“I am. Completely,” he admits. “But still…it’s faster paced. That’s just a fact. There’s more happening. Constant motion. Possession changes all the time.”
“I love hockey,” I remind him. “That doesn’t mean it can’t bemorefun.”
“You really think fans want to see the players out theredancingand lip syncing in stupid hats?”
“I think fans are going to love this,” I say with a nod.
He sighs and slumps over the table. “Sutton didn’t pull out the wigs for thePrincess and the Frogsong, but there were cowboy hats for “Friends in Low Places,”” he says.
I grin. “I love that song fromPrincess and the Frog.”
