Coach blows his whistle and we all get into our proper stances. I take a deep breath of the cool rink air. This moment before puck drop is always one of my favorites. I savor this moment, my first with my new team, even if it’s only practice. Time seems to stop as everyone waits for the puck to fall through the air and land between the two men at the face-off dot.
When the puck hits, Ryan flicks it out to me and Itake off, bursting to max speed as fast as I can. I shoot down the right side and pass the puck across the ice to O’Shea, who’s crossing the blue line. He slides it to Ryan as he drives down the lane. I watch him deke around Foley before he sends the puck right back to me. It’s perfect. The puck lands directly on my tape and I’m in the perfect position to chip the puck over Ivanov’s extended right leg with my backhand.
Coach Chris blows his whistle. “Nice job!” he yells and signals for us to all gather around again.
Ryan looks at me, laughing. He’s grinning from ear to ear when he thumps my helmet with his fist. “You’ve learned a few things since I last saw you.”
“Thanks,” I say back, slightly breathless, and amazed that I pulled that off against professional players.
“Baby Bouchard has a big boy shot,” Ivanov says, from his net.
For a moment I’m worried that he’s mad. Goalies never like being scored on. But when I look down the ice at him, he’s smiling as wide as I am.
I think I’m going to like it here.
FOUR
Ryan
“That was a hell of a first practice.” Danton claps the top of Brandon’s helmet with his fist as we step off the ice to head back to the locker room. We pass by Jules, who follows us to take pictures and video for the team’s social media.
I have to agree with him. Brandon has gotten good. He has a sniper’s wrist shot, and he pulls off his backhand effortlessly. It’s come a long way since I first showed it to him in his driveway. Which shouldn’t be surprising. He’s had a lot of time since then to perfect it.
All that said, he’s still going to have a tough transition into the league. Sure, he’s fast and can whip from one end of the ice to the other, but he’s also small, standing at the most five nine. I guess Ander took all the extra height. And he still hasn’t bulked all the way out yet. He’s going to need some serious weight training to prepare his body for the increased physicality he’s about to endure. I’m sure Coach and the trainers have a plan for him, though. It’s not something I need to worry about.
And yet, I am. I mean, I get it. This is hockey. We all get banged around game to game. And there are advantages to hissmaller stature. It’ll make him slippery, fast, hard to catch. Butoof. When he does get caught, he runs a major risk of walking away with more than just a few bumps and bruises. O’Shea and I are going to have to do our best to make sure when our line is out on the ice, we’re not leaving him isolated to catch a bad hit.
As I walk past him, I jostle him with my shoulder, then turn around to catch his gaze. He looks at me with apprehension, suspicious of what I might say. “You better be sure to keep your wits about you out there,” I say. “I don’t want to lose my new right wing on his first shift.”
“You’re not the only one,” Roysy says, as he catches up to us. He holds his hand up for Reinhold to slap. “It’s so good to be back with my boys on the third line.” He pauses and stares at Brandon then bumps his helmet against his. “I don’t want your job. It’s too much responsibility for me.”
Danton pushes him away. “Yeah, the only thing we can trust you to do is throw haymakers at the opposing team’s biggest rat.”
“Exactly!” Roysy says. He takes his gaze to Brandon again. “It’s important for everyone to know their place on the team.”
“What do you think your place on the team is going to be?” Jules asks Brandon before we reach the locker room entrance. Her question stops all of us in our tracks.
“I’m here to do whatever Coach asks of me,” Brandon says.
“So you’re a role player, then?” she pushes.
“Absolutely not!” Roysy says as he slings his arm around Brandon. “I’ma role player. Brandon is a specialist! Did you see him out there? Top notch stuff from this beauty.”
Brandon visibly blushes from Roysy’s praise.
Jules snaps his picture and beams. “This is going to look great on our wall.”
“You hear that, Baby?” Roysy says. “You’re going up on the wall.”
“Is it naive of me to hope she’s talking about an actual wall and not the team’s Instagram account?” Brandon asks.
“Yes.” We all laugh.
“Finally, they have another pretty face to post other than Ryan’s,” Ivanov says as he walks past.
“Hey!” I say in protest as Brandon’s cheeks burn an even deeper pink. “I’m not all they post.”
“Yeah, you are,” Clemmers says as he pushes past us. He swings the locker room door open, and we all follow him inside, leaving Jules on the other side with her camera.
