This was professional interest. I needed to build the report and make sure I had all the angles tagged correctly.
That was the story I told myself while I watched him make the same read three times from different angles. I noted his improved control and the absence of hesitation before contact, showing why it had worked.
The door opened.
I minimized the footage quickly, pulling up the full-team overview.
Mark walked in with a foam cup of coffee and his laptop bag. “Morning.”
“Morning.”
He sat across from me at the table. We’d shared this room for three years, working in silence most days. Today everything felt different.
He opened his laptop and started working. I returned to my breakdown, making sure I cycled through all the defensive pairings instead of the one that happened to include Tolrek.
Ten minutes passed.
“You know what’s interesting?” Mark said.
I looked up. “What?”
“Nosh’s positioning reads have improved significantly in the past week. Like, dramatically. His gap control last night was the best I’ve seen from him all preseason.”
“He’s settling in.”
“Yeah, but it’s more than that.” Mark frowned at something on his screen. “His decision-making is sharper. He’s anticipatingplays before they develop. That’s not just system familiarity. That’s confidence.”
I took a careful sip of my coffee. “Maybe he needed time to adjust after the trade.”
“Maybe.” Mark grunted, still staring at the screen. “Or maybe someone showed him something on tape.”
My pulse kicked up. “That’s what we do here.”
“It is.” He got back to work.
I stared at my screen and tried to focus on the neutral zone patterns that had nothing to do with Tolrek.
My hands shook when I reached again for my coffee.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
HALEY
The team meeting started at ten with a full roster. The coaching staff filed in, plus support personnel who needed to be present for tactical discussions. I sat in the back corner with my laptop open, ready to pull footage if the coaches needed additional angles.
My father stood at the front, running through the breakdown from last night’s game. He pulled clips, highlighted patterns, and praised specific plays.
Then he pulled up Tolrek’s power play kill sequence.
“This is textbook gap control,” my father said. The footage played on the large screen, showing Tolrek reading the developing play and adjusting his position. “Watch how he anticipates the passing lane before the forward commits. That’s the kind of defensive awareness that makes everyone around him better.”
The room absorbed this. Players watched with varying degrees of attention. Crim nodded, no doubt recognizing what he’d seen in real time on the ice.
Tolrek sat to my right, in the opposite corner. He didn’t react to the praise, but he held himself a fraction straighter.
My father continued. “This is what we need to see consistently. This kind of read doesn’t just prevent goals, it creates offensive opportunities. That’s the standard we need to bring to every game.”
The meeting continued for another twenty minutes, my dad discussing adjustments he was making for tonight’s game.
