A minute later, Coach Tremblay walks in.
“Hey. Is Coach Sawyer coming too?” I ask.
Coach Trembly shakes his head as he closes the door. “He actually asked me to meet with you.”
“Oh. Okay.”
He gestures for me to sit in the chair in front of Coach Sawyer’s desk. “Have a seat.”
When I sit down, I expect him to take the chair behind the desk, but he grabs the club chair next to me, then moves it so he’s facing me.
I was nervous when I first walked in here, but now I’m just confused. Where’s Coach Sawyer? Why is his assistant coach taking this meeting with me?
“You’re probably wondering what’s going on,” Coach Tremblay says.
“Uh, yeah.”
“You’re still on the team. I’m sure you were worried about that, so I wanted to get that out of the way first.”
I let out a breath, relieved. “That’s really good to hear.”
“I heard what Coach Sawyer said to you when he called you yesterday.” Coach Tremblay pulls up the sleeve of the Hollis U men’s hockey shirt he’s wearing. “I’m gonna be straight with you. I don’t agree with his take on this. What you do in your private time, as long as it’s legal, shouldn’t be a concern of the team. From what I understand, you don’t showcase Hollis U men’s hockey in any way on this social media account of yours. Is that correct?”
I shake my head. “Not at all. I’d never do that. I keep those parts of my life totally separate.”
He nods, his eyebrows knitted in a thoughtful expression. He’s serious but not angry, which is a big difference from Coach Sawyer, who always looks kind of pissed.
“Coach Sawyer and I are pretty different,” Coach Tremblay says. “I respect his coaching style and his work ethic. He has a stellar record here at Hollis. You can’t argue with what he’s achieved with his team. But I’ve noticed he’s very strict and old-fashioned when it comes to what he thinks his players should do in their spare time. I don’t agree with that. From what I've learned in the short time that I’ve been here, he’s clashed with some players because of it.”
I nod, thinking about how pissed he was when Nick went into the stands to save Poppy against her ex last season. Yeah, it was against the rules, but any decent person would have supported him. We were all pissed at how he chewed Nick out for doing that.
“He and I had a discussion yesterday. I’m trying to convince him to ease up on you guys when it comes to things like this,” Coach Tremblay says. “I think it’s important as a coach to stand by your players. Maybe you don’t agree with something a playerdoes in his personal life, but you should stand by them as long as they’re a good person and haven’t done anything wrong. And you didn’t do anything wrong, Morrissey.”
For a second, I sit there, surprised at how understanding he is about this whole thing.
“Uh, thanks.” I clear my throat. “So that’s probably why he didn’t want to meet with me, right?”
He nods. “He figured it would be better if I took the helm on this whole thing.”
“Thanks for being cool about it.”
“Just don’t let it affect your performance on the ice, okay?”
“Absolutely. I won’t.” I clear my throat. “I’m just sorry for all the bad publicity the team is getting because of me.”
He waves a hand. “It’s not a big deal. The sports news cycle moves fast. Something else will happen in a few days, people will go nuts over that, and forget about all this.”
I let out a quiet breath. I hope he’s right.
I glance down at my lap, still nervous about what the Nashville Wolves will say about all this. It’s only a matter of time before they see the social media craze.
“You okay?” Coach Tremblay asks.
I realize I’ve just been sitting there, quietly staring at my lap and saying nothing. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
I feel bad lying to him, especially after how he stood up to Coach Sawyer for me.
Maybe I should just be honest with him. He seems like a cool, reasonable guy.
