Page 89 of Her Coach

The boys of my team nodded their heads. I released my hands from behind my back. I held my head high as my voice bellowed. “So, let’s get out there and show these men THAT THEY! WILL! NOT! TREAD! ON OUR SOULS!”

“YEEEEEEEEEEEEEAH!” the boys exclaimed as they all slammed their hands against the metal lockers. “COACH! COACH! COACH! COACH! COACH!”

I clapped my clipboard against my hand, the sound rising above the cacophony. “Now, let’s get into formation, everyone! We’ve got warm-ups before the intros start!”

Warm-ups and stretches passed in a blur. The roar of the stadium grew as it finally opened to let the half-drunk tailgating crew come and take their seats. Little by little, those stadium rows filled up, until even the dull roar of the crowd was heard back in the locker room.

I had my men chug down one last bottle of lukewarm water each to replenish before we went to get lined up for introductions.

“Ladies aaaaand gentlemeeeeen,” the announcer said as he came over the crackling loudspeaker system. I winced. We had to get that shit replaced. “Let’s hear it for your home team, the Las Vegas Vipeeeers!”

The crowd cheered as my boys took the ice, but I almost stopped them. That was the introduction? No name-by-name rap sheet? No music? No fire tunnel, or t-shirt shooting, or confetti poppers for the audience?

Man, this was nothing like running a top-tier franchise. It was like coaching in a different universe altogether.

Still, I didn’t let it phase me. I took my place in the bench area, watching as the team made the rounds with the crowd. Jett slung his arm over Rhett’s broad shoulders, and the crowd chanted, ‘Stone! Stone! Stone!’ as Rhett skated his way around the outer edge of the ice. Jett raced over to one side and threw his hands into the air, getting the crowd on that side to cheer. Then, he sprinted like lightning over to the other side of the stadium, commanding the crowd in that direction to yell as well.

By the time he was done, he was practically conducting the fucking audience from the middle of the ice.

I had to put my clipboard up to my face just to keep from laughing.

Then the ref skated out onto the ice. I watched the coach for the Minnesota Daredevils get out onto the ice, and I followed suit from where I was. Time for the opening face-off. Rhett stood toe to toe with their center, towering over the poor boy by at least four inches. Rhett looked down at him through his cage visor, and I didn’t have to see that boy’s face to know he smirked behind it.

I barely registered the face-off.

I didn’t even clock how we were positioning ourselves going in.

My eyes darted around as each team took up their respective positions on either side of the starting line.

And when I saw that Rhett had chosen a defensive place of power for the boys on the ice, I snapped out of my trance.

The puck dropped and the game was on.

Stick smashed together and blades rip-roared across the ice. The crowd went wild as Rhett and Jett skated around, trying to avoid the opposing team’s biggest members. Jett needed open space for his sniping. He was great in a pinch, but struggled with too many obstacles. It was something I needed to work with him on, but that was for later in the season.

This first game? I needed to make sure I measured everyone’s strengths and weaknesses accordingly.

Because as much as I wanted to win this fucking game for a big ‘fuck you’ to everyone who wrote me off, long term success meant giving up short-term wants.

That’s why I wanted to amp the boys up in the locker room without putting pressure on them to win.

The crowd booed as one of the Daredevils slammed Rhett into the wall. Men were on their feet, slinging curses drowned out by the shaving of ice and the slapping of sticks against pucks. I kept my eye on that boy. He wasn’t doing much for the Daredevils on that ice other than skating around and sometimes getting in the way of the puck whenever Jett had it.

And when Rhett zipped by, I grabbed his jersey and hauled his face to mine.

“Get that man off Jett. He can’t take a fucking shot with that brick wall in the way.”

Rhett nodded. “On it, Coach.”

I slapped my hand on his back against his protective pads just as the Daredevils scored. Rhett groaned as his head fell back, but I just clapped my hands and bellowed to the team.

“That’s all right! That’s all right! We’ve got plenty of periods and plenty of time, boys! Let’s get at it!”

I didn’t like how their shoulders were hunched during the rest of that period. We scored a goal, leveling the playing field, but I couldn’t even enjoy it. The roar of the crowd rattled my ribcage, even though the stadium was maybe only half packed out. Empty seats littered the rows of chairs, but you’d never know it by how heavily they cheered and screamed toward the ice. For a moment, it tugged a grin across my face.

I cleared my throat just as the horn blew to signal the break before the second period of the game.

The guys knew to book it back to the locker room, so I made sure to beat them there. I high-tailed it off that fucking bench and slammed into the sweat-filled room, drawing in deep breaths anyway. I had to calm myself down. I had to make sure that my points landed before we got out there for the second period.