Page 97 of Behind the Bench

“Thank you, Jack. I’m not sure I deserve all that praise but thank you. Your daughter is remarkable, and if it wasn't for her, our team wouldn’t be where it is today. I wouldn’t bewhere I am either. Having her next to me behind the bench, she’s made me a better coach. Having her in my life…well, she’s made me a better man.”

Jack picks up his glass off the table and raises it toward me.

“To the Bobcats. And to you and Ellie. May you both keep proving the world wrong.”

I pick my glass up and clink it with his. I’m about to put it to my lips when his voice stops my movements. “One other thing, Lincoln. Don’t you dare do anything to hurt my baby girl.”

I bring my glass to my lips and gulp down the rest of my whiskey, holding his eye contact as I do. Setting my glass down on the table, I give him a smile.

“I wouldn’t dream of it, sir.”

There’s something about playing in your hometown that is extra special. My family is in the stands and a few guys from college are even here to watch. As much as I always dreamed I’d be out on the ice, coaching a team to victory is even sweeter. We’re five minutes away from getting the win, but anything can happen. We’re only up by one goal, so I expect Detroit to pull their goalie in the next few minutes.

Hunter makes his way down the bench to me. “They’re absolutely killing us down low right now. I guarantee they run a play out of the corner when they pull the goalie. They ran it three different times in game tape I watched last night.” Leave it to Hunter to have trouble letting go of his video coach ways. I’m not going to complain about him putting in extra work, though.

I give him a nod and look down at the players on the bench. We’re going to need the right skaters out there at the end of the game if we want to hold onto this win. I can feel her before I even see her. Ellie moves in close to me, most likely ready to go over what players we want on the ice in the six-on-five situation. She pulls out her notebook, ready to letme know what she thinks, but I put my hand on top of it to stop her. She eyes me curiously.

“I have a feeling I already know who you want on the ice, but Hunter watched film all night on this situation. What do you say we give him the lead on this one?”

Ellie looks over my shoulder at Hunter and then back at me. With a smile on her face, she nods and agrees.

Luckily there’s a stoppage in play with two minutes left on the clock. Detroit calls a timeout to go over what they want to do with their goalie pulled, but we get to go over our plan too. All three of us coaches stand at the middle of the bench and the guys huddle around, waiting for instructions.

Hunter looks to Ellie since she’s normally in charge in these special situations, but Ellie shakes her head. “Nope. You’re up, Hunter. Pick who you want on the ice and go over what you saw in film on the whiteboard.” She reaches behind her and hands Hunter the board.

He looks at me in question. I gesture to the board. “You heard her. Show us what you got.”

Hunter looks almost jubilant at the opportunity. Ellie and I look at each other and do our best not to laugh. As excited as we are for our friend, we still have a game to win. We listen in as Hunter chooses the players and goes over the play Detroit is likely to run in this situation. The guys on the ice all nod their understanding, and once Hunter is done explaining he steps back up onto the bench beside us.

“How did I do?” he asks, looking between us both.

Ellie smacks him on the back. “Couldn’t have done it any better myself. Nice work.” Then she makes her way back to her end of the bench.

Any other coach might be aggravated or frustrated by the fact that I handed over their job to someone else on a whim. But not Ellie. She will do whatever it takes to win a game, even if that includes letting someone else shine. The trust wehave in each other as coaches has never been clearer than it is at this moment.

Hunter was right. Detroit tries to run the play he drew up twice during the six-on-five situation. Our guys handle it perfectly, shutting it down each time. The buzzer sounds and everyone on the bench jumps up in victory. Hunter, Ellie, and I high five before making our way down the tunnel.

Someone from our media team stops me on the way to the locker room. She requests Ellie and I appear for the press conference, considering this is our hometown and they’d love to field some questions about returning home. I explain to her that we’ll only join if Hunter is involved, as he’s earned his moment too. She agrees and gives me a five-minute warning.

We quickly do a postgame breakdown in the locker room and leave the guys to do the Bobcats Belt themselves. Once we’re in the media room, I motion for Hunter to sit in the middle. “You’re the hero tonight, Hunter. You take center stage.”

I’ve never seen it before in my life, but I think I see pink rise on his neck as he reluctantly agrees. Is he being bashful right now? I give his shoulder a squeeze before sitting in the chair next to him. Ellie eyes me over his head and gives me a smirk. She’s just as proud of Hunter as I am, and it’s clear when she fields a question about the six-on-five situation his way.

“Actually, that’s a question for Hunter tonight. He was the mastermind behind the defensive situation there.”

Hunter answers a few questions about how he prepared. He explains how important video can be to a team, and how seeing situations in real time helps players understand things better. Just as he’s about to wrap up the follow up questions, a reporter I don’t recognize stands from his chair. Our media person announces this will be the last question of the evening as we all have a plane to catch.

The three of us wait patiently for the man to ask hisquestion. For some unknown reason, my gut flip flops, full of unease. I have a feeling this guy is about to piss me off.

“Coach Montgomery, is there a reason you were unprepared and Coach Clearwater had to step in to do your job for you? Do you often make it a habit to let your team down like that?”

What an asshole.

Hunter seems just as angry, a scowl on his face. He leans into his microphone but I put my hand over it to stop him. “Don’t. She can handle it.”

I remember exactly what happened the last time a jackass reporter made a stupid comment to Ellie like this. Ellie was handling herself just fine, but I tried to play hero and cut her off. I won’t let Hunter make the same mistake.

Still clearly pissed on Ellie’s behalf, Hunter nods at me and then continues to shoot daggers in the reporter’s direction.

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