Page 28 of An Irresistible Force (Vancouver Vice)

“The stuff that I don’t know—but I don’t even know that I don’t know it,” she explained.

“You’re hurting my brain here.”

“That doesn’t take much, I’m sure.”

“Hey,” I protested.

Amanda pushed away from her desk and let out an exasperated groan. “Don Swan was right. Greg and I don’t have any hockey experience. So we’re muddling through, but we’re ignoring the hockey operations part, and I have no idea what to do about that. So, I think the best thing would be for you to assess the team and recommend what we should do.”

“Assess the team?” What exactly did she want me to do?

She nodded. “If you were in charge of hockey operations for this team—what would you do?”

This was exactly the kind of opportunity I’d been telling Jes I wanted, but now that Amanda had offered it to me, I felt nervous. What if I couldn’t deliver the information they needed? I swallowed hard.

Amanda’s sunny smile was unexpected. “You look exactly like one of my students when I gave a big assignment. Don’t worry, Chris. There are no wrong answers. Be as creative as you like. And see me or Greg anytime you have questions or even want to bounce ideas off us.”

“Okay,” I got up slowly. Nobody had told me to be creative since about grade four.

I walked back to my tiny office. I sat down and wondered what to do first. Well, whenever I had a problem, I tried to find out the facts so I could make a good decision. And I liked to pick the brains of people who knew more than me. I picked up my phone and hit redial.

“Lucky? You again? You got some other superstar you want to foist on me?”

“No, Killer, I want to turn this around. What say you come and see a Vice game with me? Tell me what you see, and what you think they need.” That would give me a head start on the overview plan that Amanda wanted. I had a good idea of what some of the issues were, but I wouldn’t mind having a second opinion. And Oscar would know all the dirt.

“Throw in dinner, and you got yourself a deal.”

We set up a date for later in the week. I leaned back in my chair and stretched out. I was feeling good about this new challenge. Amanda might needle me all the time, but she paid attention to everything I said about hockey. I wanted to do a good job here. I pulled out a pad of paper and started writing down some ideas.

12

Scouting Report

Chris

After a good steak dinner,Killer was ready to spill all his hockey insider tips at the Vice game. He greeted a few people he knew but suggested that we sit up in a more deserted part of the rink.

“It’s a bird’s eye view, and I’m not sharing my knowledge with the masses,” he said with a laugh. He pulled out a worn leather notebook. “Lots of the guys have gone digital, but I’m old-fashioned. I like to make notes and diagrams at the rink, and maybe input some stuff into my computer later. So, you’re starting from zero, right?”

I had told Killer it was an opportunity to tell the Richardsons how to build the team the right way, so I’d be grateful for any advice he could give me. “Yeah, I’m used to motivating the guys I’m playing with, but I never got to pick who those guys were.”

We watched the beginning of the game, and Killer pointed out things about different players: strengths, but mainly weaknesses. Fairburn led a nice rush up the ice and Killer sighed. “Shoulda listened when you called about Eric Fairburn. Apparently another NHL team is already talking to him.”

“What? How can that be? You said nobody was watching our games.”

“He’s buddies with a player in Columbus, who tipped their team off. They’ve had a ton of injuries. But he hasn’t signed anything yet, so we can still chat with him. Apparently Fairburn wants to stay with the Vice if he’s in the AHL, and C-bus isn’t too thrilled about that.” We watched a series of mistakes and turnovers until the Barracudas scored. Killer shook his head. “Why the hell would he want to stay here?”

“Maybe he’s from around here,” I suggested glumly. If it were me, I’d blow this shit show as soon as the ink was dry on the contract. “Jesus fucking Christ, how can there be so much wrong here? Is it the coaching staff?”

“Well, maybe. Panner used to be a pretty good coach, but he keeps taking on more and more responsibility here. He’s in charge of virtually all the hockey ops now. And he’s had some personal issues.”

I hadn’t even gone to see Bob Pankowski yet. Amanda was right; they really needed someone to get on top of their hockey operations. “What kind of personal issues?”

“His wife left him a while back—for one of his former players. That’s gotta hurt.”

“Poor bastard.” We watched him yelling at one of his players on the bench. “Still, you can’t let that affect your work or you’re going to be out of a job.”

“Believe me, there’s a pool on when he’s getting fired. It’s not often you get another season when you’ve come in last place in the previous two. But he’s tight with Thomas Richardson.”

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