Page 25 of One Good Puck
“It’s good.”
Sophie looks at me, clearly waiting for me to say more.
“It’s nice to have someone in that big house besides me,” I admit.
She gives me a warm smile. “I’m glad to hear that.” She fires up her tablet and pulls up her notes. “Should we get started with our meeting?”
“Yeah. How are the guys looking for preseason?”
She dives into a full report on our whole roster. As the team doctor, she gives me regular updates on how each of the players is doing health-wise. It’s especially important now, before the season even starts, so I know what to expect from each guy on the team and how I should play them.
“How about Ryker St. George?” I ask. “How’s he doing?”
“Overall, he’s in great shape. He’s recovered well from his shoulder injury two seasons ago,” Sophie says. “He claims he’s been consistent with his conditioning and stretching post-surgery, and from what I’ve observed, he’s telling the truth. He has excellent mobility and strength in that shoulder. He still has bouts of stiffness and soreness, but as long as he recovers properly with ice and heat, I think he’ll be okay.”
I nod once and scribble notes on my notepad. “Good.”
“I think we’ve got a stellar roster,” Sophie says. “The feedback I’ve gotten from our trainers and physios has beenencouraging. Our strongest players—Xander, Del, Theo, Sam, Blomdahl, and Camden—are all without injury. Knock on wood. They all exceeded expectations during training camp. They’re all staying on top of their diet and exercise. I think we’re sitting in a very enviable position for the first preseason game tonight.”
When she finishes, I take a moment just to look at her, in awe of how brilliant and professional my daughter is.
“What?” she asks after a moment.
“Just impressed with my genius daughter. And so happy we get to work together.”
She beams, her face lighting up. Emotion bubbles up inside of me. She looks so much like her mom. Same strawberry blonde hair. Same fair skin and golden freckles on the bridge of her nose.
“Don’t get too sentimental, Dad. We’re at work, remember?” she teases.
“You’re right.” Together we stand up, and I pull her into a hug before she can walk out.
“Dad,” she groans.
“Just one hug. I don’t do this very often when we’re at work together, so you’ve gotta cut me some slack.”
She chuckles and wraps her arms around me. When I let her go, she heads for the door of my office.
“See you at the game tonight, honey,” I say.
She waves at me and walks out. I finish out the workday and get ready for tonight’s exhibition game against Vancouver.
When I walk into the locker room, the guys are all laughing and talking while putting on their gear. Some rap song I don’t recognize is blasting in the background. The second they see me, they fall quiet, and the music dies down.
I walk to the center of the locker room to address the team.
“Gentlemen, this is our first exhibition game of the season,” I say. “This is old news for some of you. You’ve played a million preseason games in your career. But for some of you, this is your first. Regardless of whether you’re a vet in the league or you’re brand new, I want you all to approach this game with the same level of effort and seriousness. This is a chance for you to showcase your skills. This is also a chance for me and the other coaches to see how you’re going to play this upcoming season. Take it seriously. I want to see good effort out there from all of you.”
I let the guys finish getting ready. When they hit the ice for warmups, I stand at the team bench with Jason and observe the players, taking notes on how they prep themselves for the game.
Out of the corner of my eye, I spot Alan Arden walking out of the tunnel. I frown. What is he doing out here? The general manager typically watches games from the upper level of the arena. He doesn’t even normally come to preseason games.
He speaks with one of the team trainers, then spots me. He walks over and says hi to Jason and me, then nods to the ice.
“How are our boys looking?” he asks.
“So far, so good,” I say. “But it’s only warm-up. We’ll have to wait until the game starts to get an accurate read on everyone.”
He nods his head like he knows this. Because of course he knows this. He’s been the general manager of the Denver Bashers for almost five years. He’s worked in professional hockey for the past decade. Why he’s down here asking mequestions when he already knows the answers is beyond me.
