Page 14 of Two for Holding
“Yeah, whenever we work with him,” Jax continued, “I feel like I’ve maxed out my quad workouts for the week.”
“You’re telling me,” Hayesie groaned.“I know we gotta practice this shit, but I swear, we were doing forechecking drills for a solid hour on Thursday, and by the time the game rolled around, I was totally out of gas.”
Tom winced in sympathy.“Morris had you two on the ice for, what, twenty minutes during the game?”
“Twenty-two.”
“Does he even talk to Trout?What the hell?”Jax’s tone rose, sounding incensed.
Phil chuckled.“Calm down, man.You get used to it.”
Jax shot Tom a pointed look.
Tom had noticed their coaching team pushing them hard but in very different directions previously.Edwards was all about finesse.If he got his way, the full team would perfect a passing drill before he moved on to the next one.Trout prioritized endurance; he was the kind of old-school guy who wanted to see his players skate until they barfed.Prior head coaches aligned more with one or the other philosophy.Morris, on the other hand, focused on the big picture, trying out different lines and special-teams constellations, sometimes seemingly at random.He usually managed to split the difference, but he’d been out sick on Thursday, and Trout had taken the run of things because Edwards never stood up to him.Now he thought of it, Tom remembered they’d worked on the forechecking drill for a long time.The forwards had rotated out regularly, but Trout had kept the same D-men in for much too long.
Food for thought.
Tom had always operated under the assumption that he’d been awarded the captaincy as a largely symbolic role.He had to be a good example for the younger guys, show up early, give it his all.Part of how he gave it his all was by respecting the coaches and the referees.Maybe he’d missed some room for him to improve things.Maybe Morris did want to hear his thoughts on the penalty kill.Tom had no idea what sorts of things he might have learned about coaching hockey in Utah, where a majority of the experience he’d told the team about when he introduced himself had taken place.Not exactly a hotbed of hockey.Perhaps he’d learned coaching other sports as well and really could bring in fresh new ideas.If Tom never asked, he’d never know.If he never offered his own expertise after years of playing on the same team throughout different coaches and front offices, how could he expect Morris to base his decisions on it?
Out of the corner of his eye, Tom studied Jax, watched as he tilted his head back and laughed at something Phil said.Before Jax had bullied his way into Tom’s consciousness, he’d never considered how his own input might have an effect.Tom had been too busy shrinking down so small no one could see his failures.Maybe he could stop thinking about himself and start thinking more about the team’s success.
Jax glanced over and caught Tom staring.His lips tilted up in a smile.His big, warm hand settled on Tom’s shoulder.He had good hands.Deft and capable.Tom could feel his strength.It was a good quality for a hockey player to have.
“Come on, old man.You’ve still gotta talk to Mooney.”
Tom let himself be led off again, but he shook off Jax’s hand as soon as he could.
Some things weren’t to be savored.
four
Kayleigh [off-screen]: Favorite hockey fights you’ve been in—go.
Hayes: Ooh, tough one.There was this time Turgenev crashed Dmitriyev in Buffalo.That was pretty good.
Kayleigh: What happened?
Hayes: Well, I dropped the gloves, obviously.Can’t go after our goalie.He dropped his gloves, too, and I got him against the boards.But Jenkins—he’s in Calgary, now, I think—came up too.And then East, here, joined in, and the next thing I know, the refs send both entire teams to the penalty box for five minutes while they figure out what even happened.
Kayleigh: Were you thinking of that fight, too, Phil?
Phil: I wouldn’t say favorite.I don’t have favorite fights.It’s not really something you set out to do.I’ll get in there if I have to, but I don’t want to cost the team those penalty minutes, and I don’t want anyone to get hurt.
Top comments:
sealionsfan82: Glad Easton is so measured.Hockey fights are dangerous, and the incident Hayes talked about got a man in the hospital.
sealions4lyfe: @sealionsfan82—It’s a contact sport.Let men be men.Easton’s a pussy.
sealionsfan82: @sealions4lyfe—Have you heard of CTE?It’s not the ’80s anymore.Players whaling on each other isn’t how you win the game
(Video posted in The Rookery, the direct-to-consumer streaming service of the San Francisco Sea Lions and all associated teams, on 11/10/2024)
Jax didn’t sit next to Tom on the team bus to the airport.He also didn’t try to join in the card game the old guys played on most flights.These things had to be taken slowly.
Anyway, he wasn’t a huge fan of the way Tom kept jerking away from him whenever they touched or Jax mentioned anything to do with his love life.Tom might not be a homophobe in the classic, bible-thumping sense, but he wasn’t exactly cool about it either.
Instead, Jax sat with Breezy and let Breezy talk his ear off about how Vanessa had forgiven him for Jax insinuating her job decorating rich people’s houses made her less tough than a nurse.He did an excellent job pretending not to snort at how ridiculous he found her outrage.Sure, he might need to work on his own preconceived notions about WAGs, but he’d always been painfully aware it wasn’t a life model he aspired to.Any partner of his wouldn’t be welcome in the group, and that changed the way he saw them.To Breezy, a woman giving up her life to follow his career was a sacrifice, and maybe he had a point.But the same woman would never invite Jax’s boyfriend, if he ever had one, along to the bridal shower or baby brunch or any one of the events they posted on Instagram.
