Page 56 of Roughing
Trent turned away, but not before I noticed his cheeks burned with a telltale shade of red. From the stall next to mine, Jarrett nudged me and winked. He’d caught the entire convo too, which meant it’d be spread around the locker room and beyond in record time. No one was safe from Jarrett’s mouth.
I went about my pregame ritual and ignored my nosy teammate. Braden and I had put in extra ice time this week, and we were building some chemistry. I was relearning how to be a good teammate. I held my criticism to a minimum, only making a few suggestions. I tried to remember how I’d behaved back when I’d been considered a team player before my sister died, which seemed like a lifetime ago.
As the minutes ticked by and guys came and went from the locker room, I relaxed more. Michella believed in me, and that meant everything.
A calm confidence flooded through me. Tonight was going to be a good night. I felt it in my bones. Braden and I were a pretty good defensive team, not the best partner I’d ever had, but he was close. Considering that the players drafted in the expansion were mostly second and third liners, older guys, and guys with issues, I couldn’t expect a Norris-level partner. Braden was solid and knew his assignment. He covered for me when I went toward the net, and I did the same for him. His game was more of a stay-at-home defenseman, while I built my career on being a two-way defenseman.
My partner sat down at the locker next to me. He didn’t say much, which I appreciated. The guy wasn’t a talker any more than I was unless he had something to say. Like many of the guys on this team, he struggled with our losing record and being rejected by his former team.
I recalled a coach once saying the real character comes through when you’re losing. I’d failed that test miserably, and it’d taken a suspension, a threat of being benched, and competition to shake some sense into me. I was an Icehawk, like it or not. My old team hadn’t wanted me enough to protect me, but the Icehawks had taken a chance on me, on all of us in this locker room.
A half hour later, I skated onto the ice for warm-ups. The arena was half full. Despite our losing record, the Portland fans cheered more loudly than we deserved. The fans were happy to have a team, and expectations were low.
Michella was in the WAGs suite. She’d been there before as Everly’s guest but not as my official girlfriend. I glanced upward to the suite level and immediately spotted her. She was sitting with her besties, Everly and Inez. She wore my jersey, and I couldn’t stop the huge smile that spread across my face. I waved at her, and she waved back. On a whim, I blew her a kiss before turning back to my warm-ups. I didn’t look up again. Time to concentrate on the game, but I was in an amazingly good mood.
At the end of the first, I’d scored one goal on a wicked pass from Dash and assisted Trent in another. The Icehawks led two to zero against the defending champs. No one was as shocked as we were. We’d been playing better the second half of the season, finally starting to gel. Braden and I were a two-man wrecking crew. We blocked shots, hit guys hard but cleanly, and found clear passing lanes to our forwards. The guys were all smiles as we stomped to the locker room for first intermission. Instead of the depressed silence that had become our norm, the room was boisterous and filled with laughter. You’d have thought we were winning a Stanley Cup final game by listening to us. The vibe was contagious, and I laughed along with the guys, enjoying their good-natured jabs at each other and glad I was flying under their radar. Only being invisible didn’t last long.
Jarrett turned his attention in my direction and shouted loud enough to be heard over the din. “Hey, we thought Briggs’s attitude adjustment had to do with the suspension. Should’ve known better. It’s a woman. Let’s hope she doesn’t dump his ass before the season ends. I’m not missing Mr. Grouch.”
His declaration was followed by catcalls and whistles, along with multiple rude but in-fun remarks. I took it all in stride and shrugged, not discounting his revelation because there was a ton of truth in it. Besides, I was in a great mood and a little bullshit by a teammate wouldn’t ruin that.
I grinned and didn’t say a word. Several of the guys shot curious but wary smiles my way. They didn’t trust me, and undoing the damage I’d done wouldn’t happen overnight.
I’d been the top defenseman on my old team, even when I became a disruptive influence in the locker room. My ego took a blow when they left me unprotected and then again when the Icehawks actually selected me, and I’d seen it as my penance for not saving my sister. That chip I’d been carrying around had only gotten bigger when my former team emerged as a Stanley Cup favorite while I was stuck on a basement dweller.
No one in the room or in this organization deserved how I’d lashed out and divided the locker room. Perhaps that suspension and bringing up Nolan were the best things that ever happened to me, next to Michella. And perhaps considering Michella the best thing that ever happened to me was premature.
Someone walked by and patted my back. “Good first period. You two were on your game.” Dash nodded at Braden and me before continuing on his way around the room, doling out words of praise and encouragement. He was a good captain, and I’d been a thorn in his side since the first day of training camp. As a credit to him, he didn’t hold my bad attitude against me.
“Good job, partner.” Braden grinned, and I grinned back. Smiling felt foreign, but I was getting back into the habit.
“Back at ya.”
We went into the second period energized by our first-period lead. Dash scored to make it three-zero, and Roman, our goalie, held them scoreless for the remainder of the game. We held our lead through the third and won the game.
Despite being weary from a hard-fought battle on the ice, there was a spring in my step as I returned to the locker room. For the first time since I’d been on this team, I’d enjoyed playing the game once again. I knew as well as anyone in this room that we’d still lose more than we won, but something had changed tonight, and not just with me. It was as if we were finally buying into the coach’s system and playing the team-centric game he’d been preaching.
Coach walked in to deliver his usual rah-rah speech. I wiped my face with a towel and looked up.
He paused in the center of the room to gaze at each one of us. “Boys, this game was proof of how we need to play every night. Every guy in here did his job, worked his ass off on the ice, and never let up, even after we had a three-goal lead in the third. We need to bring a similar effort every night.”
There were murmurs of agreement, and I found myself nodding. For a split second, my eyes met Jeffs’s. His slight smile gave me a warm feeling of accomplishment. Being a dependable good guy felt way better than being a disruptive asshole.
“Okay, Dash, you have the hat right?”
Dash rose to his feet and raised Hawk costume head with real feathers over his head.
The previous recipient awarded the hat to the guy he believed was the player of the game. “Everyone in this room deserves the hawk tonight, but there’s one guy who made the biggest difference when it came to feeding off his energy and trying all game long. Brigger.” He turned and stared directly at me.
I glanced around the room, certain I hadn’t heard my name and waited for someone else to accept the fish award. No one did.
“Briggs?” Dash spoke louder and drew laughter from the rest of the room.
I jumped to my feet, stumbled over my skates that’d been discarded on the floor, and managed to make my way to the center of the room without incident.
I took the head in both hands and held it over my head. “This goes to everyone here. It was a team effort. Now let’s do it again next game.”
The group around me cheered followed by chants of “put it on.” Reluctantly, I pulled the ridiculous thing over my head to the delighted jeers and shouts of my teammates.
