A/N: I am so incredibly sorry for such a long time between updates!
I was actually thinking about this when the Olympics were going on...and I was playing in USA Hockey's Pond Hockey National Championships in Wisconsin (we got 5th place in our division). And I fully intended to write when I got home, but...The Walking Dead resumed and my brain was like: "Nope. You're going to get all these ideas for zombies, not hockey. Sucker." Well, The Walking Dead is in between seasons now and MY hockey season is over, so I guess my brain was like: "Let's write some hockey now!" So here we are!
I made it a lot longer than normal because I made you wait so long.
Enjoy!
Terri was startled awake in the morning by the clock blaring the steady, high-shrieking buzz of the alarm. Groaning, she reached over to the nightstand blindly and slapped a hand on the snooze button.
"Few more minutes." She grumbled to the device, snuggling back under the covers.
She had just started to nod off again, when the alarm shrieked anew. Jumping and sitting bolt upright in the bed, Terri reached over and turned the alarm off as she muttered: "Alright, alright. I'm up."
After setting the clock back on the nightstand, she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and swung her legs over the side of the bed. She stretched her arms high above her head to crack her back, then stood with a sigh and made her way to the bathroom where she went through the process of getting ready and waking herself up. Once she finished in the bathroom, she went back into the room and got dressed in the clothes she laid out the night before. She slid her Michigan State hockey T-shirt—a Christmas gift from her brother, Tom—over her head, then stepped into a pair of shorts followed by a part of navy blue track pants.
As she was pulling on her shoes, Terri thought she could smell bacon wafting in from under her door. Mouth watering, she stood from the bed and grabbed the room key. She left the room (locking it behind her) and followed her nose down the hallway towards the rec room.
Coming around the corner, she saw a large spread of breakfast foods laid out on a long table. Terri took a quick glance around the room, seeing a few of the boys gathered in their groups and eating breakfast, then stepped up to the table and grabbed a paper plate. Walking down the table, she scooped up some scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage links, and a few slices of whole wheat toast with butter. The end of the table had some pitchers of juice and milk. Terri set her plate down, then picked up a plastic cup and the pitcher of orange juice, pouring the juice as she located plastic utensils on a small table next to the beverages out of the corner of her eye. Setting the pitcher back down, she reached over and grabbed a napkin and a fork. Picking up her plate with her right hand, which held the napkin and fork, she picked up her cup with her left hand then turned to look for somewhere to sit and eat.
Trying not to make eye contact with anyone as she looked around, she didn't spot any available seats. With a small shrug, she made up her mind to go back to her room. She could at least come up with more drills until she had to get in her rental car and take the twenty minute drive over to the arena.
She turned to head back towards her room when she heard a "Hey Terri!" from across the room. Pausing, she turned her head to see who called her.
Bah raised his hand in a wave from one of the couches. "You can come sit with us." He said, shifting over to make room.
As most of the eyes in the room turned to look at her, Terri flushed and stumbled. "Oh, uh...thanks, but, uh...I was gonna do some, uh, work real quick." She answered, looking down at her plate of food.
"Okay, maybe next time." He replied with a small smile.
Terri glanced up at him quickly before averting her eyes and nodding with a tight grin. She continued on her way out of the rec room with a sigh of slight relief as she walked back to her room. At her door, she had to set her juice on the floor to take her key out of her pocket and unlock it. With that accomplished, she walked in to set her plate and cup on the nightstand then went over to her equipment back and dug out a puck. Going back over to the door, she opened it wide and set the puck in front of it as a doorstop.
Just because she went back to her room, didn't mean she was going to shut everyone out entirely...and this way she could hear anyone walking through the halls and building, too.
Returning to the bed, Terri picked up her plate and scarffed down her food, then washed it down with the orange juice.
Once she finished, she threw her garbage away, then retook her seat on the bed, sitting with her legs tucked underneath her, she reached to grab her small notebook and pen and opened to a fresh page to plan.
Terri had been drawing in her notebook for only about five minutes before she heard a ruckus down the hallway. Getting up from the bed, she went to the door and stuck her head out. Down the hall, she saw a bunch of players walking out of the building with their bags and sticks in hand.
For a bunch of guys, they sure were loud.
Glancing at the clock, Terri decided to grab her stuff and head on over to the arena. She wasn't quite sure how to get there, so maybe she could follow some of them over. Grabbing her equipment bag and stick, she nudged the puck away from the door so she could close it. With a yawn, she locked her door and stuffed the key into a pocket in her bag, while digging out her car keys.
Walking down the hallway to the main doors of the dormitory, Terri saw another group of players heading out. It seemed like the stragglers were heading out now...Buzz Schneider was among the small group. He happened to take a glance down the hallway and saw her. Pausing, he waited for her while the rest of the group went on.
"Hey." He said when she was closer.
"Hi." She replied softly.
"You headin' over to the arena?" He asked as they walked out of the dorm.
"Yeah." Terri replied, watching her feet as she walked down the steps. "I'm, uh...not entirely sure how to get over there." She continued softly. "Can I follow you or whoever you're going with?" She didn't look at him as she asked, feeling awkward enough already, then having to ask a dumb question didn't help.
"I could just ride over with you." He said.
Terri paused in her step for a moment, not expecting that. "Oh, uh...sure." She muttered, stopping at the trunk of her rental car.
"Cool. Lemme go tell Mac." He said, setting his equipment bag and stick down on the ground. "Be right back."
Terri nodded and he jogged over to where Rob McClanahan and Mike Ramsey were standing behind another car. She popped open the trunk of her car and set her bag in it before going to the driver's side and unlocking the doors. Opening the back door, she tossed her stick onto the back seat. She closed the door and stood at the trunk of the car as she watched Buzz jog back over to her.
"Okay. We're good to go." He said hefting his bag up and setting it in the trunk.
Nodding, Terri slammed the trunk closed and got into the driver's seat. Buzz moved to the passenger's side and opened the back door to set his sticks on the back seat along with Terri's, then closed the door and got into the front seat.
The car ride was the most awkward and longest twenty minute drive of Terri's life. Buzz tried to make conversation, but Terri would only answer his questions with one or two words. She was sure he understood that she wasn't comfortable and was trying to help, but she was also trying to remember which roads to turn down so she could get herself back to the U. His last second directions weren't helping his case, either.
When Terri pulled into the parking lot and threw the car into park, she turned off the engine and let out a light sigh. Both she and Buzz opened their doors at the same time and got out. Terri popped the trunk and Buzz opened the back door to grab all three sticks. Coming around the back of the car, he handed Terri her stick after she took her bag out of the trunk. With a soft "thanks," she waited for Buzz to grab his bag before closing the trunk and shoving the keys into the same pocket of her bag that held her dorm room key.
"Thanks for the ride." Buzz said as they made their way towards the front of the arena.
"Thanks for the directions." Terri replied quietly with a small smile.
Mac and Ramsey met up with them at the doors of the arena. The three players chatted as they made their way towards the locker rooms.
Terri paused in the lobby and watched them walk off before she took a deep breath and went to look for Herb and Craig to know what the game plan was for the day. She walked out to the ice surface to look around there. She didn't see either older man so she turned and decided to head down the hallway that led to the locker rooms…maybe she'd at least find the hall to the benches. She was looking down a side hallway, when she heard a door open further down the hallway. Heart beat quickening, she slowly made her way towards the sound. Peering around a corner, she saw Craig walking down the hallway towards her. He looked up from a clipboard in his hands and saw her.
"Oh, hi, Terri." He said, pausing.
"Hi." She replied.
"There's an empty office down there on the left if you want to use it." He said, sliding a whistle over her his head.
"Oh, sure." Terri answered in surprise. She wasn't expecting an actually office. "Thanks." She walked down the hallway towards the empty office. As she passed Craig, he turned.
"Oh, and Herb wants to talk to you before practice." He said, then turned and headed towards the ice when she nodded.
Terri continued down the hall and passed an office on the right, the door locked. Glancing at the name at eye-height in the middle of the door written on a piece of masking tape was Craig's name. A few feet further down the hall, on the left was the empty office. The door was open and the lights were off. Stepping to the threshold, she leaned in and looked for a light switch; she found one to her right and flipped the lights on.
Taking a look around, Terri saw that the room was spartan—just a desk with a chair and two uncomfortable looking chairs in front of it with a cork board on the wall perpendicular to the desk—but she didn't care. She got an office! Grinning, she stepped into the room and rested her stick against the wall next to the door, then walked over to the desk. She set her bag on one of the chairs in front of the desk, then walked around and sat in the chair behind it. Holding back a giddy laugh, she smiled as she ran her hands over the wood of the desktop.
"Cool." She mumbled, spinning in her chair to glance out of the window behind her.
As she spun back around, she saw a clock above the door...and the time. With a muttered curse, she got out of the chair and dug through her bag to reach her skates. She quickly kicked off her shoes and pulled on her skates, lacing them up as fast as she could. Once laced, she took a black track jacket out of her bag and slung it onto her person and dug out her gloves before she made her way to the door and grabbed her stick. She turned off the lights and closed the door, hoping to find a key for the door somewhere in the office before the end of the day.
Closing the door behind her, she went to look for Herb's office. Figuring it was further down the hall, she went that way and after a few yards, she found an office with the lights on. Stepping up to take a quick glance through the large window next to the door, she saw Herb sitting behind the desk. With a deep breath, she walked to the door and knocked on the frame.
"Yeah. Come in." Herb said without looking up from the papers scattered on his desk.
Terri took a few steps into the office. Herb finally looked up.
"Terri. Good morning." He said, taking off his glasses. "Have a seat." He gestured to the chairs in front of his desk and glanced at the clock. "I'll make it quick, since we have to get out there soon. Craig's putting 'em through a warm up."
With a nod, Terri rested her stick next to the door and sat stiffly on the edge of one of the chairs.
"We're gonna start with a little breakout drill. I wanna see where the boys stand, who's strong (or weak) where." Herb said. Terri nodded and he continued. "We'll break down into groups after that. I'll take a few at one end of the ice, Craig'll have a few more at center, and at the other end, you can set up some drills for Jimmy and Janny. See where they need work."
Terri nodded slowly, remembering some easy drills she came up with a few days ago.
"Alright. You can head on out." Herb said, then turned in his chair to pick up his own skates.
Terri stood and started to walk out, picking her stick back up on the way.
"Oh, Terri." Herb called out as she was stepping over the threshold. She turned back to him. "Did you find your office?"
"Yeah. Craig directed me to it." Terri said quietly. "Thanks for that."
"Hey, it was an empty room, why not use it?" Herb smiled. He bent down for something. "Here. This is for you, too." He tossed a blue jacket towards her.
Terri caught the jacket in one hand, then maneuvered it around while holding her stick to look at it. 'USA' was embroidered in red and white on the left breast of the zip-up track jacket. Lowering it, Terri glanced at Herb. "Thanks." She said.
"It's official now. You're part of this team." He grinned.
Terri smiled back sheepishly and nodded. She left Herb's office and walked back to her office to quickly switch jackets; the new one was a little big, but at least she wasn't swimming in it. She tossed her black jacket onto one of the chairs, then headed to main hallway to find out how to get to the ice. Taking a left at the end of the office hallway, Terri saw some boys coming out of a locker room and walking down the hall a little ways before turning right. Figuring that must be the way to the ice, Terri followed.
Turning right, where the guys did, Terri could clearly see the ice from the end of the hall and followed it to the bench. She stood along the boards and watched as Craig instructed the boys in a warm up skate from center ice, whistle to his lips. When he blew three sharp whistles, the boys skated to center ice. After a few more instructions from Craig, they spread out around the circle and stretched, one player Terri hadn't met yet came to the middle of the circle to lead. Craig came over to the boards while they stretched.
"Herb fill you in?" He asked Terri, leaning on the boards near her.
"Yup. Should be an easy day." She said, looking down at the top of the boards.
Craig scoffed, making her look up at him. "There're boys from Boston and boys from Minnesota here. You know about the '76 championship, right?" Terri nodded and he continued. "There's bad blood here and they won't play nice with each other until someone pays."
Terri bit the inside of her cheek as she looked out over the group of boys. "Great." She muttered sarcastically.
She glanced around the circle wondering who would be the ones dumb enough to start throwing punches. She saw OC (in between Silky and Rizzo), who was giving someone a decidedly evil glance. As her eyes swept from OC to try to find out who he was glaring at, she caught Rizzo's gaze when he looked up. He sent a grin to her and she lowered her head and gaze, trying to hold back a smirk. When she got herself under control again, she looked back over (avoiding Rizzo's eyes) at OC and followed his line of sight to Mac.
Well, that wasn't surprising. OC was ready to get kicked out of the bar the other night to fight him.
This was going to be an interesting practice.
With a sigh, Terri hopped over the boards and stood next to Craig. "Better get warmed up." She said before skating off around the ice, stretching her legs and arms. She could feel the eyes of some of the guys on her as she skated, but tried her damnedest to push away the feeling...she just hoped she didn't fall and make an ass of herself at their first practice.
After a few laps, she was warm and stopped next to Craig at the bench. They waited for the boys to finish stretching. Herb stepped onto the bench with Doc just as the boys were standing up after finishing leg stretches. Herb stepped onto the ice and skated over to Craig and Terri.
"They done?" He asked the two.
"Yeah." Craig answered as Terri nodded.
Terri hopped up onto the boards, letting her legs dangle on the ice side, and holding her stick between her spread knees. Herb blew his whistle, calling the boys over. They gathered around the three coaches and listened as Herb briefly went over what they were doing for the day.
Glancing around the group, Terri noticed that OC and Mac were not wearing the same color jersey. She wondered if Herb made that decision conscious or subconsciously.
As the boys were getting themselves together with their line mates, Terri swung her legs over the boards to stand on the bench and out of the way. Her two goalies skated over to her and Steve Janaszak took his right hand out of his glove. He held it out to Terri, who looked from his face to his hand, raising an eyebrow.
"I'm Steve." He introduced himself unnecessarily.
"Uh, Terri." She said, tentatively shaking his hand. "Or 'Coach' on the ice, I guess."
Nodding with a grin, he released her hand.
"Where do ya want us?" Jimmy asked.
"Umm. How about you take that net," she pointed to her left, "and Steve can have that one." She pointed to her right. "If I see something that we need to work on, I'll write it down." She took her notebook out of her pocket. "Then we'll quickly go over it between drills."
Now that Terri had stepped into her role as coach, she wasn't nearly as shy. As a coach, especially at this high a level of play, she had to be confident in herself and her work or she could very easily lose her job. She could also be ridiculed for being a woman in such a position.
The two goalies nodded and headed to their nets as two lines got set up at center ice. Terri moved to the corner of the bench, close to the other bench. Craig skated over and stood on the ice next to the bench near her.
Herb shot a puck into the corner next to Jimmy to start the drill. The guys skated off and Herb moved to the side, near the benches, so he was out of the direct path of players. The group skated past the benches and Terri kept her eyes on Steve as he defended the net. After Steve made a glove save, Herb called for two other lines of boys to get set up. They repeated the drill, but this time Steve missed a top-shelf shot to his stick side. Terri made a note in her notebook, then set it on the boards.
The plays continued for a few more rounds, Herb switching which end the puck would start in each time. He had just called out Johnson on skating coast to coast with the puck and not passing—and scoring on Jimmy—when Terri heard OC tell one of his teammates that he would go out instead this round. After she finished writing her note on the play, she looked up and immediately saw why he wanted to take the ice: Mac was on the opposing line. She turned her head to the other bench to see Rizzo and Silky exchange a look.
Silky seemed to smirk, but Rizzo didn't look too thrilled with what was about to happen. He looked past Silky and saw that Terri was casting a look in their direction. He tried to give her a reassuring grin, but she just raised an eyebrow, clearly not agreeing.
"This is a breakout play, gentlemen, so please get rid of the puck early." Herb said, bringing Terri's attention back to the ice.
She watched nervously as he shot the puck into the corner next to Jimmy. Nine of the ten players moved immediately...OC took an extra few seconds to plan. As Mac skated back up the ice, not looking where he was going, OC skated straight at him, checking Mac to the ice.
Both benches stood up with pained groans. Terri heard someone say "what's OC doing?" and someone else say "that was cheap". She glanced to her right to see Doc move towards the bench door, seeing that Mac wasn't getting up right away. When he did get up, however, he dropped his gloves and went right for OC, who also dropped his gloves.
The two were locked into a fight, throwing punches left and right. Terri crossed her arms over her chest and huffed as she watched the two. "Stupid boys." She muttered as she frowned. She watched as Craig started to go break them up, but Herb held him back, deciding that they should get this out of their systems now. Terri rolled her eyes and scoffed at that.
Their fight went on for a good thirty seconds, both of them getting a few good punches in, before they fell to the ice and were broken apart by their teammates. Rizzo grabbed OC (when he jumped on the ice, Terri didn't notice) and Bah and another player helped Mac up.
"Well, how 'bout it boys?" Herb asked. "Look like hockey to you?"
"Looks like wrestling." Terri mumbled, arms still crossed.
"Looks like a couple-a monkeys trying to hump a football." Herb continued, making Terri make a disgusted face. "What do you think, Craig?"
Terri turned to glance at Craig, who didn't look happy about the situation, either. She had the feeling that he was more annoyed with Herb not intervening than the actual fight. He eventually answered Herb with a "yeah".
"You wanna settle old scores, you're on the wrong team." Herb went on, sending fleeting looks from OC to Mac. "We start moving forward right now. We start becoming a team right now!" Herb yelled slapping his stick on the ice. He started to skate small paces between the boys. "Skating. Passing. Flow. Creativity. That's what this team's about, gentlemen. Not old rivalries."
Terri uncrossed her arms and placed her hands on her hips. This time she definitely agreed with him on that remark.
"So, why don't we start with some introductions? You know, get to know each other a little bit." Herb said, looking around at all of the boys around him. "Where you're from, who you are. Go ahead." He looked at Mac, who still had blood running from his nose and trying to get his breath back.
Mac scoffed before he spoke. "Rob McClanahan. St. Paul, Minnesota."
Herb nodded. "Who do you play for?"
"You, here at the U." Mac replied, like it should have been common knowledge.
Herb ran his tongue over his lips before turning to his other side. "Jack?"
OC moved his sly glance from Mac to Herb and back to Mac. "Jack O'Callahan. Charleston, Mass. Boston University." He looked back at Herb, who nodded once then looked at Coxie.
"Over here." Herb said, pointing to the forward.
"Uh, I'm Ralph Cox." He said adjusting his helmet. "I'm from wherever's not gonna get me hit."
Everyone laughed, releasing tension throughout the group. Terri grinned at him with a small shake of her head as she leaned forward and rested her forearms on the boards.
"Very good." Herb said, getting immediately back to practice. "Everybody on the line. Let's go."
Apparently, this was the end of the breakout drill. Herb had them count off by three and they broke up into the groups. Terri took her first group and her goalies to the far end of the ice. Along the way, she told the goalies what they needed to work on the most, then, at the other end, she stopped and explained her first drill. It was simple, so she didn't demonstrate. She stood on the blue line (setting her stick in the corner of the bench) and watched as they went through the drill, making notes in her notebook as she saw fit. After doing the drill a few times, she changed it up, showing the group of players her notebook where she drew another drill.
"Everyone understand?" She asked. When she received nods, she told them: "Get to it". She stood back up at the blue line with her arms crossed over her chest, watching the play and the goalies.
About twenty minutes passed with Terri changing up the drills every few rounds. Herb blew his whistle sharply, three times, yelling "rotate!" and waving his finger in a circular motion above his head. With Terri's next group of players, she went back to her first drill, then switched up the other drills after. Another twenty minutes went by before Herb rotated the boys again, starting over once more.
After the last group, Herb called a for a water break. At the bench, Terri grabbed up a water bottle, taking a drink herself before turning to look for someone who didn't have a bottle yet so she could pass it off.
Rizzo happened to be standing behind her right shoulder about to snag up a bottle, but stopped when she held hers out to him with a small hesitant grin. He grinned back with a nod.
"Thanks." He said, squeezing water into his mouth.
"Mmhmm." She replied with a nod of her own, shifting her eyes down to the ice.
"Terri." Herb called.
Looking up, Terri saw him and Craig standing at the other bench. He waved her over with a flick of his wrist. She nodded, and put her gloves back on before picking up her stick. Turning, she excused herself from around some of the guys, accidentally brushing against Rizzo as she skated away and over to Herb. He eyed her for a moment.
"We'll get them split up for a scrimmage for the next hour, then break for lunch." Herb explained, leaning on the top of his stick. "We'll do some off-ice training after the break then." He shifted so he could look at Terri. "Keep an eye on those goalies."
Terri nodded, then stepped up onto the bench with Craig after Herb stepped down to the ice. Taking a look down the bench, she saw Mac getting checked over by Doc, making sure his nose wasn't broken and shoving gauze up his nostril. Her attention was brought back to Herb as he blew his whistle and called the guys to him. As they broke into two teams, Terri stepped behind the forward's door so she was out of the way, but could watch the goalies.
When the hour was up, Herb let the boys take off to the locker room telling them that lunch would be ready and set up in the lobby by the time they were done getting their equipment off.
Before they could leave the ice, Terri called for Steve and Jimmy. She briefly went over what she saw they needed to work on, drawing some stick figure pictures in her notebook to show them.
"I dunno what Herb has planned for after lunch, but for tomorrow's on-ice, we'll work on some of these problems." She said, pointing to the pictures she drew.
The two goalies nodded.
"You know, when you're in 'coach mode', you're more talkative. Confident." Jimmy stated with a smile.
Terri lowered her head as she blushed. "I'm working on that." She remarked softly. She glanced up at her goalies before lowering her eyes back to her notebook to close it. "Go get lunch." She muttered, nodding towards the general area of the locker rooms.
"You got it...Coach." Steve said with a smile.
Terri looked up to see the two grin at each other before looking back at her. She grinned and shook her head, then they got off the ice. Noticing that she was the only one at the ice now, she took a deep breath in through her nose and out through her mouth, releasing the anxious energy that still lingered. Taking a long look around the arena, Terri then turned and headed back to her office. Once there, she sat behind her desk (setting her gloves on top of it) and unlaced her skates. She put her shoes back on, then wiped down the blades, put the protective covers over them, and shoved them under her desk for safe keeping. Digging through the drawers of the desk, she was able to find the keys to the office door in the top middle drawer.
She wanted to organize her notes by pinning the better drills to the cork board, but hearing her stomach growl loudly, she decided to wait until later.
Picking up the office keys, she walked out of the door—turning off the lights and closing the door—and locked it behind her as she made her way to the lobby for lunch.
A/N: Okie dokie. What'd ya think?
I think I know what's going to happen in the next chapter (I wouldn't expect it any time soon, but definitely sooner than this update), but if you have any ideas or there's something you'd like to see in a later chapter, feel free to let me know. No guarantees I'll use your suggestions, but if I do, you'll get acknowledgment...and it might really get those plot bunnies moving.
Extreme thanks to all who have read, reviewed, alerted, and favored!