Chapter 32
JAYDEN
“We all played like shit last night.”
The whole team is in the dressing room. But only the team. No coaches. No trainers. No media.
LG looks around at everyone. “We need to figure out how the fuck to fix this, guys. We’re all sick of it.”
The air in the room is heavy. Nobody is looking at each other.
“We need to learn how to communicate better,” LG says. “We need to talk to each other. We need to be honest with each other. And we all need to not get pissed off when someone is honest with us.” His gaze lands on Bish.
Bish scowls.
“So let’s talk about last night,” I say, jutting my chin. “Who wants to start?”
A lot of glances are exchanged; others avoid eye contact.
“I’ll start,” Frosty says. He looks at Bish. “Don’t fucking do that on the ice. You got a problem with my game? Talk to me off the ice.”
“There wasn’t time for that,” Bish snarls. “We had what, two and a half minutes? We had to tie it up. We needed you on the bench and LG on the ice.”
“I can’t leave the net when they have control of the puck,” Frosty says. “You fucking know that.”
“I had the puck!”
“Not at first.”
“Okay.” LG lifts his hands. “What happened last night happened. I don’t want to make this between you two guys.
You have different opinions about what should have happened.
What we need to do is figure out how we, as a team, want to handle things like that.
We all have the same goal, right? We all wanted to score in that game, and we all wanted to not get scored on. ”
Bish and Frosty nod, still frowning.
“What we differ on is how to achieve those goals.” LG looks around the room.
“We also need to agree on how to handle differences of opinion like that. It doesn’t help anyone to crash out over it on the ice.
” He gives Bish a narrow-eyed look. “Maybe we should make some rules about it. Like, wait twenty-four hours to talk about it.”
“Maybe watching the video would help,” Finn suggests. “Then we’re looking at the same thing. Everything happens fast on the ice.”
LG gives the kid an approving look. “That’s a good idea.”
“So… like when Moose pinched last night right before that second goal,” Rocky says.
“We both want the same thing,” Moose replies tightly. “Keep the play alive in the O zone.”
“But there are risks,” Rocky says. “They ended up with an odd man rush.”
“Okay, yeah,” LG says. “This is good. What’s the goal? How do we do it? And why do you think one thing and Moose thinks another?”
“Do we agree that we shouldn’t be wildin’ out on the ice over that shit?” Abby says. “That’s just embarrassing.”
Everyone is nodding. Even Bish, but his mouth is still a stubborn slash.
“We’re not going to solve everything today,” LG says. “But does everyone agree we need to have some rules about handling conflict?”
Most everyone murmurs agreement.
“Absolutely,” I say.
“Okay.” LG looks around. “Let’s talk about it.”