There was a comment made between Coach and Abel and they began to talk.
Someone had been there, taking pictures and caught some shots where both Coach and Abel were talking at the same time. The picture made it look like they were arguing even though they weren’t.
That was the kind of shit that really irked me.
Not that Madison was into that gossipy nonsense.
But what did I really know about her?
She didn’t even bother to give me her real name when I met her.
I growled and crouched down, watching Riff and Abel pass the puck back and forth.
Abel ended up scoring on me.
Top right shelf shot that I should have easily blocked.
Abel cheered and I ripped my mask off and threw it on top of the net.
Coach blew his whistle and waved me over.
I knew I was fucked.
“Arewe here to practice or waste time?” Coach asked.
We knew not to answer that question.
From the corner of my left eye I spotted Alonso with the owner of the team.
That maybe explained why Coach seemed a little more irritable than normal.
He was on edge. Or off the edge.
“You give that shot, Mav?” Coach called me right out. “Do you want to be a goalie or what?” He then looked at Riff and Abel. “And those passes were shit.”
“Coach, I’ve got some pictures of Izzy,” Abel said. “Want me to show them to you. Level things out?”
Coach rubbed his jaw. “Is this a joke, Abel? You sign that big deal, knock up some woman, and now you think life is perfect, right? You have no idea what life is really like yet. You’re just wasting time, then time will be gone and you’ll hate yourself for it.”
Abel backed down.
Something about Coach today was…
“I want to see movement,” Coach said. “I want to see functioning bodies on the fucking ice right now. I want to see passes that are clean and on point. I want to see shots that are impossible to stop.” Coach looked at me. “And I want my goddamn goalie to stop those impossible shots. Get the fuck back in net and don’t give up another shot, Mav.”
Coach blew the whistle.
As I skated down the ice, Lay hurried up next to me.
“I’ve never seen him like this,” Lay whispered.
“It’s the eyes we’ve got,” I said. “You heard what Coach said. He could be the next to get fired.”
“That would suck,” Lay said.
Yeah, it would suck.
I put my mask back on and readied myself.