Page 66 of Playing to Win

“Yeah.” I gave her a quick glance, but she was still on her back staring at the ceiling.

“Really?”

I shrugged. “You know my story. I didn’t know if I’d ever play hockey professionally. I wanted to, badly enough that I didn’t like to think about not playing, but my parents made me sit down and review all the possibilities.”

“What did you decide?”

“We came up with a plan for every outcome that was an option. I was in college then, and that might have been the end of hockey. I took a business major and was gonna look for a job in Billings, or maybe Minneapolis. Should be able to get a job there, and I had this project I wanted to work on, my own thing, and I could do that while I was working. That was Plan…C, I guess?”

“And if you played hockey?”

“That was plans A and B. B was if I had a chance to play professionally. Not the NHL, but the AHL, or Europe or something. I’d be farther away, but it would give me more chances to connect with people for this project. We looked at average salaries and how many years it might be, and worked out a budget. Figured I could come back to Montana and still get a business job.”

Until recently, that was as far as I thought I’d go.

“Plan A, the ultimate dream, was making it to the NHL.”

When Mom and Dad and I sat at the table, working out these possibilities, the NHL seemed improbable after not being drafted. I’d been afraid to consider it, sure I’d jinx it by even making a what-if plan. But I was here now. At least for the rest of this season, however long it ran. And that was so much more than past me had thought could happen.

“What was the NHL plan? And what’s this project?”

“The NHL plan was not to spend all my money on sports cars or shit like that, since I could get injured or have a short career. Save up enough money in case I wasn’t able to work again.” I wasn’t sure she really wanted to know about my side thing.

“Tell me about this project, Mitchell. I want the distraction.”

Right.She might find it silly, but it would give her something else to think about.

“So, I grew up in a small town in Montana. Too small for an arena. There weren’t a lot of chances to play hockey—the hockey that gets you to the NHL. And we didn’t have money for gear and camps and shit like that.”

“I remember.”

“I got here because I worked really hard. And my parents were together and supported me, which made it easier than it could have been. Like, once I showed I had some talent, they remortgaged the house and Dad took on extra runs with the truck to make more money. This project I’m planning on, it’s to help kids who might not even have that kind of support.”

“Scholarships? Financial aid?”

I shook my head. “Maybe, if I make it big in the NHL, a lot of years from now I’d have money for that. But I’m starting this summer.”

Money could help, but the first big money I made was earmarked for my parents. Buy them a nice house, let them retire and travel if they wanted.

“I’ve been asking for secondhand equipment. Stuff the guys have outgrown, or they got new stuff and the old is still useful for a while. Or some guys get sponsorships and have to get rid of their non-sponsor stuff. I’ve asked some of my old college teammates and the Inferno guys to ask friends and family, people they know from back home. I was thinking of having a kind of database of gear available, and people could find out online if there was anything that they needed in their area. So far, I’ve only got Montana and Ontario.”

“If you’re getting college and farm team guys, then you’re getting mostly the bigger gear, for older kids.”

“Yeah, until we can reach out to more people. But the second part of my project might help with that.”

She thumped her arm on my stomach. “Come on, spit it out.”

“Okay. Some guys I played with in college, and Luke and Bats and a couple other Inferno guys, are going to help me this summer. We’re going to run two-day mini camps in little towns in Montana. Places that don’t have a lot of hockey resources. For kids that can’t afford to go anywhere else. We’re gonna help them, and if we find kids that have enough talent that hockey could be a chance to get somewhere—you know, maybe not professional hockey, but that could get scholarships to colleges or something? We’re going to get a list, try to follow up with them and get them in front of the people who offer scholarships and shit like that.”

Jayna was silent, and I tensed. I wasn’t reinventing the wheel here. There were charity camps and people trying to help young athletes. But there were cracks that kids vanished into. I’d been in those cracks. I could at least try to help someone else.

“Why didn’t this come up when I was looking into your history and social media?”

“Because I’m just starting this? It’s still mostly in my head.”

“The Blaze would support you.”

“What?”

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