Page 81 of Playing to Win

I scoffed. “I play—played. I know there’s a team on the ice. But tonight you got that win. Your teammates moved like their skates were made of lead, which happens in back-to-back games. They hung you out to dry, but you stood on your head, andyouearned that win.”

“But—”

“Thirty-nine shots. They allowed thirty-nine shots on goal, and you only let one in.” I was kind of angry he’d missed a shutout, but still, that was impressive. “The team only managed fifteen shots on the other goalie, so getting that win tonight was all about you.”

A pause and then he laughed. “Yeah, I had to work hard. The team was happy with what I did.”

They damned well should be.

“But I was rested where everyone else had played the night before.”

“Braydon, just take the compliments. Another night, you’ll be the one getting only fifteen shots and letting a couple in, and everyone will tell you you’re a shit goalie. Enjoy the good games, because people forget those when you lose.”

“Okay. Then I was fucking great. It was just that kind of night. Every puck was the size of a beach ball, they were coming in slow motion, and it all just worked!”

Those nights were the best. When you couldn’t make a wrong move. I’d had those—nights when I could see exactly where the goalie would be and sent the puck through a gap she couldn’t cover. Those nights were also rare. I was right—Braydon needed to hold on to this feeling to offset those other, more common games.

“The team isn’t coming home tonight,” I said.

“No, they decided we needed to rest before we flew. No practice tomorrow either, so it’s a day off except for traveling.”

“Take advantage of it. Once the playoffs start, you’ll kill for that kind of down time.” Our playoffs ran shorter and still were exhausting. The NHL playoffs were a brutal grind that could run for almost two months if the team went to the finals.

“You want to come over, maybe watch a movie or play some games tomorrow night?”

I felt the smile on my face, sappy as hell. “Sure. I can bring dinner. There’s a great takeout place out your way.”

“That sounds awesome.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow—go to sleep!” I had plans for our evening, and I wanted him rested and ready to go.

“I will. I’ve missed you.”

“Yeah, me too.” I hung up. What alien had taken me over? I wasn’t mushy like that. Fussing over his sleep, telling him I missed him—that wasn’t me.

But it felt incredible. Maybe this was a good thing.

Chapter24

Collateral damage

Jayna

Kira stoppedby my office in the morning. My mood wasn’t bad, because I kept thoughts about my career carefully locked up. Last night’s game might not have been a great performance by the team as a whole, but they got the W, and Braydon’s game was a nice story to promote on socials. Unsurprisingly, some fans were pushing to make Braydon the starter.

There was no topic more polarizing than the starting goalie. Petey had his supporters, but also people who expected him to shut out every game. And when he didn’t, or when he wasn’t one of the top ten goalies based on stats, they wanted him traded. The Blaze management had invested more money in skaters than goalies so we couldn’t afford one of the top-ranked netminders. I dealt with people online all the time who thought they’d do a better job as the team GM. Sometimes they had interesting ideas, but they didn’t know all the shit going on behind the scenes.

Braydon had played well since he came up, and he might be a good starting goalie. Maybe even great. It was too soon to tell. He was still an unknown quantity to opposing shooters. But they’d learn him, watch video on him, figure out his weak spots. That was when he’d show that he either could adapt and be one of the greats, or just one of the many who played the role. I wanted him to do well but had to be as objective as I could while I checked socials, made posts, and deleted others.

Kira knocked on my door while I was putting together a short reel with some of Braydon’s saves from last night.

“Hey, Kira. What’s up?” I hadn’t seen her yet this morning. I checked the time on my monitor. “Could we go for coffee?

“Radner wants to see us. Now.”

My hands froze on the keyboard. “What about?”

Her brow furrowed. “I don’t know.”

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