Page 54 of Second Round

I smacked his chest. “Liar! I’ve never made such disgusting sound inmylife.”

Leo smiled. “Okay, well let’s find out.” He unbuttoned myshirt.

So we did. And he was right,damnit.

19

Jackie of AllTrades

Leo

The season was finally over,the arena was cleared out, and we were almost finished with the exit interviews. We’d managed to win a few of our last games, but I hadn’t been able to change the chemistry of the team. There were major divisions in the room, cliques so tight that there was no real sense of team. While the captain, Dan Ramsey, was a good player, now I was glad that he’d be traded over the summer. Rams had tried to act like my best pal, but it didn’t take long to figure out that he was the source of the conflict. He was extremely competitive, but unfortunately his competition was mainly directed to teammates rather than the opposition. That was no way to wingames.

We needed a strong leader for captain. There was a guy I knew from back east that I wanted to bring here, Paul Thiebault. He was older, but he’d be a good leader and mentor for younger players. We’d just have to convince him that the Vice were becoming a team he’d want toplayfor.

“Who’s next?” Lucky asked me after EricFairburnleft.

Burner’s interview had been an easy one. The Millionaires were finalizing a two-way contract with him. Whether he’d be starting the season in the NHL or the AHL was debatable. He was good, but they had younger draft picks they might want to developbeforehim.

In my opinion, some of the prospects would be better off with the Vice, where we could devote more time to practice and good habits, but that wasn’t the Millionaires’ philosophy. They had rushed a couple of players this season because they needed scoring. The Millionaires hadn’t made the playoffs, and the coaching staff were taking some heat. They’d been close, but close meant nothing when each playoff game was a big revenuegenerator.

Most of the exit interviews had been pretty similar. I wasn’t going to give false hope to players we weren’tinterestedin.

Rico Aleppo walked in. He’d started talking to a counsellor, and it had paid off immediately. He had a big smile on his face that hadn’t been therebefore.

“Your play lately has looked good,” Lucky told him. Lepper had points in his last three games. But beyond points, it was his attitude. He stopped playing like he washaunted.

“I’ve been feeling good,” Lepper said. “All the extra stuff I’ve been doing has helped a ton. Turns out a lot of the issues were up here.” He pointed to his head and glanced nervously atLucky.

“Lucky also knows you’re seeing Edgar,” I reassured Lepper. “But it stays inthisroom.”

“I’ve decided to stay in Vancouver for the summer,” Lepper said. “So, I’ll have the same routine here and stay in shape. And keep the otherstufftoo.”

I nodded. “I think that’s a good idea. We’re going to be doing some facility renovations over this summer, but maybe Lucky can arrange for you to work out at the Millionaires facility while that’sgoingon.”

Lucky agreed. We discussed specific things that Lepper could focus on during his off-seasontraining.

Lepper got up but didn’t leave. “Coach, I really appreciate all the extra time we spent together. You really helped meaton.”

I shook his hand. “You’re doing the hard lifting, Rico. I’ll be right here all summer, so we can keeptalking.”

Lepper’s new ease lifted me up. This was the essence of coaching for me: making guys stronger, both inside and out. My goal was always to leave people better than when I firstencounteredthem.

Marty Devonshire was our last interview of the day. At first, he didn’t seem worth a second look. He was huge, but he had only a few points and tons of penalty minutes for fighting. But his work ethic had impressed me. If I gave him an assignment, he followed through to a T. Seeing him visit Bob Pankowski showed he had the kind of character that Lucky and I werelookingfor.

“Hey Devo, have a seat,” Itoldhim.

“Coach.” He sat down and rested his big hands on hisknees.

“Well, I gotta be honest with you here. Your stats weren’t great this season. And you know we can only carry a certain number of contracts foroverageguys.”

Devo nodded, but the light was going out ofhiseyes.

“But… I’ve also seen things I really like from you—you’re coachable and you’re a character guy in the room. I’d rather have a guy around who knows when to fight and when tostepback.”

The big man leaned forward. “I’m a hard worker, Coach. I’ll work on whatever you want in thesummer.”

“Okay, Devo. I can’t make you any promises about next season. But you want to have a chance, here’s what you gotta do. I want you to work on one thing. Speed. Whereyoufrom?”

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