Page 18 of Date with a Devil
Austen didn’t know a whole lot about the circumstances surrounding the death of Ryan Campbell, or Soupy, as his teammates called him. The tragedy had occurred while she was still in college and she wasn’t much of a sports fan to begin with. Surprisingly, the news articles at the time didn’t tell her much more. All anyone knew was that Campbell died in a car accident the same night the Devils won their playoff series and advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals. Reading between the lines, Austen figured that alcohol was involved in the accident, but no one said for sure.
Regardless, Campbell’s death was a huge blow to the team’s psyche. After burying their beloved teammate, the Devils had to turn around and compete for the Stanley Cup. They didn’t score a single goal in the Finals and were promptly swept in four games. It didn’t help that their captain at the time, Jack Hathaway, didn’t play a single game in the series.
After the Devils’ defeat, the team finally hadsomegood news to announce; they’d managed to sign DeHardt to an eight-year contract extension. DeHardt was named the interim captain before the next season began, since the former captain, Hathaway, never suited up for the Devils again. That was another event for which Austen couldn’t find any satisfying answers. In fact, very few articles even mentioned his absence.
That year—his first as captain—was when things started to go wrong for DeHardt.
For his first action as team captain, DeHardt personally vowed that the Devils would return to the Finals the next year and set history right by winning the Cup. That proved to be a colossal mistake, as the Devils lost several key players in free agency. Not only did the team miss the playoffs entirely, they finished in last place.
The media wasn’t exactly sympathetic. They blasted DeHardt for making a vow that he couldn’t deliver—and taking criticism apparently wasn’t his strong suit. All too often, DeHardt took the media’s bait and fired back, worsening their troubled relationship.
Then he told the media that he didn’t eat pussy—actually, it wasThayerwho broke that story, a fact that surprised Austen.WhyDeHardt thought it was a good idea to tell Thayer that, who knew? But the damage was done, and the quote made DeHardt the butt of jokes around the league:
“Under new captain Dane DeHardt, the Dallas Devils aretaking a licking,ironically enough.”
“Dane DeHardt: good player, great hands … too bad he’s not willing to do the dirty workdown low.”
“The Dallas Devils are leaving fans as unsatisfied as Dane DeHardt’s girlfriends.”
“It looks like Dane DeHardt was trying to sell that tripping call, but we all know that hedoesn’t go down that easily!”
Austen rolled her eyes at the never-ending flood of bad jokes.
At a certain point during her research, she started to actually feel a little bit bad for the guy. Wasn’t it obvious what had happened to him? The team had suffered a traumatic event and then lost the Cup. A brutal one-two punch. And while other players bailed for a fresh start elsewhere, DeHardt committed himself to the team, promising to turn things around. Yeah, sure, he under-delivered on that promise. But hockey was a team game, wasn’t it? After a certain point, all the merciless criticism directed solely at him seemed almost unwarranted.
Is this the story that needs to be told?Austen wondered. For the first time in a week, she could see the path ahead, and she was almostexcited to shoot the interview.
Her desk phone rang, snapping her from her trance. She spotted the extension number and knew it was Thayer.
In the past, she’d never minded his daily meetings, even when it was plainly obvious that he was calling her into his office because he wanted to have a personal chat. But ever since DeHardt agreed to do the show, she’d been slightly annoyed with Thayer. She didn’t like acting cold and curt with her boss, but she’d never been good at hiding her emotions.
But now, she had a game plan and things weren’t looking nearly as grim.
She answered the phone, relieved to hear the return of her upbeat enthusiasm in her own voice. “Hi, Thayer!”
“Would you please come to my office?” he asked.
“Sure thing. Be there in a minute.”
***
“What’s up?” Austen asked as she took her seat opposite Thayer’s.
“Just checking in, since tomorrow’s the big day. How’s the planning going?”
“Do you want the good news first, or the bad news?” she countered.
“Let’s hear the bad news.”
“I’m stumped on locations. With the other players it was so easy to plan, but with DeHardt … I just don’t know. I’ve got a few ideas, but none of them seem right.”
Thayer raised a palm. “Honestly, does it matter? DeHardt will be DeHardt no matter where you guys go.”
“That’s exactly what I was afraid of, but—”
Thayer interrupted before she could tell him the good news. “Hey. Austen. I know you’ve been stressed out by this assignment all week. But no matter what, it’s going to be okay, alright? Just do the best job you can do, and leave the rest to me.”
He reached across the desk and set his hand atop hers.
