Page 10 of Press Your Luck

"That may be, but you saw him. He was hot dogging it and doing his own thing. He was frustrating his own team."

"Yeah, but pull your best player?" Bo asked.

"There were times I should've pulled you."

Bo grinned up at me. "That's not true. On the ice, I was always focused on the game and always listened to my coach. It was only off the ice that I did my own thing."

He was right. As the game continued, I kept expecting Big Ed to show up but he never did. As the buzzer went off ending the third period, we had more points, which meant we won. I was happy about it but didn’t feel we’d earned it. I also felt sort of bad for Naomi. She was going to get a lot of shit for not letting Big Ed play and losing the game.

I shook my head of thoughts of Naomi. Any other coach, I’d probably think like Bo did. It wasn’t smart to bench Big Ed. He might not have been playing the way he should, but they’d been winning when he was on the ice. So why was I concerned with Naomi?

Back in the locker room, I gave the team time to celebrate, but at our next practice we were definitely going to discuss that our win was because Naomi had pulled her best player and had lost focus in the middle of the game. The Silver Nuggets had lost the game more than we had won it.

As the team showered and changed, I took a moment to step out of the locker room, anticipating that sports reporters would be there. Or maybe not. Naomi was the bigger story.

"How does it feel to have the first game of the season out of the way, Coach?" one of the reporters asked.

"I'm glad that we were able to come out with a win. We still have a few things to work on, but it's nice to have a game under our belt."

"Coach Jackson, do you think your victory is the result of the inexperience of Naomi Withers?"

The correct answer was that it was possible. Not that Naomi was inexperienced in hockey, but she was inexperienced in coaching. Helping a high school or college team was very different from coaching a minor-league team. Then there was the fact that I'd been coaching for nearly ten years, most of those in the NHL. But I didn't want to say anything negative about Naomi.

“First games are like making pancakes. You test and then toss the first one away.”

“Yeah, but she pulled Big Ed.”

“Did you see him play?” I shook my head. “I’d have pulled him too.”

“Really?”

Shit. Didn’t I just decide I wasn’t going to comment on Naomi’s coaching?

As if on cue, Naomi rounded the corner coming toward our locker room.

She stopped short as a swarm of reporters descended on her. It was weird they hadn’t been outside her locker room. Was she looking for them? Or maybe she’d been heading over to congratulate us.

"You have a lot of pressure on you for being the first female coach in minor-league hockey. Was it wise to pull the best player in the middle of the game?" a reporter asked.

Her eyes were wary, but she managed a smile. "Hockey is a team sport. It is important that all players remember that and respect their teammates.”

I nodded in agreement.

"Even so, you were winning until you pulled Ed Sampson. Aren't you worried that people are going to question your ability to coach?"

"People are questioning my ability anyway. If we won, they would've thought it was a fluke."

"Even so—"

Annoyed at the way they were hammering at Naomi, I raised my voice to be heard over all the questions the reporters were shouting. “You guys were asking me about Bo Tyler at the press conference yesterday. If you want to know about hockey's bad boy turned husband and father, he's offering an exclusive and he has some news."

As expected, everyone turned toward me.

"He's in the locker room, ready to share about his transformation."

Again, the herd of reporters hurried off toward our locker room. I followed them, pulling out my phone to text Bo about the incoming media and apologizing for tossing him to the wolves.

6

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