Page 84 of Puck Happens

Yeah, I wasn’t standing here for this shit.

“Good night, Coach,” I said to Liv and I patted Novek on the back, though I doubt he felt it through his Marshmallow Man jacket. “See you tomorrow, Novek.”

I walked down the hallway towards the exit. Ready to head home to my apartment.

So I could count down the hours until tomorrow’s practice.

“Cap!” Novek shouted, trotting down the hallway towards me. Gold necklaces bouncing against his chest. He still wore that puffer jacket and shorts.

What a twat.

I kept walking.

“Hey Cap,” he said. “Where are you going?”

“Home.”

“You want to get a beer?”

I shot him an exasperated look. He did not catch on. “No, Novek. No beers. Thanks.”

“I wanted to talk to you.”

“About your shit attitude?”

“I’ve been trying,” he said. “To be less shit attitude.”

Hmmm. I had to give him that. He was a better teammate than he’d been weeks ago, but he still wasn’t giving Liv all the respect she deserved.

“What’s on your mind?”

“O’Rourke.”

I laughed. “The kid is coming for you Novek. You getting nervous?”

Novek stopped in the hallway surrounded by pictures of past and present teammates and staff. “Yeah,” he said honestly. “I am.”

The guy wasn’t being an asshole show off. He was being human and honest.

“He works hard,” I said with a shrug. “Harder maybe than anyone else on the team.”

“Yes. I see that. But…I have never not been the best. Wherever I am. At any level. I have never…”

I knew Novek’s story. Every pro did. There was always a guy in any locker room who had been touched by God. He never had to work to be the best and so he never did. He just was.

Those guys never made it into the history books.

It was the guys who were touched by God and worked harder than everyone else – the Gretsky’s, The Ovechkin’s, The Crosby’s – they changed the game.

“You could be a legend,” I told him. “You honestly could, and I would love you to be a legend on this team. With me.”

He preened, chin up like a fucking peacock.

“But if you don’t work harder and actually listen to the people trying to make you better at what you do, you’ll be left behind.”

I continued walking.

He didn’t follow and all I could hope was that he’d take what I said to heart and dig in.

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