Page 160 of Rookie Rules

"They are sending the weak side early," he said. "Finn, hold inside. Luca, attack the defenseman's feet. I will stay under both."

Luca met his eyes. "If the middle opens?"

"Take it."

No warning about risk. No qualification.

On their next shift, Luca did exactly that. He drove wide, forced the defenseman to cross his feet, and cut the puck back through the middle. Rowan arrived beneath the play and touched it left before the second defender could close.

Finn shot in stride.

1-1.

At the celebration, Luca struck Finn's helmet. Rowan reached them and allowed himself one glove against Luca's shoulder because not touching would have been more conspicuous than touching.

Luca accepted it as hockey.

The first period ended tied.

Their opponent had tested Rowan's side on three consecutive exits. The winger stayed high until Rowan committed to the middle, then drove the wall and made him open his right hip to pursue. Rowan took away the lane each time, but the recovery cost more on the third attempt than the first.

Vale saw the pattern. He moved Nolan to Rowan's side for the next defensive-zone draw and told Finn to collapse lower.

"They know he is limited?" Finn asked.

"They know where our shifts are ending," Rowan said before Vale could answer. "Do not turn it into a larger fact."

Vale pointed at the board. "It becomes a larger fact if we fail to adjust. Nolan closes the wall. Hale protects the middle. Bennett leaves only after possession."

Luca listened without looking toward Rowan's leg. When the room broke, he repeated the exit detail to Nolan and asked where the defenseman wanted his stick on the reverse.

No private concern. No refusal to account for reality. He gave the adjustment the same attention he would have given any teammate's constraint.

In the room, Owen crouched beside Rowan's stall. "Any change?"

"No."

"That was not a formality."

"No sharp pain."

True, if incomplete.

The ache had spread from the front of his hip into the inside of his thigh. He could push forward. Lateral recovery required a fraction more effort. Rowan had adjusted his routes to avoid exposing it.

Owen studied him. "If it sharpens, you are done."

"Understood."

Across the room, Luca stared at the tactics board. He did not look over. Rowan wondered whether that was restraint or whether Luca had finally stopped monitoring him.

Both possibilities hurt.

The Wolves took the lead five minutes into the second. Nolan reversed behind the net. Finn carried through neutral ice and delayed until Luca crossed behind the defender's stick.

The pass arrived hard and flat.

Luca caught it on his backhand, moved it forehand, and released before the goalie set.