Page 75 of Hard to Get

Bish is pissed again. Sammy’s great at opening up space and creating plays. But he struggles with carrying under pressure. Opponents can knock him off the puck too easily and beat him along the boards.

I’m starting to get the feeling that this really pisses off Bish. That’s probably why he doesn’t pass the puck to Sammy even when he’s wide open.

This is a coaching thing. I don’t even know if Duper is aware of it, though. Should I talk to him about it?

That makes my gut cramp.

The one time I tried to talk to a coach about something, it did not go well.

I rub my forehead. I really don’t want to do that again.

On the other hand, Finn is a bright light this season. This guy, young as he is, is eager, hard-working, optimistic, and fast as hell. He’s the only one who smiles at Bart, our equipment manager, as he thanks him for switching out his visor before the game. He’s got a star quality and could be the future of this team.

Not if we don’t get our shit together.

I swallow a sigh as I head to the shower. Bart grabs my gear almost before I’m out of it. They work fast to get everything packed up and on the plane.

What would I say to Duper? I suds up under the hot spray. Bish is being a jerk? Sammy’s too weak at protecting the puck? Fuck. Then I’ll be labelled a “problem.”

When we’re eventually on the plane, I pull out the papers Stella gave me from my backpack. I looked at them on the way to St. Louis and thought about them a lot.

My take on all this is that I need to be better net front. And in terms of offence, I need to jump into the play more and get more shots through from the blue line.

I’m going to talk to Moisey. Moisey Tarasov is one of the assistant coaches, also new to the team. He came with Duper. He’s responsible for our defensive structure and the penalty kill unit. He’s the one who can help me with those things.

I meet with Moisey in his office two days later.

We make a little small talk. He remembers that my sister lives here and that I have a dog. Eventually, he says, “So what’s up? What did you want to talk about?”

I have Stella’s stats in my hands. “I want to play better.”

He smiles. “I love to hear that.”

I hold up the papers. “I’ve been looking at a lot of stats and analyzing my play. And… well, I know we haven’t worked together for very long but maybe you can tell me if I’m on the right track with the things I want to work on. And if I am… maybe you can help me with that.”

He leans forward, all ears. “Yeah. Sure.”

I tell him what I concluded. He motions for me to hand over the stats and peruses them with sharp eyes, nodding. “Where’d you get these?” he says. “They’re from Vantix, right?”

“That’s right.”

His gaze lingers on me, then returns to the numbers. “Yeah. Yeah, you’re on the right track. And from watching you play, I agree with getting stronger in front of the net. Offensively… well, if you want to contribute more, we can work on that too. You do some great things already: holding the blue line, moving the puck, shooting. You’re patient on the blue line and good at making decisions under pressure. You move the puck smoothly. Efficiently.”

“Thanks.”

“You have a great slap shot.”

I nod.

He sits back in his chair. “Okay. Let me work on this a bit. I think we can work on your positioning and stick work in front of the net. Let’s start there. I’ll put together some drills we can do. And let’s talk to Dom. Improving your lower-body strength would probably help.”

Dom’s our head athletic therapist. “Okay.”

He studies me. “I’m impressed that you came to me with this.”

“I want the whole team to be better.” I grimace. “I figured I’d start with what I can control: me.”

“That takes balls,” he says. “Being willing to look at your weaknesses. Being self-aware enough. Wish more guys on the team had that attitude. But we’re working on it.”