I decided to go to my D league game tonight, to see if I could stomach another hour of heckling from guys who can’t skate. The boys were definitely surprised to see me back, and the locker room quieted down a bit when I walked in. Well geez, I don’t want people to be afraid of me, I just want them to stop harassing me about positioning, or at least, follow their own advice once in a while. I felt like that kid in the Twilight Zone episode who everyone has to be happy around otherwise he’ll turn them into Jack-in-the-Boxes. Our goalie, per usual, was very happy to see me. I don’t know what it is with me and goalies, but I manage to befriend them all even when other people on the team despise me. Maybe my obvious but genuine respect for a person crazy enough to stand in front of a net and take pucks to the head wins some of them over, but I’m really just speculating. In any case, goalies like me.
We played in our usual form for a while, letting in 5 goals after two periods, although we had more shots on goal than usual. I also noticed the guys were markedly less angry than on a typical D league night. When second period ended with us scoreless, our captain started his bench tirade. “We need to hustle, we need to shoot, we need to skate, we need to fight for the puck, we aren’t being aggressive enough…” Some other guys started yelling and he paused to take a breath. In the brief moment of silence, I said, firmly but calmly, “We’re doing FINE.” Everyone turned to look at me, stunned. Our captain turned back to the team. “All right, we’re doing fine,” he said. “Yeah!” several of the guys agreed, glancing at me to check out my approval. I merely sat on the bench, making no further comments. “Now go out there and play,” our captain said, and the buzzer sounded.
Third period we proceeded to score two goals, unheard of on our team, and I was apparently credited an assist on one of them, although it couldn’t really have been called a pass, more like a messy flinging of my stick and body to keep it in the zone. Either way, our captain picked it up and was able to score with it in a big fumbling move in front of the net. A goal’s a goal, and no one’s complaining here.
The guys were pleased and smiley with me in the locker room, but I had a long drive home so I left without joining them at the bar. Not too long ago, our captain’s game report e-mail arrived in my inbox, and the title was simply “Just Doing Fine.” That’s the most positive thing I’ve heard all season.
