Chapter 6
Later that evening Ashley was back at the hotel and resting in her room while her parents opted to go out for dinner. She could still feel her muscles ache from today and even a hot shower hadn’t helped to soften the pain. So, after her shower she fluffed up the pillows and ordered room service and was now settled back in bed with an ice cream and the TV on. She heard her phone buzz on the bedside table and rather reluctantly she leant over and grabbed it. A text message had arrived from her mother she opened the message and it read:
We will be back late.
Make sure you have got everything
Organized for tomorrow.
‘Typical mum instead of enjoying the night out she spends it worrying about weather I’ve done my chores,’ she answered she left her phone on the bed and finished up the bowl of ice cream and moved that aside. She did have some laundry to do as well as giving her skates a clean she figured she might as well do that instead. She slid off the bed and picked up the already very full bag of dirty clothes and went into the laundry area to start the washing. While the washing machine was going, she returned to the main part of the room and un-zipped her equipment bags and moved her two hockey sticks aside then pulled her skates out, next she looked inside of her suitcase for another set of blades. For the most part the players had the trainers do much of the work on the equipment, but she had always preferred to do it on her own. She hated it when anyone went near her things it wasn’t some silly superstitious thing just her preference she learnt quickly over time thanks to her sister.
‘…and in breaking sports news tonight hockeytown’s beloved team the Detroit Red Wings have started their training this week as well as their early season recruitment. The word here is they’ve scouted out three players from an overseas team,’
Ashley stared at the TV screen as the segment moved on to talk about the hockey competition and all the overseas teams that was involved in it. She watched with shock as the report then revealed the Steamrollers team and the current form they were in as well as the way they’ve progressed in the competition; then the report moved onto the three missing players.
‘How…who…?’ She muttered stunned at what she saw as the report continued to detail the information about her, James and Caleb. Her phone started ringing but she ignored it she was far too stunned at what she saw on the TV. When the news was over Ashley left her skates on the bed and ran from her room.
‘Ash!’
She turned around and looked down the corridor seeing James was walking towards her.
‘Did you see the news?’ she asked.
‘Yeah, I did, I tried to call you, but you didn’t answer,’ he said.
‘Oh yeah didn’t hear my phone. How did anyone else find out we are here?’ she asked he shook his head.
‘I don’t know, but my parents are going to be so mad,’ he answered.
‘Mine too.’
‘Guys!’
Ashley and James looked back over their shoulders to see Caleb run up towards them.
‘Guess what?’ he gasped excitedly; James pretended to think long and hard.
‘Let me take a wild guess. You saw us being talked about on TV.’ He said Ashley laughed seeing the upset look on Caleb’s face.
‘How— ‘
‘We watch TV too bro.’ James remarked.
‘Whatever so about the TV thing, can you believe it? We are famous!’ Caleb said.
‘We are yeah but why? We haven’t done anything of significance,’ James added.
‘Maybe you and me are impressing everyone and they want to expose us to media and then we will get all the attention,’ Caleb answered Ashley rolled her eyes his ego had grown ten times in the last few days if not by more. There was a bright flash from behind them immediately the three youngsters spun around but all they saw the end of a red jacket disappear round the corner.
‘Hey! You come back!’ Caleb yelled he ran down the corridor Ashley and James followed. The three of them turned the corner and again they saw the red ahead of them as it went through the fire exit door.
‘Ok guys stop for a second. We won’t get anywhere just running after that person like this. We should split up.’ James remarked.
‘I’m going after him,’ Caleb said he ran to the fire exit door James slapped his head.
‘Does anything we say ever get through his head?’ he muttered.
‘Never mind, come on we got to try and catch up.’ Ashley replied she dragged him along with her as they ran back to the lifts and luckily for them one was already on their floor and they rode it down to the basement.
‘You sure they’ll go to the basement?’ Ashley asked James shrugged.
‘Just a guess.’ He said. The lift stopped at the level 1 basement car park James and Ashley ran through the car park they didn’t see anything suspicious there, and by the time they arrived at the front of the hotel and caught up with Caleb the red jacket person had long fled.
‘Now what do we do?’ she asked both guys shook their heads.
‘No idea.’
They gave up and headed back inside.
‘Hello kids, ‘a female voice said, they looked up at Stacy the nosy reporter Ashley’s parents had run into the day before.
‘Hi I’m Caleb Thomas,’ Caleb remarked.
‘Cal shut up.’ James said.
‘Who are you?’ Ashley asked.
‘And what do you want?’ James asked.
‘Information, it is my job as a report to get news and bring it to people’s attention. My name’s Stacy Fuller and I would like to interview the three of you about being here, the competition you were part of not so long ago and of course about your talents as hockey players especially at such a young age.’ She said.
‘I’m afraid that will not be going ahead Miss Fuller.’ A male voice interrupted.
Startled, they all turned around to see a man in his early 30s with blonde hair and dressed in cargo jeans, a black vest top and topped by a black leather jacket.
‘Well, well.’ Stacy said with a smile.
‘If it isn’t PR expert Brett Calder to the rescue,’ she answered.
‘Kids you can go.’ He added; James, Caleb and Ashley headed away from the two adults to the lifts, and it wasn’t until the three of them were in the lifts and headed up to their rooms, did Brett then turn towards Stacy.
‘Why am I not at all surprised by your methods.’ He said.
‘Of course it’s my job obviously. And you don’t need to come in here on behalf of the club because there is nothing you can deny, you know my report is correct in every way with facts and all,’ she remarked.
‘Yes, that is true, but it doesn’t give you a free passage to come and bombard us. When the club is ready to reveal its information about those kids they will but until then I advise you stay away and keep your nose out of it.’ Brett said. Stacy crossed her arms a hefty sigh escaped from her lips.
‘Fine I’ll leave it for now but you can be sure I won’t let this go far from it in fact,’ she answered Brett said nothing and only watched on as Stacy gathered her belongings and stormed off out of the hotel, and when she was gone he also left.
Up in her room Ashley fixed in the new sets of blades to her skates and began to put new strapping to the blade of her stick. All the while though her head swam with thoughts about that journalist Stacey, the way she talked Ashley wondered if it was something to worry about though she didn’t know much about the media. Her, Caleb and James were just regular kids nothing too spectacular about them and for some reason that lady found it interesting enough to report on.
‘Mom is not going to like it,’ she mused.
*~*~*
At the Joe the next afternoon the place was a flurry of activity. Not only was practice underway but also the owners and the general manager and some of the players had a meeting to discuss how best to deal with yesterday’s news bulletin. Even the youngsters’ parents chipped in all of them worried about their kids being under this sudden spotlight for really no reason although according to Richard he thought it was a good idea and unsurprisingly Caleb agreed with his father.
‘I’m not going to sit here and pretend this is a bad thing for my son.’ Richard remarked he stood up Judith looked at her husband a worried look upon her face.
‘Caleb let’s go we have people to impress out there,’ he added.
‘Mr. Thomas, I don’t think that is such a good idea.’ Brett remarked.
‘We will just see about that.’ Richard answered and with Caleb in tow they left the office Judith quickly followed them it was all she could do.
‘Now what are we supposed to do?’ Tania, James’s mother asked.
‘We will just have to leave them for now.’ Mike said.
‘Brett how fast can you get the press release done?’ he asked.
‘Give me about an hour.’ Brett remarked.
‘Ok so the best thing we really can do for now is get on with today and let Brett do his job.’ Mike answered.
‘But—‘
‘Please Mrs. Sattler and Mrs. Pearson we understand your concerns and we will take every precaution to work around this problem.’ Marion added, so somewhat happy with this they all left the office, James and Ashley went downstairs to get ready though they wondered if Caleb would be joining in any time soon.
‘What do you think that Stacy lady wanted?’ Ashley asked.
‘I don’t know but she wasn’t very nice yesterday and judging by the reaction of everyone today she is not a good person to work with that is my guess.’ James replied. They went to get ready but on the way, they heard someone shout their names. When they turned around Caleb ran up to them all out of breath.
‘I’m surprised you decide to come and do some work.’ James retorted.
‘Are—are you—kidding? I—I’m no—not going to miss out.’
‘Besides you—you guys shod—should have seen it out—outside. Caleb answered.
‘What do you mean?’ James asked.
‘There were tons and tons of journalists and photographers. It was awesome.’ Caleb added.
‘If you like that sort of a thing sure it is great.’ Ashley remarked.
‘Yeah, well you wouldn’t understand since you don’t care about appearance anyway,’ he retorted.
‘Oh, and you do?’ she snapped back; by this time the three of them arrived at the locker rooms. Caleb this time didn’t bother with a response and walked into the room James followed him and Ashley headed to the opposite room.
‘Hello Miss Pearson,’
Startled she spun around to find that very lady from last night, Stacy standing in the middle of the room.
‘Wh…wh…what are y..yo…you doing in here?’ Ashley asked. Stacy just smiled coyly she placed both hands in her pockets Ashley noticed this and narrowed her eyes.
‘I have nothing to say.’ She answered.
‘Oh, come on now, a young lady like you in such a position, here practicing in amongst some of the best players in the NHL. Surely there is a lot you must be learning from them. After all I haven’t heard of an NHL team taking in kids in training camp when they are not being considered for the big league,’ Stacy remarked but Ashley shook her head.
‘I hear that you are one of the main stars on your team.’ Stacy said pressed on, Ashley refused to say a word as she continued to get ready.
‘What about the rumors I keep hearing that between you and your teammates James and Caleb, you are the one whom continues to stand out and impress everyone here at the club?’ Stacy asked.
‘No comment.’ Ashley growled this time she was beginning to lose her patience. She finished getting dressed and walked out of the room Stacy could only shake her head.
‘You are a stubborn one that’s for sure; I’m not going to give up. I will get you to talk eventually,’ she said.
Ashley re-joined the rest of the guys out on the ice as they began warmups. Though they were all together as a group there was obvious tension hanging over them. Even the coaching staff was unusually quiet. Nobody saw Stacy sneak out from the locker room and discretely snap a few photos and then she sneaked out again.
‘Ok guys listen up.’ Scotty said everyone looked in his direction.
‘Now I know I said I wasn’t going to put the line matchups until Sunday, but I would like to see how everything is progressing so far.’ He said. In the next few minutes, he got the infamous Grind line of Draper, Maltby and McCarty out there; sometimes Kocur played on it too they altered the line-up from time to time. They were up against the line was Caleb has so far been playing with and no doubt he might enjoy this battle since it meant he could play his best side the offensive hockey. Caleb’s talents on the ice shone through here especially with his work ethic. He was never the type of player to take things easy during a game he always went out there to win, and his passion and drive made him an asset for one team but a total annoyance for the opposition. He skated hard and was communicating well with the other guys.
‘This is a surprise, he isn’t being a puck hog for once,’ James remarked Ashley sitting beside him cracked up laughing.
‘I bet he’s been doing it all the time, but the others told him off, so he had to wear it,’ she answered.
‘Oh yeah you can bet on it to,’ James agreed.
It wasn’t long before Drapes and his mates were able to turn the tables and play the offensive side which meant Caleb had to deal with his defensive problems and right from the start he struggled. He misread the play three times and generally looked terrible, but he tried and there was a small sign of improvements.
‘Next line!’ Scotty called and it was James’s turn now. Instead of facing against the grind line, this time Scotty used the line of Yzerman, Shanahan and Sergi Fedorov.
‘Oh that is going to be tough for him,’ she mumbled Brent overheard and leant over to her giving her a nudge.
‘A little bit of inside information?’ he asked she quickly shook her head.
‘No, no.’ She answered but he wasn’t perturbed at all by her response and she noticed the look on his face and she felt her cheeks blush.
‘Uh…never mind,’ she said quickly he laughed.
‘I’m only teasing.’ He answered. Just then Dave leant over to them.
‘Get ready you guys are up next and you’ll have the best of both.’ He said Ashley didn’t quite get this.
‘Wait, what do you mean?’ she asked however Dave only smiled.
‘You will see once you get out there,’ he answered she frowned then looked to Brent for a further explanation, but he didn’t say a word. * What is it with these guys? * She thought. In a few minutes Scotty called the players back and he sent the grind line back out there and it was Ashley and her two-line mates against them.
‘Heh heh now this will be some fun for me,’ Kris remarked and Ashley inched a little smile.
‘Oh, so do you think you’ve got the edge on me?’ she said he cocked his eyebrow.
‘Experience kid and I have plenty of it.’ He remarked.
‘I’ll give you that, but we shall see first.’ She answered with a smug smile, and Kris just shook his head and laughed.
‘Yes, we will.’ He said.
‘Cut the chatter now.’ Scotty called and they got underway. It didn’t surprise Ashley one bit at their tactics she had watched them play for a while and knew their moves and was able to counter it quite well. She avoided their sneaky tactics to try and trap her and with a few little moves of her own with the puck she turned things around, and it was further helped since Doug and Brent knew what she wanted to do.
‘How the…?’ Caleb grunted this was starting to get agitated with It. Every time just when it seemed he had made changes and improvements in his own game; Ashley was still ahead of him in all areas.
‘Still jealous Cal?’ James teased with a nudge.
‘Shut up.’ Caleb mumbled.
Once Kris and his mates had their turn to take the offense, they got quite stuck since Ashley, and her mates had created a few plans to stop them. Impressed so far Scotty decide to send out his top line and see if things changed, they did manage to break the defensive structure but still it took them a bit of time to settle. Scotty and Dave looked at one another and shared an approving nod and even the other players nodded at what they saw, while up in the viewing stands Daniel and Catalin had watched it all unfold along with James’s parents.
‘How does she do it?’ Walter asked he shook his head with surprise.
‘Wish we knew the answer,’ Daniel answered.‘Her coaches have all said she has natural talent, but I don’t know where she gets it from.’ Catalin replied.