Chapter 8
‘It..It isn’t what you think, those guys were giving us a hard time,’ James said.
‘Relax we won’t tell what we saw but as Joey said you three did a good job.’ Kris remarked.
‘Thanks, but it was a piece of cake,’ Caleb said James and Ashley groaned and slapped their heads.
‘A piece of cake Cal, have you already forgotten that Ashley here was the one to save you from any embarrassment with those guys,’ James remarked, Caleb simply dismissed his comment.
‘Can we just get on with it?’ he asked.
‘Patience kids the others will be here shortly.’ Darren said.
Ashley spotted her parents further up in the stands along with another man.
‘Who is that?’ she mused.
‘A friend of your stepdad’s I believe,’ Kirk said.
‘Have you already met him?’ she asked he nodded.
‘Yeah, we saw them outside when we arrived. I think your stepdad said his friend worked for a newspaper in Dallas.’ He explained.
‘Oh ok.’ She answered she didn’t know why her dad would ask for that kind of help especially since the media here was catching onto their appearance in the city. She watched as her parents and the mystery man began to walk down the steps and edge closer to ice level.
‘Ashley, honey can you come here for a minute?’ her mother called making a waving motion with her arms.
‘No not right now. I am kind of busy.’ Ashley answered.
‘Now.’ Her mother added sternly, Ashley rolled of her eyes stepped to the bench and went the long way around. Soon enough she reached the seating area where her parents and the mystery man were waiting for her.
‘Ashley, I would like you to meet Jeffery Palmer he is a good friend of mine and works for a newspaper outlet in Dallas, and Jeff this is our youngster daughter Ashley.’ Daniel said.
‘Ashley, I have heard so much about you from your parents.’ Jeffery said.
‘Uh—thanks. I think.’ She said and shot a quizzical look towards her parents.
‘Your parents say there has been a bit of trouble with a particular journalist named Stacey Fuller.’ Jeff said she nodded her head.
‘Yes, we ran into her yesterday at the hotel. Don’t know what she wants. She did sneak in to try and get me to talk too.’ Ashley remarked; seeing her parents horrified look.
‘Hm…. yes, this doesn’t surprise me. Stacey does tend to push the boundaries. We are familiar with her track record of breaking news before others.’
‘So can anything be done about it?’ Catalin asked.
‘Not that I don’t trust what this club has in place or anything. I just don’t like the way she is conducting her business when it concerns our daughter,’ she added Jeffery nodded his head.
‘Yes, I understand and I will do what I can to ensure Stacy backs off until the time is right for the club as I am sure their own PR will do the same,’ he answered.
‘Pearson!’
Ashley and her parents along with Jeffery turned around to look and on ice level the rest of the Red Wings players and coaching staff already arrived.
‘I’m coming!’ she called back and quickly and ungainly in her skates headed down to join them. At the same time James’s and Caleb’s parents arrived to watch the session, the youngsters’ coach left yesterday to return to oversee his team as they began preparations for the up-and-coming game against the Colorado Devils, one of the other form teams in the competition. In the paper this morning the journalists covering the competition had already predicted a loss for the Steamrollers without their three key stars, but it seemed the journalists forgot about the team’s captain, Stephen a great talent in his own right.
The Red Wings coaching staff had the players do a lighter warm up session first with plenty of stretches that was welcoming for the three youngsters. They enjoyed the opportunity to take it easy after their earlier battle. It had taken a bit of energy out of them but with the stretches being down was able to ease their tired bodies even for a short time.
‘I can’t believe they are talking about her again,’ Caleb moaned to James. He pointed to Ashley who was talking to Kris, Doug, Brent and Nick. James laughed and patted his friend on the back.
‘This time Cal I don’t think you can really object to it. They saw what happened and what Ashley did to win the game for us I reckon it is only fair.’ He answered Caleb snorted.
‘We wouldn’t have had to rely on her to get us out of it if you didn’t lose,’ he replied.
‘Hey if it weren’t for you indulging them the night before then it didn’t need to happen.’ James snapped.
‘That is enough.’ Dave said as he walked past them James and Caleb kept quiet but still shot glares at one another.
‘Two minutes.’ Scotty said.
When the warmups were finished the first drill was the one-timer shots. Everyone was split into two groups set at opposite ends of the ice and put into pairs. Scotty was with one group and Dave with the other. The drill was simple. One player passed the puck to his partner then it was returned, and the one timer was to be fired at the net. Because both players are on the move as they did it, it was also a good test for their accuracy and one for the goaltenders too. A onetime shot might look easy for a goaltender to deal with but in a game situation they also contend with a heavy traffic screen in their vision line, and with a onetime shot if it deflected off anything the puck could go just about anywhere. The path of a puck was always un-predictable. Every single time the puck clanged off any part of the goal, off the board and off the glass behind the sound echoed all around the rink the adults sitting up in the stands cringed at the sound. Jeff, seated with Ashley’s parents laughed seeing their expressions.
‘Still not adjusted to being a sports fan huh?’ he remarked.
‘No, oh no, no we do enjoy it, but it is just…how Ashley can play such a tough and very rough game and be good at it still amazes me.’ Catalin answered.
‘I’m just glad she hasn’t had any serious injuries.’ She added.
‘She will’ Jeff mumbled under his breath, but Catalin overheard.
‘What?’
‘As you say it is a rough sport and if she has been lucky up until now, I’m sure it will change. I don’t want to offend you Mrs. Pearson but it is just the reality of sport.’ Jeff remarked Catalin sighed and nodded she knew he was right.
Out on ice level laughter was heard all around as the players had fun mucking around with their one-time shots before they moved onto more defensive orientated drills. As per usual Caleb struggled with it and it wasn’t even the hard but slowly as time went on the more, he improved. In the first half of the drill Scotty had set about getting the three youngsters to focus on just the puck. They were advised to always watch the puck and not waiver from that view. They followed that up in the next drill by getting them to just focus on the players in possession of the puck. Watching where their heads turned, where their eyes looked and the direction their body was position. Once the youngsters had mastered that control, Scotty then had them to do both drills at the same time, and it proved a little bit of a challenge and at different times the three of them stuffed up. He gave them a bit more time to adjust and sure enough they soon got the hang of it. When those drills were finished, they moved onto working an offense and defense odd-man rush. All the players had fun doing this over the next ten to fifteen minutes; communication was all over the place and even a little bit of frustration crept in, but they still enjoyed it. Later in the session, Kris and his two mates Joey and Kirk insisted on playing against Ashley and James, not that she minded she could tell they were always keen to give her a hard time but so far, she’d managed to deal with their shenanigans. James on the other hand felt a little bit more intimidated and it clearly showed through his poor decision making on the odd man rush and his general stick handling. Ashley on the other hand really excelled in their company she played it in a different gear and state of mind.
‘Stupid, stupid show off.’ Caleb muttered. He was tiring of this, and he wasn’t the only one. Up in the stands his father Richard was also getting upset as he watched the younger girl go about her business. Finally, it just got too much for him, and he stormed away from the seating area Judith hid her face and muttered under her breath. It wasn’t long before Richard made his appearance by the bench; Scotty, Dave and Greg were caught by surprise.
‘Mr. Thomas, if you please take a step back, we are trying to work here,’ Greg advised him, but Richard refused to budge and instead he walked over to where his son stood.
‘I want a full explanation as to why my son is being ignored and all this ridiculous focus is being put on the girl. She isn’t even going to make it anywhere after tomorrow,’ He remarked.
‘Mr. Thomas, I want to remind that all three of these kids are being viewed and evaluated fairly and are being considered on their talents, and no one in the team is picking favorites’,’ Scotty answered.
‘Then you should let my son be more involved.’ Richard said.
‘In time.’ Scotty remarked and turned his attention back to what was happening on the ice.
When the offensive and defensive drills were complete the coaching staff then pitted the three youngsters against one another and things between Caleb and Ashley really did get fierce. Caleb went about his work with one thing in mind. To win and he clearly showed that talent. His passion and drive to be successful stood out. He, like Ashley did, made the Steamrollers before the recommended age, three years before she started. Usually anyone making the team is at least 16. Caleb was accepted at 14 and his father expected a lot from him. The two continued to battle on the ice; and it was clear they could match each other one on one; however, Ashely always seems to have a slight edge on him.
‘Caleb, you try harder you hear me?’ Richard bellowed to his son. Caleb did just that and turned around taking a big swing with his stick Ashley saw it coming and ducked out of the way and knocked him over she stole the puck that sat at his feet, but she didn’t skate away and instead stopped short and turned around. Caleb still sat on the ground he slammed his stick hard onto the ice and almost snapped it in two.
‘Poor Caleb you can’t control your temper. No wonder those guys beat you up,’ she answered.
‘Shut up!’ He snapped he leapt to his feet she spun back around and took off he chased after her, but she was more than happy to play the chase game with him, all the while she kept a good distance ahead.
‘Stop fooling around!’ Richard yelled.
‘Hey.’ Brent remarked he gave Kris a little nudge.
‘What?’
‘Why don’t you go make Caleb’s job easier? You seem to have taken to making life tough on the girl so why not give it another run?’ Brent teased him Kris shook his head a cheeky grin appeared on his face.
‘Think I’ll save that for tomorrow,’ he said Brent laughed at his friend and they continued to watch the drama unfold. All sorts of regular hockey rules were broken much like the youngsters’ tussle with the other boys earlier in the night and it was starting to get very heated. Caleb’s foul language rose to the surface several times while his father also let loose on his son as well as aiming a few comments to Ashley, but she easily tuned out ofit. At last Richard’s taunts had grown tiresome for the Red Wings players and the coaching staff and he was asked very politely to leave but he refused and was once again assisted away by the arena security guards.
‘Mr. Pearson Mrs. Pearson?’
Daniel and Catalin turned around in their seats the club’s owner Mike and his wife Marion along with the GM Ken stood behind them.
‘Yes?’ Daniel asked.
‘We’d like a word with the two of you in private if that is ok with you,’ Mike answered.
‘Yes of course,’ Daniel said he quickly got to his feet Catalin did the same and they left the seating area, Walter and Tania watched them leave.
‘I have a feeling it is bad news.’ Tania said there was a hint of joy in her voice Walter didn’t comment he wasn’t as sure as his wife.
After dinner in the city Ashley and her parents returned to the hotel there wasn’t much left to do but enjoy the rest of the night and look forward to tomorrow. It was going to be a huge day ahead for the three youngsters Scotty had informed them that night tomorrow was their biggest test, and they were not to consider each other as friends anymore and see each other instead as opponents. Ashley was excited about it everything they’ve learnt in the past two weeks would get put to the test for real and if there was one thing she always enjoyed even at her age, was to tackle a challenge. Tonight, though her mind was a bit more preoccupied with other thoughts she had noticed since they left the rink her parents had looked slightly troubled. Her mum said it was nothing and that Ashley only needed to focus on tomorrow, but the younger girl couldn’t shake the feeling that her parents were up to something and had inside information they weren’t willing to share. She had tried to ask her two-line mates, but they too had refused to say a word only hinted tomorrow would be the time when she found out.
‘What are they hiding?’ she muttered while at the same time she packed up her suitcase. Just then she heard her phone beep, and she snatched it out of her jeans pocket. It was a message from James.
Coach says d rest of our team is
Flyin here early tomorrow morning
They r gonna b
Watchin us tomorrow.
She stared at the screen of her phone for a few seconds. The whole Steamrollers side was going to watch them. Like she, James and Caleb needed that extra pressure. On the bright side it could help ease their nerves to have even more familiar faces in the crowd. She went to charge her phone and decided to have an early night tonight. Who knew what tomorrow could bring.