Grounded, p.5
Grounded, page 5
Girls can’t play hockey.
Women will never play in the NAHL.
Fournier can’t captain a team of men.
She’ll never win the Maple Cup.
Elison, as if he realizes his mistake, holds his hands up in a placating gesture. “How about this—you don’t need to do it on your own. You have a team behind you; Nyberg, McArthur, Augereau, Smith, Faulkner, me. Let us help you.”
He doesn’t get it. But she knows the answer he wants to hear so she smiles, settles back in her chair, and says, “Of course.”
“We’ll work on it,” he says.
★
Elison isn’t the first person to doubt her abilities, but she’s made a career out of proving people wrong. The day after she meets her new coach, she starts renovations on her house.
Across the hall from the entertainment room is a room which has sat empty because she didn’t know what to do with it. Now, she does. With Elsa gone, this is Sophie’s house, and it’s high time she made herself a memorabilia room.
She hangs a Canadian flag on the center of one wall and surrounds it with her international accomplishments: her gold medals from the Winter Games, her medals from U-Tourneys, the small replica of the IHT trophy. She adds team pictures and framed jerseys and a few articles to fill the space. There’s the article from the Stuttgart Winter Games which named her the tournament’s top scorer. She’s smiling in the picture they chose, her A standing proudly on her sweater. Four years after Stuttgart, she wore the C when they competed in Helsinki. She hangs an article proclaiming her captaincy. This one shows a picture of her and Gabriel Ducasse, who captained the men’s team.
She dedicates the two walls flanking the Canada wall to Concord. She has team pictures, her first Condors jersey, and her milestone pucks. There are spaces for her next achievements. This is a reminder of what she’s done and what she’s reaching toward.
This year, she could hit another three milestones. She’s sitting on one hundred ninety goals, three hundred ninety-seven assists, and five hundred eighty-seven points. It isn’t a question of if she’ll achieve each of these this season, but when.
Next to her framed first jersey is her framed game day jersey from when she scored her five hundredth point. She leaves a space for the framed jersey for when she scores her thousandth.
On the final wall, the one with the door, she displays what she has from other players. She mounts her signed Figuli stick and her signed Dima stick. She adds the jerseys she’s accumulated from the All-Star games she’s attended.
When she’s finished, she has a shrine to hockey. She invites the Elisons over so John can see Figuli’s stick, and Freddie can see her gold medals. She doesn’t tell him Lexie doesn’t have one, because she lost to Sophie in the gold medal match.
It’s also for Elison. She puts her résumé on display and makes him look at it. Whatever expectations he or the front office set, she’ll meet them. She’ll even exceed them.
Chapter Five
Training camp is Sophie’s first opportunity to meet their offseason acquisitions and see a hint of what their team will look like this season. She told Lexie this summer and Elison more recently that this is Concord’s year to win the Cup again. It’s time to find out if the team has the right pieces to do it.
She knows their core well, but there are plenty of new faces. There’s Eric Minei, a pickup from Detroit, and Daniel Zehavi, who used to play for Regina. They each played for their former teams for a long time, and she makes it her personal mission to help them transition to playing for Concord.
Minei is a center like her. He isn’t as strong on the faceoff as she is, but his two-way game is better than hers. He’s stymied her attempts to score more than once over her career. She picks him as her running partner for this year’s annual historical run. She points Merlin toward Zehavi. “Give him a tour Matty would be proud of.”
Merlin sticks his tongue out at her.
She laughs and leads the team out of the parking lot. They wind their way through the city, stopping at important landmarks, noting their favorite places to eat, and waving at the fans who beep their horns at them.
When they return to the practice facility, everyone is breathing hard and sweating. Sophie leads them through a set of dryland circuits next. In keeping with another Concord tradition, they close out their morning session with a plank circle. She holds her position as her teammates drop out around her.
She hasn’t lost this competition yet, and she won’t this year, even as Merlin makes faces at her, hoping to distract her. She rolls her eyes and meets Spitz’s gaze. He’s the only one left besides her. His face is bright red, which makes his blond hair even blonder. His arms tremble and soon his entire body shakes with the effort of holding himself up.
Sophie shakes as well, but she locks her core, and counts to ten. She glances at Spitz and counts again. Another minute and Spitz drops to his mat with a groan. Sophie drops to her mat almost immediately after. She gives herself two deep breaths before she pushes herself up. “Showers and then we have our first meeting with Coach Elison.”
Sophie hangs back, hoping to walk in with Elsa, but Elsa links her arm through Peets’s and leaves Sophie behind. Ivan Petrov was Concord’s first-round pick at the draft before Sophie’s. He’s a good second line center, responsible on defense, but Sophie is supposed to be Elsa’s favorite center.
She walks with Bechs instead. It’s been a few years since Tanner Bechtol was called up to play with Concord, but she still thinks of him as a rookie in her head. He happily chatters, filling her silence with his plans to learn how to cook this season. Given that last season he struggled to make toast, she isn’t holding out high hopes.
When they reach the locker room, Sophie heads for her stall and pulls her shirt over her head.
“Woah!” someone shouts. Hallock, maybe?
“It’s a locker room,” Jonny snaps. “It means you don’t look.”
Jonathan Kellman was a pickup a few seasons ago. She wasn’t happy to lose Big Red to Denver, and she was even less happy to receive a former Boulder in return. Jonny surprised her. She trusts him now to have her back, both on and off the ice. It’s something she never expected to say about a player from Denver.
“Wait until they help each other with their sports bras,” Merlin says gleefully, obviously happy to have a new audience to share stories with.
“It was one time,” Sophie says. “I’d like to see you take off a sweat-soaked sports bra when you can’t lift your arms above your head.”
“This is not what Detroit was like,” Minei says.
“You aren’t in Kansas anymore,” Kevlar tells him.
“I thought Detroit was in Michigan,” Merlin says.
Everyone turns to stare at Merlin. Some, like Theo, look horrified. Others, like Jonny, look as though Christmas has come early this year.
“You’re American!” Peets exclaims.
Sophie laughs and finishes undressing. She wraps herself in her towel and sits in her stall. Elsa’s already in the shower and while sometimes they share, Sophie waits her turn today. She’ll wait until they’re speaking again to suggest joint showers.
Once Elsa’s done, Sophie takes her place. She speeds through her shower and is dressed and ready before some of her teammates. Blake Woods is the last out of the showers. Sophie doesn’t call him out on it, only because he’s a new addition to the team. If it was Merlin, she’d chirp him for being slow, but she’ll wait until Woods is more settled with the team to mock him.
“Elison was your Juniors coach,” Sophie says. “What can you tell us about him?”
Woods seems mildly alarmed with the sudden attention on him. He pulls his clothes on without bothering to dry himself off first.
“How do you know that?” Merlin asks.
“I pay attention.”
“Does that mean you played with Engelking?” Theo asks Woods. “We were teammates at the IHT. Is she always so fucking intense?”
“I think she’s calmed down, actually.”
Sophie grins as Theo demands to know how Lexie could have possibly been worse. She brings her team from the locker room to the video room. Elison’s already there, wearing a pair of suit pants and one of the Condors training camp shirts for this season. The red and black shirt matches the rest of them.
“Good morning,” he greets as they each find a place to sit. “I won’t keep you long, because I’m sure you’re all hungry after this morning’s session.”
There are a few weak laughs.
“I’m Mark Elison, your new head coach. Our first opportunity to work together will be this afternoon in the weight room. Tomorrow, we’ll hit the ice together.” He pauses for a few scattered cheers. “You have the pieces to be a successful team. It’s my job as your coach to fit those pieces together. I’m looking forward to our season.”
★
Sophie pairs up with Kansas again in the weight room. Tomorrow, she’ll pick a new player to work with. Kevlar claps Kansas on the shoulder as he passes them. “Sorry, bud.”
“Again?” Theo asks. “Come on, Cap, it’s the first day. Don’t scare him off.”
Kansas follows her, warily, to the free weights. She studies the selection before she picks a set and hands them over. “You need to be stronger on the puck. We’re going to build your strength on and off the ice.”
“You don’t mess around, do you?” he asks.
“Welcome to Concord.”
She grins and starts them with lunges. On the far side of the room, Elison spots Theo and Zehavi as they squat. He helps Peets and Spitz as they bench next. He moves to Teddy and Kolmonen and asks Teddy about his wedding.
He does a circuit of the room, checking in with each player. He finds Sophie and Kansas at the squat rack when it’s their turn. Sophie adds a plate to each side, and Elison looks at it, impressed. “You trained hard this summer.”
Kevlar, on the platform next to them, laughs. “This is her warmup.”
Kansas’s mouth falls open as Sophie steps under the bar. “Your warmup?”
“I’ll help you spot her,” Elison says.
Sophie adjusts her ponytail so it won’t be caught between her neck and the bar and starts her set.
★
Sophie is early to practice the next day, even by her own standards. Without Elsa to wait for, she leaves as soon as she’s ready, and despite the hard work she put in yesterday, she was awake with the sun. Today is her first day back on the ice, and she can’t wait.
Being the first one means she can take her time before she steps onto the ice. The ice is Zamboni-smooth, and the entire season stretches out in front of her. It holds infinite possibilities. She could score a hundred points, win every game, sweep the playoffs. She closes her eyes, and she sees herself lifting the Maple Cup again.
She takes a deep breath and then opens her eyes and steps on the ice. Her skates cut the season’s first marks into the ice. She takes a few easy laps. The last time she skated here, Butler bag skated her until she collapsed. He punished her for the team’s rebellion. She dragged herself to practice, and he sent her to the trainers for her own good. Then he benched her for the rest of the first round.
She skates until his ghost has faded and then she grabs her stick and a bucket of pucks. She works through her favorite shots and grins every time the puck hits the back of the net. She banks the puck off the boards, and it skids and skips into the net.
“How long have you been here?” Merlin asks as he joins her.
“Long enough to make you look like a slacker.” She laughs and grabs another puck.
“Don’t you dare!” Teddy shouts from the tunnel. He waddles to the ice as fast as he can in full goalie gear. When he sees all the pucks in his net, he shakes his paddle at her. “How could you? It’s defenseless.”
“Here we go,” Kevlar says, but he grins.
Theo gives Teddy a push toward Sophie. “Go avenge your net, big guy.”
They mess around as more teammates join them on the ice. Merlin dares Zinger to take ridiculous shots and laughs when he fails. Bechs takes all the water bottles and sets up a puck handling course. Every time someone completes it, he makes it more difficult until Merlin sends all the water bottles skittering across the ice.
The goalies alternate between trash talking and viciously guarding their net. Sophie’s cheeks hurt from laughing. This is what she’s missed. She looks for Elsa so she can share this moment with her, but she spots Elison first. He hasn’t blown his whistle or barked at them to settle down, but the smile slips from her face anyway. They’re here to be serious and do their job.
Kevlar is the next to notice. He nudges Theo who stops playfighting with Spitz. Soon, the whole team is quiet, and they look to their coach.
“You don’t have to stop on my account,” Elison says. “You have another seven minutes before practice starts.”
None of them speak or return to their games.
“I’m glad you’re having fun,” Elison says. “Hockey is supposed to be fun. It’s easy to remember when you’re winning. It’s harder to remember when you’re in the middle of a grueling workout or a long road trip. I want you to have fun because it reminds you why you play. I promise, when it’s time to work, you’ll work hard.” Elison checks his watch. “You have five minutes before we see who came to camp ready to play.”
★
Even though Sophie has six seasons under her belt, she still isn’t used to training camp. At the end of each day, she’s exhausted from double, sometimes triple sessions. She doesn’t feel as though she’ll fall asleep every time she sits down the way she did in her first seasons, but she has no problem falling asleep at night, and she wakes up sore in new places.
“I’m old,” she tells Teddy as they take the ice for the fourth day of training camp. “My knees hurt in the mornings now.”
“Stretch more.” Teddy drops into a perfect split.
Sophie winces as he easily shifts from one position to another. “Looking at you makes me hurt more.”
“Whine, whine, whine. You wish you were as awesome as me.”
“I’m weird enough without being a goalie,” she says. She laughs and dodges as he takes a half-hearted swing at her. She does stretch with him, and when they’re finished, he hooks his paddle around her waist.
“Take me to the bench,” he says.
“Lazy.” She skates them across the rink. “Where do you think we’ll go before preseason this year?” There’s also a trip between training camp and preseason, after the first round of cuts are done. It’s good team bonding.
“Maybe Elison will take us to a spa,” Teddy says. “I could use some pampering. You too. You had a long summer.”
She laughs and spins away from him before she gives him a push toward the bench. “I have hockey back. Everything’s good in my world.”
★
“Backpacking?” Merlin demands, the third time since he showed up at Sophie’s house. “Backpacking?”
“We aren’t far from the Appalachian Trail. I’m surprised we haven’t done it before.” Sophie pulls two flats of Gatorade out of her pantry.
The team is over for their customary post-training camp gathering at her house. It’s the first time her home feels right since coming back. Kevlar and Theo squabble on the patio over who is King of the Grill. Jonny hovers, waiting for the right moment to snipe the grill. The Manchester crew huddles together in the game room because they take codependency to a whole new level.
Sophie passes a flat of Gatorade to Merlin. “There are buckets of ice on the patio.”
Merlin heads outside, but he doesn’t quit complaining. “The wilderness! We can’t bring our phones. He’s cutting us off from the world.”
“It sounds nice.”
Merlin glares at her in betrayal. “Maybe for you. If Marissa goes into labor, and I’m unreachable on top of a mountain, she will kill me.”
“It’s three days, and Marissa’s due date is still a ways off.” Sophie sets her case on the ground and rips the plastic wrapping off.
“Did you see the packing list?” Kevlar cedes control of the grill to Jonny and tugs Theo over to where Sophie and Merlin are. “Only the essentials. No deodorant.”
“Don’t tell Jessi Wilcox,” Sophie says. “Last year, there was a school assembly to tell the boys to be more hygienic. She might cry if she finds out adult men are no better.”
“Ah, middle school.” Theo smiles fondly. “I remember that assembly. It’s quickly followed by the ‘an entire can of Axe doesn’t count as a shower’ speech from the gym teachers.”
Merlin groans. “No showers. No phones. Three days. How is this supposed to make us better at hockey? What are we supposed to eat?”
“Moose?” Kevlar glances at his d-partner as if looking for confirmation.
“Bows and arrows were on my approved packing list,” Theo says.
Merlin lunges at him, but Theo’s at least two weight classes above him, and he doesn’t even budge as Merlin’s shoulder collides with his chest. Teddy wanders over as Theo deigns to play wrestle which, of course, only winds Merlin up more.
“The guys are setting up tournament brackets for video games,” Teddy says. “It’s adorable. Come judge them with me.”
Sophie drops the last of the Gatorades into the buckets and stands up. “Is Elsa here yet?”
“She will be.” Teddy squeezes Sophie’s shoulder as if he thinks she needs the reassurance. Has he noticed she and Elsa have barely spoken during training camp? “Come on, I have races to win, and you have races to lose.” He laughs and dodges her swat. “You have to suck at something. You just really suck.”
“Jonny, I need you to fight Teddy for me.”
Jonny looks up from the grill. He laughs as Teddy scurries into the house. “Can all the fights I have over you be this easy?”
“Here’s hoping.”
The patio door opens into the living room and then it’s a short walk down the hall to the entertainment room. When she enters, her teammates have spread out on the three couches and various beanbag chairs. Only three of the TVs are on but, as Teddy said, they’re using the whiteboard to set up tournament brackets. There’s one for Mario Kart and another for Super Smash Bros.
