Body Check (6 page)

“Good,” said Mr. Mullen. “I’ll phone Coach Maxwell tonight. And, Brent, I’m pleased that you know the difference between right
and wrong. It makes me feel we did a good job raising you.”

Brent was happy to hear his father say that. He only wished that doing the right thing was easier to live with.

B
rent was uneasy about practice the whole next day. His father had met with Coach Maxwell that morning, and they’d had their
chat. But Brent didn’t have a clue about what had been said. He had avoided Cam during school, and Cam probably had been just
as pleased not to run into him.

When Brent arrived at the rink, Coach Maxwell was standing by himself outside. He saw Brent and walked over.

“I was hoping to catch you before we started today,” he said. He pointed to a bench under a tree in a little park across the
street. “Let’s sit down and talk for a few minutes.”

Brent nodded. He suddenly felt terribly nervous. His throat was dry, and he wasn’t sure he’d be able to talk. It suddenly
struck him that he’d done a terrible
thing: he’d complained about one of his coaches. Maybe he’d even get kicked off the team!

Once he and the coach were sitting on the bench, Coach Maxwell said, “I had a long conversation with your dad this morning.
He told me about what was on your mind.”

Brent stammered, “I know I shouldn’t go behind a coach’s back, but I —”

“That’s all right,” said the coach, waving off Brent’s apology. “I know that what happened yesterday bothered you, and I understand
it. It left some other boys feeling the same way. Just between us, your father wasn’t the only parent I heard from afterward.”

Brent was startled, he had thought that he’d been the only one to be worried. “Who else?” he asked.

Coach Maxwell shook his head. “I can’t discuss that, and I’d appreciate your not mentioning what I just told you. I’m not
sure I should have even said that much, but I felt you needed to realize that you weren’t alone.

“There’s something else I want you to understand, too. I’ve coached the Badgers for a long time. It’s my team, and it’ll keep
being my team, and I’m going to keep being the same kind of coach I’ve always been. A
won-lost record has never been my top priority. Working with young athletes like you, a coach’s biggest responsibility is
seeing that they respect the rules and practice sportsmanship. So don’t worry about us turning into a bunch of bad guys. It’s
not going to happen.”

Brent felt somewhat better but not completely. “But what about the new coach?”

Coach Maxwell said, “That’s for me to take care of. All you need to remember is that I’m the head coach, and I set the policy.
Okay?”

“Okay,” Brent replied, hoping it was so.

The coach grinned. “In that case, let’s get to work. We’ve got a lot to do.”

From the moment he walked into the locker room, it was clear to Brent that there was some tension between the players. During
the stretches, it seemed like boys got into groups that weren’t the same as the old groups. For example, Brent and Cam would
have been staying together, but now Brent was with a bunch of players that included Ted, Sandy, and Arno. Cam hung with Vic,
Gavin, and Burt.

Also, there wasn’t much friendly exchange and joking between the groups, which had always been a habit in the locker room.

During warm-ups, Brent saw the two coaches talking together just off the ice. It didn’t seem like a casual conversation, as
far as Brent could tell. He reminded himself of what Coach Maxwell had said: he was the
head
coach and Coach Seabrook was the assistant.

During the skatearound, Brent saw Sandy stumble and almost fall. He recovered his balance and looked around angrily. He saw
Cam and Vic skating together, not far away, and glared at them.

“That’s not funny,” he said. “Cut it out!”

“Cut
what
out?” Cam said while Vic snickered. “Don’t blame me just because you can’t stay on your feet!”

Sandy muttered something under his breath while Cam and Vic grinned at each other. Sandy said something to Ted, who nodded
and gave Cam a dirty look, which Cam returned. Brent wondered whether Coach Maxwell was aware of what was going on. He hoped
so and wished that the coach would do something about it.

Once the skatearound was finished, Coach Maxwell called the team together. He stood next to Coach Seabrook in front of the
players, looking at each boy in turn, saying nothing. It seemed like endless time passed before he finally spoke.

“Each year, when the Badgers have their first meeting,
I give a speech. Basically, it’s the same speech every time. I say that one of my jobs as coach is to teach techniques and
skills that make good hockey players. Another job is to tell kids about strategies and tactics you’ll need to compete.

“The third, and most important job — to me — is to show you what it is to be part of a
team
and get you to see how a team sport can help you go from being kids to young men. As you grow up, you’ll find that you’re
part of many groups: not just teams but clubs, classes, work crews, families, and so on. I really believe that team sports
can help you prepare to work with those different groups later in life. For most of what you’ll do as adults, winning — being
number one — isn’t what matters.

“Chances are that none of you will be a pro athlete. Most of you won’t want to be. You’ll get jobs, have careers, families,
and so forth. And I really urge you
not
to make being number one your yardstick for measuring success or failure. There’s very little room for number ones, and if
you see anything less as a failure, then you may wind up leading an unhappy life. The fact is that you can be happy and satisfied
with your life even if you’re
not number one.
And when you play
a sport, win or lose, if you do your best, you should enjoy it. That’s what it should be about.

“As long as I’m coaching this team, I want you to see yourselves as a team. To play together, respect each other, and finish
each game and each season feeling that you gave it your best shot, and that this made for a successful season. I hope you
all see it that way. I don’t want to see any fighting, arguing, or bad feelings among team members.

“Okay, enough. Let’s go to work.”

Brent loved what the coach had said. He and several other players nodded, and there was some hand clapping afterward. But
some of the Badgers, he noticed, didn’t react at all. Of course, silence was also a reaction.

Coach Seabrook cleared his throat. “Uh, can I add something?”

“Of course,” said Coach Maxwell.

The other coach stepped forward and smiled. Brent didn’t know why this man’s smile made him uncomfortable, but it did.

“I applaud what Coach Maxwell had to say,” said the other man. “You’re lucky to have him here. I can’t think of a single thing
to disagree with in his talk.

“The only thing I’d like to add is that ‘winning’ isn’t
a terrible thing. Sure, when you don’t win a game, it shouldn’t make you feel ashamed. But, personally, I always felt better
when I won than when I lost. I think this team can win. And that’s what I’m here to help you boys do. That’s why Coach Maxwell
and I work together so well. I’ll be concentrating on one thing while he’s working on another. Between us, we’ll not only
make you a team, but we’ll make you a
winning
team!”

“All
right!”
Cam said, clapping. He and Vic gave each other high-fives, and a few other players nodded, clapped, and looked excited by
what Coach Seabrook said.

Brent sat silently. He couldn’t be sure, but he guessed that Coach Maxwell didn’t like it either. Coach Seabrook hadn’t come
out and said that he thought the other coach was wrong, but it was clear that he felt that way —and so it seemed did some
of Brent’s teammates.

Coach Maxwell said, “Okay, let’s start with a few drills. We’ll begin by working on our backhand passing and shooting.”

He arranged two nets across from each other midway between the blue line and the end boards. “Chip, you take the goal on this
side,” he said, pointing to one
of the nets. “Max, get in goal on the other side. The point of this drill is to use your backhand. You’ll use only your backhand
to pass and to shoot. We’ll play three-on-three. We may as well practice ‘changing on the fly’ while we do this drill.”

Ice hockey demands such all-out energy that even professionals can only go full-strength for a minute or so. This often means
that players must substitute for teammates without stopping the action, which is called changing on the fly. A group of players
hustles off the ice to the bench while fresh players swing over the boards into the game. It has to be done with lightning
speed. If the subs go in too slowly, the opposing team may get a chance at an easy goal. But if the subs get on before the
other players are off, an official will penalize the team for having too many men on the ice, and someone will spend two minutes
in the penalty box. Teams practice changing on the fly to get the timing down perfectly.

Coach Maxwell split the Badgers into two squads. The squad members who didn’t start the drill sat on the sidelines, ready
to come in whenever the coach blew his whistle. Coach Seabrook was in charge of one squad, and Coach Maxwell took the other
one himself.

“You guys on the bench, when the coach calls your name, be ready to change on the fly. Remember, all your passes and shots
have to be backhand for this drill. Ready?”

The coach gave the puck to Brent’s squad to start, and then he blew the whistle. Brent was on the ice with Ted and Arno. Their
goalie was Chip. Opposing them were Cam, Gavin, and Sandy, with Max in goal. Ted sent a pass to Brent, but his backhand was
weak, and Gavin intercepted. He had a better backhand and shot a pass over to Cam, who advanced on Chip. Chip came out to
cut down Cam’s shooting angle, but Cam passed to his right, where Sandy received it. Sandy passed back to Gavin, but…

The whistle stopped play.
“Backhand
passes only,” Coach Maxwell said.

“Sorry, I just forgot,” said Sandy, looking sheepish.

“That’s okay, pick it up from there,” said the coach. Sandy passed to Cam, who tried a backhand shot that Chip stopped with
a glove save. He dropped the puck and backhanded it to Arno. Arno saw Brent headed toward the other goal and passed to him.
Noticing Ted coming up alongside, Brent got him the puck, and Ted fired a shot that skimmed under Max’s stick for a goal.

“Real nice save, Max,” muttered Cam. Brent heard Cam, but he thought that nobody else had. Still, he was upset by Cam’s comment.
What was going on with his old friend?

Max hooked the puck out of the net and flipped it to Cam. But before a play could get going, the whistle sounded.

“Change!”
yelled Coach Maxwell to his squad. Brent, Arno, and Ted raced for the sidelines and, as they scrambled over the boards, their
three replacements moved in hurriedly to keep the other squad from scoring. But Coach Seabrook blew his whistle before a scoring
attempt could be made.

“Change!”
he called out. Cam, Sandy, and Gavin skated hard for the boards as three substitutes jumped to the ice… a little before the
first three had gotten off.

Brent poked Arno in the side. “Those guys got on too soon. That was a foul!”

Arno laughed, but there wasn’t any pleasure in the sound. “Are you surprised?” he asked. “The new coach must have told them
to jump the gun a little. That’s another way to be winners, didn’t you know?”

Brent looked at Arno in surprise. It wasn’t like the
old Arno to sound so unhappy and angry. He looked at Brent and said, “Don’t tell anyone yet, but I think I may quit the team.
I don’t need this stuff.”

“Whoa.” Brent basically liked Arno, and he didn’t like the idea of losing him. “Don’t do anything yet. Coach Maxwell won’t
let this happen. You have to trust him.”

Arno said, “Maybe it won’t be up to him. You can see that some guys
like
this thing about being winners, no matter what. And so do some of their parents.”

“How do you know?” Brent asked.

“When I talked to my dad about this new coach last night, he said he’d call some other parents. He was sure that they’d be
as angry as he was,” Arno answered. “Later I asked what happened when he called them, but he didn’t want to talk about it.
Why wouldn’t he talk about it if they felt like he did? I think they like the new coach.”

Brent suddenly felt like he couldn’t be sure of anything anymore. Somehow, he’d felt that Coach Maxwell would always be able
to stay in charge, that he would find a way.

But maybe this story wouldn’t have a happy ending.

F
or the moment, Brent thought, he was part of the team, and the Badgers were going to play the Cyclones in a couple of days.
The Cyclones were tough, so he knew he had to try to forget everything that might distract him and focus on playing hockey.

“All right, you sharpshooters,” said Coach Maxwell, “let’s see how accurate your shooting really is.” He skated to the side
of the rink and brought back three pieces of cloth called “shooter tutors.” The coach and two players used bungee cords to
attach the cloths to the goals they’d used for the backhand drill and another goal at the far end of the ice. The cloths covered
the goalmouths completely and were designed with five circular holes. The holes were located near the four corners of the
goals, with the fifth hole in the middle, eight inches above the ice.

“You know how this goes,” said Coach Maxwell. “I divide the team into three groups. Each group has a puck, and you line up.
The first player passes to the one behind him, and that player has to shoot, aiming at any of the five holes. Those holes
represent the best areas to score: the corners of the net and low in the middle. The group gets two points for each puck that
goes through a hole. If you miss your shot, pass the puck back to the next guy in line, and he shoots right away off the pass.
If you make the shot, get the puck and pass it back in the same way. The group with the most points after two minutes wins.
I’ll keep score for one group, Coach Seabrook will do the second, and, since we’re not using a goalie, Chip can keep score
for the third group. Line up!”