Early Writings - Life of a hockey player

It’s just one of those days.  The kind of day where nothing seems to be going right!  That is my current saying and the guys just love it.  As I walk into the locker room, they know something is wrong.  There is a hush that falls over the room.  I just look at them and keep walking.  I go into Coach Ashton’s office and close the door.  He asks me what’s wrong and I tell him that I cannot play that night.  His face hardens and he tells me that I had better have a damn good excuse as to why I can’t play.  I tell him that Darren had just knocked me through a door and that I had severely bruised ribs and my left arm was also severely bruised.  Coach Ashton just chuckled and said that I needed to learn how to dodge Darren better and that was no excuse to let my team down.

     So I walk out of his office to get ready to suit up.  Before I do, I check the roster and see that I am in goal.  There is no way in hell I am going to be able to play goal tonight!  I look around for Taylor to try and devise a plan to fake a serious injury in the first period.  I see Darren instead and he comes over to give me a kiss.  I turn away from him and walk over to JJ.  Darren grabs me by my left arm and spins me around.  When I flinch he just laughs and tells me that I need to learn how to behave.  JJ gives him a nasty look and tells him to watch himself. 

     Packing thirty pounds of equipment on my bruised and battered body is almost too much for me.  My body aches and I can barely breathe.  Hopefully this torture will only last for a short while.  The first period flies by in a haze of pain.  In the locker room, our new trainer tapes my battered ribs and tells Coach that I should be pulled from the game.  Coach just tells me to toughen up.  When I try to argue that I cannot go on, Coach picks up an extra stick and swings it at my head.  I duck just in time to feel the stick pass by my right ear.  Coach then took the stick and broke it over my left arm and told me that if I was going to continue to play on his team, I had better toughen up.  My left arm feels like it has been broken, but I pull myself to my feet and make my way back to the ice.  The other team seems to sense that I am injured because they are throwing everything at me.  I have already been tripped up four times in less than three minutes, had my masked ripped off my head and one guy keeps grabbing at my butt.  My hockey pants are a little loose, and he tries to put his hand down them during a whistle.  I spin around and bitch slap him.  He comes back at me so I take my goal stick and maliciously swing it at his head.  I put every once of force I could gather into that swing.  CRACK!!  I see his helmet split open like an egg and his jaw fly sideways.  It is the most disgusting and fascinating thing to see and hear.  I just stare at him in shock as he slowly rolls over on the ice and I actually see his jawbone jutting out from his skin.  He is trying to talk and is crying.  I just look at him with cold disdain and tell him that he got what he deserved and that he had better remember not to mess with me again!

     My teammates were in shock and awe.  Sonny, Alec, Jake, JJ, and Darren are sitting on the benching laughing because they said that they had finally come up with the perfect nickname for me.  The Bitch became my name.  Sonny yelled to the other team that their injured player should not feel too bad.  He was just bested by The Bitch and that they had better spread the word that the Panthers have a secret weapon who has been unleashed and is on the prowl.

     I was thrown out of that game for unsportsmanlike conduct.  I was also put on a five game suspension for purposely injuring another player.  I was asked after my suspension was over if I was sorry for what I had done.  I just looked at the commissioner and laughed in his face.  I told him that the only thing I was sorry about was the fact that I broke my favorite goal stick.  He was appalled by my answer and suggested that I see a counselor about anger management. 

     When I came back to the team, I noticed immediately a respect that was given to me whenever I stepped out on the ice by the opposing team.  Whether I was in goal or playing center, they seemed wary of The Bitch.  Later in the season, JJ had a jersey special made that had my nickname on it instead of my real name.  I was unfortunately not allowed to wear it during games.