| "Big game tonight, boys," Glenn said, pacing the locker room while they team finished putting on their warm-up jerseys. Brielle was in her office, waiting for them to finish getting ready. Glenn looked straight at Jason MacDonald. "Mac, no fighting tonight. If you fight Bonvie, there is gonna be a blood bath and we don't want that." There was bad blood between MacDonald and Dennis Bonvie, the former Captian for the Penguins, and there had been ever since Bonvie got traded to the Senators. The Penguins had the option to renew Bonvie's or MacDonald's contract, and they chose Mac's, sending Bonvie to Binghamton. Bonvie was far from pleased about the decision, and the two had been rivals ever since. MacDonald was less than pleased about not being able to drop the gloves with his rival. He had always been a fighter, and was quite proud of his ability to hold his ground on and off the ice. "He's gonna say something about Ellie," he muttered, looking at the floor. He turned his eyes to Glenn's stare. "You know him, he's gonna say something about her and it's gonna piss me off to no end. You're telling me that I can't drop the gloves if he trash talks her?" The team had grown quite fond of Brielle in the past week, she had earned herself a place in each of their hearts. The team was extremely protective of their new coach, mostly due to some prodding from Glenn. But once they got to know her, she became a sister to them. Except for Colby. He was completely infatuated with Brielle, and it was beginning to show. He was constantly flirting with her, or trying, rather. She would always laugh it off and scoot him away to do some drills or work on his puckhandling. "No, do not drop the gloves if he trash talks her," Glenn said, sighing. "I know he's gonna trash her, the rest of the team probably is too. But Mac, if you drop the gloves, there's gonna be a blood bath." "What about me?" Francois Leroux, one of the defensemen asked. He was already squeezing his gloves out of frustration. "If he says anything about her, one thing, I'm dropping the gloves." "Frankie, I don't-" "If Frankie doesn't drop them, I will," chimed in Toby Peterson. The rest of the team chipped in, ready to fight for their coach. The only man in the locker room that was silent was Meloche, he was too busy staring at the floor with no apparent expression on his face. The shrill sound of a whistle filled the room. The team stopped talking and looked to where the sound was originating. In the doorway stood Brielle, holding a whistle in her hand. "As much as I appreciate you wanting to kick the Senators collective ass because of me, don't fight them tonight. That's what they want. Espically Bonvie. Don't give him what he wants. Go out there and win tonight because you're the better team, not because one of us took out their enforcer." She paused and looked around the locker room. "Prove to me that you're the better team. Give me a reason to want to stay in this frozen wasteland you guys call Pennsylvania, and not move back to Long Beach." ~*~*~ "And here come your Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins!" Brielle stepped out of the tunnel after her team, taking her spot behind the bench alongside Glenn. She had never been so nervous before a game - she was the first ever female assistant coach for the AHL, this was her first game, and her team was playing their rivals. There was sure to be a fight tonight, but she wasn't sure which of her players would drop the gloves first. The opening lineup for the Penguins was Kris Beech, Shane Endicott, Tom Kostopoulos, Francois Leroux and Rob Scuderi with Robbie Tallas in goal. The opening faceoff was won by Endicott; he hadn't lost an opening faceoff since Brielle had started working with the team, his skills were rapidly improving. The first period was played with a sense of electricity in the air. Every time Bonvie stepped onto the ice, the sold-out crowd seemed to hold it's breath, waiting for fists to fly. The team was doing an amazing job of ignoring Bonvie, he had words with a few players but the team was doing their best to concentrate on winning the hockey game, not winning a fight with the Senators enforcer. At the end of a first period, Colby was skating toward the Sens goal with the puck at the end of his stick. He had a clear shot on goal, until Bonvie came out of nowhere and body checked him hard, shoving him to the ground. His first instinct was to stand up and pummel Bonvie, but he fought the urge and skated back to the bench for the line change. He sat on the bench in front of Brielle, breathing hard, gritting his teeth, watching every move Bonvie made. Brielle could practically see the steam coming from Colby's ears and leaned over to him to speak in his ear. "Colby, calm yourself." He jumped at the sound of Brielle so close to his ear, but turned his head slightly to address her. "One more time and I'm going after him." "You'll end up bruised and bleeding if you do," Brielle hissed in his ear. "And I will lose all respect I had for your confidence in this game." Colby's expression softened and he turned to look at her, not saying a word. She sighed as she took in the helpless expression on his face. "Don't fight the little deushbag unless you have a damn good reason to." Colby smiled. "That is not me giving you a get out of jail free card," Brielle said quickly. "Just calm yourself and win the game because you're better than them, not because you beat the hell out of Dennis Bonvie." |
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