The Road to the Cup ~ Wattys 2015

Meet the Press

The next morning we had the ice time before game two. I rose early and got ready to go, eating breakfast in the lobby and heading off to skate before the guys came down. I ignored the weird looks I got as I walked and tried to make my way as quickly as possible to the arena. I was almost there when someone yelled my name. "Erin! Coach Fitzpatrick! May I speak to you?"

I turned around, looking for the source of the voice. A man in his twenties was chasing after me, a messenger bag on his shoulder and a cell phone in his hand. "Who are you?" I asked, though I was pretty sure he was a member of the press. I had managed to avoid the reporters for the majority of the season. Usually, they wanted to talk to the players or Johnston, which I was totally fine with.

"I'm Jared. I write for The Daily."

"It's nice to meet you, Jared," I said, as courteously as I could. This guy was messing up my ritual.

"Nice to meet you, too. We've been trying to interview you for a while, but we haven't been able to reach you," Jared said, smiling at me.

"I don't usually talk to the press."

"Care to make an exception?"

"I'm really sorry, but I'm running a bit late right now-"

"Penguins ice time doesn't start for an hour," Jared cut me off.

"I know, I like to arrive early," I replied, my guard coming up.

"Well, if you're early, you must have a few moments to-"

"I'm really sorry, Jared, you seem like a nice guy, but I don't have a minute. I'm sorry," I turned and continued on my way.

"That's a shame, we could have made you famous."

'I'm already a coach in the NHL, Jared,' I thought, but continued walking. Thankfully, he didn't follow.

I made it the arena without anymore unexpected occurrences and soon I was on the ice. Skating helped me focus on the game and shake off the odd encounter with Jared from The Daily. Laps became boring, so I attempted to repeat my actions from two days ago and skate suicides. I felt slower and my muscles burned. I was sore, but I forced myself to keep going, and once the guys got there, they joined in. We skated together as one, but after a few minutes, I noticed that the Russian bear was skating, too. I slid to a halt, throwing snow, "Malkin, what are you doing on the ice?"

"They clear me to practice," he said excitedly.

"Contact?"

"No," Geno frowned.

I skated over to him and patted him on the shoulder, "It's okay, Evgeni. You'll be back to normal soon. At least you're skating again."

"Suicides?" Johnston asked, stepping into the bench, "Again?"

"Yup," Tanger said, "She definitely works us hard, which is exactly what I told Jared from The Daily."

"He stopped you guys, too?" I asked.

"Yeah, he didn't say anything about seeing you. He did ask about you, though," Kris said.

"He wanted to interview me, and knew when our ice time was, but I told him I didn't have time," I explained.

"He had a lot of questions, which is why we were late," Sidney added.

"I didn't even notice," I replied.

"Well, you were busy," Sidney gestured to the huge ruts I'd left in the ice.

"Oops," I said.

"Don't you want to know what Jared wanted to know?" Beau asked.