No fumbling allowed - Nick Bosa

4.- Only adults here.

"Alright boys, let's make a double power-play drill. Winston, you'll be out." I yelled, and he skated past me to the bench. During practices, I was always on the rink skating besides them. "I want the red team to get on diamond formation while the black team does a a 2-1-2 spread." And I blew the whistle, getting them ready to play before Joe, my assistant coach, released the puck and I let my timer run for 4 minutes.

The red team was barely hanging on, if this was an actual game, they would probably have the puck up their asses now.

"Joe, what do you think of Johnson going right?" I asked him as I saw one of my boys struggling while defending the left side.

"He defenitely plays better defending the right side during power plays." I nodded at his response, he was correct.

"Right? I was thinking about the same. We should take White out to rest, put Johnson on the right side, and Migliarini looks strong enoguh to take the left side." He nodded.

"Yeah, I think that might work if they all defend the power play together."

"Get Migliarini and let him know his part." I pointed to the bench behind me. Before blowing my whistle. "White, you're OUT" I yelled, I loved yelling. "Johnson to the right, Migliarini will take the left."

The red team improved instantly as soon as I made the the modifications. "That's awesome. Blow it up, Joey." I held my right fist up to my side, and he fist-bumped me. We let the clock run out.

"That's it for today, boys. Go take your skates off and we'll talk in the locker room." I said before skating off, I went to my seat to take off my skates and put on my shoes, and I was about to stand up when my phone vibrated; it was a DM request from nbsmallerbear.

Hey.
Received 5:31 pm.

 Hi .
Read 5:31 pm.

I waited for a few more minutes until I realized he probably wasn't gonna write back. I throw my phone in my bag and head to the locker room. "Everyone decent?" I asked, followed by a series of "Yes, coach" so I came into the room.

"How do we feel?" I asked.

"I feel like we've got a playoff season loading." The goalie said, and the rest of the boys expressed their agreement.

"Alright, let's not get ahead of ourselves just now, while it's important to set our eyes on the big prize, it's just as important to remember to take it one game at the time. We can't make plans to win playoff games without first making it. Now, I want y'all to know that you did great today, I really feel like we're on the right direction and we've got a lot of potential and it really showed this practice. I want y'all to go home, get some rest, study  because some of you have a math test with me, and see you guys tomorrow."

And with that, I left the locker room so the boys could have their private talks or whatever they do while they packed their bags, so Ichecked my DM's only to realize I still had no reply, which was a little bit upsetting because deep inside I was still hopeful that he would've replied to me by now, but clearly I was wrong.  Was he playing a game? Did he regret DM'ing me? Man I wouldn't know, but I couldn't get it out of my head now, I know I managed things poorly a few years ago and he deserved to know my whole decision making thought process, but I was still scared to do so. Back then it was easier for me to just randomly drop the I-got-pregnant-and-aborted bomb and let him lash out at me than to let my walls down and show him how it really felt.

My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the locker room door opening and seeing all the boys come out, and later Joe came out of the coaches' room,  I let them all walk past them so I could close the rink before saying goodbye and calling an uber.