Jack

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven

Maddie

I was glued to the television as the reporter was just finishing interviewing the coach. I could tell from the background that I had to stay focused, Jack and Eric were both behind the Coach waiting their turn.

Of course after what they both accomplished it wasn't hard to imagine anyone wanting to interview the both of them. Eric was stepping forward now and I held my breath hoping he didn't say anything to silly since I was sure he was still on an emotional high.

"Eric Maddison joins us now, First round draft pick and considered by some to be the future of this franchise, Eric how does it feel to have a three point game in your Professional debut?" She asked and here we go, come on Eric, don't let me down.

"I'm not going to lie, it feels incredible. I am so happy right now I could burst. My parents were here to see it and I know my sister is glued to the television, probably even now, and well, I am just so happy."

The reporter was known to be hard on players so I knew what was coming next before Eric did. "So are you the savior of this team?"

Eric laughed. "No maim, I am just a player on this team. See, Jack explained to me, as well as my father, that in hockey there is no individual, we are a team. If I can help the team I will, of course I will, but in hockey we only play as well as our teammates let us. My three points tonight were because I had help, and there should be a stat for that."

Then he waved at the camera like a goofy kid and I smiled. He took care of her questions like a pro. Jack did a good job reminding him before the interview I bet and made sure the kid used Dad as the original reference. No one would find fault with that interview.

Eric waved again and then he moved away again toward the locker-room. Jack was up next and this would be interesting. "Now we are joined by Jack Crabb, another recent call up from the Storm, and another three point getter tonight. Jack is it safe to say that the blizzard was so desperate for help that they needed all the storm players that played tonight?"

Oh fuck, no matter what he said this wouldn't come out right. Shit Jack, smile, my god this was going to be bad.

"I wouldn't say that, what I would say is that both the Blizzard and the Storm organizations are working overtime to bring you the best games they can. It was stressed to me when I first signed with the team that they and we don't do this for ourselves, we do this for the hard working people of Buffalo and Syracuse."

"Jack, I am sure that's nice and all, but the game tonight, your line did all the scoring. You must have something to say about that?"

"Sure, before the game, Pierre LeBroise talked to me and said, kid we got your back, do you know what that feels like? He told me and my line mates to take as many shots as we could to get in the feel of the game. He knows how hard it is to feel comfortable and he just wanted us in the flow. We got lucky, I mean look at my score," Jack said laughing.

"We needed that. Pierre has always been a role model for us younger guys, and after what he did for us tonight, you should be interviewing him. Like Eric said, it's not about the individual, it's about the team, and alternate Captain LeBroise makes the team work."

"He didn't score," the reporter pointed out. "You can't win if you don't score."

"We can't win if we are too nervous to shoot. We can't win if we are afraid the other team is gunning for us and no one has our back. We can't win if our Goalie let's in more goals than theirs does, there are a lot of ways to not win, but only one way to win, to be a team."