The Penalty Box

Chapter 54

The whistle blew, and I watched as my boys did the next they could. Talent wise, there were out matched, but we were smarter. I'd been trying to teach them to not rely so much on their talent, and more on their game sense.

Ty was doing the exact opposite of what he was supposed to. If he wasn't careful he was really going to screw up. He was lucky the ref hadn't called him on anything yet. I'd already thrown his ass out.

"Damnit," I grumbled.

"It's your call," Conrad shrugged.

I looked across the rink, towards the stands. Coty was here with a couple of his teammates, Jeff and Noah included. Coty had been so excited to come, he'd been talking about it all week. He knew we'd all been working hard, and he just wanted to see me coach.

I waited until Ty got back on the bench to make my final decision. But I knew I couldn't let him back out there, even if he was the best player we had.

"Ty, you're sitting the rest of the game," I told him.

"You have to be-"

"You finish that sentence, and you're off my team," I warned.

**

"Thanks for coming guys," I told Coty and his teammates," Sorry the game kind of sucked."

"What was up with Ty?" Coty asked.

"He was going to end up seriously hurting someone," I replied," There was no way I could let him back out on the ice, and he got pissed."

"Are you coming back to the apartment?"

"And now seems like a pretty good time for us to leave," Jeff laughed," Nice seeing you and Callahan."

I said goodbye to them, and tried not to smile as they joked with Coty. It'd been a long time since I'd seen him have a hockey family like that.

Coty dropped his arm around my shoulders, and walked with me out to the car. He was talking about what he'd done in practice, and how excited he was about the next game. He was practically buzzing with energy.

"Coach!"

I turned around to see Ty running towards us. My guess was the guys had talked to him, or maybe like Dolton said, he'd finally figured it out in his own.

"Can I help you Ty?" I asked him, shrugging Coty's arm off of my shoulders.

"I need to play Coach," he said huffing from running all the way across the lot.

"You don't have to do anything Tyler," I pointed out.

He took a deep breath," Coach C, I will do whatever you want me to. But I need hockey, it's all I've got going for me."

I have Coty a side glance, I wondered if Ty was reminding him of a certain hot headed old player.

"Ty, you're one of the best players I've seen in a really long time," I told him," You've got great hockey sense, but you don't use it. You ignore everything and end up on some rampage."

"I'm sorry Coach, I just-" he stopped and thought for a minute," I've only ever had hockey. The only reason I can still play is because Dolton's family has made it happen all of these years. My foster parents don't care about it anymore. I guess I'm still trying to figure out why I still play."

"Do you think you can do that without going against everything I tell you to do?" I questioned.

"I can try my very best," he replied honestly," I just need to play.

I glanced over at Coty, who only gave me a grin. He knew what was coming next. I looked down at my watch, Coty and I had reservations across town in half an hour.

"Can you be here first thing tomorrow morning?" I asked Ty.

"Absolutely," he responded quickly.

I turned to look at Coty," What about you Bruner?"

"Wouldn't miss it," He said with an almost wicked smile.

"Be here and suited up by 8," I told Ty, walking to my car door," And be ready to skate your ass off."