Not Daddy's Little Girl
So Far Undefeated
Lights shined in Jaslyn’s face as she stood outside the visitors lock room. Reports questions came out like diarrhea of the mouth. None of them were about the game her team had just won against the defending Stanley Cup champions 5-2, but all of the questions were about her being the coach.
As she listened to the questions being rattled off she crossed her arms over her chest, tapped her high heel shoe against the linoleum flooring, and tapped her fingers against her upper arm. Jaslyn let out a sigh of frustration and roller her eyes.
"Look if none of you have questions about anything other than me being a woman, you might as well get the hell out because I'm not answering them."
She told the reporters and they all fell silence. The camera men in the back lowered their cameras and more than half of the reporters left to go talk to someone else. The few reporters that stayed looked at Jaslyn with blank looks on their faces.
"Um, Ms. Quenneville, do you have plans to have Emery playing in net any time soon?"
"I have planed out. I want our boys to have a fair share of the net, I know that sounds childish, but that's how I want it. Ray has come over a lot in the past couple years so I want to reward him for it. Than with Crawford he is our number one, but I still see some work that need s to be done on him. Both him and Emery need work done to their goaltending."
The reporters wrote down her words and thought of another questions to ask her.
"It's been said that your coaching style is a lot like Herb Brooks. What do you have to say about that?"
"Well Herb has always been a hero of mine. I would say that I do have a tough love side to me when I coach and I'm a bit rough around the edges when I stand be hide the bench. To have Craig Patrick to say that I'm Herb in a woman's body is a bit over whelming. It's always great to be compared to your heroes."
"What are you going to bring to Blackhawks that your father didn't."
"Not to diss my dad, he's a great coach, but he didn't really get in the boys face. Well at least not the way I do. I bench my players if they do put one toe out of line. That's how I coach and I won't change that just because I'm working with pros."
~*~
January 22, 2012
United Centre, Chicago, Illinois
Blackhawks vs. Blues
Jaslyn sat office in her rolling chair, her head in her hands. She was finalizing the nights' roster. The only part stumping her was the net, who to put in? Emery had played the last game and had 25 saves and the Coyotes only scored four times. While Crawford played in the first game against the Kings, and Quick was in her book a better goaltender than Mike Smith. Not to mention that tonight was the Blackhawks first home game.
"Emery. Crawford..."
She said with her pen on the paper. She sighed and wrote the name of the starting goal tender. Looking down she saw that she had written Crawford on the starting goaltender line.
She stood up and walked out of the rom and posted the game roster on the wall of the dressing room.
Looking around the room she saw the Sharp, Toews, and Crawford were on only players in the room.
"Crawford you in tonight."
"Got it coach."
She smiled at him and walked out to the tunnel and went to the ice. Crawford was the only one who would call her coach. I had only been a week or so, but he come to the facts that her father had in trusted her with the team and he knew what he was doing.
Jaslyn looked out onto the ice, she found peace in the ice. Coming out to the bench was part of her pre-game routine. She looked up for the first time at the Madhouse. Her eyes went to the four Stanley Cup champion banners; 1934, 1938, 1961, and 2010. She wanted to bring home one that said 2013.
"Watch out boys here I come."
She said to herself and walked back to the tunnel and to her office. She grabbed her phone off her desk, unlocked it and called Jason. After only two rings he picked up his phone.
"Hey baby."
"Hi."
She said in a quietly into the bottom of the iPhone.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing. How's Kes?"
"Fine. Foot hurts."
"Well no duh. Have you heard from David?"
"No. We're all over at the house watching the game."
"Thanks, know I know I can't fuck up with all of you guys watching."
"Sorry. But we want to see what we're up against."
He told her with a small laugh. Jaslyn let a smile form on her face apon hearing Jason's laugh.
"I love you."
He told her out of the blue after nothing was said for a half a minute.
"I love you too Jason. I'll see you in a week alright."
"You know it. What should I tell the boys?"
"Hi and thanks for the support."
"I will. Bye love."
"Bye sweetie."
~*~
The finally buzzer went off and the Blackhawks won their third game in a row. Hearing the buzzer Jaslyn let out a breath she' seemed to be hold all of the third period. She hated it when Vancouver played against the Blues. She hated it even more when her team played against the Blues. They were so much bigger than her team.
She looked at the jumbo-ton and saw the numbers 3-2 staring back at her. She couldn't remember the last time the Hawks had gone 3-0 coming out of the starting gate of the season. Thinking about this made a smile on her face. She was doing a damn good job sop far.
Shove it Bettmen
She thought to herself.
As she listened to the questions being rattled off she crossed her arms over her chest, tapped her high heel shoe against the linoleum flooring, and tapped her fingers against her upper arm. Jaslyn let out a sigh of frustration and roller her eyes.
"Look if none of you have questions about anything other than me being a woman, you might as well get the hell out because I'm not answering them."
She told the reporters and they all fell silence. The camera men in the back lowered their cameras and more than half of the reporters left to go talk to someone else. The few reporters that stayed looked at Jaslyn with blank looks on their faces.
"Um, Ms. Quenneville, do you have plans to have Emery playing in net any time soon?"
"I have planed out. I want our boys to have a fair share of the net, I know that sounds childish, but that's how I want it. Ray has come over a lot in the past couple years so I want to reward him for it. Than with Crawford he is our number one, but I still see some work that need s to be done on him. Both him and Emery need work done to their goaltending."
The reporters wrote down her words and thought of another questions to ask her.
"It's been said that your coaching style is a lot like Herb Brooks. What do you have to say about that?"
"Well Herb has always been a hero of mine. I would say that I do have a tough love side to me when I coach and I'm a bit rough around the edges when I stand be hide the bench. To have Craig Patrick to say that I'm Herb in a woman's body is a bit over whelming. It's always great to be compared to your heroes."
"What are you going to bring to Blackhawks that your father didn't."
"Not to diss my dad, he's a great coach, but he didn't really get in the boys face. Well at least not the way I do. I bench my players if they do put one toe out of line. That's how I coach and I won't change that just because I'm working with pros."
~*~
January 22, 2012
United Centre, Chicago, Illinois
Blackhawks vs. Blues
Jaslyn sat office in her rolling chair, her head in her hands. She was finalizing the nights' roster. The only part stumping her was the net, who to put in? Emery had played the last game and had 25 saves and the Coyotes only scored four times. While Crawford played in the first game against the Kings, and Quick was in her book a better goaltender than Mike Smith. Not to mention that tonight was the Blackhawks first home game.
"Emery. Crawford..."
She said with her pen on the paper. She sighed and wrote the name of the starting goal tender. Looking down she saw that she had written Crawford on the starting goaltender line.
She stood up and walked out of the rom and posted the game roster on the wall of the dressing room.
Looking around the room she saw the Sharp, Toews, and Crawford were on only players in the room.
"Crawford you in tonight."
"Got it coach."
She smiled at him and walked out to the tunnel and went to the ice. Crawford was the only one who would call her coach. I had only been a week or so, but he come to the facts that her father had in trusted her with the team and he knew what he was doing.
Jaslyn looked out onto the ice, she found peace in the ice. Coming out to the bench was part of her pre-game routine. She looked up for the first time at the Madhouse. Her eyes went to the four Stanley Cup champion banners; 1934, 1938, 1961, and 2010. She wanted to bring home one that said 2013.
"Watch out boys here I come."
She said to herself and walked back to the tunnel and to her office. She grabbed her phone off her desk, unlocked it and called Jason. After only two rings he picked up his phone.
"Hey baby."
"Hi."
She said in a quietly into the bottom of the iPhone.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing. How's Kes?"
"Fine. Foot hurts."
"Well no duh. Have you heard from David?"
"No. We're all over at the house watching the game."
"Thanks, know I know I can't fuck up with all of you guys watching."
"Sorry. But we want to see what we're up against."
He told her with a small laugh. Jaslyn let a smile form on her face apon hearing Jason's laugh.
"I love you."
He told her out of the blue after nothing was said for a half a minute.
"I love you too Jason. I'll see you in a week alright."
"You know it. What should I tell the boys?"
"Hi and thanks for the support."
"I will. Bye love."
"Bye sweetie."
~*~
The finally buzzer went off and the Blackhawks won their third game in a row. Hearing the buzzer Jaslyn let out a breath she' seemed to be hold all of the third period. She hated it when Vancouver played against the Blues. She hated it even more when her team played against the Blues. They were so much bigger than her team.
She looked at the jumbo-ton and saw the numbers 3-2 staring back at her. She couldn't remember the last time the Hawks had gone 3-0 coming out of the starting gate of the season. Thinking about this made a smile on her face. She was doing a damn good job sop far.
Shove it Bettmen
She thought to herself.
: )
3/11/14