Chapter 7

Monday morning found me slapping the alarm trying to find the damn shutoff button. After a big breakfast I scooted on over to the rink. It was almost an hour early for the usual morning free skate since the coaches never specified how early to come in. I looked around and tried to find Frank or Fred in the normal lockers and then went down the hallway to the rooms I had never looked at before. The Wolverines men's and women's team each had a locker room and there were also equipment, workout and the trainer rooms. At the end Fred had an office and there was one for the women's coach as well. I knocked on the closed door, waited for an answer, then peeked in the Men's locker room when there was none. Finally I leaned against the wall next to the coach's office and waited until close to eight, and when no one showed up, walked out to the rink and put my skates on and started skating. Rolf, the Zamboni driver that I helped clean up the shattered Plexiglas, was putting the nets back into their positions.

"You're Rolf right?" I asked.

"Yep, that's me. You're the guy that broke Simon and the panel last week right?"

"Yes, I'm the guilty party" I laughed. "Any chance you fixed Simon yet?"

"We had to let Simon go. He just wasn't cutting it. We have Patrick now to play net. Almost no one scores on him!" he said.

"Well, can I help get him out here so I can try him out?"

"Sure, let me pull him to the ice and you can help from there".

We wrestled him over to the net and fastened him to the posts. Patrick was made from steel reinforcements covered by a plywood front. That front had a steel plate attached to protect the plywood. It was painted with Patrick Roy's picture from his days as the goalie for the Montreal Canadiens. I laughed and thought they wouldn't have put his Colorado Avalanche picture on it since this was Detroit Red Wing country.

They had made it very tough to score on him. The whole goal was covered from side to side and top to bottom except strategically placed slots in the goalie's vulnerable spots. The top and bottom corners had small rectangles as did the spot over both shoulders just below the crossbar. The fifth spot was a small vertical rectangle in between the goalie's pads above the goalie stick called the five-hole. I thanked Rolf and he said no problem.

"I think I'll stick around and see how you do with Patrick" he laughed.

"I'm sure I won't be getting too many in" I agreed.

I started shooting from the blueline at about half power to see if my accuracy was still good to pick the openings. I found the four corners not too bad to hit but the five-hole was so narrow, you had to be perfect to let the puck go right in. It mirrored most goalies when you shot from afar. I ran out of pucks and had to dig them out from behind Patrick by loosening up one end and dragging them out with a stick. My average was about one in every two shots in at this point in the four corners and one in five for the five-hole.

There was still no one around as I looked around the rink, but I didn't think too many people would be using a free skate on Labour Day anyway. I went back out to the blueline and took shots at three quarter power and started clanging off the metal plate close to the cut-outs. The average was about one out of every three shots in which was still not too bad. I retrieved the pucks again and then used full power. The ratio went down to one in five into the four corners and about one in ten for the five-hole. The steel plate protected the plywood quite well except for where it didn't wrap around inside the cut-out. If the puck hit on an angle the wood did split or splinter. I grabbed the pucks again and made myself get a bit angry to see if Patrick could handle the extra power. I had to think of the assholes from the restaurant to really get angry and then put everything in to the shot. These shots were less accurate and mostly hit Patrick or went wide. Since there wasn't a stick shape or a real head shape, there was nothing to break off except around the cut-outs. The shots did make a racket on the steel plate and you could see black marks where the pucks had hit but Patrick came through with flying colours.

I finally had enough and grabbed all my pucks from the net and Rolf came from the back and helped me pull Patrick off. We inspected him and there was little or no damage.

"You made a good one there Rolf. That's going to be around for awhile and really help people focus on the best spots to shoot at" I told him.

"Good, I'm glad you like it. I made it with you in mind for not only your power but your accuracy" he said.

"Well I will certainly appreciate it. Thanks" I said.

I skated around a bit before the buzzer came to end the free skate and packed it in. I took off my skates and put on some shoes and went back to the coach's office to see if he was in.

A voice called to come in so I opened the door and walked in to see Fred and Frank talking to a couple of other people, another man and a woman.

"Oh, sorry to disturb you, I'll wait outside for you to finish up Mr. Benson" I apologized as I backed up to leave.

"Wait Mike, we're all waiting for you actually. We saw you on the ice and knew you would be done soon so we've been just going over some things. How did you like Patrick? Rolf said he was going to make him much more difficult for you score on him!" he said chuckling.

"He certainly did. I went from one in two shots going in at half power to one in four at full power — except for that darn vertical five-hole! That one went from one in five to one in 10 going in. It will be good practice for sure" I exclaimed.

Fred and Frank looked at each other and Fred raised an eyebrow. I got worried that I should have kept my mouth shut until I practiced a bit more and got my percentages up. They probably had guys that could make me look like a novice.

"Don't worry Mr. Benson, I'll get more practice with Patrick and get those percentages up. I'm still a bit rusty having only been back on the ice for a week now. We had something similar to Patrick back home and my Dad and I would have competitions to see who missed first. Sometimes we went twenty shots before one of us missed when we got in a groove. I promise you won't be disappointed with my shooting by the end of the week" I assured him.

"Well Frank, do you think you could live with those percentages for at least this week?" Fred asked with a smirk.

"Fred, I think we can give Mike a week to work on improving those horrible percentages" replied Frank grinning.

"Ok, Mike we'll give you some time to practice" Fred agreed looking at me. "That is if you are here to try-out for the Wolverines?"

"Yes sir, if we can make sure that my scholarship is not affected and we can fit everything into a workable schedule" I said.

"Good to hear it" said Fred. "These people are here to see if we can fit hockey into your schedule without making you be at two places at once. Once they are done and we know the answer is yes, Frank will take you to the team doctor and get you through a physical before we can officially let you try out. After that we will get the trainers to fit you with some equipment. We have a practice after lunch and then Frank and I will sit down and go over some rules and codes of conduct and other stuff that you won't know about. Sound ok?"

"Sure, sorry to make everyone come in on your Labour Day holiday" I apologized.

"That's not a problem Mike" Frank smiled. "Most of us would be here anyway and Heidi and Bill will be here for only about an hour getting your schedule worked out and they can get back home to their families".

"Ok, good, let's get started" I said.

Fred left the office and the rest of us went over my scholarship noting I had to maintain a 3.6 grade point average to keep it. After that we pulled up my current schedule and then first put in mandatory scheduled full team practices, then defence practices, and finally special team practices. Most were early in the morning or later in the afternoon or evening.

Then we put in the scheduled games. I found out there were games on Friday evenings and on Saturdays just about every week starting with the season opener in October with some exhibition games starting this weekend. The season could go all the way to mid April for the CCHA Frozen four in Washington DC which Michigan usually played in. I hadn't counted on two games a week for the whole year plus some weekend tournaments here and there. After adding travel times for away games, we looked at the resulting semester spreadsheet. There were obviously issues with the travel time for the Friday evening games, sometimes blocking out the entire day.

Heidi then took over and started looking at my current classes, both to see if there were alternative times that fit better with the hockey schedule or if we could find classes that could be moved to the next semester when hockey would be less of an intrusion. She did some magic and moved a math class and an elective to next semester and moved in another elective that fit better and we all perused the resulting new schedule. She had eliminated most of Friday's classes and my one evening class while letting me get to the practices and the games. The only downside was that I was taking only four courses each semester and would have to take a couple in the summer to keep up.

The new schedule kept me busy from eight am to six pm every day except Wednesdays where the late time went to eight pm. There were only a couple empty blocks of open time during most of the days. Friday was wide open except for an early lab for a computer programming course.

Frank asked "We haven't put any time for extra training or weight lifting. He also needs to eat with the team whenever we can fit that in. There will be unscheduled team meetings here and there too."

Jim put his two cents in as well saying "He will need homework and study time, especially for computer programming assignments. We had better put in scheduled times for that as well."

They started putting in study and homework blocks during the days and then put in a few training sessions.

Heidi and Jim mentioned that a good portion of studying and programming could be done on Fridays, even if travelling, as long as I had a good laptop and the chance and space to use it. Weekends were for games and studying usually.

Frank mentioned me having a girl friend. They even blocked off some time with her, after pulling up her schedule to see her free time! Most of it was after six pm or the weekend but that time was also extra study time.

They printed out the final schedule and everyone got a copy. I looked it over and wasn't too impressed. The others reviewed it as well, including Fred Benson who had walked back in while they were printing.

"This is an extremely tight schedule people" Fred said. "This could be a recipe for disaster for Mike as the semester goes on. There's no extra breathing room for him to have a life or catch up on homework other than a couple hours with his girlfriend in the evening when he's tired after practice. If this is the best we can do, we might have to rethink this or minimize some things from the hockey perspective".

Jim and Heidi looked at each other and then Jim said "leave it with us for another hour or two Fred. Frank, why don't you get Mike to the Doctor and then come back here and we will go over everything. The three of us can work on it while he has his physical and gets his equipment fitted so we won't waste too much of his time."

"Ok, sounds like a good short term plan" Fred said. "Remember he is here first for an education, second to enjoy a bit of University life and then third is hockey. If we don't get this right, it could blow up in his face and our faces. Frank, stay here, I'll walk Mike to the Doctor".

"Ok, thanks" replied Frank to Fred. He turned to me and said "Don't worry Mike, we'll get it right. We just have to get a little creative because you're coming in on a scholarship that isn't ours."

I nodded to Frank and followed Fred out the door. He led me along the hallway and entered the Doctor's office after knocking. A nurse was sitting at a desk in a small waiting room.

"Hi Nancy, this is Michael Stewart" said Fred, introducing me to a short stocky blonde woman in a nurse's uniform. "He will be trying out for the men's team this week so we need a quick physical done ASAP. Is Dr. Davis available? I know we put this on the schedule Friday."

"Yes Sir, Mr. Benson, I have that scheduled and Dr. Davis should be finishing up with Robert Samuels soon" Nancy answered.

"Good, I will leave him in your capable hands. Can you direct him to the trainer when you are done please?" he asked her.

"Sure, not a problem Sir" she replied with a smile.

"Ok Mike, I'll see you in my office after you are done getting some equipment" he said and left.

Nancy looked me up and down and said "So you are what all the fuss is about. Are you some kind of hockey superstar from up North expecting to be waited on hand and foot like some prima donna?"

"Sorry, you must have mistaken me for someone else. Mr. Benson and Frank asked me to try-out after seeing me at last week's free skate. Definitely not a superstar or a prima donna" I tried to reassure her.

"Well that remains to be seen. Ok, fill out this paperwork and then you can provide some blood and urine samples" she said abruptly.

"Yes Ma'am" I replied and grabbed the paperwork. It asked for my personal information and then had me list my medical history, allergies and any related injuries. I filled it out as well as I could and handed it back to her.

She read it over and then said "Ok, I need a urine sample in this cup. Go into that room and fill it to the line and bring it back out".

I followed her instructions and filled it up and finished in the toilet while trying to juggle the damn cup without making a mess of the toilet or my pants. I washed up and handed the cup back to her in a napkin.

"Ok, come over here and we will get some blood quickly before the Doctor will see you" she instructed.

I laid my arm on the small table and she wrapped a big elastic band around my bicep, then wiped my arm with alcohol inside my elbow. She jabbed my arm with a needle attached to an open tube and then stuck a couple of small test tubes inside it and collected some blood in each.

"Ok, have a seat and the Doctor should be out soon" she told me.

"Thanks" I replied with a smile that seemed to bounce off her like bullets from Superman. She was not happy about something but I didn't know what.

Finally the Doctor came out with another guy who had his ankle in a cast and was using some crutches. The guy walked out slowly as I opened the door for him to get out easier. He thanked me and limped down to the coach's office using the crutches.

I turned around to see the Doctor talking with the nurse and going over a medical chart with her. They finished up and she looked up at me and told him I was here for a physical.

He looked at my paperwork and then waved me to follow him into the back.

"Hi Michael, I'm Doctor Davis, the men's team doctor" he introduced himself to me. "I see we need to do a quick physical on you today. Are you to be Mr. Samuel's replacement on the team, young man?"

"I'm sorry, I don't know who Mr. Samuel is Doctor. The coaches just asked me to try-out for the team on Friday after seeing me at the free skate" I replied. I was getting tired of explaining this to everyone. They certainly didn't give these people much information I thought.

"Oh, ok. Alright let's take a look. Can you strip down to your underwear please?" he asked.

I got undressed and he did some measuring of height, chest size, arm length, and weighed me. I was 205lbs and six feet, two and a half inches high with a 44 inch chest. The Doctor did all the rest of the normal physical things, listening to my heart and lungs, taking my blood pressure and pulse, looking in my eyes, nose and throat and then doing a thorough examination of my limbs and joints. He did the final turn your head and cough test and then told me to get dressed and head out to the front. I thanked him for his time and left after dressing.

Nancy told me to follow her and walked me down to the trainer's room and left me there with a quick "here's the guy you need to get equipment for" to the man inside.

"Hi there, you must be Mike, how are you?" he asked.

"Good thanks and you?" I replied

"Not bad thanks. I'm Chris Jenkins, the trainer and equipment manager around here. Fred told me you would be in and to get you fitted for some equipment".

"Nice to meet you Chris" I said. "Sorry to make you work on Labour Day."

He laughed and said "Mike, this is my busy time, I work seven days a week from mid August until after the final tournament in the next semester. So don't worry about that!"

"Oh, ok. So what do you need from me?" I asked.

"I'll need some measurements and then some preferences you have in terms of equipment specs and then we'll try some stuff on you" he replied. "We have to use certain brand names for some of the equipment due to Sponsors we have either from the NCAA deals or the University but we have some variety for most pieces of equipment".

We got to it with him taking a bunch of measurements for all of my limbs and overall body. He put them into a program on his laptop and then a picture popped up of a guy on the screen. He asked me all sorts of questions on various pieces of equipment and eventually the guy had all of his equipment. If you scrolled across the picture you would get sizes and types of that piece of equipment.

We started with the skates and he pulled out a set and I put them on. He made sure they fit ok and then had me take them off. He took them and put them in an oven for a bit while we went on and fit the rest of the pieces. He grabbed the hot skates and had me put them on and wear them while they cooled and shaped themselves to my feet. Another helper came over and grabbed the rest of the equipment after I tried it out and hauled it to the locker room and put it in a spare area with my name written on some tape above it.

Chris had me take off the skates and the helper went and sharpened them and then hung them up in my area too.

The final piece of equipment was sticks. They walked me over to another room with sticks lining the walls. We talked about size, curl and flexibility and they grabbed a few different ones and took me to the room in the back that had a net to shoot at and a raised wood platform to stand on to simulate wearing skates. They had me shoot with various composite and wood sticks until we agreed on a couple to try in practice after lunch.

I thanked them both for their help and walked back to the coach's office. I knocked and entered when I heard a voice. The four were still there but seemed done with the scheduling. The mood was sombre however so I was worried that they couldn't fit everything into a useable schedule for me.