Just A Hockey Player

Torts was right. Training camp was starting to look like the worst time of Ryan’s short playing career. That day was a blur of suicides, sprints, and other endurance work. By the time the day was done, Ryan’s legs felt like jelly, and she was sure she wasn’t the only one. Everyone shuffled into the locker room.

Just as Ryan was taking off her skates, Torts yelled down the hallway “Weight room tomorrow!” There was a collective sigh around the room. It looked like training camp wasn’t going to get easier any time soon. There wasn’t as much staring in the room this time. Ryan had proved that she belonged, at least as far as speed and conditioning was concerned. Ryan had finished ahead of everyone in both the suicides and sprints, except maybe Kreids, but only at the beginning of the practice as Ryan seemed to have better endurance.

Ryan packed up the rest of her gear and got out the piece of paper she had been given earlier that morning. It was the address of the apartment the team had given her since she had no place to stay. It was only now, after the flurry of excitement that came with the first day of training camp had passed, that she realized she had no idea how to get to her new home. Now was also the first time she worried about her roommate would be.

It was them that it hit her: was she stupid? She was going to be sharing an apartment she couldn’t find with a guy she didn’t know. She had another two weeks of hell, and then another five or six months, if she was lucky. She was a first round draft pick playing on an original six team in one of the world’s most famous cities. And most of all, she was a girl trying to play a man’s game. The enormity of it almost made her break down in tears. And she must have looked that way, but she wasn’t left alone to wallow in her misery.

“Hey, you alright?” Ryan looked up, right into the eyes of Derek Stepan.

“Yeah, fine. I was just wondering, do you know where this is?” Ryan showed him the paper with the apartment address, pulling on her sweatshirt and trying to get herself together. She didn’t want the only guy on the team who talked to her to think she was a crybaby.

“Yeah, this is my apartment. Looks like we’re roomies,” Step said with a smile. “I hope you don’t mind, but I need a lot of time in the bathroom in the morning to do my hair.” Ryan laughed, and realized she was already starting to feel better.

“The sad thing is he’s not kidding,” spoke up Bick from the neighboring locker. “I’m in the same building. I think it’s you and Step, me and Mac, and Boyler and Kreids.”

“The American building,” pronounced Mac, from the locker on the other side. “We’ll show you where it is.” The group got up to leave, and Ryan was slightly amazed by how quickly her outlook was changing.

“Hey, Mike,” said Bick as they passed Vernace’s locker. Vernace looked like he was going to start a conversation, until he saw Ryan and just nodded as they passed by.

“I guess no one told you not to associate with the leper,” said Ryan as they left the training center. The comment earned a snort from Mac and an elbow from Step.

“Mike’s alright. Probably just a little jealous. He’s one of those guys that’ll never really make it, but he’s close enough that he sticks with it for a while. Kinda sucks, actually,” was Bick’s input. Ryan could understand where he was coming from, especially since she knew he was considered one of those guys until last season.

While walking down the streets of New York City, Ryan couldn’t help but marvel at her surroundings. That morning had been too hectic and she had been too nervous to really look around her. Now, her first day with the Rangers behind her, Ryan could stare at the impossibly monstrous skyscrapers, try unsuccessfully to avoid the streams on people rushing past, smell the aromas of hot dogs being prepared by street vendors, and hear the endless chatter of people, honking of car horns, and steady rhythm of pedestrian’s feet. Ryan had never been to a city like New York, and she had never loved a city more. She tore herself away from her thoughts, and found the guys in the midst of a conversation.

“I still think I’d pick myself over you, no offense Mac,” Step was saying.

“That’s because your ego clouds you decision making ability. You wouldn’t last three months as a GM,” retorted Mac. “Just ask Bick.”

“I’m not getting involved,” said Bick quickly. “What do you think, Dave? In a fantasy draft, which one of these losers would you pick?”

“Um, I guess I’d draft one of you and trade for the other?” Ryan didn’t want to annoy either of them. That earned her a round of laughter.

“Very diplomatic,” appreciated Mac. “But who would you draft, and who would you trade? Would you give up Bick in a trade?” Luckily, they had arrived at the apartment building, so Ryan escaped that predicament.

“It says we’re in apartment 13D, on the fourth floor. Where are you guys?” Step asked as he pushed the elevator button.

Bick pulled out his address. “12D so I guess that’s across the hall from you guys. I talked to Boyler, and he said they were in 10D, which means they’re next to us,” he continued as Step opened the door to the apartment that Ryan hoped would be her home for a while. It was bigger than Ryan expected, with a beautiful livingroom, complete with plasma TV, kitchen and small dining room. There were two doors that Ryan guessed led to the bedrooms, but the highlight of the apartment was the massive window overlooking the busy city street below. Ryan thought to herself that she would properly appreciate the window later, and maybe even try to figure out what street it overlooked, but first she needed to take a shower, and maybe get something to eat. Step opened one door, so Ryan chose the other, a bedroom which had another door that led to a spacious bathroom.

“Hey, I think your bathrooms bigger than mine,” Step said as he walked in the room. “But I think my room’s bigger.”

“How many bathrooms do you guys have?” Mac yelled from across the hall.

“Two!” Step yelled back.

“What?”

“TWO!”

Ryan thought they were being stupid. “Why don’t you just walk across the hall and tell him?”

“If I wait long enough, he might come here,” said Step with a wink as they walked back into the living room.

Bick thundered into the room, and he didn’t look happy. “Mac wants to know how many bathrooms you guys have.”

“He’s got you running errands? Tell him we have two,” replied Step with a bemused smile.

“Really? We only have one. And he’s a better roomie than Dubinsky was last year, with his stupid list of rules," he said, referring to Brandon Dubinsky, who Ryan knew had been traded during the off season along with Artem Anisimov and Tim Erixon for Nasher. Bick didn’t sound too concerned about the quantity of bathrooms as he left.

“How long do you think before Mac comes in her complaining about the bathrooms?” asked Step. Before Ryan could answer, Mac entered the apartment. It occurred to Ryan that no one was knocking.

“How come you guys get two bathrooms?” a disgruntled Mac asked.

“I’m not gonna argue with you now,” Step said. “I need to take a shower. And a nap.”

Suddenly, Ryan was exhausted. “I’ll see you guys in a bit.” Ryan could hear Step close the door on Mac, mid-complaint, as she started the shower.

Ryan walked back into the living room after she had finished showering. She could still hear the water running, so she turned on NHL Network.

“Female hockey sensation Ryan Davis, a native of Rochester, New York, attended the first day of New York Rangers training camp today,” said the host. “Davis, who made headlines as the first woman to be drafted by an NHL team two months ago, is seeking to make more history and become the first woman to play in an NHL game. Many continue to doubt if this young woman can find any success in a men’s league. As a matter of fact, Erik Karlsson is the latest star to comment on this controversial story…”

“So, what are they saying now?” asked Step, walking out of his room with his hair still wet.

There was no response. Ryan had fallen asleep, sprawled across the couch.