Ice Might Be Nice

Camp officially began 3 days ago. Now we were getting ready for our first preseason game on Wednesday against the Devils in Albany. We were flying up there tonight so that we could have some ice time before the game. It meant a lot of packing and work for the training staff before the flight. Fortunately we had warning so the medical gear was all ready to go, even in the hall already waiting for the truck. The guys were on the ice doing what they needed to do while I helped Jason get the bags ready to be packed again. I had just finished putting the bag on the floor when Jason looked up and smiled. “Good afternoon Adam.”

I looked over and saw Adam Graves standing there. I’d finally caught up on my team homework so I knew how important he was. He was looking at me oddly. “Hey Jase. I don’t know you.”

Jase and I looked at each other and shrugged. Straightening up I introduced myself. “I’m Krys, I’m helping out cause I’m low man on the pole. I’m the new Athletic Trainer Jim hired.” That must have jogged his memory as he nodded a bit brightly and grinned.

“Ah! I knew he had hired someone new but not who and certainly not that you were female. I hope that the boys aren’t giving you any hassles about that honestly.” He sounded insecure about having a woman in what is traditionally a man’s domain.

Jase stepped in. “Are you kidding, the guys love her. She respects them and the room no matter how long she’s here. Helps out with the work we need help with, even took care of Staalsie one night when he had a reaction to the local without a problem. Even talked down his _mom_ from coming down when that happened.”

I blushed, that was a bit of a stretch, I hadn’t had to talk her out of coming down. I just told her the truth about the injury and such. “That’s my job when they need it. To be an extra set of hands ready and willing to do just about anything. I try to keep to the Medical room when the guys are changing so they don’t have to feel odd while they’re getting ready. It makes sense to show that respect. They haven’t treated me any differently than they treat the others that I’ve noticed.”

Jase laughed at that. “Yeah like we _all_ have them tripping over themselves to teach _us_ how to skate.” I flipped him off without a thought as to who else was in the room. He busted up laughing as I turned to pack the next bag as much as I could.

“Wait, you don’t know how to skate?” If I could have reached Jase I would have killed him.

I took a deep breath and looked up. “No sir I don’t. I am, however, working on that on my own time. Hopefully I’ll be good soon. I have been on the ice without skates and can go nearly across the entire surface. Jim has a video you can watch if you need confirmation of that.” I saw Jase nodding furiously.

Adam chuckled. “Ok, I’ll check with him then.” He watched as I continued down the line packing and prepping the bags for the rest of the gear. “You’re getting good at that, smoother since I’ve been watching.”

I kept on working but did smile at that. “I watched Jase for a couple before I started. You find the rhythm if you’re careful. Having so many bags to do it makes it go faster if I do what I can to help out.”

He just nodded and left the room. Jase was grinning. “I appreciate the help. Have _you_ packed for the trip yet?”

I laughed. “Oh yeah. 5 days is easy. I’ve been on longer trips for soccer. When we hit 2 to 3 weeks I might have issues.” I finished the bag I was working on and listened towards the ice. “Guys are on their way back in. You good?”

He shook his head and waved me away. “I can handle it from here. I’ll have more help now.” I skedaddled my way back into the Medical room, giving the boys a chance to get out of here without the prying eyes of a woman. I didn’t have a lesson this afternoon because of the flight, but I had packed my skates so I could work on it on my own while we were away. A few of the guys came in to get checked on various aches they had, nothing serious.

Several hours, and loads of laundry, later we were pulling into the private side of the airport to load the plane for the trip to Albany. The guys had it down to a science, so I wasn’t needed to load the plane. That didn’t mean I got out of helping, I just didn’t move the bags from the belt into the plane. Once we were done we were able to get on to the plane ourselves.

About 45 minutes later we were unpacking in Albany while the guys loaded onto buses to hit the hotel. The rest of us were heading for Times Union Center to get the room set up. The Devils came in on our heels so we were able to get both of us set up rather quickly. Being that this was a preseason game there wasn’t anything to repair, but there were things to continue drying out.

I just finished putting the finishing touches on the Medical room when Jim came in. “Heard you met Adam today.” He leaned against the counter I had finished putting things on.

“Yeah came in while Jase and I were packing the bags. I’m not sure he was impressed though. Didn’t know I was a girl, and then sounded worried that the guys were treating me right. Jase stepped in though.” I latched the cases I had been working out of and turned to face Jim.

He was smiling and nodding. “I’ve heard. Also heard you flipped Jase off without a thought, gotta tell ya _that_ told Adam more about how well you were fitting in than anything. I showed him the video of how we found you and he was even more impressed. He wanted me to let you know that if anyone gives you problems he’ll back you all the way. Anyone who can ignore one of the Team’s best guys and front office people and treat their co-workers like you did has earned their place in his opinion.” He stood up from the counter. “Krys you’ve already helped this team come together as a unit. It’s not even the start of the season yet and they are protective of you like you’re their sister.”

I scoffed. “Jim, they just want to make sure no one hurts me. They don’t realize I’m a lot tougher than they think.” I then made a decision. “You need to show them the videos you have of me, I’ll take whatever chirping comes my way for being a keeper, but they need to know that I have their backs no matter what.”

Jim nodded. “I’ll talk to Torts about it and show the coaching staff first. You _may_ get chirped about playing soccer but then again you may not.”

Just then Torts came in. “Show me what?”

Jim chuckled. “We were discussing the video of how we found Krys and when to show the boys so they might back off a little bit.” He grabbed his laptop and showed Torts. Afterwards Jim was smiling and Torts looked like he’d seen something beautiful.

“Fucking right. Keep this one Jim. If she’ll do that for her college team who knows what she’ll do for us.” He was smiling at me.

“There’s a little bit more you should know Coach. She and Staalsie are working on her learning to skate on their own time and have gotten kind of cozy too. It doesn’t interfere with either of their jobs and has made him become more patient on the ice.” Torts was just smiling.

“I thought something might be going on more than just trainer and D Man. Keep it out of the locker room and off my time and I don’t care. On a personal note, try not to get yourself hurt this year. I don’t want to have to bench him if that happens and he can’t deal.“

“No sir, I don’t want that either. We’re just friends, if it goes further we’ll keep it away from the team. I’m not planning on getting hurt and will do everything in my power to keep the guys from doing so as well.” He nodded at me and left.

Jim had watched with silent glee as Torts gave his little speech. “You’re in kid. Don’t screw it up.” He left also, leaving me to check that I had everything ready for the morning skate before I left too.

I was in all right, the question now was How Deep?