Sequel: Captain of My Life ›
Oh Captain, My Captain
Oh Captain, My Captain (Sidney Crosby) 010:
Chapter Ten
"It's really nice to meet you!" I said as I shook hands with Left Wing, #18, James Neal.
Two months have gone by and Sidney had gone home and came back, and at that moment, I was meeting my team. It was official that the lockout was on until they said that it wasn't. Even though we probably weren't going to have a full season, if we had one at all, the team wanted to meet me, and I wanted to meet my team. So Coach called everyone in and we were going to have dinner together at the local pub.
"Wow, you're a lot prettier in person," he flirted and then flashed a bright smiled.
I laughed and then shook my head, "Well thank you, but flattery won't get you anywhere."
"A guy can try," he said and I shrugged my shoulder.
"I see you met James," Sidney said while walking up behind me, "Flirting with her already, come on, James,” James laughed and Sidney smirked and shook his head, "Come on, Alex, I'll introduce you to the rest of the team," he said and I nodded my head and followed him.
I met just about everyone and found out that I was going to be getting along really well with James Neal and Center, #71, Evgeni 'Geno' Malkin. We all sat down at the long table and I was talking to Left Wing, #25, Eric Tangradi when Sidney tapped my shoulder.
"Marc's here," he said to me and I looked back towards where Sidney was nudging his head to see that Marc walked into the room.
I smiled and then nodded my head, he ended up sitting across from me and I smiled towards him.
"Alex Conners, it's good to put the face to the name," Goaltender, #29, Marc-Andre Fleury said and I laughed and held out me hand. He shook it and then stared at my face, "Sorry, but you looked really familiar."
"I told you he has a good memory!" Sidney praised and I laughed.
"So we have met before?" Marc asked and I nodded my head.
"Nine years ago actually," I said and laughed.
"Wow," he said and then smirked and placed his hand on cheek and leaned against it, "I'm trying to remember where I was nine years ago."
"Well don't think too hard, Flower. You might hurt yourself," Geno said and everyone laughed.
I was watching how he was trying to remember and I looked towards Sidney.
"Give it a minute. Give him credit that he remembered your face!" Sidney said and I laughed.
"Need a hint?" I asked while looking towards him.
"A little," he said and at this point everyone's attention was on us.
"July of 2003 at Mirakuya restaurant," I confessed and he thought about it.
After about two minutes and everyone laughing, his face lit up and he smiled towards me, "Noodle Girl!"
"Ding, ding, ding!" he said and I laughed and Sidney was confused.
"It's a long and painful story!" I said and Marc laughed.
"That was the year I was trying out for the Baby Pens! Wow! Ok, I remember now, you were with your Mom and Dad!"
"Guilty."
"We had a fun time that night!" he said and I laughed and nodded my head.
"Why 'Noodle Girl'?" Eric asked and we laughed.
"Because we had a noodle fight that night, and we got in a lot of trouble and my Mom yelled at me," I confessed and everyone laughed, "I don't think we're allowed back there actually, well I haven't been back there since then."
"Good times, good times," he said and I laughed, "Yeah, you were saying you played hockey! Why
didn't it click when you first made it to the NHL?" he asked himself and I laughed, "Wow, good to see you! I'm glad you got this far!"
"Thank you," I said and a big smile was on both of our faces.
"Yeah, you gave me a good luck hug before we left that night."
"Yup, I totally gave you luck," I joked and he laughed.
"Wow, I'm just like- Wow! I gotta give you a hug!" he said and I laughed and walked around the table and hugged me, "Nine years! Wow!"
Marc went back to his seat and I sat back down and we all looked to see what we were going to be ordering.
I made friends with all the players and I felt really at home with them. I'm glad I did, because I was nervous that I wasn't. When I first started on the Kings, the boys were against me until I helped them win their first game and they got a chance to see what I was capable of.
It seemed like two years into the NHL, just about everyone knew what I was capable of.
That night, I had dinner with the boys and then Geno, James, Sidney, Marc, and Eric came back to my house to hang out longer. By the time we got back to my house it was about nine o'clock. When they walked into my house they all liked it.
"So why aren't you in an apartment?" James asked as we walked into the kitchen.
"Sarabi!" I called as I leaned against the counter.
"Who?"
"Hi Sarabi!" Sidney said as he bent down to pet her.
"What the hell is that!" Geno asked as he jumped up onto the counter.
"A horse!" Eric shouted and I laughed.
"She is a Great Dane! And she's the reason why I chose not to be in an apartment," I said and laughed when they seemed to be afraid to pet her, "She's not going to bite you!"
"She might slime you though," Sidney said as he scratched her back and I laughed.
"She's huge," James said as he walked over towards her.
"She's not even finished growing yet."
"She gets bigger?!" Geno asked and I nodded my head.
"Yeah, she'll get a couple more inches bigger," I said and then hopped off of the counter and walked over towards the fridge, "Would you boys like a beer?" I asked and they all nodded their heads and I grabbed the cold beers out of the fridge and then walked over towards the pantry and grabbed some warm beers and placed them in the fridge.
"You have a nice place here," Eric said as he looked around and I smiled towards him.
"Thanks."
I gave the boys a tour of the place, they liked the one room in the house that had a pool table and pictures up from the Kings and time I spent as a child playing hockey, that was my hockey/ pool room. After I watched Sidney and James play a game of pool, Geno wanted to play a round against me, and I easily kicked his butt. He obviously wasn’t going to live that moment down, so he then wanted to leave the room. Once Marc got a glimpse of my backyard, he wanted to see it.
So we went out onto the back porch and sat down and talked about hockey. Mostly about this lockout and how it’s so stupid. The boys asked me what was my reason for getting into hockey, and I told them about watching the movie ‘Miracle’ and they laughed but like it.
“I graduated high school at seventeen, and then went to the University of Tennessee for about two years studying psychology and playing for their hockey team, but when I started my Junior year, the representative for the Texas Stars, along with some others came to me and asked me to play for them and I chose the Texas Stars.”
“Why the Stars?” Geno asked and I smirked.
“A large part of my family lived in Texas and I wanted to be around them. My cousin and I actually played for the Stars and then after two years, I got drafted to the L.A. Kings and he got drafted to the Dallas Stars,” I explained and they nodded their heads, “It was my chance at the NHL,” I paused and laughed a little, “Man, those boys hated me when they first met me.”
“The Kings?” Sidney asked and I nodded my head.
“Yup, the boys didn’t trust me.”
“Wow, how’d you get onto the team?” Eric asked.
“The owner is a greedy bastard and saw what I was capable of.”
“Makes sense,” Eric said and I nodded my head, “How’d you get them to trust you?”
“The third game into the season we were up against the San Jose Sharks. We lost our first two home games, none of the guys wanted to give me the puck and my Captain, Dustin Brown was going against the Shark’s captain, Joe Thorton. He was about to lose the puck, so I snuck in and grabbed it, and skated across the ice and scored the goal, also winning the game. From there on started a beautiful friendship,” I said and then laughed a little.
“So Alex, I have a question,” James started and I took a sip of my beer.
“Shoot.”
“If you were so good for the Kings, why did they trade you?” he asked and Sidney punched his shoulder.
“Rude much!” Sidney growled and I laughed.
“Naw, it’s ok,” I started and leaned forward, “Like I said before, the owner is a greedy bastard. Lemieux summed up enough money to send the man to money heaven,” I explained talking about Mario Lemieux, owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
“I hear that!” Geno said while raising his glass and then taking a swig of it.
I laughed at Geno’s remark and then the boys and I drank beers and they told each other what the reason was for getting into hockey, and talking about their best moments in the game. I enjoyed listen to each and every one of them tell me their story, and I liked to watch their faces light up when they said their accomplishments.
After we ran out of things to talk about it was early in the morning and the boys had too much to drink so I made them stay the rest of the night. Geno and Sidney took the two guest bedrooms upstairs, and Eric, Marc and James slept on the huge three sided couch. Each of them had enough room and I made sure that they had enough blankets and pillows.
Once I made sure to take their keys, I went upstairs and already heard Geno snoring. I laughed and shook my head and then headed into my room. Sarabi ran past me and then jumped onto her bed, which laid next to mine, and laid her head down.
“Good girl,” I said and then made sure to leave my door open a little in case Sarabi needed to go outside during the night.
I jumped onto the bed and then turn the TV on and put it on mute, because I needed some light in my room to fall asleep. I laid down on my bed and quickly fell asleep as I then listened to five boys snore in harmony after having a little too much to drink.
"It's really nice to meet you!" I said as I shook hands with Left Wing, #18, James Neal.
Two months have gone by and Sidney had gone home and came back, and at that moment, I was meeting my team. It was official that the lockout was on until they said that it wasn't. Even though we probably weren't going to have a full season, if we had one at all, the team wanted to meet me, and I wanted to meet my team. So Coach called everyone in and we were going to have dinner together at the local pub.
"Wow, you're a lot prettier in person," he flirted and then flashed a bright smiled.
I laughed and then shook my head, "Well thank you, but flattery won't get you anywhere."
"A guy can try," he said and I shrugged my shoulder.
"I see you met James," Sidney said while walking up behind me, "Flirting with her already, come on, James,” James laughed and Sidney smirked and shook his head, "Come on, Alex, I'll introduce you to the rest of the team," he said and I nodded my head and followed him.
I met just about everyone and found out that I was going to be getting along really well with James Neal and Center, #71, Evgeni 'Geno' Malkin. We all sat down at the long table and I was talking to Left Wing, #25, Eric Tangradi when Sidney tapped my shoulder.
"Marc's here," he said to me and I looked back towards where Sidney was nudging his head to see that Marc walked into the room.
I smiled and then nodded my head, he ended up sitting across from me and I smiled towards him.
"Alex Conners, it's good to put the face to the name," Goaltender, #29, Marc-Andre Fleury said and I laughed and held out me hand. He shook it and then stared at my face, "Sorry, but you looked really familiar."
"I told you he has a good memory!" Sidney praised and I laughed.
"So we have met before?" Marc asked and I nodded my head.
"Nine years ago actually," I said and laughed.
"Wow," he said and then smirked and placed his hand on cheek and leaned against it, "I'm trying to remember where I was nine years ago."
"Well don't think too hard, Flower. You might hurt yourself," Geno said and everyone laughed.
I was watching how he was trying to remember and I looked towards Sidney.
"Give it a minute. Give him credit that he remembered your face!" Sidney said and I laughed.
"Need a hint?" I asked while looking towards him.
"A little," he said and at this point everyone's attention was on us.
"July of 2003 at Mirakuya restaurant," I confessed and he thought about it.
After about two minutes and everyone laughing, his face lit up and he smiled towards me, "Noodle Girl!"
"Ding, ding, ding!" he said and I laughed and Sidney was confused.
"It's a long and painful story!" I said and Marc laughed.
"That was the year I was trying out for the Baby Pens! Wow! Ok, I remember now, you were with your Mom and Dad!"
"Guilty."
"We had a fun time that night!" he said and I laughed and nodded my head.
"Why 'Noodle Girl'?" Eric asked and we laughed.
"Because we had a noodle fight that night, and we got in a lot of trouble and my Mom yelled at me," I confessed and everyone laughed, "I don't think we're allowed back there actually, well I haven't been back there since then."
"Good times, good times," he said and I laughed, "Yeah, you were saying you played hockey! Why
didn't it click when you first made it to the NHL?" he asked himself and I laughed, "Wow, good to see you! I'm glad you got this far!"
"Thank you," I said and a big smile was on both of our faces.
"Yeah, you gave me a good luck hug before we left that night."
"Yup, I totally gave you luck," I joked and he laughed.
"Wow, I'm just like- Wow! I gotta give you a hug!" he said and I laughed and walked around the table and hugged me, "Nine years! Wow!"
Marc went back to his seat and I sat back down and we all looked to see what we were going to be ordering.
I made friends with all the players and I felt really at home with them. I'm glad I did, because I was nervous that I wasn't. When I first started on the Kings, the boys were against me until I helped them win their first game and they got a chance to see what I was capable of.
It seemed like two years into the NHL, just about everyone knew what I was capable of.
That night, I had dinner with the boys and then Geno, James, Sidney, Marc, and Eric came back to my house to hang out longer. By the time we got back to my house it was about nine o'clock. When they walked into my house they all liked it.
"So why aren't you in an apartment?" James asked as we walked into the kitchen.
"Sarabi!" I called as I leaned against the counter.
"Who?"
"Hi Sarabi!" Sidney said as he bent down to pet her.
"What the hell is that!" Geno asked as he jumped up onto the counter.
"A horse!" Eric shouted and I laughed.
"She is a Great Dane! And she's the reason why I chose not to be in an apartment," I said and laughed when they seemed to be afraid to pet her, "She's not going to bite you!"
"She might slime you though," Sidney said as he scratched her back and I laughed.
"She's huge," James said as he walked over towards her.
"She's not even finished growing yet."
"She gets bigger?!" Geno asked and I nodded my head.
"Yeah, she'll get a couple more inches bigger," I said and then hopped off of the counter and walked over towards the fridge, "Would you boys like a beer?" I asked and they all nodded their heads and I grabbed the cold beers out of the fridge and then walked over towards the pantry and grabbed some warm beers and placed them in the fridge.
"You have a nice place here," Eric said as he looked around and I smiled towards him.
"Thanks."
I gave the boys a tour of the place, they liked the one room in the house that had a pool table and pictures up from the Kings and time I spent as a child playing hockey, that was my hockey/ pool room. After I watched Sidney and James play a game of pool, Geno wanted to play a round against me, and I easily kicked his butt. He obviously wasn’t going to live that moment down, so he then wanted to leave the room. Once Marc got a glimpse of my backyard, he wanted to see it.
So we went out onto the back porch and sat down and talked about hockey. Mostly about this lockout and how it’s so stupid. The boys asked me what was my reason for getting into hockey, and I told them about watching the movie ‘Miracle’ and they laughed but like it.
“I graduated high school at seventeen, and then went to the University of Tennessee for about two years studying psychology and playing for their hockey team, but when I started my Junior year, the representative for the Texas Stars, along with some others came to me and asked me to play for them and I chose the Texas Stars.”
“Why the Stars?” Geno asked and I smirked.
“A large part of my family lived in Texas and I wanted to be around them. My cousin and I actually played for the Stars and then after two years, I got drafted to the L.A. Kings and he got drafted to the Dallas Stars,” I explained and they nodded their heads, “It was my chance at the NHL,” I paused and laughed a little, “Man, those boys hated me when they first met me.”
“The Kings?” Sidney asked and I nodded my head.
“Yup, the boys didn’t trust me.”
“Wow, how’d you get onto the team?” Eric asked.
“The owner is a greedy bastard and saw what I was capable of.”
“Makes sense,” Eric said and I nodded my head, “How’d you get them to trust you?”
“The third game into the season we were up against the San Jose Sharks. We lost our first two home games, none of the guys wanted to give me the puck and my Captain, Dustin Brown was going against the Shark’s captain, Joe Thorton. He was about to lose the puck, so I snuck in and grabbed it, and skated across the ice and scored the goal, also winning the game. From there on started a beautiful friendship,” I said and then laughed a little.
“So Alex, I have a question,” James started and I took a sip of my beer.
“Shoot.”
“If you were so good for the Kings, why did they trade you?” he asked and Sidney punched his shoulder.
“Rude much!” Sidney growled and I laughed.
“Naw, it’s ok,” I started and leaned forward, “Like I said before, the owner is a greedy bastard. Lemieux summed up enough money to send the man to money heaven,” I explained talking about Mario Lemieux, owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
“I hear that!” Geno said while raising his glass and then taking a swig of it.
I laughed at Geno’s remark and then the boys and I drank beers and they told each other what the reason was for getting into hockey, and talking about their best moments in the game. I enjoyed listen to each and every one of them tell me their story, and I liked to watch their faces light up when they said their accomplishments.
After we ran out of things to talk about it was early in the morning and the boys had too much to drink so I made them stay the rest of the night. Geno and Sidney took the two guest bedrooms upstairs, and Eric, Marc and James slept on the huge three sided couch. Each of them had enough room and I made sure that they had enough blankets and pillows.
Once I made sure to take their keys, I went upstairs and already heard Geno snoring. I laughed and shook my head and then headed into my room. Sarabi ran past me and then jumped onto her bed, which laid next to mine, and laid her head down.
“Good girl,” I said and then made sure to leave my door open a little in case Sarabi needed to go outside during the night.
I jumped onto the bed and then turn the TV on and put it on mute, because I needed some light in my room to fall asleep. I laid down on my bed and quickly fell asleep as I then listened to five boys snore in harmony after having a little too much to drink.