Skate to My Heart

I nodded my head, knowing my dad only had my best interest at heart. Even though said heart had already been broken.

"Anyway, you coming to practice tomorrow?" I've gone to every practice with my dad. If he was coaching or playing, I was on the bench yelling at the players to go faster and harder. Yelling at them for not concentrating, or being lazy. Normal things a six year old would yell at her fathers player. I don't know why he needed to ask, he knew my answer.

I loved growing up with hockey skating through my blood. My dad used to play for the Flyers until I was born in '91. He won a Stanley Cup in '85, earning him a coach position anywhere in the NHL.

Sure, I didn't have many female influences in my life because i spent most of my days with the team, but I turned out ok. Plus, anything I needed to know about fashion and make up, was in magazines.

The only advice that magazines gave that didn't work was about dating. Most of my dates were unsuccessful because boys got intimidated by a girl who knew more about hockey then they did.  

They might have also been intimidated by an entire hockey team threatening them not to hurt me.

My dads players were like my big brothers. Sure, the young new guys hit on me, but soon the veterans got to them. They gave them the 'stay away from the coaches daughter' speech that every Flyer received. To my dismay, it always worked. Since the players couldn't date me, they took the protective brother thing to the extreme to insure that no one else could.

That's my dads number one rule: Stay away from my daughter. The rule came into play when I turned sixteen. The real young players took an interest in me,and well, that didn't end well.

"Of course daddy! It's preseason, your boys need a good whipping from me anyway," I smirked.

"Good, we have a new player starting. I need you to use your player whispering skills on this one. I'm on the fence about him, but the owners want him so I'm gonna need your help."

When a new player started, I was called in to watch him. I would see how he interacted with the other guys, how he handles his stick, his concentration, his form, normal things.

I'm 98% right about the guy. My dad needed to know what he was getting himself into with the new guys before figuring out the plays we could put him in.

My father stood up, taking our empty mugs with him.

"Oh, watch out. He's your age and known to be a bit of a.....what are you kids saying these days......A PLAYER! He's a player when it comes with the ladies. I don't wanna see you get hurt." He looked down at his shoes, embarrassed. He wasn't really good at talking to me about feelings and girl things. That was a moms job, but the position wasn't filled at the moment.

"Don't worry daddy. I'm sure the guys will get to him," I winked.

"Just watch out for Trey, Angelica," he warned.

If only I had listened to his advice, I would have been saved a lot of heartache.