Chapter~3
I looked out the window as we drove past skyscrapers and bridges and all of the other things you drive past in Pittsburgh. It was a really nice city. A lot of sights and cool looking buildings. I was almost lost in thought when we pulled into the players’ parking area at Mellon Arena.
“We’re here.” My dad said with a smile. He turned and looked at me. “Are you ready, Joe?”
“I’ve been ready for thirty-five years.” I said with the same tone and intentions I had when I said it to Kevin a few days ago. My dad just smiled.
“You know, Joe, that’s starting to get old, and you’re making me feel old for having a ’thirty-five year-old’ son.” He smiled at me and I just laughed. I guess it was getting old. It was my phrase of the week and I was using it every chance I got. Well, I would have to think of a new phrase soon, the week was almost over.
“Don’t worry, dad. I’m still eighteen, and you’re still sixty three.” I smiled. It was fun to joke around with him. He just shook his head smiling.
“Alright, Joe. Get out and go play hockey.”
We got out of the car and walked into the arena. I had been here earlier this year in January for the Best Of Both Worlds tour. I hadn’t gotten a chance to see the ice though since they had to cover it and put up the stage. Once we finally made it to where all the players were, Coach Therrien was waiting for me.
“Hello Joe.” He said smiling at me and then turning to my father, “Mr. Jonas, it’s nice to see you again.”
“Same to you.” My dad said smiling. “So what is Joseph going to be doing here exactly?” he asked Coach Therrien.
“Well,” he started, “I was thinking that he could practice with the team for a little while and if he wanted to and he was good enough, he could play in some games. He’s got talent and I think he would be a good addition to the team even if it’s only for a few games.”
“Alright,” My dad said silently questioning him and then asking out loud, “So you can do that? Just have him play a few games without him being a permanent part of it?”
“Why yes,” the coach answered. I was feeling left out of this conversation. “We’ve done it before with some players. We had one of them in particular come in near the end of the season and he played some of those games and then the next season we signed him.”
“Okay then. It sounds good, right Joe?” my dad said. I wasn’t paying attention. I was watching the guys on the team walk out of the locker room in all of their practice equipment and head out onto the ice.
“Huh? Oh yeah.” I said even though I didn’t really catch what he said. I guessed my answer made sense though since neither of them gave me a weird look or said anything.
“Well here’s the team now.” Coach Therrien said gesturing towards the guys. “Hey, Kris!” he shouted and a guy with a number fifty eight on his jersey turned to and looked at his coach.
“Yeah?” He called back with a French-Canadian accent. The coach used his hand and motioned for him to come over, and he did.
“Kris, this is Joe Jonas. Joe, this is Kris Letang.” Coach Therrien said introducing us.
“Hi.” I said to him and stuck my hand out for him to shake. “Nice to meet you.” He pulled the glove off of his right hand and shook mine.
“Same to you. You a new Penguin?” he asked me. At first I forgot that was the name of the team and gave him a strange look but then realized what he meant.
“Oh, yeah for now.” I said.
“Okay guys. Kris, take Joe back to get some equipment and then help him out.” Coach said to Kris. Then he turned to me, “Kris was a rookie last year. He’ll help you out.”
Kris and I walked away from my dad and my new coach and back into the locker room.
“So where are you from?” I asked him trying to make small talk.
“Montreal, Quebec. You?” he asked.
“Wyckoff, New Jersey.” I said.
“Speaking of jerseys, here’s one you can use until you get your own.” Kris said handing me a black jersey that looked like his, except his number was fifty eight and mine was fifty. He had his name on his too, and I didn’t. “Now here’s all the stuff you’ll need.” he pointed to a corner in the locker room where there was extra sticks and skates and gloves and other stuff.
“Thanks.” I said reaching for the stuff I needed.
“No problem. So how old are you?” He asked.
“Eighteen, you?”
“Twenty-one.” he said. I stood up straight and realized how short I seemed compared to him. I was actually only about two inches shorter than him, but he had his skates on so it seemed like more.
“So,” I started to ask, “What happens if you fall out there? Do people laugh?” He looked at me and kind of laughed.
“Well, honestly it depends on how you fall.” he said, “If you are out playing and skating hard and fast and doing good and you fall it’s not a big deal, everyone falls like that sometimes. On the other hand, you might get laughed at if you trip coming out onto the ice like Fleury did at the beginning of one game.” he smiled thinking of it. “Just wondering, but why do you want to know?”
“Well let’s just say I fall in front of people more often than I would like to.” I smiled and he laughed.
“Don’t worry about it with hockey. Some of the guys say, if you don’t get hurt trying, you didn’t try hard enough. Now, I don’t know how much of that is true but you know what I mean.” Kris said smiling.
“I understand.” I said. I had all of my equipment and was dressed and ready to go practice. He saw that I was ready.
“Okay, now let’s hit the ice.”
