Staal [A Jordan Staal Story] Sixty-Two

Friday came and with it the last day before the home opener. Miriya had managed to stay calm thus far, even through the continuing newspaper articles of her predicted failure. One that the team enjoyed was entitled 'Beginner's Luck' it went on to say that the four preseason games were won out of pure luck and that once the real season was under way she was surely in for failure.

"There you guys go, good pass, good save Flower. Get back D get back, there you go, good, Sid pas. There you go Nik, Army's in front. Good Job Arms, let's run it again boys."

For some reason now more than ever Miriya felt like a coach, like she had the power to control her team. She thought this as she watched her first line run a scoring play.

"Nice poke-check Conks, this is what I wanna see tomorrow night. Second line, you're up." Geno's line stepped onto the ice and ran the same drill, Jordan and Adam's lines following that.

Miriya blew the whistle after Marc had covered the puck, signaling the end of the drill. "Scrimmage, losing team does suicides."

"What do we get if we win?" Max asked.

"To go to the locker room and shower while your teammates do suicides, sound okay Maxi?"

"Yep."

The top two lines were to play against the third and fourth lines. The top two lines, team A, had Brooks, Tanger, and Jamesy for D. Team B, the third and fourth lines, had Whit, Eats, Scuds, and Ric.

"Coach we're down a D," Bugsy pointed out.

"Well, I was going to be mean and say just rotate, but since I'm nice I'm going to play D with Jamesy."

Team A now wore wide smiles, team B complained about how it wasn't fair. Miriya said nothing more and just skated to the bench to wait for her turn to hit the ice. On her third or fourth shift Max was behind the net after the puck, Miriya, being the physical defenseman that she was laid a hard check on him, causing the glass to rattle.

In the end team B won by one goal; they headed to the locker room while team A, including Miriya went to the goal line.

"Wow coach I didn't think you would do suicides too."

"Well I was part of the losing team wasn't I, Eats?"

At that point the whistle blew causing the losing team to speed down the ice. After a few minutes Miriya told the boys to hit the showers and everyone headed to the locker room.

Max still sat at this stall waiting for Miriya. "And they say girls can't hit," he said with a laugh.

"Sorry, you should be used to physical defensemen now," she paused. "Ones who are six-three, two-twenty not five-one, one-twenty, on a good day."

"You’re right, I'm sorry coach."

"Good you should be," She said jokingly. "I'll see you in the morning."

Morning skate went well the next day and everyone, including Miriya, was ready for the game that night. Her pre-game nap was shortened more than it would have been when Scotty started crying. Once he was giggling again Miriya figured that it was time to get ready for the game.

Dressed in her new black pin stripe suit she made her way to the arena. She left Scott with Jordan were Mel would soon be picking him up to watch him during the game.

The boys wandered into the locker room and once they were all dressed in their black jerseys it was time for the pre-game skate.

Miriya had gone to the locker room to talk to Cassie and Michelle and she could hear the crowd's cheers from there.

It was finally just minutes before everyone was to talk the ice and Miriya made her way to the center of the locker room. "Alright boys, you know the crowd out there is crazy, can you feel the intensity? They're out there cheering like it's the Stanley Cup Finals," The guys all smiled at this. "Now there are people who don't believe in us, well they don't believe in me. We won all four of our preseason games and they called it beginner's luck. Let's get out there and show them that we can play, that we can win!"

As always with the home opener the coaching, equipment, and training staff went out and were announced. They stood on the bench as the arena was dark except for the circling spotlights.

"And your head coach, Miriya Staal!" The crowd erupted with cheers as the spotlight moved to Miriya and she waved to the fans.

The announcers for the Habs though, were not so nice. "Staal, who lead her team to four wins in the preseason, sure looks professional tonight, but that doesn't mean that she has what it takes to lead a team. As she said, we'd have to wait and see. We're just minutes from the start of the home opener, we've waited, now let's see."

The players were announced and skated out one by one as the crowd cheered and chanted their names. The lights came up and the anthem was sung by Pittsburgh favorite, Jeff Jimmerson.

The stating line-up of Sid, Colby, Nik, Brooks, Kris and Marc stood only the newly cleaned ice awaiting the drop of the opening face-off. The crowd was deafening, even after the drop of the puck.

About three minutes in Nik had the puck in the neutral zone, after intercepting a Habs' pass. Taking it up to the offensive zone he dropped it back to Sid. Sid carried it to the hash before centering to Colby. With a quick one-timer he flipped it up over Carey Price's shoulder giving the Pens a one-nothing lead at three twenty-one.

The crowd was insane and the boys on the bench could barely hear Miriya yelling, "Good job."

At fifteen minutes the Habs were called for hooking and the rookie slowly skated to the box. The Habs dumped it in right off the face-off and the top D went back to pick it up from behind the net. Scuds stick handled for a few seconds before taking it up. Once he got to the point he put it across to Eats who let a slapper rip. The shot was blocked in front by a Habs' defenseman but picked by Hallsy who put it up, top shelf.

"A Pittsburgh goal scored by number eighteen Adam Hall assisted by number seven Mark Eaton and number four Rob Scuderi at fifteen forty-three, a power play goal."

At the end of twenty minutes the Guins were up by two and smiled filled the locker room. And when they went back out for the second the crowd was somehow louder than they had been.

The Guins didn't score in the second, the Habs did however. Jason Williams, a rookie scored at six fifty-four to bring the game a little closer.

Hard hits were thrown and for no reason Brooks got a five minute boarding major after throwing a clean hit. Miriya called the officials over to argue the call, but the refs took the Habs side.

The third however went more the Guins way. Mid-way through the period Jamesy got the puck in the defensive zone and showed off his stick handling skills. He took it up to the neutral zone before giving Geno a lead pass. A quick cross ice pass was given to Crush who snapped it between Price's pads and the post at seven fifty-five.

The Habs received a tripping call at eighteen thirty causing their coach to call a time out. Seconds after play began again Price quickly skated to the bench so that they would be back at five skaters. Tanger passed the puck across to Brooks who passed it up to Jordan. Jordan let a slapper rip from the hash.

The crowd, team, Miriya, and Jordan went crazy. The Habs put their goalie back in knowing that there was no chance of a come back. Jordan's first goal of the season was scored at nineteen minutes, a power play, empty net goal.

"Coach, coach," The reporters said. "What do you think of what the newspapers have been saying about you?"

"I say look at the way the boys are playing, we're winning games and people can think what they want."

"Do you feel that you have what it takes to coach this team all year, you're only twenty-four."

"If I didn't think I could do the job I would not have taken it when Ray offered in April. And as for being twenty-four, the youngest coach in NHL history was twenty-four. I'm only five months younger than when he started."

After a few more questions of that nature Miriya made her way to the locker room where most of the boys were already showered and pulling on their suit jackets. Mel came in from the lounge with Scott and handed him to Miriya before leaving with Colby and Jamie.

With Scott asleep in his crib Miriya stepped into the bedroom where Jordan sat on the bed. "Babe you look amazing in that suit, did I tell you that?"

"You did, great job tonight."

"It's all on you coach, if it weren't for you there's no way we could have won." She smiled widely while taking off her suit jacket. "Let me give you a hand." Her white blouse was
unbuttoned and off in record time, and her pin stripe pants followed just as quickly. She stood in just a lacey tan bra and matching underwear. "Babe I think since you became my coach you got sexier."

"Really? Well last time I checked you were pretty sexy yourself, let's make sure. Jordan quickly took off his own suit jacket off and was helped with the rest by his lovely wife. "Yeah, you're still pretty sexy."

She looked him up and down, stopping briefly at the area covered by a thin layer of black cotton. With a giggle she looked back up to his beautiful blue eyes, which were now looking over Miriya, stopping at the perfect, full breasts only partly covered by a thin layer of fabric. His seductive smile drew her to him, she ran her hands over his muscular chest and stomach as his roamed her toned stomach, breasts and well toned thighs.

He picked her up and a smiled that he loved spread across her face. "I love you coach, congrats on the win," he said and finally kissed her. All of the fire that could be seen in his eyes was poured into this kiss.

"I'll try to coach you to more win if it gets you like this." He laughed and pulled her lips back to his.

They made their way to the bathroom where the remaining clothing was shed. After awhile in the shower they went back to the bedroom to finish their intense night.

"I love you Miriya Lauryl Staal, I'm so glad that I met you."

"I love you too, but don't think I'm gonna go easy on you at practice in the morning."
He laughed and placed a kiss on her check, it felt like a feather compared to the rest of the night. "Goodnight beautiful, I'll see you bright and early for practice."

"Goodnight handsome."