My Post Secret

“My son’s high school hockey team has made it to the State’s semi-finals. My son’s coach doesn’t like him, so he never plays him. I hope they lose.”

There is one more week of this strange, confusing and frustrating season left. On one hand, we’re all excited that the team has made it to the semi-finals, the “Frozen Four” as it is. On the other hand, our son is hardly playing and we’d just like this special kind of torture to come to an end.

On Saturday, the team was playing down in Newburg NY in a Regional play-off game. We got out early on the other team and by the end of the 2nd period, we were up 5 – 0. Our son had played 1 or 2 shifts in the first period, had four shots on goal, didn’t make any mistakes, and hadn’t seen the ice since then.

After a really long delay between the 2nd & 3rd periods, the other team came out like gang busters. They scored a couple of power play goals, we responded with a goal, so now it’s 6-2 with about 8 minutes left. The realization that there is no way to win is settling in with the other team, so they are starting to head hunt and have knocked two of our key defensive players out.

Now, as the defensive coach, who’s apparently coached for something like 30 years, wouldn’t you start to think about the fact that you’ve got another game next week? Maybe now would be a good time to rest your starters, put out the big guys (our son’s 6’ 4”, and another boy is 6’ 2”, both of whom he never plays) and just try to get to the end of the game without anybody else getting hurt?

Especially when the head coach has specifically come down to the end of the bench and told you to do this?

Oh no. Not Mr. I-used-to-coach-Cornell’s-club-team-and-nobody-can-tell-me-what-to-do defensive coach. Not only does he not send the cannon fodder players out to spell his “star” players, he shortens the bench and only sends out his top remaining four players.
Genius. I drove 5 hours to see this?

It got to the point where one of the offensive coaches came down, grabbed my son and dragged him to the other end of the bench, told him not to get any penalties and sent him out on the next shift change. So, for the last 3 minutes of the game, the biggest, strongest, defensive player we had, played offense, banged people around, kept the puck out of our zone, and the other team never got a shot on goal during the last three minutes.

We’re walking out and people are congratulating us on how well our son played. If everyone else can see it, why can’t this coach?

And now I’m at this point where I’m completely conflicted. Where I can’t be that excited about the team making it this far, because of the utter bullshit that my kid has had to go through, and continues to go through, because of this idiot of a coach.

One more week.