“What?” I shouldn’t have been surprised based on what I knew, yet I was. I’d never expected something like this.

“Kaden, Ziggy, and Cave were the instigators of a barroom brawl last night. They put a couple guys in the hospital and did thousands of dollars of damage to the Place. They were charged with assault, destruction of property, and a shit ton of other stuff.”

“Fuck.” After all the work we’d put in with Coop before practice to come together as a line, and these assholes blew it all up in one drunken night. That pissed me off. Really pissed me off. We were a team, and a team did what was best for the team. I was angry and sad at the same time.

“That about sums it up,” Jock muttered.

The locker room door slammed open, startling everyone in the room. Ice strode in with Coop on his heels. Ice moved to the center of the room near the large Sockeye salmon logo emblazoned on the carpet.

Coop hung back. He was no longer a player but a coach, and he appeared to be letting Ice handle this, whatever this was.

Ice slowly surveyed each person in the room, forcing every one of us to look him in the eyes. Once he had everyone’s undivided attention, he began to speak. “By the sorry-assed looks on your faces, you’re all aware of the suspensions of Cave, Kaden, and Ziggy.”

There were nods and murmurs around the room.

“I’ve fought all season beside each of you. We’ve played through adversity. We’ve struggled, and we’ve triumphed. What I’m seeing here today pisses me off. This is not the team I know. I’m looking at quitters. Every one of you assholes has given up. You’re defeated before we step foot on the ice for our first playoff game. Gentlemen, there’s a reason we play the fucking game, because on any given day, any team can defeat another one, no matter what the stats and experts say. At our level, winners are the guys who want it the most. Losers go home. Are you dickheads winners or losers? Are you going to let this bump in the road defeat us?”

“It’s more like sinkhole,” Harper Kline muttered. He was a late-season trade, and he had a bit of an attitude.

Ice turned on him, and the team held its collective breath. “Listen up, Kline, if that’s how you feel, get your ass out of here right now. We’re better off without you.”

Kline ducked his head and said nothing else. Ice’s gaze swept the room again. “Anyone else want to comment?”

Heads shook all around.

“We can fucking do this because we’re a team, and we’re bigger together than we are apart. We’ll be calling up a few guys from the minors to fill in our missing pieces. They’ll be giving us one hundred fifty percent, which is the same as I expect from each and every one of you. So are you in or are you out?” Ice held up a hand in the middle of the room and we surged to our feet as one to join him.