Chapter 5

For the next week or so I would skate for that hour before work as agreed. When I was still in Scotland I was a black belt in Kung Fu and also a part time trainer in my local gym so I wanted to keep my fitness at its peak. I now swam at home every night and did an hour or so in the gym every second evening.

One morning I happened to notice someone sitting up the back of the stand in the ice rink watching what I was doing. As I got to the other end of the rink I noticed it was Sidney Crosby – I waved to him and he made his way down to the ice. He asked me about my work out and explained he had been in a few mornings watching me and wondered if he could join me. I advised him to ask his coach / trainer to see if he thought it was suitable training for him.

The next morning both Sidney and Evgeni Malkin, or Geno as he is known to his team mates, joined me on the rink. I could see the coach Michel Therrian sitting in the back stalls. When we were finished our training the boys thanked me and said they may join me on a regular basis as they found it very helpful. Geno does not speak much English but we managed to communicate, that morning I made it my mission to learn some Russian.

That afternoon as I sat in the office working on a big project Mario and Michel came to my door, they asked if they could hold a short meeting with me. I arranged drinks and we sat and talked about how I was settling in and about the teams training regime.

They then gently approached the subject of me taking on an extra duty – this being one of the trainers for the team. I couldn’t believe it and they were even offering to give me more money for it.

That night the team were having a meal and a team meeting. I was asked to attend to discuss what training I could do with them and get any feedback they may have. I was warned that Evgeni will only speak to me in Russian but I explained that we had managed to communicate that morning and that I was going to try and learn basic Russian. They thought this was unbelievable that I was willing to learn a whole new language just to talk to one person but they were obviously impressed.

I left work about an hour early that evening and went home for a swim, shower and a change of clothes. The restaurant that we were going to was of a very high standard so the best clothes were to be worn, and of course Sidney Crosby would be there, perfect opportunity to make an impression – not that I am have any chance of him even noticing me, not that I should even want him to notice me, it is not even a year since Paul died, is it wrong to like someone else already?

I was picked up by a team driver at 1900 hours sharp and was taken to the venue. From there we enjoyed a lovely meal with very good company and then went on to talk about team issues and finally about me coaching them as a team.

A trial schedule was discussed and it was agreed that if things were to work out I would travel with them so that they were receiving the same training when they were away. It was also agreed that I would work closely with the physiotherapist so that I could also help those who are injured. The guys were so easy to talk to and it was nice to be in there company and be made to feel so welcome.

So from the following Monday I dawned the challenge to carry out training with the best team of season 2007-08 – now what a challenge that was.