New Fiction by Bruce Pratt

Sixteen years at Willard Hall and I’ve never coached a team like this. We go 10-1-1 out of the gate, then drop five straight before Christmas. Our happy, fast, sharp-skating winners became a brooding wreck. Defensive zone turnovers, lousy shot selection, and shaky goaltending were all part of the problem, but in my gut I knew something else was wrong and asked our sports psychologist, Laura, what she’d recommend we do. She said, “Something fun.”