Welcome to Manchester, my home. Even though the town only has two bars, three stop lights, and most of the locals have lived here since the day they were born, it was a decent place to live. The real calling card however was it was a great place to play hockey. The local team, the Bears, had been here for years and on game nights everyone flocks to the arena. Not even a blizzard with a dash of ice for fun could keep our loyal following from coming out to the game last night. We beat the Admirals in overtime three to two.
It was a mixed bag of emotions for me though. I scored our second goal of the game late in the third period which is always gratifying. The goal, however, made me the all-time leading goal scorer in the Eastern Hockey League which meant I had been in the minor’s way too long. Oh by the way let me introduce myself: my name is Jack Skelton, minor league hockey player extraordinaire and captain of the Bears. I’ve been here for three years now and before that I played nine years with the Huskies. A few times I was close to getting called up at the start of my career, but now as the years have gone by most pro teams wanted younger guys on the roster. Not someone like me who at this point is the old dog that can’t learn any new tricks.
I love hockey though, that is why I keep playing. Right before the Huskies traded me off, I got called into the general manager’s office with an offer of a different sort. He wanted me to retire from the game and start coaching. The head coach at the time was even prepared to make me his lead assistant. Within a few years I could be a head coach somewhere, even make it to the pro’s one day. I told them I was honored they thought so highly of me, but I still had a few more years left in me and I wasn’t about to give up the ultimate goal yet. I figured they would support that and when the time came closer we could revisit this idea.
A day later, I got the call that I was being traded to the Bears. The Huskies were happy with my years of loyal service, but they needed a fresh start with some new faces. When I told my wife what had happened, I once again was shocked by the response. Instead of supporting my decision to continue on, she ridiculed me for thinking only of myself and that she couldn’t take it anymore. She left that night and not too much longer later we were divorced. She didn’t even ask me for anything, not even alimony. Her lawyer told mine that she felt as if I had no usable assets and to make this go away as quickly as possible.
Not everything in my life though is depressing. In the trade that sent me back to my home town, I was reunited with my best friend Stan Stansky. Unfortunately for Stansky, his parents had a strange sense of humor and named him Stan. Most of his life people gave him a hard time over it. I myself was named after some cartoon movie character that my mom had liked so I could appreciate his plight. Never once had I ever acknowledged how ridiculous his name was. His luck (and maybe skill) was better than mine and was called up a few different times but never for any length of time. The Bears as an organization have always thrived on mixing the new with the old. Their goal is to give Manchester a championship and each year since I’ve been here we have seemed to be on the right track to deliver that.
Manchester, Pennsylvania is a sleepy little town in the center part of the state, not all that far from Philadelphia. Even being that close to a big city, a majority of the guys lived here during the season. I bought a house here not too far from where I grew up and have come to grips that this is where I will probably be for a long time.
Hockey practice was just finishing up and it had been a long four hours. At thirty, my body was not nearly as tolerant of these marathon practice sessions as it once was. All that was left was the power play shooting drill and it was off to the whirlpool.
Power Play on Amazon US
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