Today is guest day. Please enjoy the post by Linda O'Conner
Thanks so
much for hosting me! I’m excited to share a sneak peek of Behind the Bench – Book 2 of my In the Game Hockey Romance series.
It will be included in the Coming in Hot 2: Rescue Me Romance Collection – a contemporary
and paranormal medical romance boxed set coming on April 18. To celebrate, I
thought I’d share six fun facts about hockey!
1. Hockey pucks are three inches in diameter.
They’re frozen before each game so that they don't bounce during the game. In
the old days, they used frozen cow poop. Bet the goalies are happy with that
upgrade!
2. If both of the team’s
goalies are injured during a game, they can get anybody to play the position —
even a fan! (What are the chances that a retired NHL goalie would be in the
crowd? :D)
3. Goalies can’t cross the centre line. Former
Philadelphia Flyers goalie Ron Hextall was the first goaltender to score a goal
by shooting the puck down the ice and into the other team’s net.
4. Twelve women have their names engraved on the
Stanley Cup, either as owners or team executives.
5. Canadian goaltender Manon Rhéaume was the
first – and only –woman to play in the NHL. She laced up for two exhibition
games with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
6. At the 2002 Olympic Winter
Games in Salt Lake City, Trent Evans embedded a loonie at centre ice to bring luck to Canada's men's and women's hockey teams. Both brought
home gold – it was a lucky loonie! (We needed one at the 2018 games.:D Congrats
to the USA Women’s team for winning gold this year!
Blurb for Behind the Bench
Dr. Danni
Angelo is the team physician for the Clarington Quakes hockey team. She’s
worked hard to earn the players’ respect, but the new coach, Trey Mason, is
stirring things up, and Danni’s worried her job may be in jeopardy.
Trey finds
Danni…distracting. Beauty, brains, and sexy moves on the ice have him
uncomfortably attracted. He’s the new guy on the block. He has a reputation to
build and a standard to set. The last thing he needs is a complication.
When the
team spirals out of control and Danni and Trey get caught up in a drug scandal,
things heat up on and off the ice. It’s a whole new game plan…Behind the Bench.
Excerpt
Danni
watched the tail end of the in-house broadcast of the news conference and
flicked off the screen. How could you not be impressed with that? Trey Mason
was confident and eloquent, and spoke in a relaxed and engaging way. The
beach-bum blond hair, sculpted cheekbones, and easy smile would win over the
non-hockey fans, and his passion and knowledge of the game would impress the
followers. He had it all, and landing in a town like Clarington must be a dream
come true. For him.
And
a nightmare for her.
She
had worked part-time as the team physician for the Clarington Earthquakes,
Quakes for short, for the past three years. It had taken time to gain the
players’ confidence. Being a female physician for a men’s hockey team hadn’t
been easy, but she’d built a solid professional relationship.
She
loved everything about the job – the energy of the games, working with
high-level athletes, and a new clinic in a state-of-the-art arena. She
certainly didn’t want it to change because of a new head coach.
Trey
Mason couldn’t fire her. Theoretically. That would be up to the owners of the
team. He could, however, make her life miserable. And if there was friction
between them, it would affect the players, and ultimately, what affected the
players influenced the owners. There were two other physicians who shared the
job with her and a few more who would be eager to take it on.
He,
on the other hand, could be set for a long run if he delivered half of what
he’d promised today. She certainly hadn’t seen any charm when he’d walked into
the pressroom, and yet it came out in spades when he spoke. She could only hope
that her initial impression had been wrong, because between the two of them, it
wasn’t likely that he’d be leaving any time soon. Bottom line – she needed to
suck it up and get along with the new guy. She sighed. She hated sucking up.
She’d thought she was done with that. Apparently not. She shook her head and
gritted her teeth. Time to smile and play nice.
Buy links:
Behind the Bench
is part of the Coming in Hot: Rescue Me Romance Collection. It’s available for
preorder for only 99cents. Coming April 17!
For a
chance to win a Kindle Fire and a big box of books, enter the Coming in Hot:
Rescue Me Rafflecopter: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/1be7623365/
Linda
O’Connor started writing a few years ago when she needed a creative outlet
other than subtly rearranging the displays at the local home décor store. It
turns out she loves writing romantic comedies and has a few more stories to
tell. When not writing, she’s a physician at an Urgent Care Clinic (well, even
when she is writing she’s a physician, and it shows up in her stories :D ). She
hangs out at www.lindaoconnor.net.
Laugh
every day. Love every minute.
Website: http://www.lindaoconnor.net
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/LindaOConnor98
Amazon
Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Linda-OConnor/e/B00S7CNLEA
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10 comments:
Welcome. Love the premis, the excerpt and the fun facts. I was a figure skater, my brother played hockey. Then my husband, son’s, nephew, son-in-law...Go Redwings...eventually, again. Best of luck with your latest. With or without the loonie!
Haha - thank you very much! I think skating runs in the blood - and so often in families. :D
My son played hockey in Phoenix of all places. Started when he was five. Played in high school prep and in juniors up in Minnesota. Love hockey. I preordered the set and got Behind the Pipes while I was at it. Looking forward to the reads. Good luck!
My alma mater, St. Olaf College, in Minnesota, had a hockey rink outdoors for the team, and I liked watching the guys play. Now St. Olaf has a women's team, as well. In the north reaches, hockey glides on while the much of the world doesn't engage in the sport. My friend, Liana Laverentz wrote one of the first hockey romances in 2011 that I'd ever read...Thin Ice. Linda, you've got a nice niche here...go for it!
Thank you so much! I hope you enjoy them! Hockey's a great sport. I know my sons learned a lot of life lessons being part of a team, and I've met a lot of great hockey parents.
Hi Rolynn - thanks so much! Maybe we'll pique interest in hockey around the world one romance at a time. :D
I loved the fun facts! Especially the cow poop one. I've heard piles referred to as hockey pucks. Now I know why. Best of luck with your new release!
Hi Jannine - thanks very much! I thought it was interesting that they freeze the pucks to prevent them from bouncing. Rather than spending thousands of dollars on a better material, it was the perfect simple solution! At least they didn't go back to cow dung!
Welcome, Linda! Love the fun facts! I'd heard that about the pucks but never really knew if it was true. All I can say, ewwwwwww. :-) The story sounds fantastic. Wishing you much success with it!
Remember when "sports" romances were unheard of? Susan Elizabeth Phillips broke out with her football team romances back in the 1990s. If you're an avid hockey fan, why not write about it? Loved the fun facts.
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