Techno is going to make a request.

Phil knows it from the moment he books the hotel room tickets, from the moment he passes around game schedules and tells them all their curfew times. There's a distracted wrinkle in Techno's forehead that tells Phil that he needs something.

Post practice meeting, Quackity tugs Sapnap out onto the ice with a grin, and Schlatt follows, looking to swipe the puck out from under them, but Phil lingers, letting Techno collect his thoughts. He'll speak when he's ready – Phil didn't spend years drilling into Techno's head that he's here for anything just for nothing.

"Phil?" Techno asks as Phil is sliding his clipboard into his bag. "Can I ask a question?"

"Of course, Tech." Phil sits down on the bench, giving the man his full attention. Techno still looks distracted, frowning to himself.

"At our next tournament, would you mind doing a little bit of recruiting?" Phil winces, opening his mouth. Techno must see the no coming, because he hurries to keep talking. "Just this once – I know you don't like doing it, but it would just be the one time and I –"

"Techno," Phil chides gently. Techno stops. Slumps.

For the most part, Techno is right. Phil doesn't recruit. He doesn't like doing it. He's had coaching come and poach his kids before and it's never a good feeling, getting the rug swept out from under him like that. In fact, the last kid he ever recruited was Quackity, but that was a completely different story, as he was looking for a team from out of the country.

"There's this person." Techno sits down on the bench next to him. His frown is so deep that it's giving him lines. "They – I mean, you've seen them. At the last tournament, we were sitting, waiting for our game. They were on the ice."

Phil's brows furrow as he tries to remember.

"They were playing like an enforcer; laying themself out for their teammates even though they had the speed and stick-skill to score."

Ah. The player's image easily comes to mind now.