Chapter 14

Monday morning, the announcer wished the hockey team well for our exhibition game as Sioux Lookout this afternoon but that was about it. School went slower than molasses as I was looking forward to the game this afternoon. I had brought my equipment in on the bus and the team stored it in the equipment room at the gym, so when school was over, I carried my backpack to the gym and lugged my equipment to the bus. At least there was a storage area underneath the bus so we didn’t have to sit with our equipment. I sat alone as one of two freshmen to make the team, with the other guy sitting with an older brother. I spent the hour and fifteen minute trip studying for the SATs while most of the guys horsed around. A couple times Base told me to lean my head to the left or right to avoid a thrown pair of socks and the third time I caught them before they hit my face and placed the socks on the seat beside me, looking around with a stoic face to see who threw it. Of course, no one admitted it and avoided my eyes.

Eventually we got there so I packed up my laptop into my book bag and slung it over my shoulder before exiting the bus. I picked up my hockey bag and my sticks from below and followed everyone into the rink. This time I sat with Tim and Marcus on the offensive side of the room and quickly got dressed. The coaches just sent us out to the ice to warm up and we were surprised to see a full crowd already in the arena seats. We had twenty minutes to skate, stretch, shoot and then do a few line drills before the horn sounded to get us off the ice. The Warriors had already done their warmup so we just had some quick drinks while the Zamboni cleaned the ice. After the usual two-minute skate, the first lines stood for Oh Canada and then the game began.

Our first line took the play into their zone and got a couple shots before the goalie froze the puck. Our line went on and I won the faceoff back to the near defenceman, who shot it towards the net where Marcus and I were setting up a screen. The puck bounced off a leg into the near corner where Tim raced to beat the defence to it. He slipped by the check and went behind the net with the puck, drawing the goalie to the far side. Tim stopped on a dime and, with one step back to the near post, passed the puck out front. I simply slid it into the net as the goalie was too slow in getting back to cover the post. I pointed to Tim as he and Marcus came to congratulate me.

We were waved to the centre ice circle to stay out and I indicated to Marcus I was going forward with a subtle tapping of my right leg. It worked out as I pushed the puck through the centre’s legs and Marcus beat the defenceman to the puck. I dodged the centre’s attempt to tie me up and followed Marcus and Tim into their zone. They passed it back and forth a couple of times to get the remaining defenceman out of position and then Marcus set up Tim for a tap in goal when the goalie overcommitted to Marcus’s fake shot. I congratulated them both and we headed off to the bench.

The third line penned in the Warriors in their zone and had them chasing them around, resulting in two great opportunities and then a goal when they got tired. The fourth line continued the stellar play and drew a penalty against their fourth line. That resulted in a powerplay goal by the first line as the first powerplay unit.

Their coaches called a timeout as it was now four to zero and only six minutes into the game. Our coaches had us relax but didn’t tell us to let up on them yet. They sent our line out to take the faceoff at centre ice and this time I pulled it back to the far defenceman. He skated a bit backwards to pull the forward towards him before bounce passing the puck to Marcus along the boards. I had circled back in the middle of the ice as an alternate to pass to and then sped towards the blueline. I timed it just right as Marcus flipped the puck to the corner when the defenceman came up to stop him from entering their zone unopposed.

I crossed the blueline at full speed and beat the other defenceman to the puck as he had to come from the other side of the ice. A quick flip of the puck over his stick right onto Tim’s for a quick redirect past the goalie resulted in another goal. Our coaches replaced us for the next faceoff and things slowed down for our side at least. They skipped our rotation next time and we only got on a couple more times, drawing a penalty when I was tripped as I broke away on a rush. The resulting powerplay netted another goal and the period ended with a six to zero score.