Chapter 5

“Last minute of play in the third period!” Was announced, and the Kingston players sighed, wanting their nightmare game to finally come to an end. The fans stood and cheered for their team as the seconds counted down.

The face-off was at the Falcons blue line with twenty-five seconds remaining. Coach Stanton rewarded Brad’s effort by finishing off the game with him, Mike, and Jake on the ice. Mike won the face-off, passing to Mario. He had no play, so he shot the puck off the boards to clear the zone, and Brad, splitting the defence, gave chase for the loose puck.

He gained possession of the puck just past center ice, with two Kingston defensemen determined to stop him. One player was closer than the other, slapping his stick against Brad’s right shin pad. The sounds of his skates scratching the ice for traction and speed were drowned out by the roar of the crowd as he crossed the blue line.

The player lunged forward, sprawling on the ice, attempting to knock the puck from his stick before making contact with him. As he fell forward, the defenseman lost control of his stick, and it slid, knocking the puck away from Brad’s stick. The ref raised his right arm, and his whistle was poised at his mouth to signal the play dead.

The puck slid into the corner and was touched by Kingston. The whistle sounded, and the crowd went crazy as the ref pointed to center ice!

“Penalty shot!” He cried.

“Hayward is rewarded with a penalty shot. He started his amazing goal scoring streak with one; he just might end the night of nights with another one!” Mark commented.

The Kingston player immediately went to the ref to argue the call. The linesmen cut him off, directing him to the player’s bench.

“What the hell is the penalty shot for? He knocked the puck off his stick!” Coach Green reasoned with the ref.

“Attempting to check the player off the puck, your player fell and lost control of his stick, striking the puck and causing the attacking player to lose control of the puck. The attacking player is rewarded with a penalty shot when a stick is thrown towards him, causing him to lose puck possession, negating a scoring opportunity,” he roughly quoted from the rule book.

Brad couldn’t believe his luck to have another penalty shot. He gathered at the bench with his teammates as the ref talked to the Kingston coach. “Okay, guys, where do I try on Manning?”

“You’ve scored eight goals tonight, and you’re asking us for advice?” Dale couldn’t believe it. “We should be asking you how to score!”

The ref blew his whistle for Brad to come to center ice. “Brad, five-hole,” veteran goalie Jason Bennett suggested. Brad looked at the others. “I agree he’s expecting glove or blocker side,” Dale supported.

The ref gave him the same instructions as before. He listened as Manning was given his caution. Brad had an idea of where he was going to target.

Everyone in the rink was standing in anticipation of what was about to unfold.

“Hayward is setting records faster than our staff can look them up!” Jim exclaimed. “I can’t recall any player having two penalty shots in a CHL, AHL, or NHL game!”

“You can feel the expectation mounting inside the arena. You would think Hayward was shooting to win the Memorial Cup!” Mark stated.

Ken, do you have more information for us?”

“Yes, should Hayward score, it would set a new CHL record of nine goals, two of them on penalty shots.”

The ref blew his whistle, and Brad did the same as before, circling to gain momentum. He touched the puck, and Manning glided out to assume his defensive position.

“Here comes Hayward attempting to skate into the record books again and make hockey history!” Mark yelled, also standing in his broadcast booth. You could cut the mounting tension with a knife as he streaked towards Manning.

Brad kept the puck in front of him as he skated with speed, his eyes trained on Manning. Crossing the blue line, he still had no indication where he was going to shoot. As he entered the slot, he began to stickhandle the puck from side to side.

Brad deaked left, but Manning didn’t follow his move. Brad moved right, his stick now slightly ahead to his right. He pulled the puck back to release a wrister high on the glove side. Manning, anticipating his move, pushed hard left with his right skate.

At the last possible moment, Brad cut left, and Manning lowered his stick to cover his five-hole. He backhanded a shot that just cleared under the lowering stick and crossed the goal line.

“He scores!! He’s done it! Hayward has scored nine goals in one game!” Mark shouted into his microphone.

The roof was ready to come down as the fans erupted with their loudest and longest cheers of the night. Every player on the Falcons’ bench swarmed onto the ice to congratulate him as if he’d just won the League Championship for the team. Brad was smothered with head and glove pats and hugs of appreciation. There were no hats thrown onto the ice; most had already landed on the ice from his first two hat tricks.

The Kingston players either lowered their heads in shame or stared blank-faced at Brad. Pete was filled with mixed emotions. He hated how Hayward had embarrassed his team, and any confrontation with him after the game would be met with the scathing ire of Abby. Secretly, he admired Brad’s ability to score so many points.

There was no one left on the bench to tap gloves with except for the staff. They applauded his accomplishment and gave him a high five. Dale made sure to capture the record-setting puck from the linesman.

“Falcons goal, his CHL record-setting ninth goal of the game, his ninth of the season, and his third hat trick of the game, scored by number 27, Brad Hayward, on a penalty shot! Time 19:50!” Was announced as the players returned to the bench. “And his thirteen points are also a new CHL game scoring record!”

While the fans continued to cheer, the ref dropped the puck, and the seconds ticked down to zero. The foghorn blared, announcing the end of the game, and tooted nine more times to honour Brad.

Brad and the others skated down the ice to meet their goalie and congratulated him and each other on a hard-fought win. The team skated to the center ice, raising their sticks in salute to their loyal fans. Brad finally looked to the stands to see his Mom, Dad, Abby, and family. They were cheering and applauding. He waved and tapped his shin pads.

“I love you too, Brad,” Abby said.