Chapter 5: Go West Young Man Go West

The two weeks before Dave and John went west to Calgary for the hockey playoffs were very busy. Both spent most of their time studying when they weren't practicing. They had missed almost a whole week of school when they were in the Atlantic Tournament and would miss another week for the National Championships. Dave was pleased when Katherine eventually started to talk normally to him in the hallway at school - she seemed to accept their new level of friendship.

Roger and Carol took their son Dave to the airport Saturday afternoon. His flight was leaving at two o'clock. The whole team was there and anxiously talking about the trip. Dave kissed his parents goodbye without hesitation - he was no longer worried about what his friends might think of it.

The flight to Toronto only took a couple of hours and, after a short wait, the team was onboard the second plane heading for Calgary. They reached Calgary at eight o'clock local time and were immediately loaded onto a bus. The team was taken to the arena where they off-loaded their gear into a dressing room. They were told they could safely leave their gear in the dressing room for the whole week. The tournament organizers then escorted the team to a large meeting room where all team players and officials received accreditation. The entire team left the meeting room with picture identification cards hanging from each of their necks.

The Islanders' coach informed the team they would be practicing at two o'clock the next afternoon and the bus would take them to the hotel to eat before they would retire for the night. The hotel was only ten minutes from the rink and John and Dave were happily roomed together, again. After a light meal they went directly to bed - tired from the long day of travel.

Practice the next afternoon went well. John and Dave were both psyched about the tournament -- but also realized that they were now up against the best players in the entire country. They knew the competition would be significantly stronger than any team they had faced this year. The Central team representing Ontario and the Quebec team were always strong because of the large population base from which the teams had to draw. With six teams in total playing for the championship, the schedule was set up so each team played one game each day from Monday to Friday with crossover games on Saturday and the nationally televised final on Sunday.

The first game for the Islanders was against the host Calgary team, Monday evening. It was very obvious early in the game that the Island team was in for a tough tournament. The host team was all over the Islanders from the first whistle and ninety percent of the play was in the Islanders' zone. Luckily, their goaltender Craig Stevenson was playing a spectacular game. In the first period Calgary out-shot the Islanders twenty to one. Dave had the only shot on goal - a hard wrist shot from the top of the face-off circle which the Calgary goalie handled easily.

In the dressing room Dave could see the nervous looks on the faces of both John and his other line-mate, Rudy Biso. Dave sat beside Rudy and called John over to sit with them. Dave explained, "Listen, I know these guys are really tough but we can play with them. The game I played with the Eagles was similar to this. Like that game, the players are bigger and stronger than what we are used to -- but we all have good speed. We just have to use that speed to our advantage. In the past we have been able to have two players cycling in the corner with the third parked in front of the net but, with these stronger players, we need all three of us in the corner. We'll start with a four pass cycle where one forward will move beside the net after the fourth pass and one of the other two players will look to get him the puck and head to the net for a give-and-go.

"In our own end, we have to get more physical. We have to be willing to sacrifice our bodies to make good passes so we can start good breakouts from our zone. We have to beat them to the puck and, if we don't, we have to knock them off the puck. Our line has been the team's top producer and for our team to have any chance to make a crossover, that has to continue." Both John and Rudy nodded to Dave understandingly.

Just as Dave finished speaking, the coach entered the room, "Alright, guys, we have to dig deep. We can't just throw the puck up the boards without looking to see if our wingers are in position. If you don't have a good pass opportunity, then pound the puck high off the glass and out of our end. For all clearing shots think GLASS. The other thing we have to improve on is our hitting. Calgary are hitting us all over the ice. We have to get more physical. If we can win the battles on the boards; we can win this game. Luckily, Craig stood on his head and kept the score zero-zero but we can't continue to give them twenty shots to our one."

The team left the room cheering and ready to win the small battles for the puck. Dave gave the team a spark on the first shift with a huge open ice hit on one of Calgary's star players. The rest of the line and whole team seemed to feed off the hit and stepped up their play. John's line was the only Islanders' line which had more shots for than against. His line had eight shots on goal in the second period and only gave up two shots. They actually controlled the play while they were on the ice as all three forwards played very physical and hit the Calgary team every time they touched the puck.

In general, the second period went much better and the Islanders generated five good scoring chances. Four of those were created by John's line and Dave scored the only goal of the period. Craig faced fifteen more shots in the second period and again turned every shot away. The Calgary team was starting to scratch their heads and wonder if they would ever beat Craig.

The Islanders' coach complimented their improvement and told them to work harder on defense. As he was leaving the dressing room, he said to Dave, "Great period, Dave; keep up the hard work. The rest of the team looks to you to lead them, so keep up the physical play."

Dave nodded as he concentrated on the third period. John's line started the third period and again Dave used his size and physical play to intimidate the Calgary team. At the halfway point of the period the score was still one-nothing. Rudy went to hit one of the Calgary players in open ice and the player cut around him. Mostly by reflex, Rudy stuck out his leg and tripped the player. The referee called the tripping penalty immediately.

Dave and John stayed on the ice to kill the penalty. They successfully cleared the puck into the Calgary zone then fore-checked unmercifully, keeping the puck in Calgary's end for half of the two minute penalty. John and Dave were both exhausted and went to the bench for a change. The next two penalty killers tried to fore-check the same way Dave and John had -- but they got caught deep in the Calgary zone as the three Calgary forwards and one defenseman started a well-coordinated rush which ended with a beautiful goal.

The goal ignited the Calgary team and they went on the attack scoring a second quick goal before John's line had enough time to get rested. John and Dave were still a little tired when the coach called on them to take the ice after the second goal. John won the draw and, after a couple quick passes, Dave was streaking down the wing with the puck. He faked to the outside before sliding the puck between the Calgary defensemen's legs and cutting to the middle of the ice. The other defenseman didn't have time to react as Dave went in on the goalie alone. He pulled the puck to his side and buried a hard fast wrist shot under the crossbar. Dave threw his hands in the air as he skated towards his bench to celebrate the tying goal.

Dave and John's shifts were getting longer and longer as the coach tried to get as much ice time from them as possible. With two minutes left in the game they were catching their breaths on the bench when Calgary converted on another end-to-end rush making the score three-two.

Dave and John were back on the ice for the last minute and a half of the game but even with Craig on the bench for an extra attacker, they couldn't score to tie the game. The final horn sounded and the Islanders had lost their opening game three-two.

In the dressing room the coach complimented the team's hard work and Craig's excellent play. He told them to get a good night's rest because they played the Pacific team at eleven o'clock the next morning.

Dave and John were wiped of energy after the game as both had given all they had. They were the last into the showers and the last on the team bus for the drive back to the hotel. They both phoned home to tell their families about the loss, talked briefly to each other, and soon fell asleep.

The next morning, all the players were in the hotel restaurant by eight-thirty. Both John and Dave ate big breakfasts to replenish the energy expended the previous night. The bus took them to the arena at nine-thirty and the team had a short meeting to reflect on the previous night's game.

When game time finally arrived, the Islanders were ready but the Pacific team was even stronger than the Calgary team and scored two early goals against a shell-shocked Craig. With only five minutes gone in the first period, Craig had faced thirteen shots before the fourteenth got past him for the Pacific team's first goal. Two shots later the score was two-nothing. Dave and John got more physical and worked the puck around before passing to Rudy who scored his first goal of the tournament. The one goal deficit got extended back to two on the next shift as the Pacific team controlled the entire ice. Dave, John, and Rudy were the only line that could put any pressure on the Pacific goaltender.

The long tough game ended with a nine-three victory for the Pacific team. John and Dave added the other two Islanders' goals but the Pacific team was just too strong for the Islanders' other lines.

The coach tried to cheer up his players after the game but the team felt incredibly disappointed in their performance.

The team returned to the hotel and ate a very quiet lunch.

After lunch some of the players were going back to the rink to watch the afternoon game while other players were going to the pool for a swim. Dave and John wanted to get away so they asked their team host if he could take them to a mall. Each visiting team was assigned a host who was a local volunteer. Each host had a minivan at their disposal to give the teams any tours and transportation they needed.

The host recommended a large mall which was only a mile away. He dropped Dave and John off and asked when they wanted to be picked up. Dave thanked him and said they would walk back to the hotel later. The mall was huge and the two friends went immediately into a large sports store. The mall was fairly empty when they first arrived but within an hour it filled with teenagers. Dave asked one of the sports store clerks why it got busy all of a sudden and he explained that there was a large high school next to the mall and the students tended to hang out at the arcade and food court after school.

After thoroughly surveying everything in the sports store, Dave and John went to the food court for a drink. Dave couldn't believe the number of beautiful girls they saw. He and John bought a couple of milkshakes and were sitting quietly sipping their drinks when two pretty teens walked up to them and asked, "Are you two here for the hockey tournament?"

Dave looked down at his black and red team jacket, then looked at John's matching jacket. He then smiled kindly at the girl and asked, "How did you ever guess?"

She chuckled as she sat down beside him. He stared at the tall brown-haired beauty before he put out his hand and introduced himself, "I'm Dave MacDonald and this is my friend John Stewart."

The girl shook his hand and replied, "I'm Carla and this is Simone."

Dave looked at the pretty blonde now sitting across from him and beside John. He noticed that Simone was shorter than Carla and had a small compact body with high, round breasts and a beautiful face. Dave looked at Carla, "Do you girls go to high school near here?"

Carla said they did and soon both Dave and John were speaking comfortably to their two new friends. After chatting for fifteen minutes, the four teens went to the arcade and played some video games.

Eventually, John looked at his watch and saw it was after five o'clock. He explained, "Dave and I have to get going, we have a team meal at six."

Carla cuddled into Dave and asked, "Do you want to go to a show tonight? You already said you don't have to play and there are eight cinemas here in the mall. I'm sure we could find something good to see."

Dave grinned, "I'd love to go to a show..." A sharp rap to his shin interrupted his sentence.

John suddenly cut in, "Dave, coach said he wanted the team to go see the game tonight. We won't be able to go to a show."

Dave looked at John with a stunned blank look on his face. He then turned to Carla and finished, "I guess I can't make it tonight. Maybe tomorrow night."

Carla asked, "Will we see you here tomorrow after school?"

Dave shook his head, "No, we play the afternoon game tomorrow. We go on the ice at three."

Carla then looked at Simone, "Maybe we'll go see your game."

Dave hugged her, "I'll look for you at the rink." He then kissed her cheek softly before he said goodbye to Simone. John gave Simone an unaffectionate hug before they walked away.

Dave waited until they were outside and well away from the mall before he turned to John and asked, "Jesus, dude, why did you tell her we had to go to the game tonight? The coach didn't mention anything about that."

John shrugged, then replied, "I don't know. I got a bad feeling about those two."

Dave stopped and stared at his friend, "A bad feeling, holy fuck! I'm so horny I'd fuck almost anything. You know I haven't had any in a long time. You've been getting your share all winter but I haven't. First I was holding out for Jennifer, then I was with the virginal Katherine. Carla looked pretty damn good to me and Simone was hot, too."

John just shrugged and started walking again. Dave watched his friend walk away from him and couldn't believe he didn't have a good explanation for passing on those beautiful girls.

After supper, Dave and John actually went with some of the other players to the rink. The game they watched was between the Quebec team and the host team. As expected, the Quebec team was very strong and they beat the host team eight-nothing. Dave was not looking forward to playing the Quebec team the next day.

Dave and John didn't bother to phone home with the bad news but instead went right to bed after they got home from the rink.

The next morning, Dave and John slept in until nine then went for a large breakfast. After breakfast they went to the pool for a light swim. The coach had warned the team not to spend too much time in the pool because it would tire them out.

The team ate diner together before leaving for the rink. The game preparation was similar to the day before but Dave could see the nervousness on his teammates' faces. After two days of the tournament Quebec and Central were unbeaten with two wins. The Pacific and the host each had one win and one loss. The West and Atlantic teams had zero wins two losses.

The game went just as Dave expected. His line played well and scored two goals but the rest of the team couldn't compete with the strong French team. The final score was seven-two.

After the game Dave was walking to the bus with John when Carla walked up to him and tugged his arm. Dave and John both turned to see Simone standing with her. They walked to the side of the building with the two girls. Carla cuddled into Dave, "You played really well, Dave. That was a nice goal you scored." Dave nodded as he dejectedly looked at her. He was still upset over their third straight loss. Carla continued, "Are you available to go to the show tonight?"