Chapter 25

Vicky didn't stir a muscle when the alarm rang. I quickly shut it off and reluctantly left the warmth of our bed. After a quick shower, I dressed in the dark and headed out to the arena, leaving a note for her.

I said hello to John but we kept quiet as we got dressed, not feeling the need to talk. I finished first and went out to warm up. After our shooting practice, Fred had us gather around for his regular Monday morning speech.

"Good morning gentlemen, I trust you relaxed yesterday because after our tight games last week, it's obvious we need more work on finishing up games and our offence," Fred stated. "This week we play the Northern Michigan University Wildcats up in the Upper Peninsula or the U.P. for those not native to Michigan. The Wildcats are defensive specialists who play the neutral zone trap and have a superb goalie. They don't score much but they don't have to. They wait for a mistake and pounce on it. So we will work on how to counter the trap; we will work on our offence and then work on holding a lead in the third."

I moved to the bench with John but was intercepted by Frank, looking a bit nervous.

"Mike, you'll be playing the scout team this week, Ian is moving up to your spot with John," Frank said, holding an orange jersey that they wore.

"What! Is this for real or am I being punked?" I asked him, looking around at the other players to see if they were in on it.

"It isn't a joke Mike, Fred's made this decision," Frank stated, looking serious.

"No offence to Ian, but he's not ready," I said, looking at him for a sign of what was going on.

"Fred thinks he is, and he's the coach," Frank said. "You better take this and go see Sam; he coaches the scout team in practice."

I turned to John but he looked just as puzzled as I did. He shrugged at me and leaned in.

"I don't know what's going on but I suggest playing it cool for now and see what happens before you make any hasty decisions," he whispered. "We'll talk before this afternoon's practice after I do some digging."

"Listen, you had better not be in on this if it's some sort of rookie hazing, I'm not into that shit," I warned him.

"No way dude; this is the first I heard of this, I swear!" he said emphatically.

Fred came up and asked "Is there a problem here?"

"Frank tells me Ian is taking my place, is this true or so kind of joke?" I asked him.

"Mr. Pratasky is indeed taking your place Mr. Stewart, his performance in the last couple of games shows he needs all the practice he can get," Fred replied. "So, you will be on the scout team while he gets that practice."

I looked at him for a few seconds and debated whether to chuck it in or stick it out for at least this practice. I finally decided to heed John's advice and see what he could dig up before I made a decision. I took the jersey and skated away from them, over to the other bench. Ian was being informed by Sam and he looked happy when he passed me. The rest of the scout team, who had been watching what was going on, were smirking or grinning at my demotion. I ignored them and stepped off the ice, and, before sitting on the bench, put on the jersey. I was seething inside but kept my face expressionless.

Sam came over and talked to defensive pairings and Bob, the second string goalie.

"Ok, we'll be emulating a neutral zone trap so you guys stand up at the blueline and force them to dump it in behind you," Sam said. "The goalie has to help out more because of that, so Bob, you'll have to get out more and help the puck along to either defenceman when you can."

Sam waited for Bob to nod and then looked at me and said "Mike, you'll be playing with Brian Smith here as the second pair," patting the shoulder of one of the players.

I nodded and he continued.

"After this session, we'll be simulating the Wildcat's defensive zone schemes and give the offence a chance to practice. The last bit we will go on offense simulating a team desperate to tie a game up," Sam said, before moving down the bench to instruct the forwards.

The practice started and Brian and I slid down the bench to get ready to go out for the second shift. I watched as the starters struggled on the first shift to crack the trap the scout team was using. Both teams switched up and I moved up to the centre line as the starters had the puck in their end. I skated backwards as they approached, slowing down at our blueline as Ron Zonk, the second line left winger, tried to skate into the zone with the puck. I met him at the boards by our blueline and pinned him on the boards with a solid check. The puck squirted free and one of our forwards pounced on it and hit a streaking forward for a breakaway as the starting defence pair were caught heading up ice. The forward, Bobby Vickers, deked Mark to one side and slid the puck under him on the other.

Fred stopped the practice and yelled at the starters "This is what will happen against the Wildcats; they will take advantage of every mistake. Zonk, you don't try and carry it in on a neutral zone trap unless they are out of position. Dump it behind the defence and chase it down. Defencemen, don't be in a hurry to get to the offensive zone until the puck is actually in the zone, controlled by us. Ok, start it up again."

This time Kerry dumped it in behind us and tried to chase it down. Bob moved the puck along to me and I wrapped it hard on the boards past the defencemen as Ron came in to hit me. I shrugged it off and skated back out of our zone. They tried one more time without success before we went to the bench.

After a half an hour of practice against the trap, the coaches switched to practicing just the offence for the starters. Sam let us know to use a very aggressive man on man defence to simulate the Wildcat's modus operandi. I got on against the first line and shadowed Daniel Sawyer in our zone, hitting him when he got the puck and tying up his stick when he tried to deflect the point shot. The shot was stopped by Bob and the offence was sent to centre to try again.

This time they lobbed the puck into my corner and came after me. I let Daniel go in and get it first and hit him hard, pinning him to the back boards. Gary came in to help dislodge the puck and his man followed, pushing Gary against the boards as well. Both Gary and Daniel didn't like being pinned and got rough with some elbows. I took one in the facemask, pissing me off. I shoved Daniel into Gary, knocking them both down before shooting the puck around the boards out of the zone. Brian and I changed up.

The starters continued to practice their offence and I tried my best to disrupt everything on my side of the ice, punishing every left winger they had. I even rode John hard into the boards when he tried our specialty play, shaking my head at him when he looked up at me from the ice.

Finally, Fred called for the starters to be on defence and we got to try and score on them. I ended up taking a lot of point shots to allow for deflections by the scout team forwards. The starters were running at me to give me a check each time I got the puck. They learned quick enough not to come head on when I was shooting when Rick Franklin, our third line left winger, took one off his leg, putting him down on the ice for a bit. I finally ended practice when, after taking a cross check to the side a bit earlier, let out my anger by slamming a shot just over the net, smashing the Plexiglas behind Mark.

The coaches called it a practice and I quickly left the ice, had a shower, got changed and left the locker room in disgust. I had barely cooled down during the walk to the main campus, when I entered the classroom and sat down beside Stephanie.

"Hey Mike, you look angry, have a bad practice?" she asked, looking concerned.

"I got demoted actually, to the scout team," I told her. "I'm not going to be good company."

Are you kidding me? I thought you won both games on the weekend?" she asked. "Did you have a bad game?"

"We did win both games and I had a goal and an assist in the first and a goal in the second" I answered. "Fred benched me for the last period so Ian could play. He moved him up to the starting squad this morning, even though he didn't play well either game when he was in."

"So what's going on?" she asked.

"I don't know," I replied, shaking my head.

The professor came in and started his lecture after he collected last week's assignments. He went through two difficult chapters very fast and at the end, reminded everyone to read ahead so the class was a review, not something new for us. He gave out next week's assignment and left the room.

Stephanie and I walked out and I told her I would see her at lunch as I walked away first this time.

"Ok, I'll see you there," she said as I turned away.

I handed in the weekly assignment and then listened with one ear to the creative writing professor, while I thought about what happened at practice. I seemed to have pissed off Fred as well as most of the team, even though I had nothing to do with the articles written about me. Hopefully John would find out more for afternoon practice.

I met the girls in the cafeteria and they were already talking about their weekends, the dates for the two of them, and Vicky's modelling.

"Hey Sweetie, Steph told me about practice. Are you ok?" Vicky asked, giving me a hug.

"I'm pretty angry about it but I'm waiting until I can talk to John after Algebra in the arena cafeteria to see what he dug up," I responded. "I don't know much about how teams run so maybe this is a normal thing."

"It doesn't sound like it, you don't demote one of your better players without a reason," she retorted.

"I'm trying to keep an open mind and not lose my temper until I have a better idea of what is going on," I said. "I'm going to wait and see what happens after the two games this weekend and then make a decision if nothing changes."

"Ok, but let's talk more tonight and after the games before you make your decision Michael," she suggested.

"Sounds good," I agreed.

The girls had to know more about how the modeling went, so I moved over and started the logic assignment. I had it almost done when the girls reminded me about class. I gave Vicky a kiss and said I would see her at home after practice; I didn't want her at the arena while this stuff was happening.

I watched the trio as they headed off to their next class still chatting away about the new boyfriends and the modelling. I turned and walked back the math building and sat down in my Algebra classroom. The professor collected the assignments and went onward fast and furious. I followed most of what he showed us and, after writing down the assignment, left for the arena.

I walked to the arena cafeteria, grabbed a snack and finished up the logic homework before starting the Algebra assignment, waiting for John to show up. It was almost an hour later when he finally came in, allowing me to complete the math assignment too.

"Hey John, did you find out what's up?" I asked.

"A couple of guys have theories about it but no one knows for sure," he admitted.

"Let's hear them," I said, as he sat down.

"Ok, one is that Fred hates anyone getting more publicity than the team and is taking you out of the spotlight any way he can. Two, he thinks you will get drafted high this year if you keep going like you have been and leave the team at the end of the year, so he's again taking you out of the spotlight. Three, he's using you as the lesson or scapegoat, as a lot of players already don't like you. Four, he hates that he doesn't have any power over you, as you're not in his scholarship program, so he's trying to get you to quit," John listed off some possibilities.

"Wow, that is some list of theories," I said, shaking my head. "Do you have one or do you think one of those is correct?"

"I'm not sure yet actually, it doesn't seem like he would deliberately sabotage his own team to ruin your career, especially when you haven't expressed any interest in a career in hockey," John mused, almost thinking out loud. "Everyone agrees you're so much better than Ian and that we need you out there. Maybe he thinks we're relying too much on you and he wants to see what we can do with you not in the line-up."

"If he's trying to send a message of some sort to the team, I think he's walking a real fine line with me," I told him. "I'm not going to bother playing if it's on the scout team, and he must know that."

"We all had to play on the scout team when we first got here Mike," John told me.

"Yes, but you came to play hockey and had to put up with it; I'm here to fill in a hole you needed and to get an education," I responded. "It looks like the hole will be filled by Ian now, so I can get back to being just a student."

"You would give it up just like that?" he asked, looking shocked.

"Of course, it's just a game John, everyone takes it way too seriously around here," I responded. "One or two of you will make a NHL team from each year and have a career. The problem is that all of you, from the worst rookie on the practice squad to the best player on the team, think you will make it big and be a big star. Between the players all competing with each other, and the coaches all working everyone to the bone, with three practices a day plus workouts and meetings, I don't know anyone who is having the least bit of fun playing a game."

"So what do you think of my chances?" he asked.

"They were higher when I was your partner," I said honestly. "I took some attention away from you and allowed you extra space to get open and to skate in. They will concentrate on you now and you won't get the stats you need to get attention. You're good enough to make it I think, but you need a good year and you won't get that if you play with Ian."

"Don't try and sugar coat it," he said dryly.

"Sorry, you'll be invited to every teams' camp and be a starter after the first day," I told him. "Better?"

"Yeah, thanks," he said with a grin. "Alright, let's go see it anything has changed"

I packed up and reluctantly followed him to the locker room where there were all sorts of looks thrown my way. I ignored them all and got dressed and out on the ice as quick as I could. I was practicing hitting the posts on the empty net until other players joined me on the ice.

"Why do you do that?" Albert Summers asked me.

"Do what?" I looked at him puzzled.

"Shoot at the posts when you're alone," he said.

"The empty net is a bit too easy a target, don't you think?" I said.

"I guess so, but don't you think you will screw up in a game and hit the post instead?" he asked curiously.

"I generally hit what I aim for, in practice or a game," I stated. "It's just more of a challenge I guess."

Once the goalies were out, I shot for the inside of the post, rather than the middle of it. The puck almost always deflected in and it was so hard to reach for the goalie. Albert was still beside me and he caught on and started trying for the same target. All too soon the coaches came out and ruined the fun.

I was relegated to the scout team again and I went without a word. Practice was on the same three things, in a different order. I made it a point to make it as difficult as I could for anyone on the starter's team to come into my area of the rink. I noticed after a while that the tendency was to play on the other side of the ice when I was on. When we went on offence I had everyone ducking or moving out of the way, as I shot for the top corners of the net at full strength. It was actually a fun practice for me as I didn't have any pressure to conform to the system Fred was trying to coach.

"You were having way too much fun out there dude," John said, when we sat down to change.

"I was actually," I said. "You guys have to play inside the system the coaches have in mind for the game. The scout team has a loose guideline they have to follow but don't get in shit when your team does something right. Unfortunately, it sets you guys up like ducks on a pond because it makes you too predictable."

I drove home after showering and made supper as Vicky had been trying to catch up for the lost weekend. We had another simple meal of grilled cheese sandwiches while talking about her weekend and the hockey situation. I cleaned up the dishes and then we both settled down to do more homework. I worked on my weekly creative writing assignment and then proofread the rough draft of the short story. I made all the corrections I could and then printed it out for Vicky to read.

I took a break and did a couple loads of laundry and read my textbooks to keep ahead of the professors. I folded the laundry and had it put away when Vicky came over, ready for bed.

"Someone's been neglecting his boyfriend duties," she said as she pushed me back onto the bed.

"Well, I had better take care of them right now," I replied as I watched her take off her robe.

She was wearing a crop top and thong bikini panties underneath the robe and I immediately sat up and pulled her close, caressing her back and bare ass, while kissing her bare abdomen. Her legs straddled mine and she sat down on me as I bared her breasts and started licking and sucking them. She moaned and pulled my head tight to her as I pulled her lower body to meet my rapidly growing erection. I pulled her down on top of me and lifted her up to sit on my chest. I moved her panties aside and proceeded to lick and suck her to one climax after another. She finally slumped to the side and begged me to stop.

I pushed her to her back, pulled the panties off of her and then got my shorts off as well. I stood up and grabbed a condom and put it on quickly. She spread her legs and crooked a finger at me to get on top of her. She grabbed my cock as I hovered over top of her and pointed me in the right direction as I lowered myself down gently. I slid right into her soaking wet pussy and she wrapped her legs around me tightly.

"That's where you belong, Sweetie," she said with a moan. "God, you fill me up so well."

"Wow, you feel so good, Darling," I responded. "We need to do this more often!"

She laughed and replied "Well, we better find a room at the college then so we can have a quickie at school!"

"Sounds like a plan," I said, starting to speed up.

"Oh yeah, fuck me Michael," she gasped, raising her hips to meet me.

I was well on my way so I changed my angle a bit to grind my cock on her clit, so she would come with me.

"That's the spot Sweetie, fuck me like that and you'll make me come again," she said into my ear. "I need you to come in me too."

I sped up and told her I was getting close.

"Oh yeah, I want you to come in me Michael, I'm so close as well," she panted.

I groaned and came then, ramming myself into her a few times before holding myself deep in her. She screamed and came around my cock, squeezing me with her pussy and her legs. Finally we relaxed and I pulled out of her, making sure I had a good grip on the used condom and rolled to lie on my back.

"That was a fine resumption of your duties, boyfriend of mine," she said as we lay side by side panting.

"That was fantastic, I've missed that the last few days," I replied, reaching over to hold her hand.

I got up and disposed of the condom and brought her a washcloth and a bottle of water. I cleaned her up while she had a drink and then we got under the covers and were quickly asleep in each other's arms.

I felt good getting up Tuesday morning for the first time in a while. Making love to your smoking hot model girlfriend will do that for you I guess. I had a shower and left for the rink after giving Vicky a kiss and leaving her another note. I was early and got out Patrick to shoot on until the rest of the team showed up. I moved out half way between the blueline and the centreline and shot from there, aiming for the small slots. I was less accurate from there but a good portion still went where I wanted them too. I was surprised when some of the guys wanted to keep him up for their practice, but Bob didn't have a problem with it so we shot on Patrick until the coaches came out.

Practice was more of the same, with the addition of special teams practice thrown in. The first and second pairing of defence were now on the power play and on the penalty kill, leaving John and Ian on the bench for the starters. The power play didn't click too well, I was sad to see. Ok, I was jumping for joy inside but kept an expressionless face on the bench. I did go out in a penalty killing roll and kept the net clear so Bob could see the puck. We, the scout team, got to have a few minutes of power play against the starters and got to step into the middle and slap one by Mark. All and all it was a good practice for the scouts. We went in and I showered and got dressed, whistling all the while. I ignored the dirty looks and left for the main campus.

I sat down beside Stephanie and said "Hey there Steph, how's it going?"

"Good, it looks like you're in a good mood today, did you get back on the starting team?" she asked.

"No, but I got to hit them and shoot at them the whole time, it was fun," I said with a grin.

"Well, I'm happy to see you so chipper," she responded with a smile.

We handed in our assignments and away to the races the professor went, covering almost three chapters, before handing out the next assignment.

"We had better get together and go over that, how about two thirty at the arena cafeteria?" Steph asked.

"Sounds good to me; I'll see you then," I replied.

I went and did my workout using even more weight than I did last week. It felt good and I still wasn't at my maximum. I grinned at Chris and told him he had better bump up his chart for me because I wasn't going to lower the weights.

I grabbed some lunch and started the programming assignment. I wanted to get it done before Thursday afternoon, the time the bus left for Marquette in the U.P. We would be getting in late but could sleep in on Friday if we wanted to. Then again, I didn't even know if I was going on the trip, being on the scout team and all.

I went back to the locker room and got changed for the rookie practice. I dragged Patrick back out and shot for awhile. Brian and a couple other rookies joined me at one end while the rest shot on Bob. Frank didn't come out so after half an hour we started up a scrimmage, using Patrick as one of the goalies. We had fun just playing the game without anyone coaching us. A few of the guys were actually quite talented when allowed to be a bit more creative.

I rushed from end to end a couple of times but mostly stayed back, letting the others have their time to shine, even if it was just us. I got to know the guys a bit and, while we didn't become lifelong blood brothers, we at least got on speaking terms.

I had noticed Frank and Sam standing in the hallway watching the practice but didn't mention it to anyone. I guess they wanted to watch the rookies uninhibited. The time finally ran out and we trooped off the ice, laughing and joking around. I hit the showers and got dressed quickly as Stephanie was probably waiting.

"Jeez Mike, you got a hot date or something?" Brian asked.

"Well I do have a lady waiting for me, but she's not my girlfriend," I replied. "I was taught never to keep a lady waiting."

"Does Vicky know about this lady?" Bob shouted from across the room.

"Of course, I'm not that stupid!" I said laughing. "I'll see you guys at four."

I actually got a few replies back which were a nice change. I found Steph in the cafeteria reading the textbook.

"Hey Steph, got it all figured out now?" I asked with a grin.

"Not likely Mister and you're late!" she said, trying to keep a straight face.

"Hmmm, trying out our big girl voice are we?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Needs some work, doesn't it?" she responded with a grin. "It works on my younger siblings though."

I sat down and we went through the chapters, with me explaining a few things as we did some of the questions for each chapter. I continued with my programming while she started hers. We both made good progress on it before I had to go. I told her I would see her in the morning and left for the locker room.

Once on the ice the scout team seemed to congregate at one end of the ice, shooting against Bob. We were relaxed and generally happy and somewhat carefree, but still putting a lot of shots at the net. Fred finally pulled the whole team in to talk.

"Gentlemen, we have four more practices before we leave Thursday afternoon. We need to focus and get it together or we will be in a world of hurt. We'll work on special teams first and then on offence starting from our end while the scout team is in the neutral zone trap," he instructed us.

The scout team became the penalty killers and the starters practiced their power play for a bit. Then we switched so the starters could practise their penalty kill. Finally we got in the Wildcat's neutral zone trap and each line for the starters was shown, in excruciating detail, how to break out from their zone and get the puck through centre ice and into the attacking zone.

"We could be in trouble when the games start," I said quietly to Brian, while we were on the bench. "Somehow I don't think the other team is going to just stay still like that the whole time."

He chuckled and said "He does seem to be micro-managing a bit this week."

"I wonder why?" I asked, not really expecting a response.

"He's probably regretting what he's done with you, but he can't go back on it now," Brian replied. "It will look bad if the team doesn't do well without you in the line-up."

"True enough. So tell me, why did he do it then?" I asked.

"No one knows for sure, but I think the focus on the ice was getting too tied up with John and you, and he didn't like it," Brian theorized. "In a way he's right, we can't depend on you two every game, especially as the opposition will key on you."

"I can see that, but it's like he's starting from scratch again" I remarked. "Oh well, right now I'm glad I'm over here this week. You know this is the first time I've had any fun playing hockey here?"

"We can tell, it's like you're a different person," Brian said.

"I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders," I told him. "The scout team doesn't have to worry if a pass goes wrong or we miss an assignment or a check. We follow a loose scheme and then get to have fun screwing with the starters. I really liked our practice this afternoon."

"What you said was all true, but come game time, sitting in the box watching the game from a seat really blows," he said with a slight frown.

"Yeah, I guess it would," I agreed.

The practice finally ended and I quickly got cleaned up and left for home. I smelt some wonderful aroma as I entered my apartment. I got a big surprise when I saw two lovely women in short sexy dresses putting food on the table.

"I can die and go to heaven happy with my life after seeing the vision that the two of you are," I said with a big smile. "You two are a sight for sore eyes."

I dropped my stuff and wrapped them both up in a big hug.

"This is a great surprise," I said, looking at the both of them.

"I thought you could use some cheering up after yesterday and Becky was tired of feeling how good I felt without getting a little something for herself," Vicky said.

"So Mom dropped me off after school and here I am," Becky said. "Now kiss me you fool!"

I proceeded to do just that as Vicky slipped from my arm to finish putting out supper. After a couple minutes of passionate kissing, and a bit of groping, she tapped us on the shoulder and coughed.

"Children, eat first and play later," she said, sounding like a parent.

"Yes mother," I replied, pulling back a bit from Becky.

"Yeah, let me at least greet our man properly," Becky pouted.

"He's still a growing boy and needs his nourishment, especially if you do all the things to him you were talking about earlier," Vicky said with an evil grin. "The sooner you eat, the sooner you can get to it."

We both sat down quickly.

The meal was delicious, fried chicken with potatoes and vegetables, and for dessert, pumpkin pie and whipped cream. The conversation was great too; we talked about their weekend, everyone's school and of course, a bit about hockey.

"So, we have a question to ask you Michael," Vicky said.

"Ok, shoot," I replied, putting my fork down.

"Just keep an open mind and hear us out before you answer Ok?" she asked.

"Ok, but you're starting to scare me," I said, feeling a bit anxious.

"Don't worry, it's not that bad," she said. "Becky and I are going to be meeting a lot of gorgeous women when we go to New York and other places. We were wondering if we could talk about altering our agreement about women a bit."

"How so?" I asked warily.

"Well, we would like, if you agree, the chance to have some discreet fun with select women; but only those that don't have boyfriends," Becky answered, looking worried.