Chapter 9

It was snowing the Thursday morning after I returned from the World juniors. I got up extra early to work out and skate before practice so the extra ten minutes it took to drive to the arena didn’t make me late for anything. I still had the ice for a good half hour before any of my teammates joined appeared, so I took advantage of the open ice and did a few extra rushes up and down the rink to practice carrying the puck up the ice in a game situation. I was peppering the net with some shots from out near the blue line when someone finally came out.

“Well look who finally showed up,” John said with a big grin as he skated up to me. “Away for almost a month and only comes back with a silver medal, losing to the United States no less. I bet that just burned.”

“Hey John,” I replied. “It didn’t matter who we lost to; just that we lost, especially in overtime. So how have you been?”

“Good, Amanda’s doing well and we’re looking forward to getting on with our life after this semester is over,” he responded. “How are you doing? Any change with the trio?”

“No, all three broke up with me by having Elizabeth shove a letter under my door before I left for the Juniors, so I haven’t had any contact with them since,” I told him.

“That’s a bummer,” he said. “Meet anyone out west?”

“Not really, there wasn’t much time and there was a curfew,” I replied. “Molly wants to come over from London to see me, but her career is booming so it will be hard to coordinate our schedules.”

“She’s the beautiful redhead, right?” he asked.

“Yep, tall and has those cute freckles,” I responded.

“Sucks to be you,” he said dryly.

I chuckled and shrugged my shoulders before saying, “So, you guys lost two of the three games while I was gone. That couldn’t have gone well with Coach Benson, let alone Huntley.”

“Nope, Huntley ripped us a new one after the Rensselaer loss, but at least we pulled out the Tech game,” John responded. “Hopefully you can help turn things around now that you’re back. By the way, sorry you didn’t make the Olympic team. It must have sucked being right there when they announced it.”

“Yeah, I was at the press conference but sat in the back and thankfully wasn’t recognized,” I replied. “Even though I knew I wasn’t going to be chosen, it still was disappointing not to be picked.”

“Maybe someone will get injured and they’ll call you up,” John suggested.

“It would take probably five or six defencemen to get injured out of the seven they did pick before they would get to me,” I told him with a laugh.

“You never know; maybe the team bus will get in an accident just bad enough to injure most of the defencemen,” he said.

I just shook my head and left him standing by the blue line while I shot a puck at the net. The rest of the team joined us on the ice with most of them coming over to greet me, either to congratulate me on my play and the silver medal or to tease me that we lost to the US. I saw Coach Benson at the bench watching the warmup and skated to the bench when he waved me over.

“Hey coach, how you are feeling?” I asked.

“I’m doing well, thanks,” he replied. “You played well out west; I watched most of your games. Are you good to go tomorrow night?”

“Sure am,” I responded. “I want to really put in some extra effort for the rest of the season and see if we can go all the way to the Frozen Four.”

“That sounds like a plan I can get behind,” he said. “Sorry you didn’t make the Olympic team; I’m sure it was a disappointment, but not unexpected considering the competition. I have the feeling that you will be there in 2014.”

“It was a letdown, but I was prepared for it,” I agreed. “At least I won’t miss the four games here that I would have if I went. Anything I should know?”

“No, you and Joey are still second pairing as well as being on the power play and penalty kill,” Coach Benson answered as Coach Huntley joined him on the bench.

“Sounds good,” I responded to Coach Benson before turning to Coach Huntley. “Hello Coach Huntley.”

“Stewart, good to have you back,” he responded. “All set to get back to it?”

“Yes Sir, looking forward to it,” I told him.

“Alright, we need a spark from the back end, just like you provided your team out west,” he stated. “I’m hoping we can count on you to generate some offence while making sure the opposition gets punished in our zone.”

“Exactly what I plan to do, Coach,” I assured him.

“Good,” he replied.

I nodded and went back out to shoot on the goalies.

After practice, I received a text from Molly Atkinson as I slogged through the snow towards campus.

‘Sorry you didn’t win the tournament,’ she wrote.

‘Tried our best, lost in overtime in the championship game so nothing to be ashamed about,’ I texted back. ‘How goes with you?’

‘Great in one way, not so great in another,’ she answered. ‘Just won a contract for LeCroix Fashions to be the face of their new line. Problem is I won’t be able to visit you for at least a month as I have to fit their photo and commercial shoots in between two fashion shows in Milan and Paris.’

‘Congrats on the new contract!’ I wrote back, ‘though it sucks we can’t get together for a while. ‘I’m happy your career is going so well. They better start referring to you as Supermodel Molly Atkinson now.’

‘LOL,’ Molly responded. ‘What are we going to do about us?’

‘I’m going to be busy with the last semester of school and playing hockey, so we’ll just have to do our own thing for a while,’ I answered. ‘Enjoy the spotlight while you have it.’

‘I worry about you being alone and some hussy will take advantage,’ she texted. ‘I know you have needs.’

‘Who knows what is going to happen for both of us,’ I replied. ‘If we’re meant to be, it will eventually happen.’

‘You’re very calm about this,’ she stated.

‘No use getting upset about something we can’t change,’ I responded. ‘I do miss you and wish we could be together now, but we can’t. I’m sorry we can’t but we have important things to do for a bit. Be the best supermodel you can be, and I’ll try to get good grades and play better hockey. When you have a break, come over to see me or we’ll wait until summer and I’ll come over there. Okay?’

‘Okay,’ she replied. ‘Gotta go, time for a photoshoot. Tty8r.’

‘Sounds good, Tty8r.’ I replied before putting my phone away.

At afternoon practice, I spent extra time with Joey, my defence partner, making sure our positioning was still correct and our timing was still on. The team had a short scrimmage at the end and I was pleased by the end of it with how we were playing together.

I ordered a pizza as I drove home and decided to do some cleaning of the condo while waiting for it. I tidied up my bedroom and the bathrooms before starting a load of laundry. I was finishing up some dishes before the delivery person buzzed that she was here.

“Daphne!” I said, surprised to see my ex condo-cleaner waiting with the food when I got down to the lobby.

“Hi Mike,” she said with a grin. “Surprise!”

“I thought you gave the job up to concentrate on school?” I asked.

“Always need money, Mike,” she said. “School tuition was so much and I’m going to need a lot of money to keep going, so I decided to keep working when I can. I can still come to clean your condo once a week if you want. Weekend mornings are open for me if it’s good for you.”

“Sure, we can do that,” I quickly agreed. “I’ve got a game out of town Friday night, so it will be late before we get back. Ten o’clock Saturday morning sound okay?”

“That’s fine with me, just call me if anything changes,” she responded, handing me a card.

“Why didn’t you call if you still were looking for work?” I asked as I put the card in my pocket.

“I just started working again because I wanted to just experience the first semester without all the work,” she explained. “Now that I know the routine, I know what I handle both school and work and still can get good grades.”

“Alright, you’ll have to buzz up to the condo and I’ll come get you because I’ve changed the locks and the elevator has a new card system,” I informed her. “Oh, by the way, the trio broke up with me a couple months ago so it’s just me.”

“All this food is just for you?” she teased. “You’re going to get fat eating like this. And you didn’t call me as soon as you were single? You know I was supposed to be your next girlfriend, right?”

“Um, no I didn’t know that,” I admitted.

She grinned and said, “Well, think about it; I know you like my cute derriere and my go-getter attitude.”

I just shook my head and handed her a hundred.

“Keep the change,” I told her. “I’ll see you Saturday morning.”

“Okay Mike, thanks for the tip and for the opportunity,” she replied. “I’ll see you Saturday and let me know if you want me to bring some of my world-famous lasagne.”

“Sure, I love your lasagne,” I agreed.

“Alright, one lasagne coming up; have a good night eating by yourself,” she said as she handed me the food.

I watched her walk out the door and I knew she put some extra wiggle in her step just for me. She turned around to catch me checking her out and gave me a saucy grin before getting into her car. I grinned back at her and then went up the condo.

I ate my food while working on assignments, three already due for early next week. It took me a few hours to get caught up from missing the first three days of classes and was late getting to bed. It took me even longer to fall asleep as I thought about where my life was headed now that I was back in Michigan.

The next morning, after working out and attending a light practice, I went to my study labs for math and accounting before meeting the rest of the team back at the arena. We ate a leisurely lunch in the cafeteria before we had a video session on the current Western Michigan Broncos. At two we boarded the bus for the trip to Kalamazoo Michigan which took a couple hours. I worked on my laptop doing some homework and programming until the coaches told us to pack up and get ready for a quick box supper that the team brought with us. After we ate, we drove to the arena and headed in to get changed. We had a warmup skate and then relaxed until it was time to play.

The first time I got on the ice I quickly found a forward to hit as he was coming into our zone. He flew off his skates to crash to the ice while Joey grabbed up the loose puck behind me. He sent the puck up to a forward and we followed to create an odd man rush. We had almost twenty seconds of an odd man advantage before the forward’s replacement off the bench finally arrived into their zone. I got off a shot from the point that the goalie stopped before freezing the puck.

We continued with our physical play and were rewarded with a goal before the end of the period. The period ended with a score of one to nothing for us.

The second period saw them come out with more energy and several players took runs at me when I had the puck. I avoided some of them and leaned into the ones that I had to take to make a pass. What they didn’t seem to understand is that I enjoyed the hitting and wasn’t fazed at taking a hit to make a hit. I just made sure that I continued to punish them at the same time. We traded goals in the second and went into the locker room still leading by one.

The third period was more open as the Broncos knew they had to score two to win. They did even it up about half way through, but we replied a minute later. With a couple minutes left I slammed a shot through traffic that had eyes and the puck was by the goalie without him even moving. They scored once more when they pulled their goalie, but we held on to win four to three. We napped on the way home and it was midnight before we pulled into the arena parking lot. I drove home and just got into bed, falling asleep quickly.

Saturday morning, I finished a workout and was making breakfast back in the condo before ten when the intercom buzzed.

“I’ll be right down,” I said before I let Daphne into the lobby by hitting another button.

“Okay,” she replied.

She was standing just outside the elevator, holding a large tray of lasagne in her hands with a bucket of cleaning supplies by her feet when the door opened.

“Hey Daphne, let me take that for you,” I said as I reached for the lasagne.

“Watch it, it’s still hot,” she warned me. “Grab the pot holders.”

“Yes Ma’am,” I responded as I gingerly took possession of the tray.

Daphne grabbed the bucket and entered the elevator before the door closed.

“How are you this morning?” I asked.

“Good, you?” she replied.

“I’m doing okay,” I answered. “How did the first semester of University go?”

“Very well,” she told me. “I got a 3.8 GPA.”

“That’s excellent!” I enthused. “I’m proud of you. What are you taking?”

“I decided on Biology,” she replied. “How did you do?”

“I did about the same,” I informed her as the door opened at my floor.

Once inside the condo she was all business.

“Alright, let me get your laundry started and then I’ll start dusting and vacuuming the bedrooms,” she stated. “Are you sticking around? It’s going to be noisy in here.”

“I’ll head to the library,” I answered. “Let me get changed in my bedroom and you can get started.”

“Sounds good, I’ll try to be out before one, but it looks like it might even be two, depending on how much laundry you have,” she said.

“Leave a note if you leave a load in the dryer before you go,” I told her as I reached for my wallet.

I grabbed five one hundred-dollar bills and handed them over.

“Here, just in case you’re gone before I get back,” I told her. “I put the new key card for the door and the elevator on the table by the door, so you can get in next time by yourself. Anything else we need to discuss?”

“Thanks Mike,” she said, taking the money and putting it in her back pocket. “Same time next Saturday?”

“That should be okay for now, I might be out of town every other Saturday, but you have the card to get in now so just show up and do your thing and I’ll either leave some money on the table by the door or get you the next week,” I replied.

“Sounds good, thanks again,” Daphne responded before she headed to the laundry room.

I went to get changed into some decent jeans and a nice shirt. After putting on some hiking boots and my nice leather jacket by the door, I left the condo after saying goodbye to Daphne. I drove over to the parking lot nearest the library and didn’t have any trouble finding a parking spot in the almost empty lot. After finding a cubicle along the back wall of the computer science section, I started working on assignments due next week.

A few hours later I had not only gotten caught up on what was due early next week but had worked on an outline for the 4^th year project to go over with the professor on Monday. I packed up my books and drove back to the condo to have a late lunch. Daphne was gone by the time I was back, so I heated up a piece of lasagne and ate it while watching some TV. I must have dozed off because when I woke up it was time to get ready to go to the arena for the team dinner.

The defencemen sat in a group while we ate and then got ready in the locker room for the warmup. After the skate, the prerequisite speech from the coaches and the national anthem, it was finally time to start the game.

Joey and I sat the first shift and watched as John got an assist on a quick goal before half a minute was played. They stayed on the ice and kept the Broncos pinned in their zone until a whistle was blown a minute later. Joey and I took the points in their end for the faceoff with the second line and we kept the pressure on. I had two shots, with the first one being deflected just over the net and the second one bounced off the goalie’s pad right to Rich who slammed it home for our second goal.

The Broncos eventually settled down after the coach took a timeout to calm his players. They focussed on puck possession and started attacking us as the period went on. Eventually they scored a goal before the period ended in a two to one score. Coach Huntley started his speech soon after we arrived in the locker room.

“You guys started off great, but you let them back in the game with that goal,” he shouted. “No one is hitting, you’re not pressing them in the neutral zone and definitely not fore-checking enough. We need to see a better effort in the second period or they will take over this game. Defence; start hitting everything that moves in our zone and forwards, start laying the body on them as they come into the neutral zone.”

He went on for another couple of minutes before he wound down and let the position coaches move amongst us to interpret and disseminate his message. Coach Turnbull stopped in front of Joey and me but caught the eyes of the other defence pairs on either side of us.

“Okay, keep up the shots from the point and John and Mike should carry the puck up more to help the offence,” he said. “Don’t be afraid to hit anyone who has the puck as it usually makes something good happen. Finally, don’t back off as much in the neutral zone; we’re going to make them earn it to get into our zone. Okay?”

“Okay,” we all replied, and he grinned before walking back to the coach’s office.

All three pairs of defence followed his instructions to the letter in the second period. We bottled them up in the neutral zone by keeping at our blue line when they tried to get into our zone while hitting them any chance we could. John or I started most plays by carrying the puck up the ice and either dumping it in or trying to carry it into their zone. We peppered their goalie with shots and did a decent job of disrupting their offence but only came away with another goal to leave the ice up by two at the end of the period.

The coaches were happy with the period except for only scoring one goal. They implored us to keep up the pressure and not let them in the game in the last period before they left us alone.

“Did you hear that Chris Pronger has a concussion and might not be able to play in the Olympics?” John asked from my right.

“No, I didn’t,” I admitted. “When did this happen?”

“Thursday night,” he replied. “He’s out for at least a week or two. Maybe you’ll get a call from Steve Yzerman.”

“I doubt it,” I responded with a snort. “He’s got at least three or more NHL defencemen that he’ll call first. Bouwmeester, Green and Staal would get the call before me.”

“You never know,” John mused. “I think you should try to get their attention by scoring a few more goals in the next month and laying a few guys out with some hits that will get you on the highlight reels. At least they would have to put you in the mix then, don’t you think?”

“Who knows how they decide these things,” I said. “I’m not going to become a showboat just to get their attention. Huntley would have a fit and so would some of the guys.”

“You don’t have to showboat, you just put a bit more effort into hitting people,” he rebutted. “And, about getting a few more goals, just try and carry it into their zone a few more times rather than dumping it or passing it off. We all know you could score a goal or two every game if you were a bit more selfish. Now is the time to take it to the next level.”

“I don’t know, the coaches and the team might not like it,” I protested.

“Leave the team to me and the coaches will only object if the other team gets too many scoring chances while you’re deep in their zone,” John patiently explained. “Since you usually score on your attempts, and you have the speed to get back if you miss, the other team won’t get too many chances. The coaches will love the extra offence and the physical play, so don’t worry about them.”

“We’ll see,” I said, not totally buying into his plan yet.

“Just try a bit harder and don’t be afraid to go to the net with the puck,” he insisted. “What’s it going to hurt?”

“Fine, but just to shut you up,” I told him.

He grinned at me but did keep quiet for the rest of the intermission. While he was quiet I thought about what he had said and, if I was careful, it wouldn’t hurt to be a bit more aggressive carrying the puck into their zone. An extra goal or two wouldn’t be a terrible thing for the team or my slim chances to be the replacement defenceman. Since I loved hitting opposing players, ramping up the physical play was easy to do.

Once we got on the ice for our first shift of the third, both Joey and I went out of our way to hit any forward that touched the puck. I caught their centre near our blue line watching the puck on his stick rather than keeping his head up. The crowd cheered as he went flying backwards while his stick flew in the air. Joey corralled the puck as I continued up the ice, ignoring one of the Broncos who took offence at my check.

Joey hit me with a pass as I picked up steam after crossing centre ice. Their defencemen, having to stop skating forward when the play suddenly switched directions, were caught flatfooted as I split between them and rushed in on the goalie. I faked a shot to the right, pulled the puck to my backhand and then, as the goalie slid over to the left to at least cover that portion of the net, I brought the puck back to my forehand and easily slipped the puck in the open half, making the goalie look a bit foolish as he continued to slide out of his crease.

Outwardly I kept my face calm as I skated towards our bench while my teammates congratulated me, but inside I was pleased with how it went. Their trainer was on the ice helping up the forward who looked wobbly when he got up on his skates. Two teammates had to help him to the bench where he was helped to the locker room.

“That’s exactly what you needed to do,” John enthused as he hit me on the shoulder. “Guaranteed that will be on every sport show’s highlights tonight and all day tomorrow. Keep it up and they won’t be able to keep you off the team.”

“We’ll see,” I replied with a shrug.

A few minutes later I had just got back on the ice when their fourth line came over the boards. One of them was a big guy, six feet four inches or so and probably two hundred and twenty pounds. The other two were also bigger guys that a grinding fourth line usually is made up of. The slightly smaller pair came right at me when I started carrying the puck up the ice. When they got close, I passed the puck up to Jake and darted between them just before they tried to sandwich me. Instead they smashed into each other while I continued up the ice to catch up with the play.

I entered the zone to man the point as our three forwards were setting up for a clear shot with only three men against them in a triangle formation. The big forward was playing the point position and couldn’t keep up with our speedy forwards as they cycled the puck around the outside and then back to Joey at the other point. He passed it over to me and I let the slow forward come out to defend me. When he got close, I passed it down the boards to Sergio and dodged out of the way of the forward’s attempt to drive me through the boards.

With only two defencemen against five, we had an easy time getting them out of position and setting up Bobby, the left winger, for an easy goal at the far side of the net. I kept an eye on their three forwards as we congratulated Bobby on his goal, but they left the ice while just glaring at us.

We scored one more time near the end of the period and I added a couple more body crunchers along the way before the horn sounded the end of the game. Our fans gave us a standing ovation and cheered loudly when I did a quick circle on the ice as the first star. John was waiting for me with a big grin on his face when I got back to the locker room.

“A few more like that and they won’t be able to ignore you,” he said. “You’ll be on all the sport highlights tomorrow for sure.”

I just shook my head before replying, “I’m not going to get my hopes up and you shouldn’t either. It’s just too much of a long shot to get excited about.”

“Just keep doing what I said, and we’ll have you on a plane to Vancouver in a month,” he responded.

After getting dressed, I avoided going to the press conference by simply heading the other way as soon as I was out the locker room door. It was a ten-minute drive home in the snow, but I took it slow and narrowly avoided an accident then an idiot tried to purposely slide his car on the slick road and instead did a 360 turn right front of me. He gave me a sheepish look as I passed him on the other side of the road.

Once inside my condo, I relaxed while watching a period of one of the NHL games out west before calling it a night. I gave some thought to John’s plan to get me to the Olympics and, while I didn’t like showboating, being a bit more aggressive offensively shouldn’t hurt and could in fact help the team as our scoring wasn’t the best lately. Since I loved hitting people, that portion of the plan was a no-brainer. I fell asleep with knowing it was still a long shot but better to go out having tried everything I could rather than just giving up.

Sunday was a day off for me, working out, spending time on the ice and then reading ahead and working on my projects. I did go out in the afternoon and bought some new shirts and jeans – more non-CK stuff, before having dinner by myself at a nearby steakhouse. When I got home, I watched some of the sports reruns and was pleasantly surprised when I got some airtime for last night’s game. The hosts even discussed the Chris Pronger situation and, while they thought I was still a longshot, if I continued to play like I had, Steve Yzerman would have to put me in the mix. I guess John’s plan had some merit after all. There would be no shutting him up tomorrow.

The following week I was back to a normal grind of classes, assignments, programming and practices. John of course had to say I told you so with a big grin and made sure to keep the pressure up at every practice to carry the puck up more and only pass when I was cut off. Coach Benson just reminded me that eventually the other team would catch on and be prepared to feed the open man when they double teamed me. Even Coach Huntley got into it by making sure that the others on the ice with me were ready for a pass or to cover for me defensively as necessary. With everyone seemingly on board, I was less hesitant to follow the plan.

The Alaska Fairbanks Nanooks came into town on Friday and we were ready for them from the first shift onwards. Everyone wanted to get in on the action and were hitting the puck carrier as soon as they got the puck. We continued hitting them hard when Joey and I got on with the second line. I managed to rub out their left winger along the boards and sent Sergio back up the ice. Unfortunately, his shot hit the post and went out of play.

Joey got a shot on net off the faceoff in their zone that was blocked into the opposite corner. The puck eventually squirted up the boards, so I raced in to keep it in, hoping someone would back me up. Their forward barely beat me to the puck but was hesitant as he saw me approaching. His weak attempt to clear the puck hit me in the shin and bounced behind him just as I flattened him to the ice. I continued down the boards after the puck and hit the defenceman just as hard when we met at the puck. I staggered a bit but kept on my skates as he sprawled backwards. I managed to get my stick on the puck and, after a quick look, whipped the puck towards the front of the net, just past the other defenceman’s stick. Rich was waiting, now uncovered and easily redirected the hard pass into the net before the goalie could react.

John grinned and tapped my gloves when we got to the bench.

“Keep it up,” was all he said.

I just shrugged my shoulders and watched the third line hem the Nanooks in their zone again.

Later in the period I had the opportunity to carry the puck up from behind our net. After faking a pass one way, I took off the other and sped up the ice. After deking one forward, I wound up to dump the puck into their zone and faked that as well, catching their centre flatfooted. Once inside their zone, with both defencemen backing up, I showed them that I was going outside before cutting back in between them, sliding the puck inside the one defenceman’s legs when he tried to poke check me. The other one swiped at the puck but I moved it past him and then went on by. I had a second to get control of the puck as the goalie decided to try to poke check it away from me. A quick move to the right with the puck as my body avoided his ill-conceived dive and I had an open net to shoot the puck into. The red light came on as I skated around the net and headed back to the bench.

The period ended with the score 2 to 0 and everyone was in good spirits in the locker room, even the coaches. They just told everyone to keep up the physical play and expect the Nanooks to make some changes.

Whatever changes they proposed to make, didn’t work in the second period. Their forwards were tentative and got rid of the puck as soon as they could, making their passes go off the mark. We, on the other hand, took the play to them and had the Nanooks pinned in their zone most of the time. The fourth line got a goal five minutes in just by their physical play forcing a turnover and a quick goal. I set up Joey with a cross ice pass that he one-timed on net, beating the goalie through the screen. One more goal got by their beleaguered goalie before he was pulled. The second period mercifully ended at 5 to 0.