A Miracle On Ice

Chapter 17 "Mike's Captain"

"Come on, Carls! Pass it to Brots!" Herb called out to his daughter. She immediately did as she was told and slid the puck over to Neal.

They were playing a practise game. Herb was coaching one team and Craig took the other.

Right now it was Rammer, Brots, Carly, Morrow and Koho on the ice for Herb's team, and Rizzo, Mark and the Coneheads for Craig.

"Rammer!" Broten yelled, as he slipped the puck to Rammy's stick. 

He accepted gracefully and was about to shoot, when Paver and Bah snatched the puck from him rushing forward.

"Damn!" Rammer huffed, catching up to them.

Morrow and Koho tried to stop them before the net, but them Buzzy slipped through the D and was hit with a pass by Paver.

Easy goal.

Herb blew his whistle, "Eyes open!"

Then he turned to Rammy, "Ramsey, you're an eighteen-year-old prima donna, and next year you're gonna be a nineteen-year-old prima donna." he called out.

Carly and Neal made eye contact, trying to hold in their laughter as Rammy just huffed in annoyance.

Then the whistle sounded again, "Line change! Let's hurry this up!"

So they got back on the bench, watching the next line ups face off.

Verchota was skating towards the goal with the puck, supported by Wellsy and Strob, when he was checked hard by OC.

Again the whistle sounded, "Verchota, heads up! In front of that net, it's bloody nose alley!"

Inside the locker room, the team was shouting and laughing like always.

Koho had pulled ice cubes in OC's shoes, while Carly had distarcted him and he was currently cursing her out, while everyone else was dying of laughter.

Carly grinned at him, "Sorry, man. Couldn't stop myself from helping a dear teammate."

"Not a smart choice, Brooks. I'm getting revenge." OC promised his friend, "You don't know who you're messing with."

"That's coming from a guy who chose BU over Harvard." she shot back.

OC just chuckled at her, "Well, I wasn't going to get any smarter at Harvard."

"Hey, don't get regional!" Bah called over his shoulder, making everyone burst out in laughter again.

Then Herb entered the room, holding a bunch of papers, "Alright, we're voting Captains. I need everyone to write down one name on who you wanna have as a Captain." he said passing the papers around.

"Till when?" Carly asked him.

Herb checked his watch, "You got about twenty minutes."

Then he left again.

Commotion started again. Everyone was talking to their seating neighbors, "Hey, who you picking?"

"Rizzo, you?" Jim Craig said, two seats to the right from Carly.

The girl was currently trying to read what Johnson was writing over his shoulder.

"Hey, no peeking." he scolded.

"Come on, let me have a look." she pouted.

Mark grinned, "It's a secret."

Carly huffed at that, "You suck."

"I'm very good at sucking, don't you think?" he whispered to her, earning a hit on the arm.

"Perv." she chuckled.

Carly decided on also voting for Rizzo as team Captain. He was happy and upbeat, getting along with everybody and always cheering everybody up. Perfect choice.

"Alright, guys! Let's go give these to Herb and then get some dinner." Mac called out from the door, being followed by the rest.

Koho was the last one to leave the locker room that day, occupied with filling everyone's gloves up with talcum powder. He needed to keep his prankster status after all.

A few days later, they were practising conditioning again, after finishing a scrimmage.

They were bombarded with Herb's sayings again today, hearing things like, "Passing comes from the heart, not from the stick." or, "Weave, weave, weave, but don't just weave for the sake of weaving."

Today's favorite was definitely when he yelled at Christoff for missing the goal, "Don't dump the puck in. That went out with short pants."

A few of the guys had bought a book to write Herb's quotes in. When he cursed out Christoff that day, Carly looked straight at Rizzo to see him nodding at OC.

Herb sent the team from the blue line to do the Herbies around fifteen times, before he made them gather at center ice.

"We skate again tomorrow, be on the ice at ten, Mike's captain, and our next game is against Birmingham." Herb ended the practise, sending them off.

Everyone congratulated Rizzo on the Captainship, while also laughing about how Herb said it.

Carly had told the team she was going home tonight, so now she was laying on her bed, reading a book.

"Oh, you're here." an unenthusiastic voice called out, when the door opened.

Carly looked up, barely acknowledging her sister.

Ally shut the door again, laying on her own bed and ignoring Carly.

"Okay, listen." Carly put her book down after a few minutes, "I know you're pissed at me, because I wasn't here to hear you rant about yet another douchebag, but I had practise. If you want my help, here it goes: stop dating douchebags and find a real man for once. I hated Jacob from the beginning and you know it. And just because I don't get worked up about guys, like you do, doesn't mean I don't care about what you're going through."

"But I am training for the goddamn Olympics here, so excuse me if Jacob isn't ranking higher than that on my priority list." she ended her ranting.

Ally gave her a look, "It wasn't about Jacob. It's about you comforting your sister, like you know she would. And you seeing that I'm not doing well and giving a shit. It's about me wanting you to listen and be there for me like I am for you!"

"Well, if you're always there for me why do you keep bugging me about my goals? This is my dream and you know that. I always wanted to play hockey and I am working hard for that." Carly yelled at her sister, "I don't need support when it comes to guys, but that's all you think support is about! Can you just get through your head that you are doing the same thing to me?"

Ally stared at her dumbfounded, realizing that her sister was right. Then Carly got up and left the room, before slamming the door shut.