The Sweet One

Chapter 17

           "It's what I  can do for the team. Let me do it." 

          "Charlie, I need you on the bench. Coaching right there next to me." 

           We cheered, then continued to get ready for the game. I had to try and lock in without my music today cause I forgot to grab my Walkman and headphones as I was in such a rush. The arena was bigger then the previous ones, and it was very obvious when we walked out onto the ice. I was kinda nervous so I was fidgeting with my thumb, and Dean noticed. 

          "Hey, it's gonna be okay Emery." Dean reassured kissing the top of my head, making me blush. 

           All of us were excited, We had finally made it to the championship.

           "Heads high! Stand tall! Fly straight! USA!" 

            "ALL THE WAY!" We chanted and cheered before zoning in for our last big game. 

             I was really jittery before the game. This was the big finale. There's no space for mistakes now. The game started, Averman took faceoff, he got knocked down, Guy got checked down in the corner, even Dean was getting checked into the boards. Iceland shot for a goal, but luckily Goldberg saved it. At one point, one of the Iceland players tripped Goldberg and they scored a goal cause of it. DP they even know hoe to play real hockey or for they only know the cheater's way. One of the bigger guys was taunting Goldberg and he went to o after the guy, but Kenny and Dwayne held Goldberg back. I mean that guy was twice Goldberg's height or more, he could kill him. Coach called a line change and put Guy, Jesse and Russ out on the ice 

              "C'mon Russ, you got this." I encouraged

           I heard Stansson tell his team instructions. 

           "That's the shooter! Watch him! Get him!" 

          Shit. They're going after Russ. 

          "Coach, can I go out." 

          He nodded, "Dean! In!" 

          I immediately got out onto the ice. I was trying my best to block the Iceland guys from getting Russ, but I was also getting beat up. Russ went to do his knuckle puck and one of the Iceland guys dove Infront of him, stealing the puck. These guys were crushing us. When Coach put Banks out, Sanderson, once again was hitting Banks' wrist, with his stick. All of  our team who was on the bench was standing up, wanting to argue about it.

           "Sit down. Sit down. Hey ref, why don't you call something? He almost took his arm off!" 

           Sanderson only got 2 minutes in the box, in my opinion, he should've been thrown from the game for that.

           "That'll be two minutes." 

          "Two minutes well worth it." 

          As he was getting in the box Kenny skated Infront of him. 

          "Get in the box ya big goon" 

          I was now on the bench as we switched our lineup, and I was laughing at Kenny's comment to the guy. Connie had the puck and dove between two Iceland guys, then Dwayne got the puck. Dean was Infront of the net calling for it, but Dwayne didn't pass it and got shoved from behind by an Iceland guy. Damnit, Dwayne and his stupid showboating. Iceland had the puck and Luis went after him, skating towards the goal. However Luis took out the Iceland guy with a fall and they  went into the goal, including the puck. The next play, Coach called for the Flying V. The boys met up behind the goal, skating up the ice, that was until the Iceland team broke up the flying V, takin the puck, with Gunnar Stahl scoring the next goal. Lovely, now the score is 4-0, this is just great. Luckily, we have something or shall I say someones, that they don't have. The bash brothers. Us three decided to team up and cause some chaos out there, and hopefully help us win while making it a lot harder for the Iceland team. We got out on the ice and were checking everyone and anyone we could into the boards. Dean and Fulton even clotheslined one of the guys. One of the the guys attempted to score on us but luckily Goldberg saved it. Kenny skated around our net, then up the ice, he even used some spinning jump move to distract and split the Iceland defense and even mesmerizing the goalie. Fulton had the puck, on the side of the stunned defensemen, and passed it to Kenny who got Infront of the goal and scored. We were all cheering for him. Honestly, that was the coolest move I ever saw. Kenny started teasing the Iceland goalie. 

         "What'd you think of that? Pretty sweet huh?" 

         The goalie tried to go after him. 

        "Hey, hey, you want a piece of me? Here, take that!" Kenny said as he did the stick-gloves-shirt move that James taught him. 

          Kenny who was barely half the size of the goalie, was beating him up. The ref put him in the penalty box for doing what he did. Dean, Fulton and I  were so proud of him, that we skated over to the penalty box, screaming. 

           "Yeah!" 

           "Alright Ken Wu!" 

           "Our little Bash Brother!" 

            "You rock little bro!" 

           "Yeah! He's our man!" 

          We continued cheering and partying, we even threw off our helmets. 

           "Hey, you guys, come one. Get.... Let's play hockey!" Coach tried to stop us

          We kept partying and  skating around the ice, Fulton skated past our bench, high fiving the team, then past the Iceland bench while hitting their helmets. Dean went from the Iceland side doing the same, then I went from the same side Fulton did. It may have not been the best idea, but damn was it fun, getting to tease the Iceland team like a bunch of goofballs. We also ended up getting misconduct penalties for our actions. We joined Kenny in the box and we were all still partying our asses off, banging on the glass of the box. 

          "Yeoh!!!!" Us four kept cheering.

          The game went back into play and I could hear Stansson yell the word destroy. Shit, that's not good. Connie's going on the ice, they're gonna kill her. Olaf checked her into the boards, then skated past us tapping the glass with his stick and me dean and Fulton full on body slammed the glass. All of us were flaming, wanting revenge. No way was I gonna let one of my best friends on the team get crushed by some stupid cheating  idiot. Iceland had the puck, and now we were back on the bench, They shot the puck and it went into the corner. Connie was trying to get it and Olaf went right for her, trying to check her into the boards. Dwayne went out onto the ice with a lasso; which no ne know how he got it. He chase Olaf down the ice, and right begore he collided with Connie, Dwayne roped him, pulling him back. Olaf fell and backwards and Dwayne pulled him back, standing right above him. Dwayne pulled Olaf up and Connie skated over. I saw Connie talking to Dwayne, then Olaf. What made me really proud was when we saw Connie shove Olaf to the ground. Olaf tried to get up and go after Connie again but he fell flat on his face. Dwayne ended up getting a penalty for roping. The game was 4-1 so far, then I heard Coach make a remark 

            "This isn't a hockey game, it's a circus." 

             It was the end of the second period and er had a small break where we got to go back to the locker room. 

             "Y'all enjoy that?" 

           "Yeah!" We all chimed '

          "Okay, well so did they, because they're still three points up and we're one period away from defeat." 

           "If we can't beat them, we might as well keep our pride." 

           "Jesse that's not pride." Coach spoke 

          "Sure when Dwayne roped that big oaf part of me cheered. But guys, I've been there. I know how you feel. I wanted to cream that jerk that busted my knee when I played in the minors. And I really wanted to go after Stansson for that cheap shit. But you know what? My knee will heal. And if I become someone I'm not, if I sink to their level, well then I've lost more than my knee. You understand."