Chapter 2
It was Monday morning just after 7am and the Steamrollers were back at the rink getting ready for their morning skate, but much to the annoyance of the youngsters their coach was late.
‘What is going on?’ David grumbled he hated early morning practice and with the coach being late that wasn’t helping his mood. Troy looked to the team’s assistant coach Barry White for answers, but he shrugged his shoulders.
‘Sorry guys but I know about this as much as you do.’ He said.
‘I’m hungry!’ Frank Holland whined.
‘You’re always hungry bro nothing new there,’ Andrew Elsom teased.
The locker room door opened, and Coach Seymour strode in looking happy and un-perturbed by his lateness.
‘Mike where have you been?’ Barry asked Mike patted his assistant on the shoulder.
‘Had a meeting with some very important people Bar don’t worry about it,’ he answered and faced his team.
‘All right guys go get yourself warmed up.’ He said and the players left the locker room and made their way onto the ice. Mike and Barry had their skates on along with their assistant trainers
‘First exercise I want to begin with is the skating warm up. Six times up and down the ice 3 up and 3 down and we’re doing this in group of threes,’ Michael explained.
‘Victoria, Caleb and James you are up first.’ He added and the trainers went out with their cones to make out the places and the three skaters went into position.
‘Barry.’ Michael said and held out his hand; Barry placed a stopwatch in his hand and gave one to another of the trainers’.
‘Get set…ready…go!’
All three skaters took off at a rapid fast pace none of them go ahead they matched stride for stride. The first few laps was easy going the further it dragged on legs begun to tire bringing a good test of their individual stamina. With six laps completed the next trio were up. When Vick grabbed her bottle from behind the bench it was then she noticed several men seated in the rows behind looking on at their practice.
‘Coach?’ she asked.
‘Yes Victoria,’
‘Who are they?’’
‘It is not your concern Pearson just focus,’ he answered. Vick bemused by his comment decided to shrug it off and get back to work.
In the next part of their practice Michael had them go through game plans for their next game then he worked with his 4 lines pitting them against each other. Barry has been Mike’s assistant for two years now and knew he liked to work his players hard, have them polished at the top of their game. This was different something Barry hadn’t seen before Mike seemed particularly keen to have his three best forwards work the hardest.
‘Ok good job everyone; have a break and we resume in fifteen minutes,’ he said and the players looked relieved to get the break.
‘Bar, can I have the results as soon as possible,’ Michael said.
‘Yes of course. Ed will have them entered in the database right away and I’ll get the printout,’ Barry remarked.
‘Good.’
Mike walked off the ice and stood by the bench facing the windowpane as the group of men standing further up the seats made their way down to talk with him. The conversation was brief followed by handshakes and then the group made their way out.
‘So, what was that all about?’ Barry asked.
‘Just business,’ Mike replied.
‘Look Mike something is up you’ve been tight-lipped since the game, so what is going on?’ Barry remarked. He sighed looked at the kids mingling around across the other side of the ice.
‘Listen, I got approached after the last game by a couple of NHL scouts. They are very interested in Thomas, Sattler and Pearson. Nothing serious yet but they have their eye on the trio. One of the teams seems keen to see a bit more so I invited them to practice. They’ll also attend the next game.’
‘Pearson too? Really?’
‘Yes. That caught me by surprise. She’s turning heads, Bar I knew she would but not this soon.’
‘Is there anything else we need to do?’ Barry asked. Mike shook his head.
‘Not yet. They’ll make their own decisions between now and the game and inform me later.’ He answered.
Practice was complete by 9:15am with the players free to go.
‘Victoria, I want to see you before you leave.’ Mike said she cocked her head curious as to why, but she didn’t question and quickly finished packing then went up to her coach.
‘I heard about your little game with some locals the other night,’ he began.
‘Oh.’ She said.
‘I don’t want you messing with the wrong kids and especially not now. We’re here to win and I expect all my players to be on their best behavior,’ he answered she nodded.
‘Yes, sir but maybe you should tell that to Troy and his little party antics. That I think deserved more attention than me having a game,’ she replied.
‘Yes, I know that and I will talk to him afterwards but Victoria you need to listen. You have made quite an impression lately and a lot of people are starting to take notice. Important people as well so I want to be sure that you stay out of trouble. Just go out and do what you do best,’ he explained now lowering his voice so the others wouldn’t hear. Vick nodded her head in understanding. She didn’t think she had done anything special.
‘All right coach’ She answered.
‘Good.’
He let her go and called Troy next.
Vick, along with her teammates went to the car park to board their bus, the sun was out sky was a delightful light blue for such an early morning.
‘Hey, kid!’ somebody shouted. She turned two men were stood at the other end of the bus dressed for the warm Florida heat. They looked familiar she couldn’t place their faces.
‘You talking to me?’ she asked.
‘Yeah. Saw you skating this morning. Your quick.’
‘So?’
‘We’ll be keeping an eye on you.’
‘All right.’ She said with a shrug and getting into the bus.
‘That one has some spike.’ the darker haired one said.
‘Yep, she could be a handful I think,’ the blonde one replied.
***
After another day of practice over seen by Michael’s mysterious visitors it was finally game day, between the Steamrollers and the Bulls. The team had arrived 45minutes early, the rink was slowly filling up as the crowd filed in ready to watch the game. Michael was extra anxious about this game more than he was in their championship faceoff last season. Aware of the attention from scouts was growing on his players and not told them he felt the most pressure. He wanted to ensure they performed at their best. Barry had tried to convince him to tell the players, but he refused. They had enough to focus on he didn’t want them distracted by dangling a false carrot in front of them.
‘Mike, we got to let them go warm up,’ Barry whispered.
‘Huh? Oh, yeah right.’ Michael stood up to address his players.
‘Go warm up guys and just soak up the atmosphere as I always tell you. This is an important game for a lot of reasons. We win and we guarantee a spot in the next round. We lose and we will have to rely on other results which I don’t want to do,’ he replied.
‘Don’t worry coach we won’t let you down,’ Stephen said leading the team out for their pre-game warm up Barry, and the trainers went along to keep an eye Mike stayed behind with the medical staff.
‘Mr. Seymour,’
Mike turned around to look at the well-dressed but slightly stocky man with a receding hairline.
‘Oh Mr. Bowman sorry I didn’t see you there,’ he apologized.
‘Not to worry. Good luck today and we will be watching your team closely,’ Mr. Bowman remarked.
‘Thank you. I just hope we don’t disappoint, the players I mean,’ Michael answered.
‘I am sure they will not. They have shown a lot of potential already and it is why we are here and have watched them in practice.’ Mr. Bowman said he shook Mike’s hand and left. Mike breathed out at last brushed off his clothing straightened up. It was game time he had work to do. Striking his professional pose, he walked out of the locker room and moved to his position on the bench. Warm up finished and the players came back to assemble themselves on the bench.
‘Vick we’ll start with your line,’ he instructed she nodded. The referee called for the two lines they moved to center ice.
‘Let’s have a good game kids’ the referee said and dropped the puck Victoria won the face-off. The Bulls left winger; gained control of the puck He navigated past the defense easily and entered the zone. With a slick bank pass to himself he made a good play giving him a clear shot on goal. Andrew stopped with his pad covered the puck.
‘Watch yourselves guys they mean business.’ Andrew said.
‘I got it.’ Vick answered her opposing center Scott Riley laughed aloud.
‘Please you got lucky girl. I’m the best center man here,’ he remarked and the statistics backed him up. Riley currently is the top center in the competition with Victoria a close second.
James sniggered.
‘You have no idea, Riley. Pearson is just as good as anyone here so don’t underestimate her.’ He said.
‘Just get on with it.’ He growled.
‘You got it.’ She agreed and again won the face-off. Angelo was able to get the puck to the Bulls zone and set up; they swung the puck left to right finding the right shot and before the Bulls could gain possession.
‘Throw it behind!’ Vick yelled. James sent his pass across, but it was blocked and sent back out again, David quickly regained but his teammates had to come back onside they did in a hurry, and he dumped the puck in.
‘Change!’ Mike called sending Troy’s line next.
***
The game through the first two periods was scrappy but the Steamrollers held a 2-1 lead as they headed into the final period. Back out on the ice Mike opted to use Troy’s line again to kick things off. He felt his 3rd and 4th lines might be able to weather the storm in the first few minutes before his two top lines got back out there. In the next few minutes of the time passing by his plan worked the Bulls looked to be tiring now this was his chance.
‘Pearson you’re up.’ Mike said.
‘Got it.’
‘Change!’
Troy’s line was off and Vick’s line back on the ice. They gained control of the puck at center ice and made an attack. This time she pushed David from his usual defense position on the blue line to mark the area behind the net. Next, she passed the puck to Markus he skated a short distance but was stopped by the Bulls right winger he was able to knock the puck loose. Markus was able to re-gather and bounced the puck off the boards towards Angelo. He ducked a check firing a quick wrister through a screen block by James. The puck clanged right off the post the crowd groaned, and the puck bounced loose and Vick chased after it but just got beaten by Riley.
‘Try and catch me!’ he exclaimed jumping on the loose puck. Vick followed already right on his tale catching him by surprise. With one hand he held her off as best she could while she wedged her stick between his and the puck. They tussled as they moved towards the zone. Riley was able to get a weak wrist shot off Andrew made another simple easy save.
‘Get off me.’ He snapped. They continued to scrap even after the whistle.
‘Enough.’ The referee interjected separating them. Next faceoff she won easily Vick moved away from hm to follow the puck, but she soon found herself getting entangled with him again he kept perusing her using his stick to intervene. She shuffled the puck along to James, slid to a stop and turned to Riley. He had the unmistakable smirk on his face.
‘Oh, you want to go do you.’ He taunted.
‘No.’ She back backing away to the faceoff. This time Riley won it she followed closely so he wouldn’t be able to get away. Their tussle continued and the puck was forgotten. Riley spun around and managed to get her into a headlock causing her helmet to dislodge slightly but not enough to bother her.
‘Get back to the game,’ the referee said breaking it up. Riley was not having it. Vick did her best ignore him. He won another faceoff she went to attack him as they skated into the corner. They continued to mess around sticks jabbing away at the loose puck he tried to protect it with his skate, and she kept wedging her stick behind. One arm landed across her shoulder as he tried to get her into another headlock this time helmet off completely, she didn’t care. She could hear her coach yelling from the bench. Riley eventually got free to chase the puck down as one of his teammates put pressure on the Steamrollers defenders managing to knock the puck loose and it trickled out of the zone. Riley wasted little time launching himself after it and getting his stick to touch it just slightly and he was gone. Vick wasn’t having it gave chase he was several strides out in front he glanced back she was still behind. As he reached the blueline he glanced again and she was right alongside him reaching with her stick around him for the puck. He dropped his shoulder to keep her off giving him just enough room to fire a shot saved. Irritated Riley struck out his elbow catching her cheek. The whistle went immediately. Finally hearing her coach yelling she slowly skated back to the bench.
‘Oh, god Vick are you alright?’ Danielle asked.
‘Fine.’ She said. Mike stalked over to her side of the bench.
‘Pearson, what the hell was that?’
She shrugged.
‘It was a breakaway.’
‘That’s not an excuse young lady.’ Mike answered, visibly annoyed. She shrugged again the trainer came over with the icepack to her face she winced for a moment.
‘Just another scar to add the growing list,’ Angelo teased her; Vick grunted she was in no mood for the teasing.
The clock wound down with 10 minutes left to go in the game still with the Steamrollers ahead by one goal, Michael was sure the Bulls would have some sneaky plan up their sleeve. He’d spent enough time studying their style of play in their previous games to know this.
‘Listen up team we need to go for all-out attack now,’ he said.
‘So, what do you plan to do?’ Stephen asked.
‘New line this time I want Stephen, Caleb, James, Victoria and Darren as a unit out there,’ he remarked they all knew he meant business; it was very rare he put this group out on the ice.
‘The Bulls will want to attack as well so I want you guys to do the same. Show no mercy to them,’ he answered.
‘Right gang you heard him let’s do it.’ Stephen replied. They moved in for the face-off that was in the neutral zone and Caleb took charge. He won the face-off, but the puck was stolen by Henry Jones the Bulls left-winger. They passed the puck around trying to find a way to get it into the Steamrollers end, but their defense proved too good to penetrate. So, Jones received the puck back from Carl Chisholm his center man and dumped the puck in the zone instead. That’s where Darren gained control skated around the net headed up ice the others made checks on their opponents to clear a path for him. Out the corner of his eye he saw Vick looming up on the right side. Instead of a big wind up he faked a pass to her and bounced the puck straight of the sideboard and allowed it to trickle inside the Bulls end. That was where Vick picked it up and with the rest of the Bulls players out of play from the checking of the Steamrollers, it left her with just the goaltender. She went for five-hole, but he had it covered. She switched to her backhand flipping the puck over the goaltender’s outstretch hand and as it floated past, she took another air swing keeping her stick below the crossbar. Catching just enough of the puck to bat at it the puck fell into the net. Red light was on the referee pointed to the net. Goal 3-1 Steamrollers. The crowd was cheering Vick got swamped again by her linemates and the bench was losing its mind.
‘Ok, ok guys calm down there is still plenty of work to do and enough time for the Bulls. You guys stay out there a little longer. I will call you in for a shift change soon.’ Michael said and they returned for the face-off. Caleb got chucked out after going too early so Vick took it and won. The Bulls went hard on attack as soon as they gained control and Michael could see his players were tiring quickly as the Bulls kept shifting the puck around the zone. Darren made a blocked shot but lost his stick, Caleb and Vick were both struggling to get to the puck and force it out of the zone. At last James was able to put in a diving slide to poke it away from Jones and the puck was free and Stephen grabbed a handle on it and was able to force it right down the other end for an icing call.
‘Hang in there guys not long!’ he called. This time Caleb won it with ease and James again cleared it from the zone without causing an icing.
By the end of the game the Steamrollers won 5-3 with the last 7-and-a-half minutes a frenzy of end-to-end action. The crowd began to disperse now, and the Bulls were quick to get off the ice not happy at losing the game.
‘Gather in guys.’ Michael said his team got around in the huddle.
‘I am very proud of all of you today. You came through very well and delivered the match winners. Be proud of yourselves guys. We are off to the next round.’
‘Woohoo!!’ the players cried and high-fived each other and along with the trainers and medical staff headed for the locker room.
‘Mr. Seymour,’
Michael turned around Mr. Bowman and his two assistants Mr. Lewis and Mr. Drysdale and four guys approached him.
‘Hey Bar, can you do me a favor and get Pearson, Thomas and Sattler back here?’ Michael asked Barry nodded.
‘I won’t be long,’ he said and true to his word a couple of minutes later Barry was back with the three players in tow. Victoria had a slight frown on her face when recognizing two of the guys from the other day.
‘Caleb, James and Victoria I want the three of you to meet Scotty Bowman, Dave Lewis and Greg Drysdale the coaching staff of the Detroit Red Wings,’ Michael introduced them.
‘Far out,’ Caleb said Michael shot him a glare.
‘Sorry.’ Caleb quickly apologized. Scotty was the one to step forward first, he held out his hand. Caleb stepped up first accepting the handshake then James and Vick last. The elderly man smiled at each of them.
‘Nice to meet you three. Have to say we’ve been thoroughly impressed.’ He remarked.
‘Thanks, I certainly do my best,’ Caleb quipped with a big smile. Beside him, James mumbled under his breath Vick rolled her eyes slightly exasperated. Scotty smiled he turned back to another group behind him.
‘I also want to introduce you some of my playing group.’
‘We have our captain Steve Yzerman, Nicklas Lidstrom, Kris Draper and Kirk Maltby,’ Scotty said making the introductions. The four players stepped into view Caleb gasped James and Vick’s jaws dropped. They glanced at each other and the players this was insane and back at each other again.