Her Knight in a Cowboy Hat
"...why Fulton...Portman...not good," Charlie muttered to himself as he checked the clipboard and the current available players he could change up in the box. Dwayne settled into his place at the bench and placed a towel around his neck. He rubbed his shoulder which was slightly sore from being ambushed by several, burly Iceland players. He watched as Charlie scratched his head then announced that Connie would go out now.
Connie rose from her place at the bench and put her helmet on, letting her long braid dangle out from the bottom. She grabbed her hockey stick and began to straddle over the box wall, when Charlie leaned out and touched her arm.
"Connie, be careful. They're gunning for you," he warned her.
Dwayne watched her as she whipped around and looked back at Charlie over her shoulder. She didn't seem concerned like Charlie was, her eyes looking up and her lips slightly parted as if she was going to sigh impatiently. She rolled her eyes at Charlie and shook him off as she continued to climb over the wall.
"Don't worry I'll be fine!" Connie replied as she turned back to the action and joined the current line up of players on the ice.
Dwayne made a face as he watched her leave the box and couldn't help but share Charlie's concern. Sure Connie was a tough girl on their team but these guys... He sighed as he pulled his towel off his neck and his other hand picked up the water bottle nearby. He took a long swig from it and wiped away the escaping water drops as he watched Connie enter the game.
Connie skated to the side to keep an eye on one of their teammates who had the puck. Dwayne froze in the box when he spotted one of the Iceland players skating behind her and suddenly crushing her against the side of the rink with the weight of his larger body.
"Auuugh!" she groaned as she slide down the rink wall and onto the ice on her side.
Dwayne sprang to his feet and began yelling with the rest of his teammates for the refs to do something about his act of misconduct. The audience echoed their dissent but the refs let it slide. He gritted his teeth as he sat down and saw that the Iceland player had lingered to laugh at Connie's sprawled form on the ice. Then the same player skated by the penalty box and knocked on the glass to upset the two Bash Brothers still waiting to be let back in, snickering at their inability to help. Immediately, Fulton and Portman sprang to their feet and gnashed their teeth at him as he skated by. Dwayne didn't blame them – he too felt helpless just sitting in the box and watching these brutes get away with knocking them down.
The rest of the team in the box stared anxiously as Iceland regained control of the puck and positioned themselves to shoot it into the goal. The player controlling the puck smacked the puck toward the goal and Goldberg flicked it away with his hockey stick. The puck skidded diagonally toward the back of the goal and ended up against the wall. Then Connie skated over and tried to wedge the puck free from its place against the wall, only to have it cling and move farther down the wall.
Meanwhile, the rest of the team noticed the same Iceland player had seen Connie struggling with the puck. He quickly flipped the Duck player he had been facing off against and began skating furiously over to Connie.
"Get out of there Connie!" Coach Bombay yelled at her.
Dwayne watched her and saw that she had raised her head to see the Iceland player heading for her. Instead of listening to Coach Bombay though, she continued to dig frantically at the puck to wedge it free. His eyes widened in horror and his blood ran cold at this sight. Once was bad but twice? At the speed this fella was going, he was going to do more than just knock Connie down! Dwayne looked around, trying to find some way he could help her out to avoid being smushed against the side again. His eyes fell on his trusty lasso rope and he gripped it in his left hand before turning back to the action, a huge smile on his face.
"Yee-haw!" he declared before jumping to his feet and climbing over the box.
"What the?"
"What are you doing?"
"Tex!"
He ignored his teammates and Coach Bombay as he raised the lasso high and twirled it expertly. He skated in the direction where Connie was trying to free the puck and he sped up to stop the Iceland player.
"I'm coming Connie!" he declared. He managed to get about three feet away from the Iceland player when he heard the Iceland player start yelling a warlike cry as he approached Connie.
Her head snapped up at the cry and Dwayne timed it in his head. Three, two, one...now! He flung the lasso up high and it sailed over the head and shoulders of the burly Iceland player before slipping down to his waist.
Connie's eyes were filled with a mixture of panic and surprise as the Iceland player continued to come for her. Except once he reached her, Dwayne tightened the lasso loop and and dragged the heavier player to the ground. Dwayne continued to pull the guy closer to him until he was by his feet. He smiled at his handiwork while the other members cheered for him back in the box. He lifted his gaze from the roped player to Connie who returned his smile with a knowing look in her eyes.
He forced the Iceland player to his feet with a, "Get up there!"
The player pushed himself up with his knees and locked eyes with Dwayne. Dwayne glared him down before moving his hand closer to the loop to keep a tight grip on this guy.
"Now where I come from we treat ladies with respect!" he growled.
Connie skated up next to him and she couldn't help but smile. Sure, the rest of the team called him 'Hop-Along Gretzky' and made fun of him for missing the jokes behind their slang but she had to admit, he knew how to be a true gentleman and save the day. Even if it was...very him, method wise.
"Thank you Dwayne, but I'm no lady," Connie told him. She turned her attention to the Iceland player and her expression darkened. "I'm a Duck!" she declared as she elbowed the Iceland player to the ground. Dwayne chuckled at Connie's move and couldn't help but approve. The player fell back to the ice and Connie snorted in disgust.
Then he felt a hand on his shoulder and Dwayne turned his head to see one of the referees leading him away for his misconduct. Oh well.
"Come on!" Connie snapped at the Iceland player as he staggered to his feet. She locked eyes with him for a brief moment before skating off. She heard him try to chase after her but then heard and felt the thud on the ice, thanks to Dwayne's rope tangling his skates up.
As the referee led him to the penalty box, he didn't care if they said it was wrong. Even the audience was cheering him on for his bold move. The door opened to the penalty box and Dwayne stepped in, enjoying the roar of the crowd, all in agreement with him. He jumped up onto the bench and began pounding on the fiberglass divider to echo the fans. As he riled the crowd up even more, he couldn't stop replaying Connie's smile in his head. It was sweet and warm; he hadn't noticed before what a pretty smile she had. He wished that he wasn't stuck in this penalty box now so he could go back to the bench with her and talk about stuff. He wished that she wasn't with that sandy-haired fella who was a fair player with the funny name. He wondered though, what did she think of his act?