DISCLAIMER: I do not own any part of the Mighty Ducks.
Hi all! Hope you enjoy the story, it's my first fan fiction - do post reviews, I'll find them most helpful - I hope to update soon!
D4:
THE MIGHTY DUCKS:
REDEMPTION
CHAPTER I
"Tyler, Mendoza, change it up!" yelled an anxious Coach Orion as the Eden Hall Mighty Ducks battled their way through an intensive third period. They were playing the North Division Leopards in the final game of the State Championship, in their second year at Eden Hall. They had played consistently throughout the year, and all they needed was a single point to win the trophy. Their opponents, on the other hand, were also a powerful team and were one point behind the Ducks in the league table at 2nd – but they needed to win to take home the title.
Things stood at 3-1 to the Ducks, with goals from Dwayne Robertson, Charlie Conway and Fulton Reed. Just over 5 minutes remained on the clock. The Leopards, although battling hard, were tiring, and another Ducks goal looked almost inevitable.
"Quack, quack, quack, quack!" chanted an enormously excited crowd. There were few supporters who weren't cheering for the Ducks. Either that or they just did not dare show themselves with so many of the opposition's fans present. It was a hostile crowd, and harsh comments were occasionally shouted at the Leopards team.
Guy Germaine charged down the left flank and slid in a swift pass to Luis Mendoza who was speeding down the centre. He received the pass and controlled it well, before setting up to shoot. Just as he swung back to hit the puck, he felt a slight push from behind, which put him off the target and sent him crashing into the goalie, the puck not being struck.
He got straight back up and raced over to where the referee was having a word with the pusher. Luis pulled him around and gave him a shove, looking at him with hatred in his eyes. He had stopped Luis from scoring that shot. Luis was about to start swearing at him but the referee interrupted. "Alright son, calm it down." Luis heard the ref but his attention was still focused on the player. "I-I'm sorry man," the player said, meaning it, and holding out his hand to shake, in a most friendly and respectful way. It was not a good idea to mess with the Ducks these days. "Get away from me man!" Luis was not having any of it and just as the player turned to walk away he advanced to push him again, but was stopped by a now impatient referee.
"Right, in the box, come on." He took a furious Mendoza over to the penalty box. "Number 22, two minutes" he told a fellow match official.
"Boo!" chanted the crowd, and insults were blasted at the Leopards player as he tried to carry on with the game.
"Time out! Time out!" shouted the Leopards coach, and play was stopped as the Leopards raced over to hear what their manager had to say. The Ducks made their way over to Coach Orion.
"Alright team, you're holding your ground out there, good playing. Mendoza made a stupid move but we can't do anything about that now. We're a man down so don't loose your concentration here. Their coach is probably gearing them for a major attack now that we're one down, so watch out. Alright, let's win it!"
The five players remaining, Julie Gaffney, Charlie Conway, Russ Tyler, Fulton Reed and Guy Germaine all gathered in their own half momentarily.
"Alright guys, we saw what they did to Luis, now let's show them who we are." Said Guy.
"That cup belongs to us" Russ said, "these dudes aren't taking anything of ours."
"We're the best, the BEST. Now let's end this." Charlie told them, a look of hybrid determination on his face.
The crowd continued to cheer the Ducks on, and as the last four minutes were played, the leopards were receiving a really physical, if not also mental, thrashing.
With to minutes to go, Mendoza leaped out of the penalty box, and joined his team who had just given away possession by sloppily allowing a pass to be intercepted.
The Leopards charged down the rink and the Ducks, not willing to give up the title, headed to intercept them. The Leopards' number 9 slid his way past Charlie with a little too much ease – although not intentionally, Charlie swiped his stick in a rage and it thumped the Leopards player on the back of his leg. He came crashing down, and the referee was promptly on the scene.
"That'll be two minutes," he immediately told Charlie. "Oh come on, ref!" Charlie was angry, both with himself, for stupidly hitting the player, but also with the ref, who had just brought them a man down with a fraction of the game left.
The other Ducks cried out in protest, as did the crowd, and Guy, feeling the same anger as his teammate, foolishly shouted foul abuse at the referee, and was promptly ordered to the box with Charlie.
The Ducks cried out at Guy's stupid action of rage, but they could do nothing about it – now TWO men down and the game almost over, they re- aligned themselves for the final battle. The Ducks realised that this was almost a replay of what had happened when they played the Varsity in that they had to play the end of the game two men down, but things were looking real shaky now, for some reason.
Ted Orion was extremely nervous but did not want to yell at the team for their lousy attitude in fear of just giving them an even more negative approach, and that was not needed so late in the game at all. He kept silent and watched, hopeful.
Play resumed, with two minutes and ten seconds to go. The Leopards, who had received a lot of reassurance from their coach when play had been stopped just before this incident, charged again down the ice and this time had no problem getting within close range of the goal. Despite all the Ducks' efforts to prevent it, the Leopards managed to take a shot at goal and Julie Gaffney had no chance of stopping the soaring puck, which went in and the scoreboard changed to 3-2.
59, 58, 57...The clock counted down the last minute and play began again, with the Leopards immediately winning possession of the puck. The crowd let out a gasp of fear for what the opposition could do, and the Leopards passed the puck around, slowly advancing towards the Ducks' goal. There were cries of reassurance from the benched Leopards, and their number 30 passed the puck to number 11 waiting in the middle, who was unmarked due to the Ducks' poor organisation. A blinding shot forced the puck right past Gaffney once more and levelled things at 3-3, with no more than 30 seconds to go.
The crowd were all on their feet in support for the Ducks and as play started for the final time, Charlie and Guy leapt out of the penalty box, their two minutes up. Coach Orion could not believe how sloppy the Ducks were playing but realised there was no tactic they could adopt that could make a change in thirty seconds, so continued to watch, as a trickle of sweat fell from his forehead.
The Ducks managed to win possession quickly and prepared a final onslaught. Charlie stormed down the ice with the puck and passed to Guy on the right wing. After moving into an ideal shooting position, he called for a pass back so he could shoot. Guy sent the puck towards him and he prepared to thwack it right in. Almost as it reached him however, it was intercepted by a speeding Leopards play from behind their goal, and all of a sudden the tables were turned. The Ducks desperately headed back to their goal and desperately tried to win back possession, but the Leopards always seemed to be one move ahead and with a few seconds left, their number 9 got a pass on the left just by the goal. Gaffney, thinking the passer would shoot, focused her attention too much on him and never even caught sight of the number 9, who tapped it in as soon as he could reach it.
"Weeeeeeeeeooooooow!" The scoring noise sounded and the red light came on to signal 3-4 to the Leopards.
Charlie looked at the scoreboard. 00.00. Time was up. They had lost. All they needed was a draw, and they LOST. That was it. All over. The best team in the league and they lost.
The Leopards players all shouted and sang in celebration and hugged each other in happiness. Charlie raised his heavy face and looked at them cry out in glory. Just like when the Ducks won the Peewee league. They beat the best team, the favourites. No change tonight, except that he was on the 'favourite' team, the losing team. He dropped his tired head.
The Leopards were so ecstatic they could not withhold their occasional shouts of victory as they shook hands with a lifeless Ducks team. The crowd was quiet, and began to leave, slowly.
Charlie looked at his coach. The look back was not one of anger. More one of pure disappointment. Charlie reflected on the game in his mind. What had happened to the Ducks? Since when were we so sloppy? He made his way off the ice and to the changing room. Next season isn't going to pretty, he thought.
END OF CHAPTER I, TO BE CONTINUED...