AUTHOR'S NOTES: Another long chapter. Sorry. I had to delete two other scenes of great hilarity (Dwayne roping everybody & the Zamboni) to shorten this part.
A NEW TEAM – CHAPTER THREE – TEAMWORK
"The Ducks?" Julie Gaffney asked, pulling her hockey jersey over her head. "What kind of name is the Ducks?"
The blond girl across the room, who had introduced herself as Kaley, shrugged. "Don't know," she said. "My dad told me the story once. I don't remember the whole thing, though."
"Your dad knows the Ducks?" Julie asked.
"He's the coach." Kaley responded, twisting an elastic around her ponytail.
"Gordon Bombay is your father?" Julie asked in amazement. "Gordon Bombay the Minnesota Miracle Man is your father?"
"Sure is," Kaley replied with a smile.
"But your jersey says Heller on the back," Julie pointed out.
"Long story, I'll tell you later." Kaley picked up her helmet. "I think we're due on the ice."
In the rink, Gordon and Tibbles stood, ready to meet the new players.
"So, Tibbles, tell me about my new kids," Gordon said, looking at the five kids in hockey jerseys lined up in front of him.
"Well," Tibbles pointed o a tall Cuban boy wearing a red, white, and blue uniform. "That's Luis Mendoza from our Miami club. Great skater. Incredible speed. I timed him at one point six seconds blue line to blue line."
Luis put on his helmet and began to skate. Gordon heard choruses of "He's pretty fast" and the like coming from the Ducks.
The original Ducks stood on the opposite side of the rink from their coach, dressed in their Ducks jerseys. The jerseys were getting a bit small on some of them, but were still worn with pride.
"Good-looking skater," Connie observed.
"Very good looking," Averman agreed. "What do you think, Guy?"
"Shut up, Averman," Guy said, elbowing the other boy in the chest and knocking him to the ice.
"There's just one minor problem," Tibbles said as Luis neared the boards.
"What's that?" Gordon asked, just as Luis slammed full-speed into the boards.
"He's got a little trouble stopping," Tibbles said needlessly.
"I'd say so," Goldberg said.
Luis picked himself up of the ice. "I almost had it that time," he muttered to himself.
"Yee-haw!" Gordon's head snapped around at the thick Southern twang. He beheld a gangly brown-haired boy with oversized ears and a cowboy hat. "How's everybody?" The kid said exuberantly. "Y'all ready to play some puck?"
"Hey, look, it's Hop-Along Gretzky!" Jesse laughed.
"That's Dwayne Robertson from Austin, Texas," Tibbles said. "Best puckhandler I've ever seen."
"You mean for his age," Gordon clarified.
"No," Tibbles shook his head. "I don't."
Dwayne began juggling the puck on his hockey stick. "Yee-haw! This is easier than ropin' cattle!" He boasted, dropping the puck to the ice and doing some more moves with it.
"He does show off a little," Tibbles explained. "And over there," he pointed to the goal where a girl with dirty blond hair was standing, "is Julie 'The Cat' Gaffney. Won the state championship for her team three years in a row."
"We already have a goalie." Gordon turned to the other goal, where Goldberg was ready to play. "Goldberg."
"All right, bring it on, show me watcha got, I'm the man, I'm the man." Goldberg began in his usual style. But then his right skate slipped and he fell to one knee, with the other leg jerking to a most unnatural angle. "Ow. Help," the goalie squeaked.
"Watch this," Tibbles said, turning back to Julie.
Luis began shooting pucks at Julie in every way, shape, and form. She blocked every one of them.
This girl knows her stuff, Gordon thought, impressed. "Well, I guess we could use a backup."
"Coming up now," Tibbles said, "Is Kaley Bombay from Baltimore, Maryland-"
"I know about Kaley," Gordon said.
"Yes, but I still have to introduce her like everyone else," Tibbles countered. "Kaley played a major role in winning the 1991 state championship for her team. She's got a real gift when it comes to maneuvering. Could come from being short." He looked up at Gordon. "No offense."
Gordon shook his head. "None taken."
"Kaley does have one weakness, however," Tibbles said.
"Really?" Gordon asked as his daughter began to navigate the outside of the rink.
"Yes," Tibbles confirmed. "She sometimes has a little trouble staying in control on her edges."
"Oof!" Kaley grunted as her skates slipped and she hit the ice. Darn. Never could get that right.
"Hey, isn't that the kid from the Junior Olympics?" Gordon asked, pointing to a tiny Asian boy doing a figure skating maneuver. "Figure skater?"
"Uh-huh." Tibbles nodded. "Ken Wu, what can I say? I convinced him that hockey had more of a future. Put a stick in his hands, and nobody's been able to stop him."
"Whoa." Gordon said, pointing to a tall, black-haired, tough-looking guy just entering the ice. "That guy's a teenager?" He was wearing a black T-shirt with the sleeves ripped off, oversized black jeans, and was singing to a Walkman.
"Uh, yeah. Hormones." Tibbles shrugged apologetically.
"He's a goon!" Gordon protested.
"Don't you know that everything's on fire…" The kid-the name on his shirt read "Portman"-began singing. "Come on, Tex, sing it with me!" Dwayne shook his head nervously.
"My kids don't play that kind of hockey," Gordon told Tibbles firmly.
"They're called enforcers, Gordon," Tibbles explained. "And when you face Iceland, you're gonna need them."
"Here you go, sweetie!" Portman tossed his stick to Julie, who caught it and made a face at his back. "Hey, my little man!" He picked Ken up and tossed him over the goal.
"Who does this guy think he is?" Fulton asked in disgust.
"All right, that's it!" Goldberg sped away from the goal.
Uh-oh, Gordon thought. "I better go take care of this," he said to Tibbles. "Team" USA was now engaged in a knock-down drag-out fight between the Ducks and the new additions.
Gordon blew his whistle. "Everybody FREEZE!" He barked. The sound echoed through the empty arena like a ricocheting bullet. The arguing immediately stopped and the kids turned to face Gordon. "We didn't come here to fight," he said. "We came here to play hockey!"
"What's the difference?" Portman asked.
Gordon silenced him with a glare. "You're Team USA," he continued. "You represent your country!"
"That's right!" Tibbles agreed.
Maybe if I ignore him he'll go away, Gordon thought. "Now I want you-" He started to tell the kids.
"To be all that you can be, right?" Tibbles jumped in. "You've gotta raise yourselves up, guys!"
Or maybe not. Gordon turned his glare on Tibbles. "All right, now let's get started!" Gordon turned to the kids. "Let's scrimmage!" He raised his whistle.
"Right! Scrimmage!" Tibbles said, blowing his own whistle.
Gordon was beginning to get a bit fed up. He turned around, prepared to tell Tibbles to get lost. "Hey, you don't need me here." Tibbles said before Gordon could say anything. "I've gotta meet Michele MacKay, she's the team's tutor." He began to leave.
"Don?" Gordon held out his hand.
"Oh…all right." Tibbles handed the whistle over.
"You'll get it back at the end of the school term," Gordon said, eliciting a giggle from the team. "All right, show me what you got!" He said to the kids, blowing his whistle. "Let's scrimmage!"
Jesse skated to center ice. Great, I get Hop-Along Gretzky, he thought to himself as Dwayne met him.
"Great day for hockey, ain't it?" Dwayne asked enthusiastically.
"Sure is, Cowboy," Jesse answered, mocking Dwayne's enthusiasm.
"Let's face off," Dwayne said. Both players looked at the puck. "One…"
"Twothree!" Jesse said quickly, taking the puck and knocking Dwayne to the ice.
Luis sped towards the net. Speed was his specialty. His trademark. His best friend. And at the moment, it was about to become the fat goalie's worst enemy.
"Goldberg, look out!" Coach Bombay hollered.
Too late. Luis slammed into Goldberg, knocking him and the net into the boards.
"Thanks for breaking my fall," Luis said, not knowing what else to say.
"Anytime," Goldberg said, looking rather bewildered.
"Come on, get off me!" Averman said, pushing Connie, Guy and Charlie off himself. They'd gotten into a pileup near the boards.
"Didn't you guys practice at all while I was gone?" Coach Bombay asked.
"You know," Averman panted, reaching for his water bottle, "I knew we forgot something."
Some team we've got, Kaley thought. We can't even scrimmage against ourselves!
"Kaley!" Dwayne called. "Here!" He passed her the puck.
"Thanks!" Kaley yelled back.
"Move over, sweetie!" Came a deep voice from behind. Kaley felt a big, strong arm shove her out of the way. "Thanks!" It was Portman.
"Hey!" Kaley got up. "You can't do that! That's illegal!"
"It was just a body check, girly," Portman said.
"I have a name, OK?" Kaley was starting to get angry. "And it's Kaley. Not 'girly.'"
"You want this to get physical?" Portman asked.
Kaley narrowed her eyes at Portman's towering figure. "Didn't your mother teach you never to hit a lady?"
Portman scoffed. "Yeah."
"She ever teach you why?" Kaley asked.
"No."
"Well, allow me," Kaley said. "It's because this lady will hit you back!" She jumped up and tackled Portman.
Ignoring the scene going on between Kaley and Portman, Adam stole the puck from Fulton and shot it into Goldberg's net.
"Great shot, Adam!"Coach Bombay yelled. "Way to show 'em!"
"Oof!" Adam exclaimed as he felt someone bump into him from behind. "Fulton! Look-" He didn't have time to finish before he stumbled forward and both he and Fulton fell into the back of the net.
Goldberg tapped the post with his stick. "Ding! Round one!"
"Wait until you meet these kids; they're fantastic." Tibbles said as he and Michele MacKay, Team USA's tutor, approached the ice. "Half of them are from all around the country, and the rest-"
Michele gasped as she saw a puck headed for them. "Duck!"
"That's right, the Ducks," Tibbles said calmly, turning towards the ice. "Oh, my-" He got no further before the puck hit him right between the eyes.
"Nice move, Fulton!" Jesse said sarcastically.
"Maybe now he'll be quiet for awhile," Connie added.
"Will you guys stop it, he could be seriously injured!" Gordon said, running over to Tibbles' unconscious form. "Guy, go to the first aid area and get an ice pack. The rest of you help me get him on the bench."
The team groaned, but helped Gordon lift Tibbles onto the bleacher. A few seconds later, Guy returned with the ice. "Here, Coach," he said, giving it to Gordon.
"Thanks." Gordon held the ice pack on Tibbles' head.
"Mr. Tibbles?" The delicate blond woman Tibbles had been walking with said. "Mr. Tibbles, can you hear me?"
Tibbles suddenly jerked awake. "I'll have a cheeseburger, fries, and a chocolate shake, please."
The team laughed, and the woman smiled. "I think he'll be OK." She stood up and faced Gordon. "Oh, I'm sorry, he didn't get a chance to introduce us," she apologized. "I'm Michele MacKay, the team's tutor."
"I'm Gordon Bombay, their coach." Gordon shook Michele's hand.
"Who said we need a tutor?" Adam asked.
"I don't need no school!" Portman said defiantly.
"Now, Miss MacKay," Goldberg said, putting his arm around Michele's shoulders. "We're America's team. We should be concentrating on the game, right? May I suggest…optional attendance."
"Why that's a great idea…" Michele looked at Goldberg as if to say "what's your name?"
"Call me Goldberg," Goldberg said.
"Goldberg," Michele repeated. "Yes. School will be optional."
The team erupted in cheers. "However, however," Michele interrupted. "Should you not attend, you will not be eligible to play."
The cheers turned to groans, and Gordon smiled. "Team USA, you're dismissed!" He said. The team was staying at Twin Cities University dorms until they left for LA in three days.
The kids filtered out with grumblings of "she had us good" and "I thought she was serious!"