Chapter 12: Revenge for the Hawk
A/N- The only thing worse than a plot bunny is when the plot bunny demands to be part of an already existing fic... and this has been sitting in my notebook all week and I was too lazy to type it. Sigh. Adam's POV
*****
Who's the idiot that said time flies when you're having fun? This week's been about as not-fun as they come, and it still flew. Is somebody trying to tell me I really had fun but I'm subconsciously denying it?
Whoa, that was weird. Philosophy kick! I hate when that happens. Especially on the ice.
We warm up self-consciously, glaring at the Bears on the other side of the ice. They glare back. The intensity in the air is more than tangible. It's suffocating. And the game hasn't even started yet.
"Everybody ready?" Charlie asks as we get together on the bench. Coach starts to say something but the captain's still going. We don't need a coach to fire us up for this one. Our wounded pride is enough. "We're going to make them regret the day they came to our ice and humiliated us. We won't let them do it again. That was the Warriors. This is the Ducks. And Ducks don't lose to anyone!"
Coach gives him a slightly indignant look. "Couldn't have said it better myself. I guess. All right, hands in. Let's get fired up." Like he needs to tell us twice. Like we need firing up.
"Quack! Quack! Quack! Quack!" The Bears shoot us furious looks from their own side of the ice, and start on their own chant. Not that there's anyone that can hear it over our quacking. "Go Ducks!"
I take the faceoff. Blake's center looks eerily familiar, but I let it go.
He doesn't bother with the puck, just cross-checks me and lets a teammate worry about it. I know better than to stay down and hope for a call.
Jesse checks the Bear as he goes down the ice. The puck shoots free, and Charlie grabs it. Open ice between him and the goal. He takes the first shot of the game.
It goes wide of the net, but just barely, and their goalie dove for it anyway. Before he can get back in the net Luis streaks forward, wraps around, slams the puck in, and crashes into the boards. Hardly a minute gone, and we're already up.
Blake's supposed to be the best team in the league. It can't be this easy.
I was right. By the end of the first period we were losing, 2-1. As we started the second period, I couldn't help being a little worried. But now I think maybe I shouldn't have been.
Connie and Guy take the puck up and two Bears, 4 and 7, check them hard. I keep thinking there's something familiar about the way those two play... but I can't quite place it and I don't have the time to worry. It can't be important. Can it?
"Banks, Wu, change it!"
Ken and I jump off the bench. He takes left defense, tracks down the puck, and passes it up to me on the right wing. I give it to Connie, but she loses it. Guy hipchecks the offender and gets it back, then fires it to Dwayne.
No Bears between the Cowboy and the goal.
We skate after him. I think there's someone just behind me...
"Banks, watch your back!"
"Dammit!" the Bear following me growls.
I whirl around. Number 7. But I know that voice. There's no way. No way. WHY is he here? And why does he look ready to cross-check me from behind? Again. "McGill?!"
He jumps me before I can get anything else out. That's okay, let him. I owe him.
The refs immediately try to break it up, but it's a hopeless case. At my yell, Connie and Guy jumped into the mix too, and number 4 of the Bears also came in. Someone's yanked his helmet off and I recognize him. Preston. So that's why those two seemed so familiar...
Nobody even noticed when Dwayne scored. We're tied now, in any case. He and Ken have jumped into the mix, even though they don't know why it started. I think the Duck bench must've cleared too, because I catch sight of Jesse pounding on one of the Bears.
Someone finally pulls me out of the mess. I think I gave McGill a black eye though, that's always good. Pain shoots through my shoulder, but it's nothing major. Nothing to worry about.
I hardly even notice that the ref is taking me over to the box until I hear him state the penalty. "99 Banks! Five minutes, fighting." That's just fine with me. He'll get his, too, and the instigator penalty. The score just evened up. That's all I'm worried about.
I might've known I'd run into him again. Hawks never forget.
*****
Coach is irate. "That was entirely uncalled for. You're not going to win this by fighting! I don't want any more fights, you got that? And if something breaks out you stay on the bench." He glares at all of us. You could hear a pin drop in the locker room right now. "If you plan to win this thing you've got to outplay them, not outpunch them. Think smart hockey and defensive hockey. Got it?"
I could tell right from the beginning that Jesse doesn't care much for Coach Orion. This isn't helping. "We had a score to settle with them, man. We got our Duck pride to defend."
"Defend it on your own time."
We go back on the ice plenty fired up, still. We won't be knocked out of the tournament by some ex-Hawks. Especially not after they humiliated us in our first game at Eden Hall.
Listen to me! I talk like I was on the team.
I start the third period on the bench, probably because of the fight. Charlie and McGill are wings, opposite each other. When the puck is dropped there's gonna be a real war on that side of the ice...
Averman wins the faceoff, but Preston steals it and tries a slap shot. Julie comes up with it just in time. Charlie and McGill are too busy shoving each other to get the puck but Portman's there to take it. He and Fulton charge up the ice, scattering Bears all the way.
Their goalie blocks Portman's shot, but Russ gets the rebound at the blue line and knucklepucks it in. Tie game.
Coach switches to a more defensive line. Goldberg, Ken, Connie, Guy, and me. We'll probably be in for most of the period, if I know his strategy. Which I do.
McGill and Preston will be gunning for me, I'm prepared for that. McGill isn't on the ice right now, though. (Probably something about being too busy fighting with the Duck to notice the puck right in front of him.) No problem.
For nearly ten minutes we stay out, no substitutes. Neither team is getting much of anywhere. A Blake player gets whistled for boarding, and Coach finally decides to give us a break. Almost immediately, Portman gets called for tripping, even though it was such an obvious fake-out that even most of the Blake players look stunned.
So much for the power play. I just hope he doesn't start stripping again. The refs haven't let anything by since the fight, no matter how minor, and they'd probably kick him out for unsportsmanlike conduct.
Charlie gets the puck and tries to take it up the ice, but gets tripped. No call.
With one minute left, Blake pulls their goalie. We all exchange glances. Not again. One of the Bears takes a shot, but Luis gets in front of it. Dwayne and Fulton take the puck up the ice. We might pull this off...
Jesse gets it and takes it back behind the net. Coach recognizes this move as a 'little Duck trick,' and he's about to explode. The team comes out in the V-formation anyway. Blake backs off a little.
By the time anyone realizes that the puck is still behind the net, the game's over. We've won.
We're going to the finals. And the ex-Hawks aren't. It doesn't get much better than this.