"I give up," Goldberg said dropping his stick to the ice as he
watched another puck glide into the goal.
It was Friday, a week after the Varsity/JV game. Adam had been working with Goldberg for four days now. They were doing some one on one practice now with Goldberg trying to keep Adam from scoring. Even though Adam was taking it easy on Goldberg he was still having no trouble scoring.
"You've got to keep your eye on the player with the puck. You're looking behind you too much," Adam told him retrieving the puck from the goal.
"You're wasting your time. I'm never going to be able to do this."
"Keep trying Goldberg," Adam told him picking his stick up off the ice and holding it out too him. Goldberg refused to take it from him. "Come on, you wanted me to help you. Your making progress Goldberg, you're not hopeless. You just need to keep practicing. I seem to remember a certain goalie who threw his stick and gloves down during a game and told a hawk to just have the goal. And look at you now, you're a good goalie."
Goldberg let out a sigh but took his stick back from Adam. "Okay, let's try it again."
They tried it five more times and on the fifth try Goldberg finally kept the puck from going into the goal.
"I did it!"
"Great job," Adam told him going over to collect the puck from the side of the rink. "We'll have to end practice on that note," Adam told him. "I have a game tonight." He was using the game as an excuse to end their practice on a positive note. They only had fifteen minutes until the Ducks started practice anyways.
"Okay, Thanks for the help and good luck," Goldberg told him as Adam left the ice. Goldberg looked back at the goal. He still couldn't believe it.
"Okay everyone take a knee," Orion called out as their practice came to an end that same afternoon. He waited to have all of his players attention before continuing.
"I have some bad news for you. I'm sorry to say that this will be my last practice with you. I cancelled practice on Monday because I was out at John Hopkins Hospital on Monday looking into a possible new treatment for my daughters injury. My wife and I have decided to pursue it which means I'll be moving my family out to Baltimore."
The Ducks were silent. Not long ago they would have loved Orion leaving, especially Charlie, but they had come to like their new coach. It was Charlie who finally broke the silence.
"Good luck Coach. I hope everything goes well for you and your family," he told Coach Orion speaking not only for himself but for his teammates as well.
"Thank-you. I'm going to miss all of you. I've enjoyed coaching you this semester."
"Are we going to have a new coach?" Gaffney asked.
"Your new coach will be here on Monday," Orion said with a smile. "I think you're going to like him."
"You're not going to tell us who it is?" asked Charlie.
"No. You'll find out Monday," Orion told them. "And now to finish practice," he skated over to one of the player boxes and reached for something sitting over there, "let's finish with some cowboy roundup one last time," he said holding up a rope which he handed to Dwayne Robertson.
Immediately the Ducks scattered trying to avoid Dwayne and his rope. Averman was the first one out and one by one the rest of the Ducks followed. Dwayne was able to rope Orion, who was participating, somewhere in the middle of the round-up. For the first time ever, Goldberg was the last person that Dwayne was able to rope.
"Anyone interested in going to the Varsity game with me tonight?" Charlie asked as they all headed for the locker room.
"You're going to go cheer those goons on?" Russ asked disbelievingly.
"No I'm going to go to support Adam. If he doesn't play then I guess I won't be doing much cheering," Charlie said as he started taking his skates off.
"I'm going," Julie said as she started taking her goalie gear off.
"Yeah, she wants to go see lover boy in action," Averman commented.
"Oh be quiet," Julie said even though Averman was right. Ever since last Friday night Scooter, the varsity goalie, had been showing some interest in her. Julie had to admit that she was enjoying it.
"Julie and Scooter sitting in a tree..." Averman started but was cut off by Julie blocker glove hitting him in the face. He took the hint and dropped it.
"I'll go," Connie said when she stopped laughing. "I don't have anything better to do."
"Me too," Guy said.
In the end only Averman, Ken, and Luis were not going to the game. Instead the three were going to go out and catch a movie.
"Okay", Charlie said to his teammates who were going to the game. " It starts at eight o'clock. How about we all meet in the common room at seven thirty and head over together."
The others quickly agreed and then in small groups they all started leaving the locker room. As Charlie walked back to the dorm listening to Guy telling him about what had happened in history class that day he couldn't help but wonder about who their new coach was going to be. Hopefully, the transition to this coach would go much smoother than they had with Coach Orion.
"There he is," Julie said excitedly as the Varsity team took the ice for warm-ups before the game that night. She wasn't talking about Adam. Julie was busy watching Scooter.
"I guess I'll have to cheer for two of the Varsity people then," Charlie said. "If I don't cheer for Scooter stopping a goal I might get clobbered."Julie was too busy watching Scooter to even pay attention to what Charlie had said. "I wonder what else I could say without her noticing," Charlie whispered to Guy who was sitting behind him. Connie, sitting right next to Guy, hit Charlie playfully.
"Don't you even think about it," Connie told him. "I think they would make a cute couple."
"Yeah you would," Guy said receiving an elbow in the side from Connie for the comment.
Before long the game started. There was only one goal scored during the first period and that was made by the visiting team. From the looks of it Coach Wilson was not happy about it. The Warriors had several good opportunities to score but couldn't capitalize on them. The visiting team's goalie was stopping every shot they made.
It was halfway through the second period before Adam finally got to play. As he took the ice all of the Ducks started cheering. It wasn't long before Adam got a hold of the puck and headed for the opposing teams goal.
"Come on, come on," Charlie whispered to himself as he watch Adam head toward the goal. Adam got close to the net and took the shot. The puck sailed by the goalie and into the net. Charlie jumped up and started cheering with the crowd. The game was now tied at one to one.
"Way to go Banks," several of the Ducks yelled.
On the ice Adam heard the familiar voices yelling his name. As he headed back to center ice for the next face off he scanned the crowd quickly until he found the familiar faces in the crowd.
"Just because you scored one goal doesn't mean you belong on the team freshman," Cole said coming up beside Adam.
Adam kept quiet and headed for center ice. On the face off Adam was able to hit the puck over to the right wing Kilpatrick before he was taken down by the other team's center. He quickly got back up and headed after his other two teammates. Kilpatrick passed the puck back to Adam and he made another goal.
The second period ended without another goal being made. In the third period the other team made a goal tying the game again. Adam got another chance to play in the middle of the third period but was unable to make another goal. The final goal was made by Riley with thirty seconds left to the game.
As his teammates celebrated the win around him Adam couldn't help but feel left out. Everyone congratulated Riley for his final winning shot. They didn't seem to remember that the first two points had been made by Adam. Without those two goals Riley's final goal wouldn't have mattered. He joined his teammates as they shook hands with the opposing team.
Despite his teammates efforts of making him feel left out Adam still felt that satisfaction of winning. He still loved the game. He loved playing. No one could take that away from him. As long as he was able to play the game he didn't care if his so called teammates didn't talk to him at all.
It was Friday, a week after the Varsity/JV game. Adam had been working with Goldberg for four days now. They were doing some one on one practice now with Goldberg trying to keep Adam from scoring. Even though Adam was taking it easy on Goldberg he was still having no trouble scoring.
"You've got to keep your eye on the player with the puck. You're looking behind you too much," Adam told him retrieving the puck from the goal.
"You're wasting your time. I'm never going to be able to do this."
"Keep trying Goldberg," Adam told him picking his stick up off the ice and holding it out too him. Goldberg refused to take it from him. "Come on, you wanted me to help you. Your making progress Goldberg, you're not hopeless. You just need to keep practicing. I seem to remember a certain goalie who threw his stick and gloves down during a game and told a hawk to just have the goal. And look at you now, you're a good goalie."
Goldberg let out a sigh but took his stick back from Adam. "Okay, let's try it again."
They tried it five more times and on the fifth try Goldberg finally kept the puck from going into the goal.
"I did it!"
"Great job," Adam told him going over to collect the puck from the side of the rink. "We'll have to end practice on that note," Adam told him. "I have a game tonight." He was using the game as an excuse to end their practice on a positive note. They only had fifteen minutes until the Ducks started practice anyways.
"Okay, Thanks for the help and good luck," Goldberg told him as Adam left the ice. Goldberg looked back at the goal. He still couldn't believe it.
"Okay everyone take a knee," Orion called out as their practice came to an end that same afternoon. He waited to have all of his players attention before continuing.
"I have some bad news for you. I'm sorry to say that this will be my last practice with you. I cancelled practice on Monday because I was out at John Hopkins Hospital on Monday looking into a possible new treatment for my daughters injury. My wife and I have decided to pursue it which means I'll be moving my family out to Baltimore."
The Ducks were silent. Not long ago they would have loved Orion leaving, especially Charlie, but they had come to like their new coach. It was Charlie who finally broke the silence.
"Good luck Coach. I hope everything goes well for you and your family," he told Coach Orion speaking not only for himself but for his teammates as well.
"Thank-you. I'm going to miss all of you. I've enjoyed coaching you this semester."
"Are we going to have a new coach?" Gaffney asked.
"Your new coach will be here on Monday," Orion said with a smile. "I think you're going to like him."
"You're not going to tell us who it is?" asked Charlie.
"No. You'll find out Monday," Orion told them. "And now to finish practice," he skated over to one of the player boxes and reached for something sitting over there, "let's finish with some cowboy roundup one last time," he said holding up a rope which he handed to Dwayne Robertson.
Immediately the Ducks scattered trying to avoid Dwayne and his rope. Averman was the first one out and one by one the rest of the Ducks followed. Dwayne was able to rope Orion, who was participating, somewhere in the middle of the round-up. For the first time ever, Goldberg was the last person that Dwayne was able to rope.
"Anyone interested in going to the Varsity game with me tonight?" Charlie asked as they all headed for the locker room.
"You're going to go cheer those goons on?" Russ asked disbelievingly.
"No I'm going to go to support Adam. If he doesn't play then I guess I won't be doing much cheering," Charlie said as he started taking his skates off.
"I'm going," Julie said as she started taking her goalie gear off.
"Yeah, she wants to go see lover boy in action," Averman commented.
"Oh be quiet," Julie said even though Averman was right. Ever since last Friday night Scooter, the varsity goalie, had been showing some interest in her. Julie had to admit that she was enjoying it.
"Julie and Scooter sitting in a tree..." Averman started but was cut off by Julie blocker glove hitting him in the face. He took the hint and dropped it.
"I'll go," Connie said when she stopped laughing. "I don't have anything better to do."
"Me too," Guy said.
In the end only Averman, Ken, and Luis were not going to the game. Instead the three were going to go out and catch a movie.
"Okay", Charlie said to his teammates who were going to the game. " It starts at eight o'clock. How about we all meet in the common room at seven thirty and head over together."
The others quickly agreed and then in small groups they all started leaving the locker room. As Charlie walked back to the dorm listening to Guy telling him about what had happened in history class that day he couldn't help but wonder about who their new coach was going to be. Hopefully, the transition to this coach would go much smoother than they had with Coach Orion.
"There he is," Julie said excitedly as the Varsity team took the ice for warm-ups before the game that night. She wasn't talking about Adam. Julie was busy watching Scooter.
"I guess I'll have to cheer for two of the Varsity people then," Charlie said. "If I don't cheer for Scooter stopping a goal I might get clobbered."Julie was too busy watching Scooter to even pay attention to what Charlie had said. "I wonder what else I could say without her noticing," Charlie whispered to Guy who was sitting behind him. Connie, sitting right next to Guy, hit Charlie playfully.
"Don't you even think about it," Connie told him. "I think they would make a cute couple."
"Yeah you would," Guy said receiving an elbow in the side from Connie for the comment.
Before long the game started. There was only one goal scored during the first period and that was made by the visiting team. From the looks of it Coach Wilson was not happy about it. The Warriors had several good opportunities to score but couldn't capitalize on them. The visiting team's goalie was stopping every shot they made.
It was halfway through the second period before Adam finally got to play. As he took the ice all of the Ducks started cheering. It wasn't long before Adam got a hold of the puck and headed for the opposing teams goal.
"Come on, come on," Charlie whispered to himself as he watch Adam head toward the goal. Adam got close to the net and took the shot. The puck sailed by the goalie and into the net. Charlie jumped up and started cheering with the crowd. The game was now tied at one to one.
"Way to go Banks," several of the Ducks yelled.
On the ice Adam heard the familiar voices yelling his name. As he headed back to center ice for the next face off he scanned the crowd quickly until he found the familiar faces in the crowd.
"Just because you scored one goal doesn't mean you belong on the team freshman," Cole said coming up beside Adam.
Adam kept quiet and headed for center ice. On the face off Adam was able to hit the puck over to the right wing Kilpatrick before he was taken down by the other team's center. He quickly got back up and headed after his other two teammates. Kilpatrick passed the puck back to Adam and he made another goal.
The second period ended without another goal being made. In the third period the other team made a goal tying the game again. Adam got another chance to play in the middle of the third period but was unable to make another goal. The final goal was made by Riley with thirty seconds left to the game.
As his teammates celebrated the win around him Adam couldn't help but feel left out. Everyone congratulated Riley for his final winning shot. They didn't seem to remember that the first two points had been made by Adam. Without those two goals Riley's final goal wouldn't have mattered. He joined his teammates as they shook hands with the opposing team.
Despite his teammates efforts of making him feel left out Adam still felt that satisfaction of winning. He still loved the game. He loved playing. No one could take that away from him. As long as he was able to play the game he didn't care if his so called teammates didn't talk to him at all.