The Enforcer's Code

Training Days

(Before the Quack Pack)

It was a long flight that brought Dean to Anaheim in California for the training camp, Hendrix had sprung for a professional training camp with the newest NHL expansion team the Anaheim Mighty Ducks. He had been picked up by a driver and taken to the camp. The Trip from John Wayne airport to Irvine by car was short, but Mr Tibbles had been chatting away about the games and how he was planning to expand the Hendrix brand using the Victory of Team USA as the genesis.

Tibbles had staked everything on Team USA winning the games, as they pulled up to the training camp Tibbles indicated to one of the limo drivers to pull into the hotel adjacent to the rink. It was semi-secluded and had the feel of an old-time hockey camp the kind that built the 1980 Miracle team that smashed Soviet supremacy over the ice.

Mr Tibbles spent the next hour showing Dean the training camp from the gym to the rink and all points in-between, they were a fully stocked cafeteria and an extensive training staff with that specialised in several different fields of sports science.

They went through several ways to exercise while avoiding the use of heavy weights because of potentially crippling damage to his growing body and learning from these guys as much as he could when it came to strength and conditioning.

Because Dean was one of the first of the players to arrive, he took maximum advantage of all the facilities until around five days after he arrived the rest of his teammates arrived.

(Team USA Training Camp Cafeteria 07:00 am)

Dean sat at one of the window seats looking out over the trees and the small brook that ran throughout the secluded camp. He was wearing vest top shorts and sneakers, and he was eating a bowl of cereal, his dark brown hair looked almost black due to its dampness from his shower.

He had pushed himself today on his morning run and was going to relax for an hour before getting back out on the ice to run some more drills, he had managed to shave off a few hundredths of a second off his blue line to blue line time and was hoping to take a few more off before the full team arrived.

He was finishing up his breakfast when he heard the familiar voice of Mr Tibbles coming closer. He drank down the last of the milk before he wiped his milk moustache off and tried to get away before he was spotted, unfortunately, he ran right into him.

"Dean, great I was hoping to run into you."

"Mr Tibbles." he forced a smile "It's good to see you today, sir." the man looked delighted that Dean had said that. "I was just going to change into my gear and run some drills on the ice with Mr O'Brian and Coach Morgan."

"oh, good. I'm glad you're taking full advantage of our staff here." Mr Tibbles smiled before he started the introductions.

"it's good that I caught you this is your new teammate Julie "the Cat" Gaffney," he said moving to the side he revealed a stunning Blond bombshell with cold sapphire eyes that held his steely gaze without fear.

"she played Goalie for the Bangor Devils and helped them win the state championship three times in a row." Dean held out his hand, which she shook firmly. He was slightly impressed by the strength of her shake. It was worlds above anything Mr Tibbles had given him. "Julie, this is Dean Portman he's the team Enforcer, he helped the Morgan Park Stallions to Five Consecutive State Championships." There was a flash interest across those cold sapphire eyes and a small smile spread on her face that died down quickly.

"Nice to meet you, Julie." He said, releasing her hand. She was wearing a red t-shirt with pale blue denim jeans. Her blond hair was tied back into a loose ponytail she had a black bomber jacket with orange inside.

"Nice to meet you, Dean." She folded her arms, giving him a once over with her eyes before they could say anything more Mr Tibbles interrupted.

"we've got to finish the tour, but I hope we'll see you out on the ice in about an hour." He said looking briefly at his watch before looking back at Dean

"I'll be there, Mr Tibbles," he said before turning to Julie "I hope that you'll join me later once you're settled." He smiled, she smiled herself briefly before nodding

"when I'm settled in, I would be happy to join you on the Ice." The two left as he turned to watch them go, he smiled to himself before he made his way back to his room to get his gear.

The locker room was empty except for his training gear and his name printed above his locker.

Dean had elected to wear his blue Charlestown gear with his number 22 and name on the back, it was old and shabby, but still its blue yellow and white colours were vibrant, he hadn't spotted Julie on the ice but figured she was still getting ready.

He had spotted the giant African American Coach Morgan dressed in his old red, white and black Cleveland Barons gear. He had no helmet as when he was playing. It was optional. They would be facing off one on one today, and Dean had been looking forward to it.

Carl' Power Hammer' Morgan was a beast in his day, he had gone shot for shot with some of the Broad Street Bullies and came away battered but still standing, not many could say that. He was tossing the puck up and down, ominously at centre ice as Dean slid to a stop in front of him.

"I should have worn my Syracuse Bulldog jersey." His deep voice reverberated around the empty rink.

"maybe." Dean smiled "I'd still beat you, but it would have been historically accurate."

"I love the confidence Portman" he dropped the puck "let's see if you can back it up, your running defence and we'll use the same goal, so you don't get too tired too quickly." Coach Morgan won the quick scrimmage and forced Dean to go on the defensive, using his superior speed Dean got in front and began to try and force the coach to make a mistake and make him go to his outside line, but the cunning older man didn't fall for it and scored hitting the upper right target.

"come on Portman, at least try and stop me," he said, smiling at the teen who shook his head, they went back to centre ice. They started again, but this time Dean was more aggressive and managed to force the older man into the boards stealing the puck and scoring, the puck hit the centre target braking through the black paper.

"good" the coach smiled "but you need to be careful so that you don't over commit," he said as he made his way to the puck box, they left the other puck on the goal, the two went back to centre ice, and the coach dropped another puck on the faceoff spot.

They had three more faceoffs with the Coach coming out on top only once more when Dean overcommitted, and the coach slipped passed him and scored.

"you still holding back?" Dean asked when he scored the final goal of the session.

"not as much as I thought I would, but next time I'm going all out." He patted the boy on the back "I want to see how you handle that kind of pressure."

"so, what next?" he asked when the doors to the locker room burst open, and Julie Gaffney made her way out in full red, white and black gear. She skated out to the unused goal and placed her water bottle, helmet, gloves, blocker pad and stick onto the top of the goal. She adjusted her leg pads and then put her helmet on then her glove and pad.

She turned her eyes never leaving Dean as she began to go through her on ice stretches, she was captivating to Dean the way she moved the sheer confidence in her eyes, knowing that nothing would get past her.

"now we try it with a real Goalie between the sticks, and you're on offence," he said as he retrieved a new puck "I'm not going to hold back this time" he turned to face Julie "Ms Gaffney" he called "are you ready."

"yes coach" she called back

"Outstanding" he turned back to Dean "are you ready?" he asked, but the confident smile was all he needed to see before he dropped the puck. An hour and a half later Dean and the Coach were panting heavily, Dean was on his knees, he had pushed himself beyond what he thought was possible and even with all of that he only managed to score once on the Cat. He was battered and bruised and knew that tomorrow he was going to be a wreck, but he would be a monkey's uncle if this weren't the most fun, he had had on the ice in years.

Coach Morgan had been true to his word and went at Dean like the old enforcer he was, bouncing the teen around into the boards and body checking him like an old pro, Dean took every hit and kept coming at the coach who could only score four on the Cat himself. Dean had lost this time, but he could tell that the coach was very proud of his performance.

"Portman," he said panting slightly "if this was ten years ago, I would have wiped the boards with you face for two hours" he smiled leaning somewhat on his stick "you are pure old-time hockey, just watch those elbows." He turned to Gaffney. "Gaffney you're a freaking machine, if we had you in my day, we would have won the Stanley cup." Her smile lit up the rink before she took a long swing of water from her bottle, the coach threw Dean his bottle which he left by the bleachers. "you did the chiefs proud today" Coach Morgan then straightened his back cricked his neck left then right, the popping noise it made was unsettling to both teens.

"Thanks, coach," said Dean

"I have the trainers ready to give you both a rub down before you leave." he said to Dean then turned to Julie "Gaffney, I have Ms Jonsson in training room two for you."

An hour later the two were sitting in the cafeteria eating, Dean was still sore but after the rub down and he was feeling a hell of a lot better. The nutritionists had set a strict diet for him that increased his protean and lower his sugar slightly to maximise his training gains. The two sat eating quietly before Julie asked the question.

"what have you heard about the tournament?" he swallowed the last piece of his stake before answering her

"nothing much, and only what Mr Tibbles has told me." She nodded slightly before she took a bite of some carrots. "you have a freaking wicked glove hand." He said as she swallowed her mouthful of food "I have never seen a glove hand that fast."

"thank you." She smiled a tinge of pink slightly bloomed on her pale cheeks "so you're the big enforcer for the team." Dean smiled before giving her the double bicep gun show, which made her laugh.

"yep, I'm the guy whose goanna keep the other teams honest." He paused for a second "or else" The intensity of his answer was both unsettling and comforting.

"will that be necessary?" she asked

"I hope not." he said, taking a long drink from his glass of water "but I find that it's more necessary than not."

"really?"

"I have only played three games in the last two seasons where I didn't have to" he paused for a second to find the right word "adjust someone's attitude on the ice."

"that's horrible," she said horrified

"that's old-time Hockey." He smiled "I Let 'em know I'm there," he smiled "I get that stick in their side to let 'em know I'm there." He got up to get a water jug to refill his drink "I put the lumber in their teeth, let 'em know I'm there." He placed the glass on the table "yeah know, blood guts and glory." His impromptu little speech had shocked her slightly

"there is more to Hockey than blood and guts." she said with certainty, a small smile tugged at his right cheek for a moment.

"your right," he said as he finished cutting his meat "there is more to Hockey" stabbed the meat with his fork and finished the bite quickly. "sometimes people score goals." He picked up his now empty plate and placed it on one of the trays clearing the table of his own mess and placed them onto the counter as he had been told by the staff. "I'm going to use the sauna for an hour or so."

"ok, I'll see you for afternoon practice."

"looking forward to it." he smiled before he made his way out.

Over the next two days the two trained together with the coaching staff running drills and training in the gym and pool, they were later joined first by Kenny Wu, a figure skater who needed to go through basic stick education and training which ate up most of Coach Morgan's time which was annoying but necessary.

He would train directly with Dean so that he could adjust to the hard-hitting type of game that the Coaches were expecting. They soon made the acquaintance with a Texan Hockey player who was pure magic with the puck named Dwain Robertson and a speed demon by the name of Luis Mendoza who was frustratingly near impossible to hit due to his speed. But he could not stop for love or money and would bounce himself off the boards like a puck.

They would run two on two drills with Dean and Dwain having to go easy on Wu and Luis as they were having fundamental issues with their technique that needed to be corrected, it frustrated Dean as he was used to a more physical game and having to rely on skill alone with limited contact was not something he was used to.

But, after a few weeks Wu was at a standard for his age, but Mendoza was still having stopping issues.

Dean enjoyed having more kids his own age around even if they were a bit stranger than himself and Julie, he had gotten to know Kenny Wu quite well as he was one of the few that joined him for a morning jog, Julie was the only other one who would as both Dwain and Luis liked to sleep in till around 8:30 – 09:00 in the morning.

It would be the five of them for another week before there Coach and the rest of there team arrived from Minnesota and the already hectic training camp would become allot more active and specialised as they began their ramp up for the games.