(I don't own any part of the Ducks. Neither the movies nor the NHL team. I do not own these characters whatsoever.)

Julie woke up Friday of the showdown with a weird feeling in the pit of her stomach. It really sucked that they had to pretend it was a normal school day, attend all their classes and then have the epic game against the Varsity. Julie had not been so sore from working out since Bangor championships, but she was confident and ready for the game. Classes dragged on particularly long that day and the tension in the hallways between classes was palpable. Half of the school wanted Varsity to win- as tradition and because the Ducks were new and I'll give them- they did not have the best first month of school what with the stage and losing games and the prank wars in the cafeteria etc, but there were plenty of students who liked the new JV team, probably those who were sick of the Varsity acting so high and mighty. Whatever their reasons- the entire school showed up to the game.

Julie was surprised to find the morale of her teammates to be a generally positive one, which was good, it helped her when they felt confident and she knew it had something to do with donning the white duck jerseys one last time. Though she and Fulton made eye contact and she still felt a little empty, like something was missing.

As they stepped out onto the ice to pay tribute to Hans, Julie felt the familiar excitement and adrenaline surge through her. The more she thought about this game and the way their practices had been with Orion- she realized winning this game was not the most important thing in the world. They would still have their scholarships and be the JV team, but winning felt good. Especially after Adam rejoined their team, Julie could sense that they wanted to all wanted to win to prove that there more than a JV Team, that gold medals they won together did mean something and that their years at Eden Hall were not going to be spent in a stupid constant prank war with the Varsity. Julie smirked under her mask at the prospect of winning, especially because she knew she was just as good a goalie as Scott…Scooter and this was her chance to show him. She still had not told any of the Ducks about their history, but this was much more than a game to her. If they won the showdown- they would be able to call Eden Hall their homes.

The game started exactly as they knew it would: the Varsity coming out with hard hits and super aggressive puck handling. Julie was glad to have the line she did for defense, especially with Goldberg using goalie skills in addition to her own. She did not think she could keep a shutout, but she could do her damndest to keep her team relevant on that scoreboard. The amount of shots on goal to her side in the first period wore her out a lot. Under Julie's watchful eye she thought the referees had to be blind, there was so much bullshit not being called. But at the least there was still no scores on either.

The second period showed even more illegal checks, hooks and trips. Despite all that they were playing well. Julie felt her heart in her throat when she got knocked down outside her crease but still scrambled back in time to save it. She could hear Orion's voice in her head saying "goose eggs" repeatedly. So in the locker room Julie chugged two bottles of water and blocked out what Orion was saying. One more period…she heard a little voice say. Everyone was completely exhausted, including herself. She put down her water and felt exhaustion taking over her body.

And then she almost spit up all the water she just drank when she saw who had just kicked open the door.
"Dean Portman is awarded a full athletic and academic scholarship to the Eden Hall Academy. I had this lying around the house in Chicago my attorney thought I should sign it…"
It hit Julie immediately. Bombay went and got him.

Dean briefly made eye contact with Julie and she felt her stomach do a flip before the entire team descended upon him. Julie reached out and touched his arm and could not keep a delirious smile off her face. He was their miracle to win this game. This is what they needed. The morale was renewed.

Julie managed to keep her mind off of what was going to happen later. Dean was not her ex-boyfriend right now, he was their enforcer and the team had one period to win the game, she could not afford to lose focus.

Julie screamed but nobody heard her when Riley practically threw himself at the ground and the referee called Dean on hooking him. But the result of him stripping in the penalty box was highly entertaining and nobody complained. She was relived when Orion called a time out. 5 on 3 was not helping her out in any way, but luckily that three included Adam so she had the best possible defense. This is it Julie held her breath. 10 seconds, Charlie can score on Scooter, no problem, triple deke yes, fake, yes WHAT GOLDBERG?! OH MY GOD!

Julie threw her mask off and skated her hardest towards Goldberg. Halfway to her team Scott stopped her…she smiled. Victory was awesome. He kissed her on the cheek. "Great game Gaffney."

"Thanks Scooter." She smiled. Having his props meant a lot. She then skated her fastest into her team and hugged them all. Finally she got to Dean. They stared at each other until Charlie called out to them, pointing to the scoreboard.

Eden Hall Mighty Ducks…that has a nice ring to it doesn't it.

1-19-13

Author's Note:

So my friend and I were discussing how much we hate when we like a story and then the author just drops off the face of the earth without resolving anything. And then I realized I did that. I suck. I am so sorry. It's ridiculous because all that is left is the final game and epilogue. What's hilarious is, I wrote the epilogue four years ago (just let that sink in, it's 2013 folks). I have no excuse. I started this story my freshman year of high school, I am in my senior year of college. So sitting with aforementioned friend, I read this entire story and realized it's really pretty atrocious. I knew the prequel to this was terrible and had always planned to rewrite but this is just nonsense. The spelling, grammar, POV is terribly written. Just utter crap, I am so happy people still enjoyed it and stuck with me!

So here is the deal: In honor of tonight being the opening games of the NHL tonight, here is the last chapter. You will soon get the epilogue and then I will do some editing on previous chapters. I love you all! Happy Hockey (Let's GO Rangers!)