Overtime (9 page)

“I’ll talk to him tonight.”

“So I’ll see you later. Thanks for coming with me. It made it easier.”

“You did all the talking. You didn’t need me.”

“I enjoyed the company,” Julia said.

His embarrassment level rose. “Me too. Hopefully, they’ll let us use the money for the roof.”

“We have to win first.”

He grinned. “That’s the easy part.”

She laughed. “See you, Charlie.” She waved and left.

He went the other way, trying to imagine what his friends would say if they saw him in a Bee-Bees sweatshirt.

The whistle blew as the boys filed onto the ice. The girls were kneeling at centre, crowded around Ms Cummings.

Julia had told him Cummings was a great coach. Charlie had never been coached by a woman, and he was interested in hearing what she had to say.

“Why isn’t Hilton coaching?” Scott said, as they skated over.

“I bet he can’t be bothered,” Nick said.

“Neither can I,” Scott said, “but I’m still here.”

“Hurry up,” Cummings called out. “You’re a bit late, boys.”

Charlie knelt down.

“The great ones have arrived,” Alexandra said.

Next to her Trisha and Emily snickered.

“We didn’t hear the Zamboni,” Charlie said.

“I was just welcoming everyone to the team,” Cummings continued. “I hope we all have fun and enjoy the tournament. I know we have some excellent players. Many of you played on the Champions Cup teams, right?”

Most of the players nodded.

“Let’s try to be punctual for practice, please. A friend of mine was kind enough to donate some ice to help our fundraising efforts, and out of respect for that we should try not to waste any time. Now, why don’t we line up at the far end and start with a few skating drills.”

As if an invisible hand divided them, the girls all went to the right of the net and the boys to the left.

“We don’t need to be quite so gender-sensitive,” Cummings said. She began pointing at them and counting, one, two, one, two, all the way down the line. “Okay. The ones go first. Skate to the red line, back to the blue, all the way to the far end, and then back here.”

She blew her whistle, and the ones took off. It was a fast group: Nick, Zachary and Matt, along with Julia, Rebecca and Emily. It was close, but Charlie thought Nick was first and —

Cummings blew her whistle.

Charlie wasn’t paying attention, and most of the twos got a jump on him.
He put his head down and took a few short, choppy steps, then lengthened his stride and caught up to the slower girls. Pudge and Scott were still ahead, but he didn’t worry about that. Both were great players, but they were not fast skaters and he knew he’d get them on the way back. Alexandra and Trisha posed more of a challenge. They were a good four metres ahead. If he came in behind them, Alexandra would never let him live it down; and Trisha worried him too.

Charlie timed his sliding stop perfectly, tapped the back boards with his stick, and powered back to the blue line. At the top of the circle he looked up. Alexandra was two metres away, and Trisha was well past the blue line. That was impossible. She must have cheated on the turn. He put his head down and lengthened his stride. He was gaining on Alexandra, but it was over for Trisha. She was already coasting to the goal line. At the blue line he was almost even with Alexandra. He expected her to slow down — only she did the opposite and got to the goal line ahead of him.

Charlie was in shock. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d lost a race. Breathing heavily and dreading what was coming, he leaned his stick across his knees and turned away from Alexandra.

There was no avoiding it, though. “You need to bend those knees a bit, Joyce. You skate like a ninety-year-old granny,” Alexandra chortled.

“You should start with the cheese cutter skates,” Trisha said. “They give you more balance.”

Even his friends laughed. He knew he’d sound like a doofus if he got mad — even though he was. “I didn’t know it was a race,” he said, in between breaths.

Thankfully, the whistle blew, and the first group took off again. This time Charlie paid attention, and when it was his turn he sprang off the line like a tightly wound coil. The three of them were in a dead heat at the red line. All three hit the boards with their sticks together, and when he crossed the goal line, Charlie honestly did not know who had won. Stick resting across the tops of his shin pads again, he tried not to look too tired, but he was seriously winded. Those girls could flat out skate!

“Give it up, Joyce, before they kill you,” Scott said, and his friends broke up.

They did a few different skating drills, but none of the racing variety: gliding on one foot, dropping to the knees and up, rounding the faceoff circles. Soon Charlie
had worked up a good sweat. Cummings sure knew her stuff.

The whistle went.

“Bring it in,” Cummings said, waving her stick over her head.

Charlie followed everyone over.

“That was great,” she enthused. “Lots of energy and I see we’ll have a fast team. Obviously we have to put Charlie, Trisha and Alexandra on a line together.”

The kids all whistled and oooh’d and ahh’d, much to Charlie’s embarrassment.

Alexandra thought it was hysterical. “I need Julia as my centre,” she said, still laughing. “No old men on my line.”

Cummings laughed. “It was just a joke. We’ll worry about lines later. Now I want to split into defence and forwards. We’ll do some one-on-ones and then two-on-twos. We only have the ice for forty minutes: they’re doing some maintenance. We were lucky to get this time. The upshot is, we won’t be able to scrimmage.”

Most of the kids booed.

“Give me all the defencemen at this blue line and the rest of you in the left corner at the far end. We only have Cassie in net, so we’ll only go one way. The forward passes to me at the blue line, and then takes a return pass in on the defenceman. Curl back to your lines after the shot. Remember, boys; there’s no contact.”

She blew her whistle. “Let’s do this, people.”

Charlie drifted slowly to the far end with the other forwards. Alexandra was already lined up.

“Behind me, Joyce,” she said. “Watch how it’s done.”

What did she have against him, anyway?

On the whistle she snapped a pass to Cummings, took the return without breaking stride, and rocketed into the neutral zone. Michelle was on defence, and Alexandra took the puck outside. With one hand on the stick she brought it back across, stopped it halfway, and bounced back outside. Michelle stumbled slightly and that was all the fleet-footed Alexandra needed to break in alone. She glided on one foot, faked a wrist shot, and deked to the stick side. Cassie proved her worth, and got her right pad down to take away the bottom of the net. Alexandra tried to raise it, but Cassie used her blocker to knock the puck to the corner.

Charlie was still impressed by the move. He reached to the boards and snagged a puck, kicking it between his feet as he shuffled forward waiting for his turn.

“Have you played much hockey before?”

He turned around. Trisha smiled back. She had to be joking. Might as well play along.

“This is my first time,” he said. “What about you?”

“My first time also,” she said. “Could you explain the rules to me?”

“I’m not sure I know them. I think the game has to do with this little round thingy.”

“It’s called a pluck,” she said.

“Not sure that’s right.”

“It is. I saw it on the Internet.”

“Then it has to be true.”

“Hey. You should be careful. Your skate lace is undone.”

He looked down. They were done up. “Very funn—”

Trisha passed to Cummings and took the return pass without slowing down. The girl was crazed. She had done that just to butt in front of him.

“I guess she got you,” Julia said dryly. She was behind him.

He shuffled his feet a few times and took a deep breath. He couldn’t think of anything to say. At least Trisha had to go against Scott, who never got beat one-on-one, and had the deadliest poke check in the league. Trisha went directly at him, holding the puck in front of her. That was child’s play for Scott, and a metre inside the red line he lunged at the puck. A right-handed shot, Trisha pulled it back with the tip of her stick, brought it even to Scott’s right shoulder, and then back to his forehand side. One hand on the stick, she cut hard around him at the blue line.

The only way he could stop her was to haul her down. For a second, Charlie thought he would; and no doubt he would have in a game. But he let her go, and Trisha roared in on Cassie. Unlike Alexandra, she did not bother being fancy. She teed it up and slapped it from the slot. The puck was in the net before Cassie could react. Trisha banged her stick on the ice a few times and then held it over her head. Scott lowered his head and skated to the boards. Charlie could only imagine what Nick was saying to him now.

“You’re up, Charlie,” Julia said.

Cummings banged her stick on the ice. “Charlie, let’s keep the drill active,” she called out.

Cummings took his pass and slid it back along the blue line. Charlie curled slightly to take it on his forehand, and only then did he look up. Emily was three metres away, which caught him by surprise. That was aggressive defensive play. She carved deeply on her left leg and then
pushed back on her right to gain momentum, stick forward, her left hand in the air — the classic defensive posture. Charlie felt a bit silly — as if it was so serious.

“Stuff him, Em,” he heard from behind. It sounded like Trisha.

He didn’t want to show Emily up, but Trisha’s tone was too much. He decided to put a move on Emily, but then let her get back into the play so as not to rub her nose in it. As he crossed the red line, he figured it was time. Emily was in a good position, though. He needed to confuse her. Charlie increased his pace, faked a double move to his left, did a half-stutter and brought the puck right, then backhanded a soft chip past Emily’s left leg.

She remained facing him. It was all he could do not to laugh out loud. He had her. Charlie crossed over to his left and carved around her, reaching for the puck spinning two metres behind her. He pushed off once with his outside foot.

The next second he was flat on his back. Emily had smoked him with a bodycheck.

Trisha began whooping it up. “Woo hoo! Emily The Destroyer!” she yelled, and repeated that a few times.

Most of the girls were laughing and banging their sticks on the ice.

Charlie fought to control his temper. He couldn’t believe she had plowed him.

“Keep your head up, young man,” Emily said. “Those house league moves don’t play with me.”

“House league!” he sputtered, as he got to his knees. “There’s no hitting!”

“Sorry. Forgot. I’ll be nicer next time.” She curled her arms into a bodybuilder pose, and the rest of the defence
cracked up.

“That’s enough of that, Emily,” Cummings said. “There’s absolutely no body contact allowed. You know that’s a penalty.”

Charlie stood up. Emily looked at him and winked. She was grinning from ear to ear. For an insane moment he almost gave her a two-handed shove. But she was a girl, and he obviously couldn’t do that.

He heard a few girls still laughing. Charlie had never felt so humiliated. Trashed by a girl practically half his size. Pathetic. The next forward was coming, so Charlie peeled off to the side.

Charlie glided on one foot along the boards. He was in absolutely no hurry to get back in line. He dreaded the dissing.

“I would pay to see that again,” Trisha said, as he got near. “That was awesomeness in action.”

Charlie ignored her.

“Don’t mess with my girl Emily,” Trisha continued. “She’ll take ya out.”

He still did not respond.

“I’ll tell her no more hitting,” Trisha said. “That was
waaay
too rough.”

“Do you actually ever shut up?” he snapped. The sound of her voice was too irritating to take.

Trisha’s face coloured. “I’m just joking … no big deal,” she said softly.

“Tell her to try that again — I dare her,” he said.

Alexandra turned around. “Maybe this co-ed thing is a bit too much for you, Charles,” she said. “And if you think Emily’s tough, wait till Michelle pummels you. She’s a monster.”

He caught Pudge’s eye. Pudge turned away and looked into the stands. Zachary was behind him, and he wouldn’t look at Charlie either. They were obviously embarrassed for him.

The unfairness of the situation hurt ten times more than Emily’s bodycheck. Obviously, he had not expected a hit; he was not going full out — it was like he had his eyes closed; and since Emily was a girl there was nothing he could do about it.

Alexandra passed a puck to Cummings and took off.

Charlie looked over at the door. It was five metres away. He could leave; it would be that easy. Now, even if he beat Emily a hundred times on a one-on-one, the guys would still remember the bodycheck, and the girls would never let him forget it either.

Then it hit him, full force. This would get around school. Wait until Jake heard about it. His rep was done. He would forever be the guy who got checked by a girl.

“It’s your turn,” Julia said.

He spun around angrily. Julia’s smile faded.

“Charlie, please keep the line moving,” Cummings said.

He looked around for a puck.

“Here, take mine,” Julia said.

“Keep it,” he said. He raced over to the net and dug a puck out instead. In one motion he whirled around and fired a wicked pass to Cummings. It was too far to her right, and it slid the length of the ice.

“Forget it,” he said to Julia. “You go.”

Charlie skated to the back of the line, behind Matt. His friend looked quickly at him out of the corner of his eye, but he did not say anything.

Charlie was grateful for that.

He should have trusted his gut — this hockey tournament was a big mistake.

Squish. Squish. Squish.