Welcome to Part 6. Things have taken a turn for the worse a little after a four game skid, bringing our record to 5-4, but with the way it looks tonight it will be 5-5. Oh well games march on. Enjoy this part.
Paws naupres@yahoo.com
DISCLAIMER: Remember this story is fiction and is not intended to imply anything about the true sexuality of the celebrities mentioned or any personal knowledge about their private lives. And if you are underage go somewhere else, this is not for you and you should wait a few years.
Music Shatters Ice
Music Shatters Ice - Part 6 - Start Game
Friday Night had finally arrived and it seemed to take forever. Yesterday, I greeted the coach and assistant coach from North Dakota when they came in. Unfortunately they came in three hours later than they said they would. After they came in they immediately set their teams up to practice. They had an hour's worth of practice, but I watched intently from the upper corridors of the arena. From their practice I gathered that we would have an uphill climb in front of us.
On the group front, Nsync left yesterday afternoon to head to their concert tonight in Lansing. I know my sister was excited when she left the house this morning. I'm still surprised that she was able to drag Chance with her. The guys didn't really want to leave. They said they wanted to check out the first game, but due to scheduling they knew they couldn't make it so they'd promised that they'd come to the Saturday night game. Out of the entire group, neither Chris nor James were the most upset about missing the first game. The most disappointed was Justin. He said that when he made it to the second game he would make up for it by having twice as much fun. I had no clue what he had in mind so I just let it slip by. Joey had been quiet and appeared to be studying the situation. JC on the other hand was curious about me, my job and how fast I had become the Assistant Coach of the Steeds. Their concert began at the same time as the game: seven sharp so I figured that we probably would get off our jobs at roughly the same time.
It was now twenty minutes until game time and I was sitting in my office. I was a bit nervous to say the least. The rest of the team was already on the ice finishing up their warm up skate. I had to think of something to say to the team for Coach Roberts was on the phone in his office and didn't look like he would make it out to speak before the team.
Then it happened, I heard the loud horn blare to signify that the practice skate was over and for the zamboni to clean the ice for game time. I stood up and began my trek to the main locker room area. Standing in the corner I watched as the players started to filter in. There was constant talking going on.
"Alright. Quiet! I'm going to make this quick. We have to come out strong and hard. Take all the shots on goal as you can. Set up quick and fire it in. Finally stay out of the box." I said what I had to say and went to the hall.
Sitting on a table in the hall I listened to the zamboni going around the ice, the fans screaming in the stands, and the North Dakota players hooting and hollaring. I picked up a poll that was next to me it was the preseason poll for the entire NCAA Division I. I scanned it real quick.
NCAA Division I Preseason Poll
1 Boston College 2 North Dakota 3 Michigan 4 Michigan State 5 Colorado College 6 St. Cloud 7 Maine 8 Minnesota 9 St. Lawrence 10 Nebraska-Omaha 11 Cornell 12 Northern Michigan 13 Mass-Lowell 14 Mercyhurst 15 Denver
Funny, nowhere near the top and if the competition didn't kill us, the climb to the top would. From my suit pocket my phone rang.
"Hello." I answered.
"Hi Jace. I just wanted to wish you good luck before your game." James said.
"Thanks, but I thought you had a concert."
"That's in a few minutes. So is the team ready?"
"I hope so. Its going to be a tough game."
"Don't worry, I'm sure Justin will be screaming his head off tommorrow." James said.
"And what about you and Chris?"
"We might cheer a little bit."
"If I see you, you better be cheering alot."
"We'll see." James said. "Oh I gotta run. We need to take our places. Talk to you later Jace."
"Sure thing. Bye."
I put the phone back into its holster and casually waited. Our Manager, Dean, soon came by.
"Ready?" He asked.
"I think so."
"Have you seen the preseason polls yet?" Dean asked obviously trying to distract my mind.
"Yes, and the Central Michigan Steeds are no where on it."
"Its best to let the critics eat crow." He said and walked off to our equipment center.
He was right though it was only the beginning and we could not get worse on the polls if we were not on it yet.
It was time. The guys were starting to line up to get on ice for introductions. I took my place off to the side and let them go. Within minutes the introductions were overwith and I was behind the bench waiting for the puck to drop.
The whistle blew and the puck hit the ice.
The face off was won by North Dakota and was guided down ice. Our defense was trying to contain the puck, but the deep talent was too much and our goaltender was kept busy for a few minutes.
Five minutes from the end of the period and I was feeling as if this was a ping pong game, with no clear advantage going to either side. At 4 minutes and 13 seconds left North Dakota used a screen to block our goaltender and slice the puck into the net. The crowd was left devastated as North Dakota celebrated.
The puck was again dropped on center ice and play resumed until the horn sounded announcing the end of the First Period. The team headed dejectedly into the Locker Room. I was unsure of what to say to them they were doing everything correctly, but just had a bad break.
I headed into the Locker Room's main area.
"Guys you did everything I told you to, so I cannot complain. Keep fighting to get the puck in. This is still a one goal game."
I knew from everything that I had seen on the ice in the first period this was going to be a long boring game.
There was now only two minutes left in the third and final period and the score was tied at one all. Our score came after Myon, one of our lesser known forwards, made a slap shot from the blue line and it went in after it bounced off of a North Dakota defenseman. That was probably one of the more luckier plays of the game so far. We have been rotating though our plays multiple times without any effect.
As the game twindled down to a few seconds North Dakota pulled their goalie to get their extra attacker on the ice. Now I just wanted to put my hands over my eyes. Somehow I know that my guys would not be able to handle six attackers. They were barely able to hold on to the five.
We were right in the middle of a shift change and there were twenty seconds left on the clock. North Dakota was flying down the ice and Terry was trying to get back to the bench to get a defender on ice. The Sioux right winger hit a slap shot from his own blue line to force the puck into the zone, but it ended up hiting Terry who was almost at our bench at the red line center ice. I could see and hear the puck riqochet off of Terry's shin pad and go careening into the North Dakota territory. The force knocked Terry off his feet and sent him into the ice. Hard. The puck was starting to slow in the Dakota zone. One of the Sioux forwards picked up on what was happening at the last second and started to skate to the puck only to see it barely glide past the goal line. Terry was down on the ice and couldn't see a thing, but I'm sure he could hear the cheering coming from everywhere around him. Immediately the team went on the ice to celebrate, while I held my breath not believing what happened. It was the first time for us to experience such an incredible upset. Being the first game of the season made it all the better. The sound system in the arena was pumping music towards the fans as well as randomly playing clips of neighing steeds over the main speaker announcing our victory. After the team was further away from the bench and near the goal on the ice, our trainer went to go look after Terry. While I went over to the end of the bench and waived for my guys to come back into the locker room, I saw our trainer and Dean help Terry into the back. I immediately joined them to wait for the team to come to the back. We still had one more game against North Dakota, but for the moment I was happy about the score.
I went into the Trainer's Room to check on Terry. They had his leg exposed and there was blood dripping slightly from it.
"So what happened?"
"Well it looks like the shin guard protected the bone, but didn't protect the skin from being cut by the plastic." The trainer said while looking at the cut.
"Is it severe?" I asked.
"No. It's just a little deep. I'll clean it out and he'll be fine."
"Alright, Terry join me in the Locker Room once you're done in here." I said and walked to the main part of the room where Coach was speaking.
"...fantastic and the defense was very good. If we play like that tomorrow we can defeat them again." Roberts said standing on a chair like he was directing traffic. "We have optional practice at 12, and the game's at 7 again, get some sleep guys you've earned it."
After Roberts left to his office, Davis came up to me.
"Remarkable wasn't it." He quoted.
"It was pretty amazing."
"It must have hit the Terrier pretty hard."
"I just checked on him. All that's broken is a shin pad and a little bit of skin."
"A bit of skin?"
"Yeah, the plastic on the pad sliced him."
"Oh." He said and walked away.
The guys were working pretty rapidly to leave, some to go see their girlfriends, others to actually get some sleep. Either way, they know that this is going to be a new season that is full of surprises. And for me it's going to be a wild ride that could end up taking me high.
Coming down the hall, I could see Terry limping. I immediately came to his side to help him.
"You know you didn't have to limp all the way. You could have yelled at me."
"Yeah I know."
"So how does it feel to get the game winning goal for the first game?" I asked.
"It's pretty embarassing." He said.
Yeah, that was my Terry, shy.
"How so?"
"I don't know many players that score the goal with their shin."
"Oh come on. The point is that it went in and the game was won. The rest is just a good story to tell for later." I said.
We were now one of the leaders of the conference and I knew on the otherside of those doors was a barrage of reporters waiting for me and Roberts. If coach was smart he left already.
I headed down to his office for a few seconds to see if he was indeed still here. I peeked into the window and he was there talking with a few reporters. I headed back to the main locker room.
Within a matter of minutes the room was cleared and I headed out to face what I thought was to be huge. Exiting the Locker Room I was confronted with five reporters, not bad, but still five more than what I would like.
"Coach Taylor! College Hockey Online. What was the performance like? Did it surpass your thoughts." The young lady I knew of as Natalie said.
"They played up to my expectations like I knew they would. I have faith in them and I suggest that everyone do the same."
Another reporter was quick to speak up.
"Do you actually think your team can continue this level of play without falling apart." A middle aged man said.
I knew there is one of these in every crowd.
"Yes I do. You," I emphasised at him, "give us any team and we'll show you how well we will do."
At that point my phone began ringing. Ripping it out of my waist...
"Hello."
"Hey Jace."
"Hi, what's up?"
"We just got done with our concert several minutes ago. How did your game go?"
"We shocked the world. We won 2 to 1."
"Did it just end?" James asked.
At this point I decided to use this call to my advantage.
"Hold on a second James." Putting down the phone quickly, I looked back to the five in front of me. "I'm sorry, but I have just received an important call that I must address privately."
Clearly they wanted to know what it was, but I was not about to tell them that it was the Assistant Coach of the Central Michigan Steed's current boyfriend. Oh they would have a feeding frenzy.
"Is the call about hockey?" The same man said.
"It could possibly be about a new recruit for next year." I said which immediately shut him up.
Then I started to walk out and towards my car, picking up the conversation again.
"Ok I'm back, what was your question."
"I asked if it just ended."
"Yeah it ended twenty minutes ago and I got stuck talking to reporters for two minutes before you called."
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt."
"Don't worry I just used you as an excuse to get away from them. So I should be thanking you. So how's Chris?"
"He's eagerly awaiting to get to see Terry."
"Well he's going to be a little disappointed."
"Why you say that?"
"He was a little banged up today."
"What happened?"
"The puck hit him in the shin slicing him a little."
"Is he alright?"
"Yeah he's fine. It's funny though for the puck bounced off and went into the net to give us the win."
"Really?"
"Yes."
"Wow."
"Yeah that's what we thought as we watched the puck."
I then heard James pull the phone away from his mouth for a second and yell across a distance.
"Justin, they won and it was a nailbiter. They won it at the end of the game."
I then heard a strong "Damn." echo across to my ears. James came back on and was laughing.
"Justin is a little upset that he did not see it."
"I heard. So how was the concert?"
"Same as usual. Going through the routines and making girls scream."
"So where are you now?"
"Now we are headed your way. Where might you be headed?"
"I might be headed home. In fact right now I'm only a few minutes away."
"Oh really? Might we join you?"
"You're kidding? I'm not sure if I even have the room to host five guys. Or that you will even like the surroundings."
"Remember Chris and I were there and it looked like you had enough room."
"Why would you want to stay with me in the first place?"
"Coming to a good home and being able to relax in a comfortable setting that is not a hotel is always a pleasureable thing."
"I'm sure it is. I tell you what. You come over when you get here and I'll see what I can do from there."
"Sounds great, look forward to seeing you. Bye."
"Bye." I said and turned off the phone.
Interesting, my place was to turn into the next animal house. Its enough that I let players come over and spend the night, but now my new friends and where to put them. I have two rooms: mine and the guest. But the sofa is a pull out. So that's two on the couch and two in the guest bedroom, and one can take a sleeping bag. I was proud that I had worked it out in my head. Now I just had to see if it actually matched to reality in my house.
I had arrived at my house and immediately tossed my stuff down on the dining room table and went to investigate the house. The guest bedroom was all set up and ready, and the couch sofa I pulled out and remembered as I saw that there were sheets already on it and all it needed were blankets. I went to the closet and pulled out two blankets and a sleeping bag. The sleeping bag I tossed into my room. There was no place to put that unless they wanted to sleep on linoleum floor of the dining room and that was definately not good for the back. With the two blankets I neatly rolled them onto the pull out making it look as nice as could be expected of a pull out. I went back into my room and laid out the sleeping bag and opened it. I was an excellent host, I should be paid for doing stuff like this.
After taking my shower and getting changed into some unsweat filled boxers I jumped in bed and turned off the room's light leaving the light in the living room on for I had no clue in how many hours it would take for them to come and I was not about to wait up. I closed my eyes as the sleep of victory washed over me.
I awoke with a jolt to the sounds of doorbell ringing and banging on my front door. I looked over at the clock. 12:48. I drowsily stumbled to the front door and looked through the peephole. I had to give a small chuckle. I was unsure who looked more tired me from waking up or them from not sleeping. I opened it to them giving a collective sigh.
"Well good evening to you as well." I said and led them into the house and closed it behind them.
"I'm sure you five are eager to get to sleep so everything's all out just so you can get changed and then fall into sleep." I then explained the set up. "Two of you can take the pullout, two in the guest bedroom and one in the sleeping bag in my room. I'll let you decide who wants what."
Justin and Joey decided on the pullout, JC and Chris took the guest room bed, while James stayed by my side and chose the sleeping bag.
Soon enough all the lights in the house were off and everyone was in their place. Minutes later I heard snoring coming from the living room. Instinctively I got up to close the bedroom door at the same time stepping over the sleeping bag to avoid a slumbering James. Nearing the door, I found out that it was not one snoring voice but two. I remembered that Justin and Joey had taken the pullout. It had to be them since the door to the guest room was closed and the noise was coming around the corner. I silently closed the door and headed back to bed. It wasn't moments later when I heard someone calling me and tugging at my sheet.
"Hey Jace, you still awake?" James asked.
"Yes, what do you need." I said a little hoarse.
"The bag is a little cold, there is not enough padding on the inside."
I didn't think about that, an extra blanket for the bag. I gave an inward sigh, I was forgetting too many things it seemed like. I opened his side of my blankets.
"Come on, I'm sorry I didn't realize that."
He accepted my offer and immediately got into bed. I felt his body, it was stone cold next to my warmth.
"James why didn't you say that you were this cold?"
I was surprised that he was not shivering to death.
"I didn't want to bother you."
"Well I don't want anyone near me catching a virus."
I put my hands on his arms and rubbed them trying to warm them up. Immediately its effects were felt as warmth returned to his arms. Being under a fuzzy cotton blanket and a down stuffed comforter doesn't hurt either.
"So are you starting to feel better now." I asked.
"Much thanks." James said as he scooted back towards me. I guess I was radiating off more heat than I knew.
That's all for this chap. Hope you had fun reading.