Linemates - Adam Banks

Introductions - 2

The group walked out of the locker room and onto the ice, Indiana taking in the view of the rink. A group of kids were already skating around the ice, slowly making their way to who was assumed to be the coach at center ice. As the door opened, the Ducks, all in game uniforms, stared at the newcomers. Indiana felt a shiver down her spine, her hand shaking at the idea of being the center of attention. Luis led the way onto the ice, followed by Dwayne, Julie, Indiana, Ken, and Portman.

"Tell me about my new kids," coach Bombay skated, referring to the group who had just entered the ice rink. Bombay was about average height, somewhat blending in with a few of the taller Ducks. He had longer brown hair that was brushed to the side, clipboard under his arm. The Ducks around him all watched the newcomer's step onto the ice, various looks of curiosity or judgment on their faces. A few of the Ducks looked rather excited to meet their new teammates, while a few held blank stares.

Tibbles began introducing the newcomers to Bombay, starting with Luis. "That's Luis Mendoza. He's from our Miami club. A real speedster. Incredible skater." Luis put on his helmet, demonstrating his forward and backwards skating skills to the group. "I clocked him at 1.9 seconds, blue line to blue line." Indiana herself couldn't fathom the speed at which the boy was skating at.

"Good-looking skater," one of the girls pointed out. The girl was beautiful, with long brown hair tucked away in a braid. She had a captivating smile and seemed to have extreme chemistry with the boy who she stood next to.

"Very good-lookin'. What do you think, Guy?" asked the boy with glasses that Indiana recognized from the newspaper photograph. From this comment alone, Indiana knew Averman would be a handful, but seemed fun, nonetheless.

"Shut up, Averman" stated the blonde boy, who elbowed Averman, causing him to fall to the ground. The group just watched as he let out a small yell and quickly got back up.

"He has one minor problem," continued Tibbles, motioning back to Luis. The group watched as Luis lost control near the boards, falling into them at a high speed. The group grimaced as they watched Luis lay on the ice. "Has a little trouble stopping."

"I'd say so," remarked one of the goalies, Goldberg.

Without hesitation, Indiana skated over to Luis and helped him up, holding under his arm and allowing him to steady himself. Luis took his helmet off and grimaced after shooting Indiana a short smile. "I almost had it that time," he said, causing the group to laugh.

"Whatever you want to believe," remarked Indiana, causing the boy to frown.

Dwayne grabbed his cowboy hat off of his head and threw it to the side, beginning his own introduction, "Yee-haw! How is everyone? Y'all ready to play some puck?" With that, the boy threw the puck into the air, beginning to perform some clean puck handling tricks.

"Hey, look. it's Hopalong Gretzky," one of the boys joked, causing a rise of laughter within the ducks group.

"That's Dwayne Robertson from Austin. He's the best puck handler I've ever seen," explained Mr. Tibbles. Indiana's mouth hung open as she watched him bounce the puck off of his skate back onto his stick. He then threw the puck high into the air along with his stick. As he grabbed the stick, he also placed the blade in the correct position, catching the puck with ease. Dwayne looked up at the ducks, a huge smile plastered on his face.

"You mean for his age," Bombay questioned in an attempt to clarify.

Don Tibbles looked at Bombay knowingly, "No, I don't." Bombay nodded his head, clearly entertained by the southern boys' antics.

"He does have a tendency to showboat," Tibbles pointed out as Robertson puck handled around his own legs, skating back and forth over the blue line. Julie and Indiana cheered him on from across the ice while the ducks shared some laughs.