Two Minutes for Hooking

Chapter 11

Dump and Chase: Upon reaching center ice, shooting the puck deep into the opposition end and chasing after it. (The Complete Hockey Dictionary)

We were late...and I don't mean we were just going to be a little bit late for warm up, I mean we were late. By the time we got through security and were making our way to our seats the national anthem was starting. El and I stopped in the isle for the anthem, we were both raised to be respectful of our nations anthem so we placed our hands over our hearts and waited for it's completion before moving the rest of the way into our seats.

I looked down at the starting line up on the ice during the anthem, James was there, standing tall and paying the utmost attention to the flag. When the last bar was sung and the final note had faded from the arena, the team pounded their sticks on the ice in applause and James escorted the singer off the ice. I noticed he glanced toward my normal seat as he passed it and cursed El under my breath again. It wouldn't have taken us near as long to get here if she wouldn't have been dead set on curling my hair. I have naturally straight, fine hair that doesn't hold a curl for anything. El wouldn't hear of it though, she forced hot curlers in my hair and just couldn't understand why my hair was flat before we were ready to leave. It took another hour of fighting , El with my hair and me with El, before she called it good enough. The final result was a sleek pony tail, with dark red gold spiral curls down my back, somehow between the sweater and the hairstyle my normally brown hair looked caught the light and showed its more auburn nature. I think if we would have had more time, El would have continued to fight with my hair, adding more and more hair spray until it was beautifully coiffed and fluffy but instead she was forced to make due with partial do. We took our seats as the starting line ups were facing off at center ice. I caught James' eye as he took his position on the opposite side of the face-off circle from me. He gave me a million watt smile before lowering his shoulders and settling into his ready position. Moments later the puck dropped and the game began.

You could tell within the first five minutes that it was going to be a tough game. Generally speaking, preseason games were friendly matches between two teams that were not necessarily evenly matched. It was a time for trying out line combinations, and seeing which rookies and trades had good chemistry and game IQ. Neither team would really go full bore, preferring to try out new plays and conserve their strength for regular season. Yet the Ice Giants didn't appear to know that this was a friendly scrimmage.

The Frost won the first draw but the Ice Giants defense forced a turnover just inside their blue line and managed to get three opportunities before McDuffy could get set up. He variated between being too deep in his net and too aggressive. When he was too deep in his net he wasn't narrowing the angle of the potential shot and left too much open net. When he was too aggressive he came way too far out of his net to focus on the shooter leaving the wings open to set up for a one timer from the slot. And that was where James and the other defense came in. Every time McDuffy leaves the net vulnerable James is there, he is never afraid to put his body in front of the puck or force a turnover. It takes fifteen minutes before the Ice Giants third line center gets a penalty for hooking Criig McPhearson and gets sent to the box for two minute sending the Frost on their first power play. Less than 15 seconds into the power play, the Frost are set up in the offensive zone, one of the Vlads sends it up to the line to James who fakes a slapper and sends a beautiful saucer over to Criig who nails it in a top shelf one timer the goalie never saw coming. The stands erupt and we all jump to our feet to cheer.

James 

We were up 1-0 at the end of the first period. We were playing decent but I was starting to get tired already, the other defense and myself were having to work extra hard to clear the screen for McDuffy. I found myself crossing my fingers and praying that Ryan recovers quickly because if he didn't, coach was going to make some pretty major decisions. It's not that Lance McDuffy was a bad goalie. When he buckled down and focused on just stopping the puck he was pretty damn decent. The problem was he was showy. Every stop or catch had to have a flourish. I was pretty sure he thought he was Carey Price or Martin Brodeur but the rest of us knew better. Lance was a run of the mill butterfly goalie with zero imagination and a big mouth.

 When the buzzer sounded signaling the end of the first period I made my way to ice door to give each of my teammates a slap on the back and word of encouragement. This was the part of being captain that I loved and hated more than any other. Sure I loved giving the guys encouragement and words of advice but on nights like tonight when I was pissed off on their behalf, it was hard to be fair to everyone. I just may have slapped Lance a little harder than the other guys. There was a pretty good chance that most of my anger was really nerves. I was generally a pretty laid back guy but I was nervous as hell about my date with Jocelyn tonight. I have been watching her since my first game. There is something ridiculously sexy about a girl who gets into hockey. And I mean gets into hockey like that meme of Margot Robbie that was so popular. It also didn't hurt that she had a phenomenal ass. Don't judge me. It was hard not to notice every time she walked up the stands.

I'd been watching her since my first game, she was just so gorgeous and seemed to be totally oblivious to the fact that guys obviously agreed with me. I don't know if she really noticed me at all that first year. Every game she was at she wasn't alone. At first I thought he was dragging her to the games and that she wanted to be anywhere else but there but then I started to notice how she would tense and hold her breath every time our forwards started hammering the opposing goal, and how she would curse under her breath when an unfair call was made. It became more obvious the longer I watched her that she loved hockey, he was the obvious problem. I watched her wipe her eyes when he wasn't there and she thought no one would notice. I saw the times he would cut her off when she was talking. I saw the way he flirted with anything in a skirt whenever she wasn't next to him. Hell I saw it when she was next to him. For two years, I watched her with him. 

I make it sound like I didn't pay any attention to the games at all that first year but to be fair, I didn't make it off the 3rd shift until midway through my first season. I wanted to talk to her, wanted to find out everything about her. The difficult part was trying to catch her away from him. He was always there. I looked for her at every party but she was never there. More often than not, he was though. Chasing after the puck bunnies who weren't going home with one of the players. It wasn't until my second season that I found out exactly who she was. Coach had talked us all into going to support the local college teams on a bye weekend and that was when I knew I was absolutely in over my head. From that day on I didn't miss a game if I could help it. She was incredible. I noticed she had her own cheering section of friends and family. And I also noticed that if her douche bag boyfriend was there he was either flirting with girls at the concession or playing on his phone.I had been tempted more times than I can count to say something to him. To get in his face and tell him how fucking stupid he was. But Ryan always held me back, reminding me that if I got suspended it would ruin my perfect record and make me essentially shit all over my dreams and aspirations. So I waited. And I watched. And when she came to the game last night with her friend I said a prayer of thanks to whoever was listening. 

Running into her at the party was a random fucking miracle and I was beyond happy when she agreed to go out with me tonight. I know I make myself sound like a stalker but it's not like that. There was just something about her that drew me in and I couldn't help myself. When the last of the team made their way through the door, I looked up at her seat to see her and her friend dancing to the goofy pop song playing over the loud speakers. She was laughing and I knew if you looked close enough her cheeks would be red with embarrassment. Her long auburn hair was pulled back making her eyes look even larger and more vibrant. 

"Cap! Hurry up! I'm getting lonely!"I laughed and shook my head at Rush. The kid was a disaster but he was as close to a little brother as I'd ever had. I stepped through the ice door and threw my arm around his neck in a head lock.

"Oh you missed me huh fucker? Gimme a kiss." I made mock kissing noises at him in front of the bunnies that sat by the locker rooms making him squirm and turn red. He pushed hard off my chest turning red. But Rush being Rush, he didn't let it slow him down. 

"Man, you must be desperate if you're trying to make it with me."

"What can I say? Your red hair is just hypnotic."

"Tis a curse." He sighed exasperatedly clutching his fist to his heart. "Are you two done braiding each others hair or can we discuss what the fuck happened out there?"

"Sorry coach" we both mumbled and made our way to the bench.