The Hockey Boy

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

TY

November 10

I skated down the ice in the rink at my school, taking the puck with me. I turned my head to the right, spotting my teammate and best friend, Calvin Hampton. He was open, so I passed him the puck and he shot it straight into the back of the net.

"Whoo!" I cheered as I skated into a hockey hug with my teammates. We were just scrimmaging the JV, but it was still fun to celebrate a goal.

"Nice pass, Brady," said Calvin as he slapped my back.

"Nice shot, Hampton. Your wrist shot is getting better from that right side," I complimented.

"Well, I am a right winger, you know," Calvin joked.

"Hey, Brady, are we almost done?" asked Steve Harding, a left winger for the varsity team.

"Yeah, let's let the JV have one more possession, then we can go," I said as I passed the puck to a JV defenseman. "Hustle, people, we have our first game in ten days, and we need to be in shape!" The defenseman attempted to pass the puck to the other defenseman, but I easily intercepted the pass. I was on a breakaway when suddenly, one of the JV players was right behind me. I easily changed directions, leaving the JV player skating in the wrong direction. I smirked and easily scored a goal.

"Nice breakaway, Ty!" yelled Calvin.

"Thanks," I said as I skated up to the JV player that had tried to stop me. "Hey, great hustle. You would've had me if you were a bit faster." The kid, a freshman, smiled at me, then skated away.

"Okay, team, I think we're good for today. Same time tomorrow, and don't be late, otherwise I'll have you skating sprints!" I shouted as everybody began to leave the rink. I started to skate over to the bench, but suddenly, I found myself lying on the ice without a stick in my hands.

"Ha, I gotcha!" yelled Calvin.

"Dang it, Cal, you broke my last stick!" I shouted as I picked up the two halves of my hockey stick.

"Sorry," said Calvin regretfully.

"Hey, let's head to the hockey shop. I was going to buy some new sticks anyway," I said.

"That sounds like a good idea. I was going to pick up a few sticks myself any day now," replied Cal.

"Hampton!" barked Coach Beck as he skated towards us. "Do you realize how stupid it was to backcheck Brady? You could've injured her before our first game, and we don't need that, do we?"

"No, sir," mumbled Calvin. "Sorry, Ty."

"To make up for your idiocy, you'll skate ten sprints, blue line to blue line, now!" shouted Coach.

"Yes, sir," mumbled Calvin with his head down as he began his sprints.

"Ty, nice job handling practice today. I almost didn't have to say anything. When somebody was out of line, you'd take care of it before I'd even have a chance. Thank you for that," said Coach proudly.

"I'm just fulfilling my job as captain, Coach," I replied.

"You know, if you keep playing like you have been these past few years, I think you have a real shot at getting a full ride to the college of your choice," said Coach.

"Thanks, Coach, that really means a lot," I said as I smiled.

"You know, you could probably play for a guy's college team, too, if the NCAA would allow it. I personally think you could beat up any girl on any college team at this point in time as is."