Aspiring

Heartbreaking Loss - FLASHBACK

They came out fast. Zilchy scored on a rebound to make it 1-0 and then Patrick deflected a low shot by Tyler, over Tatch, the Land Sharks’ goalie, for a 2-0 lead late in the first period. Andrew tried to make only one tough save, when Crosby got free and swung in untouched from his left. He shot low and hard to his stick side and he barely got his right tow on it. The rebound went right to his partner in crime, who also happened to be my old enemy back from the dead. It was Andrew Campbell, who tried to jam it just inside the goalpost, but he dove and smothered it for a whistle.

“Screw you, Carpie,” Tyler heard Crosby tell the Eagles’ goalie, Andrew Carpenter yet again.

Sometime in the second period,

A little more than six minutes remained. The skaters lined up for a face-off to Andrew Carpenter’s right. As the ref held the puck out over the face-off dot, Tyler glimpsed Campbell smirking at him. Zack won the face-off and sent it back to Patrick, who slid the puck immediately to his goalie. Andrew froze it for another face-off, which is what Patrick wanted.

“Hang on,” he told the ref, and then skated to the bench. Patrick punched the glass with his right fist and yelled, “No!” The ref’s whistle shrilled.

“Today gentlemen,” he said.

The Eagle player turned back to the game, his face was pale with a mask of anger. Tyler felt certain then that something bad was going to happen. 

From the next face-off, Zack shoveled the puck ahead to Bryan, who banged it into the Land Sharks’ end. Zilchy chased it down in a corner and slid a quick pass back to Patrick, waiting just above the face-off dot to the left of the Land Sharks’ net. From there he could’ve had a clear shot on goal or he could’ve passed it to Tyler at the far goalpost. Instead he lifted his stick an inch and let the puck slide beneath it. He tried to make it look like a mistake. Inexplicably, he waited a beat while Crosby rushed past and scooped up the disk. Patrick turned in pursuit at once.

Crosby had a breakaway, Patrick was faster, though, and could have overtaken him easily. Instead he maintained his pace two strides behind, waiting for something. What are you doing? Tyler thought. He saw Andrew, the goalie, slide out to cut down the angle, his eyes darting between both men, still trailing. Crosby veered to the middle of the ice. Andrew stopped and squatted, prepared to push backward, catching glove high. Glove in position, his eyes now on the puck. He was guessing that Crosby was preparing to shoot rather than deke when Patrick stole the puck and Crosby shouted out a cuss word, then Patrick’s legs buckled and the puck squirted away.

The heel of Crosby’s stick caught Patrick just under the right eye. Crosby swung it like a baseball bat, following through as Patrick cried out once and crumpled. Crosby raised his stick again and brought it down like an ax on the side of Patrick’s head. Patrick was wearing a helmet, but again Tyler heard the crack of wood on bone. 

“Patrick!” Tyler screamed. He dropped his stick and gloves and rushed to grab Crosby, before he swung his stick again. Tyler had a fistful of his jersey when someone tackled them from behind. In an instant, other Land Sharks and Eagles were piling on, screaming and cursing. A whistle was blowing. Tyler overheard someone saying, “Oh my God, call an ambulance, call an ambulance.” Somebody was punching Tyler in the back, but he hung tight to Crosby, his helmet pressed against the back of his neck. The fiery Shark was muttering to himself, shooting a series of curse words in a row.

The refs peeled them all apart. Somebody pulled Tyler away and Bryan and Fiyero grabbed Crosby by his arms and he let them. “That’s all, Crosby, settle down.”

Patrick somehow had survived and he scrambled to his feet, but he was bleeding from the left side of his head, which looked rather disgusting. That was why someone was calling for an ambulance. Patrick had blood coming from a swollen eye too.