Eden Hall Ducks - Adam Banks

Chapter 7 : The First Game

Later that night, the junior varsity would play their first regular season game. Charlie Conway walked into the room with a permanent smile on his face, seeming as if he had been in awe of something-- or someone. Indiana dressed for the game, across from the empty stall that was once Adam's. Indiana stared at it for a moment, before moving her stuff across the room and into his old stall. Indiana smiled to herself, wondering if he would be in the stands to watch her first game tonight.

Josh began announcing, "It appears the entire school has turned out to see the once Mighty Ducks, I mean, rather, the, um, Eden Hall Warriors do battle with the Blake freshman Bears." Indiana was the first player to step on the ice, skating over to the Warriors home bench.

"Gather around. Let's go. Hustle up. Come on. All right, think defense," said coach Orion. "All right, hands in. Here we go."

Indiana wasn't quite sure what the chant was, as they weren't exactly the Ducks anymore. To be safe, she said nothing. The rest of her teammates, however, began to quack.

Orion stopped them, "What the hell's that? Knock that off. All right, 'Go, team' on two. Here we go, one, two."

The Ducks let out an apathetic "Go team" and skated out to their positions. It was no surprise that Indiana Gaffney would continue on her same line, this time only missing Adam.

"'Go, team.' How original," muttered Charlie. Indiana skated past him, rolling her eyes.

"Just get in the game, Charlie," said Averman.

"Let's do it, Charlie," said Fulton, bumping his friend.

"Point of fact, Charlie Conway is not wearing the traditional captain 'C.' He's been this team's captain since they played in District Five. I guess Coach Orion's making a statement."

The game began relatively physically, Charlie being taken down within his first shift. Charlie was able to quickly recoup, grabbing the puck again and passing it over to Indiana. Indiana took a few strides, easily passing the Bears defenseman. Indiana deked around the goalie, scoring the varsity team their first goal. Everyone in the arena jumped up to celebrate, Indiana's teammates coming to embrace her. Indiana's eyes fled to the varsity team, where Adam quickly stood and cheered for her, before being pushed back down by one of the varsity members. Indiana's smile faltered as she watched this occur, knowing that even if she did get pulled up to the varsity team this season, she wouldn't be treated as if she belonged. She skated through the line, shaking hands with her teammates as they cheered for her.

It was Charlie's turn next, as Indiana poke checked the puck away from one of the Bear's forwards and regained possession. Indiana passed it to Charlie as he fled across the Warrior's logo at center ice. Charlie took the puck down the left boards, spinning around a defenseman and easily making a move around the goalie, scoring yet again. Charlie jumped up with his hands in the air, his teammates skating over to hug him. After removing himself from the celebration, he pushed his helmet back, revealing the smile plastered on his face. Charlie raised his arms as he skated towards the bench, smiling at Linda, who was on her feet and clapping at her first ever hockey game.

"All right, knock off the celebration! Act like you've scored before, huh?" Coach Orion yelled at Charlie, who was celebrating more than Indiana had. The junior varsity team had the puck in their offensive zone again, Russ putting up a knuckle puck shot to the goalie's face. As the goalie fell, Guy tucked in the rebound. After collecting the puck in their defensive zone, Luis was passed the puck at center ice. On the breakaway, Luis took a few strides before shooting the puck into the back of the net. Unable to stop, the goalie watched as Luis jumped over the net and hit the boards, falling to the ice.