𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙡𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙞𝙢 𝙜𝙤 / 𝙩𝙬𝙤

"feisty icelanders"

I skated onto the ice and around the net. I stopped when I heard what Averman and Goldberg were doing.

"Live from Los Angeles, welcome to the Junior Goodwill Games. Tonight's matchup, Team U.S.A. faces off against Team Iceland."

"What are you doing?" I asked. They ignored me.

We have with us Greg Goldberg, goaltender for Team U.S.A. and Ella Silverton, a fabulous center position player. Greg, what is it gonna take to beat these feisty Icelanders tonight?" Averman held the end of a hockey stick under Goldberg's mouth.

"I think it'll take a supreme individual effort by me, Greg Goldberg."

Averman nodded and the stick was then shoved into my face. "How about you Ella? What do you think?"

"Let's play hockey, everybody." A referee skated by and I swatted the hockey stick away from my mouth.

Averman looked at his fake cameraman and made a slashing motion across his throat. "Okay, cut it."

"Welcome to today's game. This is a very important matchup, Team U.S.A. against Iceland...in what could be a preview of the championship game. Iceland, coached by Wolf "The Dentist" Stansson. He'll be taking on Gordon Bombay."

I skated out onto the ice determined to ignore any attempt Iceland was going to make at getting into my head. That wasn't really an issue because the second the whistle was blown I was shoved to the ground.

When I got up there was some sort of commotion with Dean.

"You're throwing him out?" Coach was yelling angrily from the bench. "You can't do that! It's three seconds into the game!"

Dean was escorted off the rink and into the locker rooms looking pissed off as ever. I groaned. This game was going to be hard enough to win even with Dean playing. Now that he was out, we were at an even bigger disadvantage.

The Iceland team sure wasn't here to play nice hockey. They were knocking down our players left and right. I couldn't tell which was worse; Getting pummeled out on the ice or watching my team embarrass themselves from the bench.

Coach sat next to me and leaned over to Kenny. "We're in trouble, Ken. What can you do for us?"

"Let's see." He thought for a moment. "Uh, a triple aerial with a Double Hamill Camel, that should split the D, then a pirouetting half-toe-touch for the goal."

Coach patted him on the back. "Show it to me, son."

Kenny nodded and slid him helmet over his face, ready to play. We all shouted words of encouragement.

Unfortunately for him, Kenny was knocked down by two Iceland players before he could even finish a pirouette. He groaned and skated back to the bench. Coach opened the door for him and then sat beside him.

"Was that it?" Kenny nodded.

After yet another goal was made by Iceland, Coach called us all over.

"Where's our concentration? You guys are running around like a bunch of chickens with their heads cut off!"

Jesse was quick to scoff. "We're doing our best."

"Well, your best isn't good enough anymore. Blow this game and we are one loss away from elimination. You guys might want to go home early, but I sure as heck don't." Coach gave one last sigh and pushed through the group.

Averman looked at Julie and me. "My that was inspiring."

"Four-nothing, Iceland, as we head for the final period." The announcer's voice rang out while I skated back into position. "I hope Bombay's got some magic up his sleeve, because he's getting manhandled tonight."

Coach's speech sure didn't do much inspiring. As soon as the puck was dropped it slid right past Goldberg and into the goal. "You're off Goldberg!" I heard Coach shout.

Julie skated out. I smiled. She had been wanting to show off her skills ever since we arrived.

A few seconds later, a couple of Iceland players met Julie at the goal. I skated closer to listen.

"Sending in a woman to do a man's job?" One of them questioned. "Don't break a nail."

Julie smiled sweetly. "I'm sorry boys but can you help me with my pads please?" The two looked at each other and nodded. They leaned over and she gave them a hard shove, sending the two to the ice.

"Intent to injure! You're out of the game young lady!" A referee signaled Julie off the ice and she picked up her stick. "See you around boys."

Luckily for us, Adam finally was able to do something with the puck and bring it down towards the Iceland goal.

"Here's Banks, starting onto the ice, moves along the left wing side, now moves into the center, and a spin move! A great move to the blue line. Banks all alone. He scores!"

"Yeah Adam!" I beamed with pride. My boy.

Our victory cheers were quickly cut short. An Iceland player reached over and slammed his stick onto Adam's wrist, which was resting on the goal.

A referee grabbed Sanderson and led him to the penalty box.

"Are you alright?" The Ducks gathered around Adam, looking concerned. He weakly smiled and nodded.

"He's okay!" The team skated away celebrating. I watched as Adam pulled his hand out of his glove and grimaced. Was Adam really alright?

I turned to the scoreboard and sighed. Regardless of Adam's goal there was no winning the game for team USA.

Coach wasn't going to be happy.

_

"Twelve to one." Coach clicked his tongue and paced around the locker room. We all sat around him with varied looks of defeat painted on each of our faces. "You know what word comes to mind when you think of that? Hmm?" He glanced around and stopped pacing. "Pathetic! You guys were brought here to play hockey."

"What about you?" Jesse glared at Coach. It reminded me of how he had looked when Adam and I first joined the team.

"What about me Jesse?"

Now Julie spoke up. "Coach Stansson knew everything about us! They were ready for us!"

"And you spend your time driving around in convertibles and talking to those sponsor fools." A usually quiet Luis stared at Coach angrily.

"Or hanging with the Iceland lady. We saw you two Saturday night. Eating ice cream with the enemy, huh coach?" Fulton shook his head and leaned up against the lockers. I locked my eyes on Coach. What was his defense going to be for this?

He looked around, almost frightened, for a moment, while the team mumbled. "Hey, hey, what I do is none of your business. Is that clear?"

I rolled my eyes and started to remove my gear. The others did as well.

"Hey don't take those pads off. Everyone stay in your gear. We have practice."

I looked up confused. "Tonight?"

_

It was only 9:30am and I had already fallen asleep in class more times then I could count. But I wasn't alone.

Coach had made the team do sprints into an ungodly hour last night until our legs practically went numb. Poor Ms. McKay tried to keep us all awake during class but it was no use.

Finally she sent us back to the hotel to sleep.

When I arrived back to my room I immediately headed to bed. I didn't even remember to take off my shoes. I was too tired.

_

brace yourself for the next chapter. ella won't be calling adam "my boy" for much longer🤪