CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: celebratory kiss
Team usa entered the third period with new jersey's, and a new name. now clad in a stark white jersey with the symbols of the duck on the front, andrea and the ducks stepped out onto the ice with the crowd cheering all around them.
"quack! quack! quack!" the ducks cheered at the bench, readying themselves for period three.
as the teams cheering subsided, the crowd began to clap and sing.
we will, we will quack you!
andrea skated onto the ice, her four teammates around her as they skated a lap around their end, goldberg settling himself in the net.
we will, we will quack you!
she lined up and centre ice, staring down gunner stahl. she refused to fall into his game, not looking at his menacing gaze and instead focusing on the ice, where the puck would drop and she would hopefully win the face off.
we will, we will quack you!
the puck dropped and andrea immediately shoved stahl, knocking him to the ground as she swiped the puck up with her stick.
buddy you're a boy making big noise, playing in the street, gonna be a big man someday!
she soared down the ice alongside the boards, her teammates right behind her. she passed along to jesse, ducking as an iceland goon tried to slam her against the boards.
you've got mud on your face, you big disgrace, kicking your can all over the place!
jesse dropped the puck to guy as andrea sped over to the net, making herself open for a pass.
we will, we will rock you!
guy sends the puck her way. she cradles the puck, pulling back and hitting it hard into the net. the buzzer roars, but not as loud as the cheering fans.
andrea raises her stick in the air, whooping as her teammates surround her in a hug. with two goals now on the scoreboard, iceland only carries a two goal lead.
she skates over to the bench, smile wide as her teammates hit her helmet and pat her back in celebration. she grabs her water, slugging it down as she turns her eyes to the game.
the excitement from her goal diminishes as iceland scores once again. she reminds herself not to lose hope just yet; there's still time.
coach bombay calls a time out as charlie scribbles a play on the coaching white board. he motions around his drawing, explaining his idea to the ducks. "it's the perfect teamwork play!"
adam leads with the puck down the ice, just as planned. as he nears, instead of shooting, he drops the puck back behind him where dwayne picks it up. he positions the puck onto his stick, launching it through the air.
they all watch as the puck flys, adam skating over to meet the puck at the net. as the puck lands, adam is knocked down, but he doesn't give up quite so quickly.
from the ice, he extends his stick, knocking the puck into the goal. andrea cheers, quickly hugging charlie as she mentally thanks god that his plan worked.
time was running out, when luis gets a breakaway. speeding down the ice, faster than andrea had seen before, he rushes towards the net.
andrea instinctively closes her eyes as luis gets within a foot of the net, as she waits for the sound of him crashing.
instead, she hears, "i stopped!"
eyes shooting open, andrea jumps to her feet as she watches in shock. "put it in, luis!" coach screams, snapping luis out of his state of awe. he taps the puck in, earning another goal for the ducks.
two minutes were left in the third, the ducks only one goal away from iceland. coach bombay sends russ out onto the ice, all of them praying he can get a chance to shoot.
still, iceland targets him heavily. three of them check him into the boards at once, with much more force than necessary. the referee blows the whistle, and coach bombay calls for a timeout.
the team huddles around as bombay explains his plan. though it's crazy, andrea has hope for the play that bombays concocted.
the timeout ends, players heading back out onto the ice. andrea and adam are among them, along with dean, fulton, and jesse. they need all the strength that they've got for this plan to work.
andrea wins the face off, backhanding the puck into her own end instead of attempting a breakaway. fulton grabs the puck, bringing it back behind their net. he passes to adam, who stands behind the net as well.
"now!" bombay yells, and the plan is a go.
andrea hangs back as the ducks skate up the ice, forcing iceland out of their zone onto defence. but instead of bringing the puck into icelands zone, adam passes back to the goalie.
the iceland players are obviously confused, as andrea skates over and hands the goalie her stick.
the confusion turns into fear as the goalie drops his helmet, revealing himself to be russ in disguise as goldberg.
with andrea's stick in hand, russ flicks the puck up.
"the goalie!" stansson cries desperately. iceland starts to skate towards russ.
he pulls back, and he shoots.
the puck flies through the air, zigzagging side to side and up and down, right past the goalies glove and into the net, just as the timer runs out.
the ducks scream with joy, hopping out onto the ice to celebrate, piling into a hug. they hadn't won yet; but they'd bought themselves time, as the game turned to a shoot out.
there would be five shooters on each team, one player against the goalie. whichever team won the best of five shots would become the champions of the junior goodwill games.
iceland took the first shot. the goon skated down the ice, goldberg moving too early as iceland scored the first point.
jesse went first for team usa. he circled around the puck before carrying it down the ice with his stick, deking from side to side. he shot, puck flying under the goalies arm and into the net. they were tied at one.
sanderson took icelands second shot, goldberg catching the puck in his glove. the ducks cheered, some sighing in relief.
guy shot next, faking left as the goalie slid out to meet him. he pulled the puck back to the right, getting the ducks their second goal.
with a slap shot from the blue line, iceland scored on the third shot.
dwayne got fancy with the puck, flipping it into the air and landing it on his stick. he passed it between his legs before shooting, icelands goalie deflecting it off his blocker.
with a top-corner shot, iceland scored another point.
fulton took their fourth shot. the puck hit the goalie straight on the head, knocking him down to the ice. the puck bounced off his helmet and into the goal.
both teams were tied at three, one shot left for each of them. stansson sent out gunner stahl for their final shot.
"goldberg! you're off!" coach bombay called, dropping down to whisper something to julie. the two seemed to go back and forth a minute, and andrea could see the nerves in the goalies eyes.
andrea nudged her. "you've got this, julie. show them what you've got."
with a thankful smile and a nod, julie skated out onto the ice. this caused some commotion in the crowd, everyone wondering if bombay was nuts for sending out a cold goalie at this point in the shootout.
julie positioned herself as stahl began his descent down the ice. he passed the puck from left to right, before coming to a halt. he pulled back, shooting the puck with all his strength.
after a few seconds, julie stood, dropping the puck from her glove.
the crowd went wild, the ducks jumping and cheering as iceland stood with clenched jaws and anger in their eyes. after the save from julie, the teams were still tied.
but the ducks still had one more shot.
"guys," coach bombay said, calling them together. "we've got one more shot. we've got to make it count."
he studied them all for a moment, his words sinking in. his eyes landed on andrea.
"andrea." he said. "this last one is yours. take your best shot."
andrea's heart raced. of course, she'd wanted a shot. she'd wanted to show the world who she was, to stick it to iceland. but the last shot, the potential to win or lose it all? she hadn't imagined she'd have this much pressure on her shoulders.
"bu-but coach-," she started.
"no buts. goal or not, we couldn't have gotten this far without you. we all believe in you, jones. win or lose, we'll do it together, as ducks. now get out there, and give it your best."
shakily standing, andrea made her way to the centre ice. her ears rang, blocking out the sound of the crowd.
she glanced at her wrist, giving it a roll. she felt no pain. she took a deep breath, glancing to the bench once more.
her eyes found charlie's. he gave her a nod, mouthing you've got this. she turned back to the ice. charlie had given up his spot so that she could play; she'd be damned if she didn't make it worth it.
she skated slowly down the ice, puck on the top of her stick. the goalie followed her movements, trying to keep as much net covered as possible.
she neared the net, knowing that if she didn't make her move soon, it'd be too late. her heart beat in her ears.
hoping he'd fall for it, she moved her stick to the right quickly, dropping the puck to her left.
the goalie slid to the right on his pads, thinking she still had the puck on her stick. she turned back, stick recovering the puck as she shot it in on the left side.
the goalie pushed over to meet her, sliding to the left.
the rink was silent in anticipation. she couldn't see the puck— had it gone in, or had the goalie stopped it under his pad?
a few seconds went by, her heart pounding so hard that her chest hurt. and then, the goalie stood.
the puck sat in the net.
the crowd screamed, but somehow, her teammates cheers rang louder than all of the fans together.
shock overcame her for a second, but the cheering snapped her out of it. andrea threw her stick up, dropping her gloves and tossing her helmet to the ice as she skated towards her bench with what she was sure was the biggest smile she'd ever had on her face.
her teammates piled onto the ice, skating towards her and around her as they cheered for her, slapping her shoulders and back as they dropped their own gloves.
but andrea barely paid them any attention, instead grinning at the boy who ran out onto the ice in his shoes.
as charlie reached her, he threw his arms around her, the two hugging as laughter flew from their mouths.
they pulled back, andrea's eyes staring into his own.
"andrea, that was amaz-" he began.
he never finished his sentence. she grabbed his face, pulling it into hers as she kissed him ferociously.
after getting over the initial shock, his hands found her waist as he kissed her back just as intensely.
they smiled into it, unable to keep the grins off their faces as their teammates whooped and hollered all around them.
andrea was pretty certain she would just stay in that moment forever if she could. and as for charlie? he was much more than certain.
AUTHOR SPEAKS!
whatd u guys think??
well that's the end of d2,
time for charlie to become
a meanie🙄 and some
drama😏