The Hockey Boy

Chapter 4

TY

November 14

"Ty, are you okay?" asked Cal at hockey practice. "You haven't been yourself this whole week since we met Easton. Is something wrong?" Cal was right, I hadn't been myself this whole week. I was doing terrible at practice, and everyone was noticing it. It was a good thing that our first game wasn't for another six days.

"I don't know, Cal. He just makes me so mad. How come people so selfish and arrogant like him get to make millions each year? It just isn't fair."

"You can't stop thinking about him, can you?" he asked knowingly.

"No, I can't," I admitted. "I can't get his, fine, I'll admit it, gorgeous looks out of my head. His short, dark hair, his ocean blue eyes, his dazzling white smile-"

"Okay, Ty, I get it. He's good looking," deadpanned Cal.

"Cal, you aren't jealous, are you?" I asked.

"No, I'm not, Ty, I'm just playing," he laughed.

"Don't worry, Cal, you're cute too. I'm sure girls love your blond hair and green eyes. You're pretty tall, too," I added.

"Ty, you're two inches taller than me," he said skeptically.

"So, 5'11" isn't too bad," I said.

"I'm under six foot and girls hate that," he groused.

"Cal, I know you're insecure about your height, but you're one inch off of six feet, get over it," I said.

"Hey, would it be okay with you if I dated Molly?" Cal asked, changing the subject.

"Why do you think you need to ask me?" I asked.

"Oh come on, Ty, we all know you have a major crush on me," teased Cal.

"Yes, I do, Cal, and I would be heartbroken if you dated Molly," I replied sarcastically.

"Dang, and I thought she was really cute," said Cal, pretending to be disappointed.

"Cal, it would be fine if you and Molly dated. I've actually been waiting forever for you two to get together," I admitted.

"Really? Why didn't you say anything?"

"I didn't want to rush you into things. I think Molly's a really nice girl. She's one of my best girl friends, not that I have too many of those, and she's on the hockey team. That's definitely a plus."

"I'm glad you're okay with it. I wouldn't want my best friend to hate my girlfriend, if it does turn into that," said Cal. "Molly's really, really cute, too, don't you think?"

"Cal, I'm a girl, remember?" I said.

"Oh yeah, I sometimes forget that," Cal joked and I punched him in the arm. "But seriously, what are you going to do about the whole Easton thing?"

"I don't know. I think I'm distracted because I feel bad about hitting him," I said.

"You actually feel bad?" Cal said, amazed. "I thought you said he got what he deserved."

"I did say that, and I believe it, too. I guess I just feel bad about hurting someone."

"How about after practice we Google him and see if he has an event or something," suggested Cal.

"The Wild have a game tonight," I sighed. "It's here in the Cities."

"Let's get tickets to the game and try to jump him afterwards," said Cal.

"Dude, are you even listening to yourself? You want to try talk to a professional hockey player right after a game? Do you know how hard that is!" I exclaimed.

"Hey, it wouldn't hurt to try," Cal shrugged.

"Fine," I said. "I'll buy some tickets. Meet me at my house at six because the game's at seven."

"I can pay for my own ticket," protested Cal.

"No, if it weren't for me you wouldn't be going to the game anyway," I said firmly. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to end practice so we can get going."

"Dude, it's only been an hour," remarked Cal.

"Yeah, and we have a hockey game to get to," I replied. We also have to find a certain jerkface and apologize to him, I thought to myself. "Okay, guys, I think that's enough for today. Hit the showers!"

"Ty, come here," called Coach and I skated over to him. "What's with you this week? It's like after Monday you've changed. You're doing terribly at practice and you're ending practice early? What's the issue?"

"Sorry, Coach, I know I haven't been myself this week, but I promise I'll be better before our game. The reason I ended practice early is so Cal and I can go fix my problem," I explained.

"And what would that problem be?" asked Coach.

"I kinda hit a hockey player in the face with a stick, and I need to go apologize to him," I said hesitantly.

"You what!" screamed Coach.

"Yeah, I've got to go and fix that. See you Monday," I said quickly as I skated towards the locker room. I heard Coach calling my name, but I acted like I didn't hear him. I knew that I'd probably be skating sprints on Monday, but I could worry about that later. I had bigger things to think about at the moment.

***

"Ty, are you ready yet? We're going to be late!" yelled Cal as he banged on my bathroom door.

"I'm ready," I said as I stepped out of the bathroom. "Now let's go."

Thirty minutes later, we were at the Xcel Energy Center in downtown St. Paul. We got our tickets scanned and walked into the stadium.

"Do you want to get some food first or find our seats?" I asked.

"Let's grab some food first," said Cal. We walked up to one of the food stands and both ordered the same thing: a hotdog and a large Pepsi.

"Do you want to just browse in one of the pro shops?" I asked him and he nodded. We headed to the largest pro shop, located on the first floor of the X, and went inside. We browsed around for a while, looking at all of the different things for sale. After we were done browsing, we went to go find our seats.

"And I think these are the seats," I said as I looked at my ticket.

"Ty, you didn't have to buy us first level, center ice, third row seats! These must've cost a fortune!" exclaimed Calvin.

"Actually, I don't know how much they cost. I had my dad buy the tickets," I admitted.

"Dude," said Cal as he sat down in his seat. "What time is it?"

"It's 6:50. The game should be starting soon," I said as I sat down. All of the players were on the ice warming up already. I spotted Easton, number 55, easily. I looked around at all of the hockey fans, and I saw a lot of Easton West jerseys.

Let's just get this over with, I thought to myself.

Finally, it was time for the opening face-off. The Wild were playing the Chicago Blackhawks. The rivalry between the Blackhawks and the Wild was one of the strongest in the League. Mikko Koivu and Patrick Sharp, a right winger for the Hawks, lined up for the opening face-off. The ref dropped the puck and the game began. Koivu won the face-off and passed the puck to Parise.

The first period of the game was pretty quiet, other than a few amazing saves from both of the goalies. Dubnyk was in the net for the Wild, and Corey Crawford was in the net for the Blackhawks.

With one minute left in the second period, things started to get interesting. Jonathan Toews, the Blackhawks' captain, got out on a breakaway with only one man to beat, Easton. Easton tried to stop Toews, but Toews got around him and scored on Dubnyk. The period came to a close with the scoreboard reading 1-0, Blackhawks. You could tell Easton wasn't happy with himself by the way he stormed off the ice and slammed his stick on the ground. Easton must've been angry, because when the stick hit the ground, it broke in half.

"I told him Eastons sucked," I muttered.

"Really, Ty," Cal groaned, and we didn't say anything else to each other until the third and final period started. It was Parise and Duncan Keith, a Blackhawk defenseman, going against each other for the face-off. Parise won it and passed the puck to Charlie Coyle, a Wild right winger. Coyle flew down the ice and aimed a wrist shot at the goal and scored!

"Whoo!" Cal and I cheered along with the rest of the people in the X. I turned to my left and high-fived an older-looking guy with a beard.

"That was awesome! Did you see that shot? It was perfect!" I exclaimed.

"I know!" agreed Cal.

"Now we've got to get one more," I commented as I turned to watch the game again.

After a few minutes, the Blackhawks were having a really nice possession. They got at least three shots on goal without the Wild getting the puck out to the blue line. Everyone could tell that the guys out there were getting tired, but the Wild couldn't get a line change until they cleared the puck.

Finally, Patrick Sharp shot the puck, and Dubnyk gloved it. The whole crowd chanted, "Duuuuuuub," as the refs blew their whistles, and the Wild got a line change. There was a face-off in the Wild's defensive zone, and the Wild won it. Ryan Suter took the puck down the ice and passed it to Erik Haula. Haula skated towards the goal before passing the puck to Charlie Coyle. Coyle shot another wrist shot at the goal and scored again! The Wild were ahead 2-1 with two minutes left in the period.

There was a face-off at center ice, Parise against Sharp. Parise won, and he passed the puck to Vanek. Vanek passed to Suter, and he brought the puck down the ice. Suter tried to pass to West, but the pass was intercepted by Sharp. Sharp sped down the ice with Toews and Kane for backup. Thankfully, Parise made it down the ice in time to stop the three Blackhawks from getting an easy breakaway goal.

The Blackhawks pulled Crawford from the ice to get another attacker on the ice in one last, desperate attempt to score. With only thirty seconds left in the game, it looked like the Blackhawks didn't have a chance. Sharp aimed a slapshot at the net, but Dubnyk got a pad save. Sharp got the rebound and tried to shove the puck into the goal, but then the final horn sounded. The Wild had won the game, 2-1.

"Yes!" I cried. "Take that Blackhawks!"

"Ty, there's a Blackhawks fan behind you," Cal whispered.

"Oh well, this is our territory," I stated. "Let's just wait here a while for all the people to clear out. Then let's head down to the door where the players come out of." Our junior year, Cal's and my class had taken a field trip to the Xcel Energy Center for a private tour of the arena, so we knew where everything was.

A half-hour later, Cal and I started sneaking around the arena to the parking lot where the players park their cars. We decided to sit outside of the door that the players would come out of. We hoped that if we sat around the corner, the players wouldn't be able to see us, yet we would be able to see them. When we saw Easton, we'd jump up and talk to him.

"How long do you think it'll be before the guys get out here?" asked Cal.

"I'm guessing that Yeo will want to have a long post-game talk with them, and I'm sure that they take their time in the locker room. It's probably going to be a good half-hour to an hour before they get out here," I reasoned.

"Dang," Cal sighed. "What time is it?"

I took my iPhone out of my pocket to check the time and replied, "It's ten o' clock."

"Dang. We aren't going to be getting home anytime soon, are we?"

"Nope. Hey, do you just want to crash at my place since it's a Friday anyway?" I asked. It wasn't unusual for Cal to spend the night at my house. The guest room in my family's house had become his second home over the years.

"Sure, I'll call my mom," said Cal as he pulled out his phone. After he hung up, we saw the first Wild player come out of the door.

"Look," I whispered. "It's Charlie Coyle."

"Yeah, but it's not Easton," said Cal.

"Oh, shut up," I replied as I whacked him with my arm.

"Ow!" he exclaimed quietly as he gave me a look. I just shrugged while flashing him a playful smile.

Over the next half hour, we saw many Wild players leave the Xcel Energy Center. The particular group of players that was leaving the X at the moment included Darcy Kuemper, Erik Haula, Ryan Suter, Mikael Granlund, a center, and Jason Pominville, a right winger. Finally, after checking the Wild's roster on my phone a few times, I realized that the only two players left to exit the X were Mikko Koivu and Easton West.

"Cal, only Koivu and Easton are left," I said. Just as I said that, we saw Easton and Mikko come out of the door to the X.