The Hockey Boy

Chapter 1

TY

November 10

I skated down the ice in the rink at my school, taking the puck with me. I turned my head to the right, spotting my teammate and best friend, Calvin Hampton. He was open, so I passed him the puck and he shot it straight into the back of the net.

"Whoo!" I cheered as I skated into a hockey hug with my teammates. We were just scrimmaging the JV, but it was still fun to cream them.

"Nice pass, Brady," said Calvin as he slapped my back.

"Nice shot, Hampton. Your wrist shot is getting better from that right side," I complimented.

"Well, I am a right winger, you know," Calvin joked.

"Oh, shut up," I said as I playfully punched him in the arm.

"Hey, Brady, are we almost done?" asked Steve Harding, a left winger for the varsity team.

"Yeah, let's let the JV have one more possession, then we can go," I said as I passed the puck to a JV defenseman. "Hustle, people, we have our first game in ten days, and we need to be in shape!" The defenseman attempted to pass the puck to the other defenseman, but I easily intercepted the pass. I was on a breakaway when suddenly, one of the JV players was right behind me. I easily changed directions, leaving the JV player skating in the wrong direction. I smirked and easily scored a goal.

"Nice breakaway, Ty!" yelled Calvin.

"Thanks," I said as I skated up to the JV player that had tried to stop me. "Hey, great hustle. You would've had me if you were a bit faster." The kid, a freshman, smiled at me, then skated away.

"Okay, team, I think we're good for today. Same time tomorrow, and don't be late, otherwise I'll have you skating sprints!" I shouted as everybody began to leave the rink. I started to skate over to the bench, but suddenly, I found myself lying on the ice without a stick in my hands.

"Ha, I gotcha!" yelled Calvin.

"Dang it, Cal, you broke my last stick!" I shouted as I picked up the two halves of my hockey stick.

"Sorry," said Calvin regretfully.

"Hey, let's head to Total Hockey. I was going to buy some new sticks anyway," I said.

"That sounds like a good idea. I was going to pick up a few sticks myself any day now," replied Cal.

"Hampton!" barked Coach Beck as he skated towards us. "Do you realize how stupid it was to backcheck Brady? You could've injured her before our first game, and we don't need that, do we?"

"No, sir," mumbled Calvin. "Sorry, Ty."

"To make up for your idiotic move, you will skate ten sprints, blue line to blue line, now!" shouted Coach.

"Yes, sir," mumbled Calvin with his head down as he began his sprints.

"Ty, nice job handling practice today. I almost didn't have to say anything. When somebody was out of line, you'd take care of it before I'd even have a chance. Thank you for that," said Coach proudly.

"I'm just fulfilling my job as captain, Coach," I replied.

"You know, if you keep playing like you have been these past few years, I think you have a real shot at getting a full ride to the college of your choice," said Coach.

"Thanks, Coach, that really means a lot," I said as I smiled.

"You know, you could probably play for a guys college team, too, if the NCAA would allow it. I personally think you could beat up any girl on any college team at this point in time as is."

"Thanks, Coach. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to take Cal and head to Total Hockey. It appears that I'll be needing a few more sticks," I laughed as I held out my broken stick.

"You'd probably still be able to kick the other guys' asses with a broken stick," joked Coach.

"Well, I don't know about that, but I really should get going. I'll see you tomorrow at practice, Coach."

"Actually, could you tell all the seniors there's a meeting in my office tomorrow at noon. We need to talk about possibly getting new jerseys for this year."

"Would we be getting them midseason or earlier than that?" I asked.

"I don't know all of the details yet, Ty. We'll discuss all of that tomorrow," replied Coach Beck.

"Okay, I'll let everyone know," I said as Cal skated up to us, finishing his sprints.

"Let everyone know what?" huffed Cal. "Man, I'm out of shape."

"There's a meeting at noon in Coach's office tomorrow at noon. Let all the seniors know," I said.

"Okay, Ty, now let's head to Total Hockey. I can't be late for supper again or my mom'll kill me!"

"Later, Coach," Cal and I called as we left the rink.

"Let's meet by my truck in ten, 'kay?" I said as I walked into the girls locker room.

"Sounds good," replied Cal as he headed down the hallway to the guys locker room.

I heard giggling coming from the locker room which could only mean one thing: cheerleading practice had just gotten done.

"Oh joy," I huffed under my breath. I braced myself, then entered the locker room. I walked over to my locker on the senior's side of the locker room. I entered my combination into my blue and green lock, then swung the dark blue door of my huge locker open. Being a senior had its perks, which included a huge gym locker in a separate section of the locker room.

I tried to ignore all the girly gossip coming from the blond cheerleaders' mouthes as I took off my skates, but it didn't really work. Finally, the captain of the cheerleading squad, Tara, came up to me and asked, "So, Ty, how's practice going? Are all the boys behaving?"

"Practice was good, Tara," I said through gritted teeth as I pulled my hockey pads over my head.

"That's good," giggled Tara. "How's Cal looking?"

"He's looking pretty good. His wrist shot from the right side is improving, but he still needs to work on his slapshot from the left side," I said, knowing none of the cheerleaders would have any idea what I was saying. I finished changing into some basketball shorts and a t-shirt as the cheerleaders stared at me blankly. "Later, girls," I said as I lugged my huge, navy blue Reebok duffle bag out of the locker room.

When I got out of the locker room, Cal was already waiting for me. "What took you so long?" he asked.

"That blond poodle of a girl, Tara, was asking about you," I grumbled.

"Cool, Tara's pretty hot," said Calvin happily.

"Cal, she has no brain cells," I pointed out.

"Yeah, I know. I'm just trying to make you mad," he smirked.

"Well, it's working. I'm just ready to get home, take an ice bath, and get to bed," I gruffed.

"Well, somebody's in a mood," said Cal. "Does it have anything to do with a certain Wild player having a good start to his season?"

"Maybe," I huffed. "That guy may be a good hockey player, but he is a sorry excuse of a person. He's a rookie in the NHL, and he's already got an ego the size of Minneapolis!"

"Sheesh, calm down. Easton West is a great hockey player, and he's going to help the Wild out whether he's humble or not."

"I know, but he's a jerk!" I ranted.

"I think you mean asshole," said Calvin.

"No, I mean jerk," I argued.

"Man, you'd better not let anyone find out you don't swear, or else you'll be the laughing stock of Minnesota!" laughed Calvin. I have this thing about swearing: I just flat-out don't do it. I think that it's an unneccessary practice that has to be stopped. Nobody except Calvin knows about my swearing deal, and I made him swear not to tell anybody about it, no pun intended. I know a hockey player that doesn't swear seems weak, but I make it work.

Calvin and I reached my black Silverado, and we climbed in. "Okay, Total Hockey, here we come!" I exclaimed as I started up my truck.

Yes, I did say truck. I absolutely love my Chevy, and I wouldn't trade it for anything. I get tons of weird looks when I step out of my truck, but then again, I get tons of weird looks anyway. I'm not exactly what you'd call a "normal teenaged girl." I'm 6'1" and very, very muscular. It's no wonder that when the girls' head hockey coach saw a 7th grade, 5'10" girl checking the crap out of everybody, she sent her to the guys team, her being me. That same day, I tried out for the boys team and made starting JV. My 8th grade year, I made the varsity bench and by freshman year, I became starting varsity.

Over the years, I have become a very, very good hockey player. It's not really a shock since my uncle used to play in the pros. My dad would've been a pro except in his freshman year of college, he tore his ACL and never played competitive hockey again.

Ever since the end of last year, colleges began contacting me about playing for their schools. I've visited a few colleges, but it has always been my dream to play for the U of M, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. I just love Mariucci Arena. I've been to a few Gophers games there, and the atmosphere of the place is amazing.

"So, do you think Coach is really mad at me for back checking you?" Cal asked me unsurely as we pulled into the parking lot of Total Hockey.

"Nah, I think that was mostly an act. He knows you'd never be able to hurt me anyways," I teased.

"Hey! I take offense to that!" Cal protested.

"Oh, shut up. Let's just go pick up our hockey sticks and go home," I said as I got out of my Chevy.

"Hey, can I come over for supper?" asked Cal. This was not unusual since he was over at my house for supper at least three times a week.

"Sure," I replied. "I think we're having spaghetti tonight."

"Sweet, that's my favorite."

"I know, it's my favorite, too," I replied as I walked up to the entrance of Total Hockey. On the door, there was a sign that read 'closed'. "Just make sure you let your mom know you'll be at my house so she doesn't get mad at you for missing supper again."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. What the heck, Total Hockey's never closed this early. I wonder what's going on?" said Cal confusedly after he read the sign on the door.

"I wonder, too. Oh well, let's go in anyway. Harold will let us get our stuff even if he's closed, I'm sure," I reasoned.

"You're probably right," replied Calvin. Harold is the owner of Total Hockey. He's kind-of like a grandpa to Cal and me. We'd been going to Harold's store since we were four years old, and Harold treats us like his own grandkids.

I pushed the door to Total Hockey and went inside with Cal behind me. "Hey, we're closed!" I heard Harold yell from the back of the store. He walked up to the front where we were, and then said, "Oh, it's just you two. You're welcome to look around, but you'll have to do it quickly. We've got a Wild player that's getting ready for an autograph session in twenty minutes."

"Oh, I didn't know you had someone here to do autographs. We didn't mean to intrude," I said awkwardly. "Cal and I just came here because we need some new hockey sticks. Cal broke the last one I had at practice today."

"I said I was sorry," grumbled Calvin.

"I know, Cal, I was just teasing you," I said with a laugh before turning back to Harold. "Are you sure it's okay that we're here? We could always come back in the morning."

"No, that won't be necessary. The best hockey player at Blaine High School, soon to be the best hockey player in all of Minnesota, is always welcome in my store," smiled Harold.

"Gee, thanks, Harold. Way to make me feel welcome," groused Calvin.

"Come on, Cal, we all know you'll never be as good as me," I joked.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. Oh well, at least I'm not a horrible hockey player," said Calvin.

"Cal, you know you're a good hockey player, so stop looking for compliments. People will start to think that you have low self-esteem," I teased as I punched Cal in the shoulder.

"Whatever," grumbled Cal as he rubbed his shoulder.

"So who's this Wild player that you were talking about, Harold?" I asked as we made our way over to the composite hockey sticks. I walked down the aisle until I saw my kind of hockey stick, the Bauer Vapor APX2. Bauer had always been my brand of stick, and that was never going to change.

"Well, why don't you meet him for yourself," suggested Harold as I heard footsteps coming from behind me. I grabbed a Bauer from the rack and turned to face the pro. When I saw his face, I gasped and dropped the stick.

Oh no, not you, I thought to myself as Calvin said, "Dude, you're Easton West!"