CHAPTER 9
As the second period started, Dylan was on his feet.
“Let’s go, guys!” shouted Dylan. “Force the action! Crisp passes!”
The Rangers were much quicker on their skates in the second period. They were keeping up with the Scouts, and limiting their scoring chances. Nick was forcing Travis to his left every chance he got, just like Dylan had told him.
Five minutes into the period, one of the Scouts was called for tripping and sent to the penalty box for two minutes. That gave the Rangers a power play. They would have an extra player on the ice for two minutes. It was the perfect chance to tie the game.
Right away, the Rangers tried to score. Nick fired two different shots on goal. Tommy shot one at the net. But the goalie for the Scouts blocked all three shots.
“Keep shooting, guys!” Dylan called to his teammates. “One of them will go in!”
But after the two-minute power play, the Rangers were still scoreless.
The instant the penalty was over, the Scouts player flew out of the penalty box. Travis and Peter charged down the ice with him. Tommy and Nick were back to defend.
Travis had the puck on his stick. Peter danced around Tommy to the left, while Travis smoothly sailed past Nick to the right.
“Put a body on him!” shouted Dylan. “Don’t go for the puck. Go for the body!”
Travis flicked an easy pass to Peter, who made the perfect shot past the Rangers goalie and into the net. The score was now 2-0.
“We need to put a body on them,” Dylan repeated to himself.
With the Scouts ahead by two goals, the Rangers increased their intensity on defense. Peter lived up to his reputation as a hard hitter. He seemed to knock every Rangers player onto the ice. The Rangers had a hard time getting any shots on goal.
Near the end of the period, Nick made a rush toward the net. He looked back toward Tommy, who was controlling the puck. Nick received the pass, then turned toward the goal. Instantly, he was met by a crushing blow from Peter. He hit the ice hard.
Dylan looked up at the scoreboard. The clock counted down. 3-2-1. The horn sounded, signaling the end of the second period.
In the locker room, Coach Erickson tried to keep his team upbeat. “We still have one period to go, guys,” he said. “We just need two goals to tie.”
“Can I say something, Coach?” Dylan asked.
“Um, sure, Dylan,” said Coach Erickson. “Go ahead.”
Dylan cleared his throat. “Here’s how I see it, guys,” he said. “The Scouts are skating around us because we aren’t checking them at the blue line. We need to play the man, not the puck. We need to make some good, hard checks out there and knock them off their game. They like to skate. They don’t like to hit.”
“Peter likes to hit,” said Tommy.
“Yeah, he does,” said Dylan. “But so do you, right, Tommy?”
“Right,” said Tommy.
“Then you handle Peter,” said Dylan. “Stay on him this entire period.”
“But the guy is built like a truck,” Tommy said.
“You can do it, Tommy,” Dylan said. “We all have faith in you. Right, team?”
“Right,” the rest of the team echoed.
“And the rest of you,” said Dylan. “Get physical and knock them off their game, okay?”
“Okay!” the team shouted.
The players stood and headed back toward the rink. Nick hurried to Dylan’s side.
“Thanks, Dylan,” Nick said.
“No, thank you,” said Dylan. “Thanks for reminding me that I’m still part of the team. It doesn’t matter if I’m on the ice or on the bench.”
“Let’s go win this thing,” Nick said.
“Let’s do it!” Dylan yelled.