Travis hit the crossbar first shot in the warm-up. He felt good. The ice was in perfect shape. The rink was filled with far more fans than the usual crowd of parents and relatives. There were several TV crews as well, but none of the cameras was pointed in the direction of the Owls. All media attention was on the Washington Wall, Chase Jordan’s team.
Mr. Dillinger had found out that the President would be arriving around the third period. It was all he could manage with his busy schedule, especially with the White House Summit about to wind up. He’d watch the final period and then make the presentation.
Travis didn’t doubt for a moment that the crowd would be cheering for the Wall. Especially the television people. Footage of the President handing the trophy to his own son would be far more valuable than shots of the President of the United States shaking hands with some little kid from Canada.
It made Travis want to win all the more.
The officials were calling the teams to get ready for the faceoff. Travis looked desperately towards the door leading to the dressing rooms.
Still no sign of Nish.
Muck seemed equally concerned. He whispered something to Mr. Dillinger just before the opening faceoff, and Mr. Dillinger hopped over the boards at the visitors’ bench and headed back through the seats towards the exit.
He would be going to get Nish.
Everything would be all right.
The squirrels in Nish’s head and the spiders in his gut were gone, but now that he had come to, he had howling hyenas up top and crocodiles below. He was terrified he would throw up. With duct tape covering his mouth, he’d choke himself and die! He couldn’t see. He couldn’t yell.
He couldn’t move his hands. They must be wrapped in duct tape, too.
He had no idea where he was. It was cold and hard and damp, that was all he knew.
Perhaps it was the cameras, perhaps it was knowing the President of the United States was going to be there – whatever it was, the Owls were off their game and the Wall were on theirs.
The Washington team seemed driven to play hard. Maybe it was the idea of beating the Canadians at their national game. Or maybe they were just more used to all the attention that came from having Chase Jordan on their team.
Chase scored the first goal on a beautiful passing play with one of his wingers. They forced a turnover on Andy’s line and came in so fast that Willie Granger failed to get back in time, stranding Fahd to deal with the attack.
Chase hit his left wing early with a pass, Fahd went for the puck carrier, the winger flipped the puck back, and Chase one-timed it behind Jeremy.
Travis cringed on the bench. Fahd should never have fallen for it. Nish would have stayed to the middle, taking away the pass and letting them have the long shot if they wanted.
Where was he?