“This time.”
Travis heard Nish speak but wasn’t sure he understood him.
“You know what I mean,” Nish said, then looped away from Travis’s position on the wing. He skated over centre ice, right between Brody Prince and Sarah Cuthbertson, who were lining up for the faceoff, and as he went by he took off one glove, leaned over, and quickly touched the centre-ice dot.
“What was that all about?” Brody asked.
Sarah smiled. “Nothing – he’s just an eccentric nut.”
“He’s a heck of a player,” Brody said, bowing down to ready himself. “And so are you.”
Sarah was speechless. She crouched down, dropping one hand low on her stick and reversing it to help her sweep the puck back if she could.
The ice had been cleaned again, a fresh sheet on which to write the final chapter of the Peewee Olympics. Sarah was glad it wasn’t a mirror – she already knew how red-faced she must be.
The referee made sure Nish was back in position, looked towards both goaltenders to check that they were ready, and then dropped the puck.
Neither side won the draw cleanly. Sarah dropped a shoulder into Brody, and Travis jumped in to sweep the puck back to Nish. Nish dumped it up the boards, playing cautiously. The Stars dumped it back, and immediately fell into their trap positions without even trying to forecheck.
“We could play like this for a year and never score,” said Muck, when Travis’s line went off and Andy’s came on. “I’d rather lose playing hockey than win playing tennis.”
Travis thought he understood. Muck hated the style of play the Stars were using, and he’d rather go down playing the game he loved than succeed playing a game he loathed.
That was fine with Travis and Sarah and Dmitri – they didn’t know any game but one that celebrated speed and puck control and smart plays.
The Stars’ coach was double- and triple-shifting Brody Prince, hoping the elegant centre could find a way to score, but the result was an exhausted player who could barely drag himself up off the ice after he went down again hard.
When Brody smashed into the back boards, the groan Travis heard came not from the player but from the Owl sitting right next to him: Sarah.
Brody was nothing if not courageous. He fought as hard as he could and twice came close to scoring, one backhander clipping off the outside of the post when Jeremy misjudged his blocker.
“I don’t want to win by a shootout, either,” Muck said, barely loud enough for Sarah and Travis to hear. He was sending them a message.
Next shift, Sarah picked up a loose puck and circled behind her own net, looking for Nish. Nish, however, was just coming on to replace Fahd, and was in no position to take a pass, so Sarah decided to carry it herself.
She swung nicely around her first check and then came hard against Brody Prince, who tried to take her out with a shoulder, only to have Sarah duck under and away.
She was heading into the Stars’ end, with Travis dropping back and Dmitri breaking. They knew to spread out. They knew to come in on a triangle rather than three across.
Sarah circled back, letting Dmitri head behind the net and watching Travis glide across into the slot, waiting for the pass.
“With you!” a voice shouted from behind Travis.
It was Nish. He must have cut across ice to the far side – way out of position – going deep along the side of the Stars’ end, between Travis and the boards.
Travis knew that if he blew his chance and the Stars were able to cause a turnover, the Owls were in trouble. Nish couldn’t have been more out of position if he’d been sitting in the stands.
Sarah’s pass to Travis came quickly, sliding perfectly across, just out of reach of the last defender.
Travis raised his stick to one-time the shot.
The Hollywood goalie went down, anticipating, blocking all the angles.
Travis swung, deliberately missing, and then let the puck continue between his legs.
He heard groans from the crowd.
Then he heard Nish’s stick strike hard against the puck, followed by the ping of hard rubber on metal.
Followed by the biggest cheer of his life.
Nish had scored on the Lemieux-Kariya play! It had worked!
Owls 6, Stars 5.
Gold medal to the Screech Owls of Tamarack.