Never had a hockey game felt so welcome. The Screech Owls had come to Nagano to play in the “Junior Olympics,” but to Travis it seemed that hockey had become the furthest thing from anyone’s mind. Murder. An avalanche. Nish almost killed. It was time to get back to something that made sense to the Owls.

They went by bus to Big Hat. Travis had instantly seen where the large arena got its name–it looked like one of the old hat boxes his mother kept in the attic, only thousands of times bigger. The dressing rooms were huge. The rink was a marvel.

The Sapporo Mighty Ducks, unfortunately, weren’t very good. They had about a half dozen excellent skaters, but only one puck-handler, and a very, very weak goaltender.

Sarah had taken Mr. Imoo’s advice to shoot a little too much to heart. She fired the puck in right off the opening face-off, which she had won easily with her little trick of plucking the puck out of the air before it landed and sending it back between her own skates. A quick pivot, a shoulder fake to lose the Sapporo centre, and Sarah wound up for a long slapshot that cleared the blueline, bounced once, and went in through the goaltender’s five hole.

Next shift, Andy Higgins, who with Nish had the hardest shot on the team, fired a slapper from outside the blueline that stayed in the air all the way and went in over the Sapporo goalie’s outstretched glove.

Owls 2, Mighty Ducks 0.

Several of the Owls were laughing on the bench.

“Next player who shoots from outside the blueline will sit the rest of the game,” Muck announced. He did not sound amused.

The message got through immediately. From then on, the Owls were careful not to embarrass the Japanese team. They carried the puck in to the Mighty Ducks’ end and made sure they set up a play before shooting, and the Mighty Ducks’ goalie gradually began to gather confidence.

Travis found when he was on the bench he was paying more attention to the way the Ducks played than to the Owls. He kept trying to figure out which players were the older ones. And sure enough, it seemed Mr. Imoo had been right: the younger players always gave the puck to the older ones if they had a chance.

Jenny, however, had very few chances. And whatever came her way, she easily blocked.

By the end of the second period, the Owls were up 5–0, with Dmitri scoring on a breakaway, Fahd on a tip-in, and Liz on a pretty deke after being set up to the side of the net by Wilson.

The third period was just about to start when Muck made his announcement.

“Nishikawa–you’re in.”

Nish had been sitting on the end of the bench, practically asleep in the heavy, hot goaltending equipment. He hadn’t expected to play at all. As backup, he’d concluded his job in Japan was to entertain at practice and daydream during games.

“I can’t go in,” Nish protested. “I’m no goalie.”

“Get over the boards before I throw you over them,” Muck said.

Nish scrambled to get onto the ice, but his big pads caught as he vaulted the boards and he fell, heavily, to the ice, causing the first huge cheer from the Japanese crowd at Big Hat.

Jenny came off to a lot of backslapping and cheering from the Owls. Muck put a big hand on the back of her neck and squeezed, a small message of congratulations from the coach.

It took Nish about five seconds to get into it. He hopped over the lines on his way to the net. He talked to his goal posts. He sprayed his face with the water bottle. He skated over to the boards and hammered his stick against the glass, returning fast to his crease, where he slammed his stick hard into each pad and set himself, ready for anything.

The Mighty Ducks must have thought the Owls were putting in their real goaltender, for Travis could see concern on their faces and hear it in their voices.

Of course, Travis realized. There were no girls on the teams here. They assumed Jenny was the weak player and Nish was the star–especially when he acted like a star.

Whatever it was that the Mighty Ducks were thinking, it changed their style. Instead of holding on to the puck too long and trying to get it to an older player who might get a shot, the Ducks started throwing long shots into the Screech Owls’ end. The first one went wide, Nish dramatically swooping behind the net to clear the puck as if he were Martin Brodeur.

The second one skipped and went in under Nish’s stick!

Owls 5, Mighty Ducks 1.

The goal brought the Ducks to life. They began skating harder. Their one good puck-carrier began to challenge the Owls’ defence and twice slipped through for good shots. The first hit Nish square on the chest. The second went between his legs.

Owls 5, Mighty Ducks 2.

“Where’s his force shield?” asked Sarah, giggling.

Twice more the Ducks scored, and in the final minute they pulled their own goalie to try to tie the game.

Sarah’s line was out to stop them, Travis hoping he might finally get a goal, even if it was into the empty net.

But the Sapporo Mighty Ducks had other ideas. They were flying now, and the good puck-carrier beat Travis and then Dmitri before putting a perfect breakaway pass on the stick of one of the Ducks’ better skaters.

He split the Owls’ defence and came flying in on Nish, who went down too soon.

The Duck fired the puck high toward the open top corner.

Nish, flat on his back, kicked his legs straight up.

The puck clipped off the top of his skate toe and hammered against the glass.

A second later the horn blew. Game over.

Nish was last into the dressing room, his uniform soaked through with sweat, his big pads seemingly made of cement.

“I guess I saved your skins,” he announced. “If it wasn’t for me, we’d have been lucky to come out of that with a tie.”