You know, we just played hockey in the way it was meant to be played.
I doubted the rest of our team wanted to play clean and fair, though. When I reclaimed the puck from Zane, Jax Echlin checked me into the boards so hard that I dropped to the ice. I hate saying this, but for a moment, the bastard had me seeing stars.
Yeah, I don’t like saying that mostly because admitting to any kind of weakness drives me fucking nuts. When I looked up, I saw Zane arguing with Jax, as my teammates clustered around them. Was he really doing what I thought he was doing? Like, would he really blow his own cover?
That didn’t matter for long, as the game officials had wedged themselves in between the players in an extremely vain attempt at maintaining order. Players from both teams pushed thereferees out of the way so they could take more swipes at each other.
I knew one thing for sure: this would not end well.
Less than one period to go, I told myself. Not even a full twenty minutes. Surely we could last through that much without all hell breaking loose.
The Riptides wanted me, wantedus, but I had a bullseye on my back in particular. They’d coordinated something; I could tell. Maybe their coach hadn’t put them up to it. Maybe he’d even warned them against this sort of behavior, but they could easily have gone rogue. The worst part was that my teammates hadn’t behaved much better than that pond scum from Remington.
When Jax Echlin charged at me on the next play, I dodged him so he ran face-first into the glass. Sure, I could’ve delivered a cheap shot during his split second of vulnerability, but I passed on that. Sometimes you’ve got to take the high road.
Problem is, the high road won’t mean much when your entire team expects you to act differently. I glanced over my shoulder and saw Levi Dunn and Ryan Detenbeck glaring at me, as if questioning why I hadn’t slipped in a sucker punch at such a perfect moment. Normally, I didn’t even think about that stuff let alone look for it in the middle of a game, but this was no ordinary contest. This was about to turn into yet another battle in the ongoing war between the Larkin Lions and Remington Riptides.
What happens next is probably the craziest thing that’s happened between our two teams. Buckle your seatbelts.
Toward the final third of period number three, Levi Dunn took a shot at Zane. I’m sorry. That’s not exactly right. When I say he took a shot at Zane, I mean he tried to take him out.
Yeah, seriously. Let me tell you what happened.
Zane had the puck and had advanced into our territory. He must’ve landed square on Levi Dunn’s radar, because Levilowered his head and charged, like a bull seeing red. I hoped Zane would have the wherewithal to move out of the way. Despite all that’d happened between us, Zane Hirst was no wimp, and he could withstand some serious punishment. On the other hand, Levi Dunn was one of the strongest and toughest hockey players I’ve ever met. He could’ve taken Zane’s head off had he wanted to.
Thank God he didn’t give Zane his very best shot, but it was far from half-hearted. Even I probably would’ve cringed at the sight of it had I not advanced on them. When I caught up with those two, Levi had grabbed Zane’s jersey, ready to pull it over his head. All three game officials swooped in to try and separate them, but I did something drastically different when I squeezed into the fray.
I grabbed Levi by the jersey collar and pulled him off of Zane.
Honest to God, I felt like a man possessed and couldn’t control myself. I swear. I only wanted to calm the situation down even though I really wanted to protect Zane in my heart of hearts. I just totally went about it the wrong way. I should’ve just tried to squeeze in between them and assure Levi I was doing this for his own good.
It's fair to say I screwed just about everything up.
Levi turned and probably would’ve flashed me one ugly look had both teams not converged on that space. To say that things swiftly turned into a knock-down, drag-out affair would be an understatement.
But that’s not all. The game ended with several ejections, including Levi and Zac Echlin. Zane also got thrown out when he re-entered the fray, determined to get in a few shots of his own. That left a lot of second-stringers to finish the game.
Here’s the really shitty part—the Riptides went on to win 3-2.
“What the fuck’s wrong with you?” Ryan Detenbeck asked when he approached my locker.
I gave him a tiny shrug. Did I really owe him an explanation?
“Don’t pretend like you don’t know what I’m talking about,” he said. “I’m not as stupid as I look.
He paused and shifted his eyes, like he would love nothing more than to take back that last sentence. I would do the next best thing by not using his words against him.
Remember, I didn’t owe an explanation to him or anyone else, so I started getting dressed and planned to leave the locker room without a word about my pulling Levi off of Zane.
You know by now how often things work out the way I want them to, I guess.
“That was a horseshit thing you did out there, bro,” he said.
Again, I said nothing.
“I know you’re not the scrappiest player on the team. Shit, you’re not scrappy at all. You never fight anybody, and that’s one thing. Levi Dunnisa scrappy player who knows how to get a job done. He might’ve driven a stake through Remington’s heart forever if you hadn’t gotten involved with him and Zane. Why couldn’t you just let him do his thing?”
“Haven’t you ever heard of saving someone from themselves?”
