Hat Trick 3: Penalty Shot
Read Hat Trick 3: Penalty Shot Online
Authors: Jeff Adams
Hat Trick 3: Penalty Shot
By Jeff Adams
Published by
JMS Books LLC
Visit
jms-books.com
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Copyright 2015 Jeff Adams
ISBN 9781611528435
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Written Ink Designs
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Image(s) used under a Standard Royalty-Free License.
All rights reserved.
WARNING: This book is not transferable. It is for your own personal use. If it is sold, shared, or given away, it is an infringement of the copyright of this work and violators will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
No portion of this book may be transmitted or reproduced in any form, or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher, with the exception of brief excerpts used for the purposes of review.
This book is for ADULT AUDIENCES ONLY. It may contain sexually explicit scenes and graphic language which might be considered offensive by some readers. Please store your files where they cannot be accessed by minors.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are solely the product of the author’s imagination and/or are used fictitiously, though reference may be made to actual historical events or existing locations. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Published in the United States of America.
* * * *
Hat Trick 3: Penalty Shot
By Jeff Adams
Chapter 1: Thursday, September 7
Chapter 2: Friday, September 8
Chapter 3: Sunday, September 10
Chapter 4: Tuesday, September 12
Chapter 5: Thursday, September 14
Chapter 6: Monday, September 18
Chapter 7: Thursday, September 21
Chapter 8: Thursday, September 21
Chapter 9: Wednesday, September 27
Chapter 10: Tuesday, October 3
Chapter 11: Saturday, October 7
Chapter 13: Saturday, October 14
Chapter 14: Wednesday, October 18
Chapter 15: Friday, October 20
Chapter 16: Saturday, October 28
Chapter 17: Wednesday, November 1
Chapter 18: Saturday, November 4
Chapter 19: Tuesday, November 7
Chapter 20: Saturday, November 11
Chapter 21: Monday, November 13
Chapter 22: Thursday, November 16
Chapter 23: Tuesday, November 21
Chapter 24: Saturday, November 25
Chapter 25: Saturday, November 25
Chapter 26: Sunday, November 26
Chapter 27: Sunday, November 26
Chapter 28: Tuesday, November 28
Chapter 29: Wednesday, November 29
Chapter 30: Wednesday, November 29
Chapter 31: Sunday, December 3
Chapter 32: Tuesday, December 5
Chapter 33: Saturday, December 9
Chapter 34: Thursday December 14
Chapter 35: Wednesday, December 20
Chapter 36: Monday, December 25
Chapter 38: Saturday, January 6
Chapter 39: Saturday, January 13
Chapter 40: Sunday, January 14
Chapter 41: Wednesday January 17
Chapter 42: Saturday, January 27
Chapter 43: Saturday, February 10
Epilogue: Saturday, December 8
“Come on, Other Captain, I’m hungry.” Alex called from his locker.
“Uh-oh, Simon,” Danny said from the sink next to mine, “sounds like someone’s getting a little fussy.”
“It’s not my fault he didn’t eat before practice.” I was running a little behind getting cleaned up from our afternoon practice and Alex was nudging me along. I finished combing through my hair as I called out to my impatient boyfriend. “Hang on, Other Captain. Almost done.”
Alex coined the term “Other Captain” right after practices had started up last month. We used it a lot between us, and some of our teammates were using it, too. Getting named co-captains at the end of last season was an awesome honor. Making it even better was that Danny, one of our best friends, was named alternate captain. It was setting up to be an excellent senior year of Wolverines hockey. Now that we were a couple days into the semester, we were on our way towards a spring graduation, too. On top of all that, in just a few weeks, Alex and I would celebrate our fourth anniversary.
“Okay, Other Captain,” I said, returning to my locker to find Alex slumped on the bench in front of it. “Ha ha. You’re not that far gone.” I stored my shower stuff and grabbed my backpack. “Let’s go.”
Alex bounced up as if he hadn’t been overly dramatic just seconds ago and picked up his pack. “Food!” He pointed to the doorway.
We darted from the locker room and headed for the door of the rink. We had just enough time to grab a quick bite at our favorite dining hall before going our separate ways for a few hours.
“Hey, Miller? Roberts? Can I talk to you?” A loud, but lilty voice shouted as we exited the rink.
From the parking lot, one of the thinnest guys I’d ever seen came towards us. He was tall and seemed even thinner than the word lanky could accurately describe. He wore a loud outfit—bright yellow cargo pants and teal T-shirt underneath a beaten up denim jacket that had more buttons than denim showing. Most of the buttons featured a variation on a rainbow logo.
“‘S up?” I asked as he got close enough to talk without shouting.
“I’m hoping you guys can help me out. Can we talk a minute?”
“Do we know you?” Alex sounded as confused as I felt.
The guy gave a quick laugh. “No. But you will after we talk.” Alex and I looked at each other. His eyes said that he just wanted to go eat and my stomach rumbled in agreement. “Please?” The word was stretched out and he gave us a pouty face. Before we could respond, he continued. “I’m Scott. Scott Polan. Friends call me Scottie.”
He put his hand out to me.
“I’m Simon.”
Scottie’s handshake was surprisingly strong. The grip didn’t match his overall demeanor.
I glanced over at Alex, who eventually introduced himself.
“Totally. I know you guys. Can’t believe I’m freakin’ talking to you.” The more he talked, the more he bounced. “So like I said, I could use your help, I mean if you’ve got time. I know you must be busy.”
I smiled. The guy was kind of adorable as he tried not to stumble over his words. “What can we do?”
“Can you coach a hockey team?”
Of all the possibilities, that wasn’t anywhere on the list of what I thought he’d ask.
“We’ve coached,” I said.
“Sorry. I know that. I mean, will you coach a team
I’m
putting together?”
“You’re putting a team together, but don’t have a coach?” I asked.
“Okay, from the top.” He paused and took a deep breath. “I moved here over the summer. My school doesn’t have a team, so I went to tryouts at two rinks and got rejected. I’m a fabulous goalie.” He dropped into a goalie stance, squatting down, one arm up with his hand open to catch and the other in blocker position. “I had a letter of recommendation from my last coach. But it seems all anybody here sees is this.” In a flourish he moved his hands to showcase himself.
I opened my mouth, but before I could speak he held up a single finger to indicate I should stay quiet.
“I know I don’t look like a goalie,” Scottie said with a quieter, more serious, tone. “But this is who I am. I play damn good hockey and I should be able to get on a team. You know, ‘If you can play…you can play” and all that.”
“So you were passed over because you’re gay?” Alex asked.
“No one flat out said that. But I saw the goalies I was against. I’m as good or better, but the coaches all by-passed me, even to be a backup. So, I thought I’d put together a team and find a coach to make us great.”
“How long have you been working on this?” Alex asked.
“Couple of weeks.” His excitement was building again. “I’ve already got ten guys. It occurred to me during lunch today that you two would be great coaches!”
“You realize we’ve both got full schedules, right?” Alex asked. “School, team, work.”
“Of course.” He wasn’t done trying to sell us on this yet. “I can run everything about the team, but there’s got to be at least one adult coach on board. Plus we need practice. We have to become a team and that takes a coach.”
The request intrigued me. We enjoyed coaching. How it would fit into our schedule was another matter. Alex was right about that.
“We’ll need some time to talk about this,” I said. “We need to see you in action, too. When…”
“Name the time and place and I’ll be there.”
His tendency to interrupt was annoying, but his enthusiasm was good. Alex’s body language shift was subtle, but he wasn’t thrilled I’d opened the door to the request.
“Let me have your number and I’ll let you know.”
Scottie quickly called out the number as I entered it into my phone.
“Thank you. Thank you both.” He ran backwards towards his car, keeping his eyes on us as he moved.
“We haven’t said yes yet,” Alex called out.
“I know. But you will.” He turned around and jogged the rest of the way to his car.
Alex looked at me with a weary expression as Scottie drove away. “Did we ever have that much energy?” he asked as we headed towards the dining hall.
“We’ve got energy. We just don’t channel it that way.”
Alex laughed. “What’re you thinking giving him hope that we’d say yes?”
“Maybe we will. We should at least see what kind of
fabulous goalie
he is. If he’s good, maybe we can make it work, get some other people from the team to help out. Who knows?”
Alex took my hand in his as we walked in the pleasant late afternoon sunshine. “I’ll follow your lead for now, but I want to be cautious about getting us overbooked.”
“Understood.”
The last practice of the week was always my favorite because we scrimmaged for the last half. It was a chance to play against ourselves in a fiercely competitive, but friendly game. It allowed me to challenge myself without the pressure of a game. If I screwed up a play, at least I didn’t have to worry about the score, just ridicule from my teammates.
Coach okay’d bringing Scottie so we could see him in action. It’d help us make our choice faster so he’d know what we were going to do. We’d planned to take some shots on him after practice, but Coach said we could work him into the last ten minutes of scrimmage. Our two regular goalies agreed to split one net. When I’d called Scottie last night with the details, he shrieked with excitement. He also didn’t seem the least bit worried about net minding against college players.
“Scottie’s practically bouncing off the walls over there,” Alex motioned to where Scottie was watching from the entrance that led back to the locker room. He’d watched most of practice from there.
“I don’t know how he wears the pads,” Trent said, coming up behind us. “He’s so thin, it seems like the pads would weigh more than he does.”
“Yeah,” Alex said. “He looked odd carrying that massive equipment bag.”
When it was finally Scottie’s turn to join us, one of the off-ice staff opened the door so he could skate out. Alex and I joined him at the nearest net.
“This is very cool,” Scottie said. “Thanks for this chance. I’ll do my best to not disappoint.”
There was a lot less bravado than yesterday. He didn’t sound nervous, just serious and focused.
“We don’t plan to let up on you,” Alex said. “You’re going to get the same shots Joey and Marco do.”
Scottie nodded. “Bring it. The worst that happens is my ego gets a huge reality check.” He grinned behind the steel cage of his helmet.
“That’s what we like to hear,” I said. “We’ll take a break in about ten minutes to end our practice. We’ll stay out here with you for a bit longer.”
Scottie nodded and Alex and I skated away to rejoin our line at center ice for a face off.
The other net had Marco in it with Joey standing behind and out of the way, but close enough to easily swap back in. Marco raised his stick, indicating ready when Coach looked to him. Scottie raised his stick, too, and we were off. Alex and I were on the side skating against Scottie and since Alex won the face off we were headed towards him.
As much as I wanted to watch what Scottie was doing, I had to pay attention to the game. Our line drove in, Trent carrying the puck. He made an excellent pass to Alex and the three of us quickly formed a triangle with Alex high in the slot and Trent and I taking lower positions. Alex shot low and Trent redirected towards the top corner, but Scottie knocked it down with his blocker.
The defense got control and sent the puck up the boards as I traveled near the face off dot. Our defenseman kept the puck in the zone and sent it back to me. The winger on our D drifted down to challenge me so I sent the puck back to the unguarded point. The D and I locked eyes for a moment and I nodded. We moved together, the D towards the net and me into his spot, leaving nothing uncovered.