Page 6 of Scoring Chance

Derrek

Pucks flew at me in a nearly perfect rhythm. I shifted, stood, dropped, and threw out my hand, stopping almost all of them. Erik got one past me in the five-hole and laughed as he skated by. I shook my head and focused on Reese coming toward me. He liked to go for the top left corner, but he knew I knew that. I watched his stick moving the puck swiftly and anticipated what he thought he could trick me with. I dropped to my knees as he pulled back for a wrist shot. I blocked my left corner and smiled when the puck hit my stick and bounced out.

I had half a second to enjoy the save before Grant approached and shot directly at me. I got my glove up just in time.

“Are you aiming for my face?” I growled and watched him as he skated past me. He shrugged, not bothering to reply.

I pushed it out of my mind and focused on Colin. He shot from the blue line, taking me by surprise but I raised my shoulder, blocking the puck from passing.

Hartman was next, taking his time as he approached me, searching for a weakness. He was the hardest to predict. The way his mind worked was a complete mystery. He saw angles no one else did. It was amazing to watch, but I hated being on the receiving end of it. He cut to the left, almost passing me completely. I was confused until he shot at the last possible second. The puck glided across my shoulders, behind my helmet, and into the back of the net.

I froze, looking at where he stopped with a cocky smirk. “That was amazing.”

“I’ve been working on it with Olli.”

I nodded in appreciation. “There’s not a chance I could have stopped it.”

He grinned. “Good.”

Coach Romney blew his whistle, ending the drill. The guys stepped off the ice to get a drink while I turned and grabbed my bottle from the back of the net. The extra pucks were cleared off the ice, and soon the first and second lines were facing off at center ice.

I stretched my neck and took my stance as Reese took possession and sent the puck in my direction. Nikolay was the first to reach it, turning and heading to the opposite side of the ice while passing to Grant.

The guys went back and forth for two minutes before Hartman broke free and shot at me. I blocked it, and they switched out lines.

Porter Vaugh skated past me sending the puck to Isaiah Meyer. They headed toward Olli, but Elliot Grey stole it and broke through the defensemen. I held out my glove, ready for him to shoot, but he didn’t. He was coming straight at me with determination in his eyes. I tried to move out of his path, but he turned to the side and slammed his body into mine.

I fell back on the ice, gasping to fill the air he just knocked out of me. I sat up and glared. “What was that?”

He was already standing over me. “What? It was a mistake. Can’t handle a little action, Kid?”

I growled and reached for his left leg, pulling until he fell on his back. I shifted to my knees while pulling off my gloves. I punched his chin. His cheek. I was rearing back for another one when he pushed me away. I moved to go after him but my arms were pulled back. I looked around to see Reese and Erik on either side of me, restraining me.

“Did you see what he did? That was intentional.” I tugged away from them.

They pulled me to my feet and dragged me away from Elliot. Hartman moved past the crowd to get in my face. “What is your problem, Aston?”

“He hit me on purpose! He didn’t even pretend to take a shot. Ask him what his problem is!” The anger I forced down every single day was boiling, barely contained.

“I’ll deal with him later. Right now, I want to know why you felt the need to beat the crap out of him. You’ve taken harder hits.”

“It’s practice. He’s on my team!” Why was I the one in trouble?

“Aston! Get over here,” Coach Romney called out with a calm voice. It was unnerving. I expected him to yell or curse at me. Hartman shoved me in the direction of the bench, and I skated over without looking back to see how Elliot was.

“What was that?” Coach asked with fire in his eyes.

I shrugged. “He took me out. He knew exactly what he was doing.”

He shook his head. “Go talk to Coach Abrams.”

I stepped off the ice, throwing my helmet on the bench as I walked into the tunnel. Abrams was the new goaltending coach. So far, I hadn’t worked with him much. He sometimes ran drills with me and Olli, but he focused his attention on the starter. Just another person that forgot about me, even though it was his job.

I went to the locker room and took off my skates and gear before slipping on sweats and going to find Abrams’s office. The door was closed so I knocked and waited for him to call me in.

“Yeah?”

I opened the door, and he looked up at me with a confused expression. “Why aren’t you at practice?”