The Tournament

by Angelo Kontos

  A turnover at centre and now here’s Vanstone coming in! Vanstone…in on goal…there’s a pass…SCORES!! Wayne Vanstone with a beautiful pass to Marty Reed, and New York grabs the lead 1-0!

  The crowd collectively shuddered, as though no one had seriously considered the possibility of New York drawing first blood in the game. A few people in the stands could be heard shouting “No!”

  Brooks Edwards was in the arena, but he sat far away from his usual spot near the glass. He’d arrived late to avoid facing any of the media scrutiny that he usually enjoyed inflicting on others. He decided to stand near one of the exits.

  As Angus sat atop the Zamboni watching the game, he noticed Brooks and was itching for a confrontation.

  “Hey!” Angus yelled. “You can’t stand in a fire exit!”

  Brooks moved away from the fire exit. He didn’t want to attract any attention and would not take the bait.

  Alex sat on the bench annoyed. Even though it was a perfectly executed rush by Vanstone, Alex’s late decision to get off the ice hurt the team and he knew it. Ken left him alone.

  The game continued to turn against Toronto. A few minutes later Eddie – who looked strong early in covering Vanstone despite the goal – missed a step, allowing Vanstone to blow by him, go in on goal and unleash a wicked slapshot that hit the top corner of the net with authority.

  Eddie returned to the bench, ripping the bottom of the full visor open as he gasped for air. The crowd moaned as the buzzer went off a short time later. After one period, New York had grabbed an anxiety-inducing 2–0 lead.

  In the dressing room, Eddie took his helmet to the trainer, who went to work on removing the visor with a screwdriver.

  “You sure?” the trainer asked.

  “I can’t breathe with that stupid thing,” Eddie said. “I’d rather get hit in the nose again.”

  The trainer looked at Eddie’s swollen, disfigured nose and hoped that wouldn’t happen.

  Alex and Isaac sat in their stalls beside each other. Alex was slumped right over, holding his head down near his knees. Isaac grabbed a water bottle and nudged him.

  “Hey,” Isaac said.

  A tired-looking Alex lifted his head up. Isaac aimed the water bottle directly at Alex’s face and squeezed it. A long stream of water nailed Alex right between the eyes.

  “Oh, what the fuck!”

  “We need you, baby,” Isaac said. “Wake up.”

  Isaac sat back down as Alex wiped his face with a towel.

  “We been through too much to go out like this, man,” Isaac hissed. “You gotta find it. You gotta find it.”

  Alex nodded. He grabbed his water bottle and squirted more water on his face.

  Toronto players came back out to a standing ovation. Many of their fans were shouting at the top of their lungs to encourage them. Alex decided he would ignore how tired, numb and weak he felt. No more short shifts or fear of embarrassment from making a tired mistake. He would start by doing what he arguably did best.

  Eddie won the draw again, and Toronto went on a rush that resulted in New York’s goalie making a solid save on a shot by Curtis. When Vanstone took a pass at centre to send New York the other way, Alex came across the ice and absolutely levelled him with a hard, clean bodycheck. Vanstone landed on his behind, adjusted his helmet and got right back up. The hit electrified the crowd and brought Alex some more attention from Reed, who skated near him and began jawing.

  However, Reed thought better of putting his team at a disadvantage by taking a penalty, so instead he tried hitting Isaac. Isaac sidestepped him and caused Reed to collide with Curtis, who was bigger than Reed and hardly moved. The crowd loved it.

  Toronto’s really coming on now, folks! They’re pressing New York and Hill has them trapped in their zone. Here he is again! Gets by one defender…Hill still with it…passes off to Banion…back to Hill…big screen in front…Hill still looking around…now a shot! Rebound! SCOOOOOOOORES!!!! Curtis Lewis! And New York’s lead has been cut in half. It’s 2–1!

  The energy on Toronto’s bench had changed dramatically since the first period. Alex seemed to have his head in the game more, Eddie could breathe better without his visor and Curtis looked more like himself than he had for most of the series. Despite allowing two goals, Matt also looked sharp in the second, making two or three key saves to keep New York from scoring a third goal and Eddie was closely checking Vanstone.

  A short time later, Alex saw an opportunity and jumped into a rush while Isaac wheeled into New York’s zone with the puck.

  Here’s Banion coming out from behind the net…throws it out front…Bucco SCORES! Bucco! SCORES!!!! A bullet shot! And the-game-is-tied!

  In the Toronto dressing room after two periods, there was a lot of pacing but not much talking. Alex leaned against his stall with his eyes closed. Mike approached him.

  “Hey Bucs, what are you doing?” Mike asked.

  “Taking the world’s shortest power nap,” Alex replied without opening his eyes.

  “Why aren’t you taping your sticks?”

  Alex opened his eyes. The rest of the players gathered around, except for Barry who sat in his stall looking annoyed as always.

  “My sticks are fine,” Alex said.

  Mike grabbed one of Alex’s sticks and held it out to him. “Re-tape your stick.”

  “Look, Chief, I’m tired and all that, but I don’t get it.”

  “Does he have to spell it out for you?” Eddie blurted, wincing from the pain in his nose.

  “Um, yes. One of you has to spell it out for me,” Alex responded.

  Mike grabbed a roll of hockey tape and held it out along with Alex’s stick. The rest of the team was staring at Alex expectantly. Alex studied their nervous faces.

  “You know, my stick could really use some more tape,” Alex said.

  “We were thinking the same thing,” Curtis agreed.

  The fans now maintained a long, sustained cheer as Eddie won the opening draw again and pulled the puck back to Alex on the Toronto blue line. It had all come down to the last twenty minutes and with the game tied anything could happen.

  As the first several seconds turned into minutes, the frenzied pace and quick line changes continued. The teams were roughly even in shots and scoring opportunities. Toronto’s only advantage statistically was that they were outhitting New York by a wide margin.

  There were very few stoppages in play and both teams were careful to stay out of the penalty box. The clock on the scoreboard ticked away, and when the halfway point of the period passed, it began to feel like an early overtime. A single mistake might cost either side.

  And it did.

  After blocking a hard shot by Marty Reed, the younger defenceman Todd limped to his feet and looked at the bench, but he struggled to get there. A quick turnover at centre put the puck in the hands of Vanstone, who skated hard up the ice on the side left open by Todd who could not recover. Eddie and Alex both rushed back as fast as they could to try and break up the play.

  Here’s Vanstone going for it alone…Bucco and Mark are racing back… Oh, what a save by Richards! Rebound! SCOOOOOORES!!!!!

  As a hush fell over the crowd, the Arena Gardens became so uncharacteristically quiet that the jubilant New York players could be heard yelling as they mobbed each other to celebrate. Replays showed a speedy New York winger picking up a rebound after Matt made a great save. The winger fired it into the open side just a split second before Eddie could get over to interfere.

  With time running out, Toronto was down a goal. The crowd went back to willing their team on. A few minutes and a couple of failed scoring chances later, Ken shortened his bench – but he no longer had the option of moving Alex up to forward because Todd had to leave the game after blocking that shot and Alex was needed on defence.

  In the stands, Corey sat in his usual seat, but had dropped the fake-executive routine and was hanging on each play just like every other desperate fan in the place.

  Ken decide
d to take a risk and try something different. He put Mike and Eddie on at the same time. Eddie had looked stronger as the game went on. Besides, it was now or never. They had to win faceoffs and control the play as much as possible.

  In the weeks and months to come, Cole Foster would remark to friends that the next five minutes of hockey were some of the most hectic that he ever witnessed.

  It began with Toronto applying all kinds of pressure in the New York zone, led by Mike Hill. New York had understandably double and nearly triple-shifted Vanstone, and with Eddie all over him, Mike found more room to move around in the New York zone.

  Ken also intended on riding Alex and Barry like horses on defence for the rest of the period, and Freddy spoke to them about picking a spot to pinch in.

  Toronto applying tremendous pressure! Big pileup and Mark’s got it in his feet! He’s kicking it around and Reed’s after him. What action! Hill grabs it…out front with a pass…Bucco in from the point! SCOOOOOOOOORES!!!!!

  Angus Miller fell off the Zamboni before jumping up and down deliriously with his keys jingling on his belt as the crowd erupted.

  Alex Bucco has tied it up for Toronto! Three and a half minutes left in regulation…and this game is tied. Yes, sir!

  The teams stalled for as long as they could without burning a timeout. Eventually, the referee came by to yell at both benches to get their players out to centre ice for the faceoff. Another overtime seemed imminent, and in many ways it had already begun. One more goal and that would almost surely end it.

  With about two minutes left, New York’s Vanstone took a pass and carried the puck quickly down the wing into the Toronto zone and skated behind the net with it. Barry chased him and Alex protected the crease in front of the Toronto goal.

  “Shit!” Freddy exclaimed from the bench. He could sense what was coming, but there was no way to warn Alex in time.

  As Alex stopped in front of Matt and turned his attention away from the back of the net to focus on any incoming players looking for a pass or rebound, Vanstone shot the puck right at the back of Alex’s skate. It banked off the skate perfectly and went through the legs of a surprised Matt into the net for the very late go-ahead goal.

  It was now 4–3 New York with two minutes and one second to play. The fans were somewhere between booing and cheering. They seemed to be in shock.

  Toronto would pull their goalie for an extra attacker and try to catch lightning in a bottle.

  Ken immediately called for a timeout. Alex leaned on his stick as he skated back toward the bench. All the players seemed afraid to approach him – all except for Barry, who came over and leaned down beside him.

  “Don’t give up on me, man,” Barry said. “Alright? If we lose, we lose, but if you give up now, I’m going to fight you again and I’m going to win this time.”

  Alex nodded and smiled at Barry in appreciation. They returned to the bench together. Ken was waiting by the door, and he and Freddy gathered the players into a tight huddle. Ken put his arm around Alex as Freddy frantically drew up two quick plays on his miniature whiteboard.

  “You still going to take away me being captain?” Alex asked.

  “It’s a little late for that now,” Ken said as he squeezed Alex’s shoulder.

  Alex listened to Freddy’s instructions, but he became distracted when he saw Diana looking over from the ramp that led to the team’s dressing room. She gave him a warm smile. No matter what happened in the game, he had won much more than he could ever lose. He knew what it meant to really lose…and this was not it.

  Before the teams resumed play, Angus caught Brooks grinning happily as he pecked away at his tablet. Brooks must have been thrilled that Toronto was going to lose the series on a goal that went off Alex into his own net.

  Angus jumped back down off his Zamboni and approached Brooks.

  “Enjoying the game, you dirtbag?”

  “Yeah, it’s a great game, getting better by the second,” Brooks replied as he took a few steps back to move away from Angus.

  “I told ya not to stand in the fire exit. You deaf and stupid?”

  “You can’t talk to me like that.”

  “I am fuckin’ talkin’ to ya like that!”

  Angus found a security guard and pointed at Brooks. The security guard called over one of his partners. They each grabbed Brooks by an elbow and dragged him forcefully toward the nearest door.

  “Why am I being thrown out???” Brooks demanded. “You can’t do this!”

  “You’ve repeatedly refused to follow fire code and health and safety protocols, sir,” one of the guards responded.

  Angus smiled his gap-toothed grin and waved goodbye to Brooks, who gave him the middle finger on the way out just in time for a TV camera operator to capture it. The two guards took pleasure in forcefully shoving Brooks through a door that was locked on the outside. Brooks tried to open the door in vain before throwing a few kicks at it. He stopped and realized the same camera operator had filmed this as well. Brooks closed his eyes and shuddered.

  Play resumed, and everyone in the entire arena was standing as the two teams raced around the ice vying for control of the play. Eddie won the draw, but players from both teams were throwing themselves at everything. With a minute and a half left and Toronto struggling to gain possession of the puck, Ken waved for Matt to come off.

  Matt raced to the bench, but the door was jammed. As the backup goalie struggled to open it, Matt dove over the top of the bench and Curtis hit the ice as the sixth attacker.

  Isaac entered the New York zone with the puck and immediately threw it at the net, hoping for a faceoff or a juicy rebound. New York’s goalie made the save and steered the rebound to Reed, who skated up with it and had an eye on the empty net. Eddie got to him and knocked him off balance, but Reed still managed to shoot the puck up the middle of the ice. It looked like it was heading directly to the empty Toronto goal.

  Curtis was easily Toronto’s slowest skater, but he was still near centre ice and had the freshest legs. He raced back as the crowd held their breath. With his long reach Curtis just managed to redirect the puck as it whizzed by the goalpost to the corner.

  The oohs and aahs of the fans followed the play as Alex finished coming back. He collected the puck and saw some room to skate out with it.

  Unbelievable action! Here comes Toronto again led by their captain. One minute left to play and they’ve got to get one, that’s for sure.

  After passing the puck up to Mike, Alex followed closely behind looking for a drop pass as Curtis, Eddie and Isaac all joined the play. At that moment Alex sensed a New York winger coming at him. Alex steadied himself and as the New York player lay into him, Alex got his arms up and returned the favour. It was a significant collision and despite having most of the momentum, the New York player got the worst of it and fell to the ice.

  Alex was momentarily stunned, but he forced himself to move forward and chase after Mike again.

  The Toronto bench is screaming for an interference penalty against New York and so is this crowd, but Bucco stays on his feet and keeps going. Here’s Hill…he drops it back to Bucco…a shot! SCOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORE!!!!!!!!

  At first Alex thought he hit the crossbar or post, but when he saw the red goal light flash and the people behind the glass leap up in a giant wave, he knew that he had scored again. And somehow above the indescribable din he heard Cole’s voice booming around the arena, and Alex hung onto it as he struggled to catch his breath while delirious teammates piled on top of him.

  ALEX BUCCO! GETS IT BACK WITH ANOTHER BULLET! It’s not over yet, folks!

  Alex had never done this before, but as he returned to the bench, he looked up at the screen to catch the replay. With 26 seconds left, he had leaned into a nice little drop pass from Mike and took the best, most accurate shot of his life. The rocket slapshot cleared the small space above the New York goalie’s shoulder and hit the top corner between the crossbar and post, before ringing around the inside o
f the net like a pinball.

  And certainly now, whichever team scored next would win it all.

  Instead of drawing the puck back this time with his feet, Eddie decided to chip it forward past a surprised Vanstone before stepping by him, regaining possession and dumping it into New York’s zone. Isaac rushed in and beat the New York defender to the puck. With the seconds dying down, Toronto controlled the puck and quickly set up like they were on a power play. The crowd, sensing a victory, were shouting for every Toronto player who touched the puck to “SHOOT!!!!”

  The entire rink was in a frenzy.

  Banion has it…to Mark…back to Banion…back to Mark…Lewis in front again with a screen…Mark finds Davis on the point. Six seconds left! Over NOW TO BUCCO!

  Barry’s feed across the blue line to Alex couldn’t have been more perfect for a one-timer. Before he thought about it too much, Alex steadied himself and prepared to shoot. He put everything he had into the shot. But while he was completing his follow through he knew something was off. The puck dribbled harmlessly in front of him, and Alex looked at his stick blade. It broke while he was taking the shot. Vanstone grabbed the puck and gently lifted it out of the New York zone as the final buzzer rang to mercifully signal the end of the period.

  Alex slammed his broken stick onto the ice in frustration and skated for the bench. Barry came over and they went off together arm in arm as their fans voiced thunderous appreciation.

  Overtime.

  Before he entered the Toronto dressing room, Curtis stopped at the bench to tie a loose skate. He looked up and saw Megan’s son Jimmy in the stands wrestling with two guards who were yelling at him to calm down.

  “He keeps saying something about wanting you to come home after the game,” the guard said.

  “Tell him I’ll be back soon.”

  In the dressing room, Todd, who was now in street clothes and wearing an air boot for his injured ankle, solemnly informed his team that most overtime games in playoff situations ended within the first five minutes.