Double Shift

by David Skuy

  “I get why you couldn’t tell the guys what the fight was about, and I have to be honest with you — all is not good with the Rebels.”

  “Don’t I know it. I want to blame Spencer and Brandon, but at the same time, I get that they think I hurt the team.”

  His mom came out of the kitchen. “Not much more we can do, and I find this place a bit depressing. I’m supposed to meet with the insurance agent tomorrow afternoon, and then we can figure out how to fix this mess. My goodness, what a disaster. I can’t believe it.” She shook her head. “Parts of the ceiling outside the kitchen even got ruined. I can’t imagine what this will cost.”

  Charlie followed her gaze. The smoke had left the ceiling a dull colour, as if a fine mist of grey powder had been sprayed to make a monochrome design. It reminded Charlie of the pages of a black-and-white graphic novel.

  Danielle and Hannah came over. “I’m hungry,” Danielle said. “Can we get a croissant or something?”

  “Not here,” his mom said. She looked out the window. “I’ll make you and Hannah something at home. It’s close to lunch, anyway.”

  “Aw. Let’s go out,” Danielle said. “I think my throat needs a hot chocolate from this smoky smell.”

  “I have hot chocolate at home,” his mom said.

  “But I like it better with whipped cream and only a café has that,” Danielle persisted.

  “Danielle! Please.”

  Charlie could see his mom was stressed. He guessed she didn’t want to take everyone out to eat. “Let’s go home, Danny. I have some cool stuff I want to show you.”

  “Awesome. What do you have?” Danielle said.

  “You have to wait and see.”

  “What is it? Come on,” the girls chorused.

  “No. We have to go. Move it, ladies.”

  His mom gave him a grateful look. All the way home the girls pestered him about his big surprise, and they raced into the house as soon as his mom pulled into the driveway.

  “So what’s this super-duper cool stuff?” Pudge asked.

  “I’ve been wondering the same thing myself,” Charlie said with a grin. “I think the only choice I have in this situation is to attack with pillows. It’s a dangerous mission, and the risk of death is high. I could use some help. Are you in, Sergeant?”

  Pudge saluted. “You can’t live forever, Major.”

  Charlie did not feel like a pillow fight after their visit But his mom needed time to deal with the Rainbow, and keeping things fun and light right now would help.

  “Once we satisfy Danielle and Hannah’s need for adventure, we should put some thought into the Rebels. It seems like so much has happened over the last couple months, I’ve barely had a chance to focus on hockey; and I’m supposed to be the captain.”

  “You are the captain, and no one thinks you’re not,” Pudge said.

  They went in the house.

  “Some of the new Rebels might not vote for me, not after the Wildcats game. It’s Operation New Rebels from here on in. They don’t feel like they’re part of the core group, and we need to change that.”

  “Come on, Charlie. We’re waiting in your room!” Danielle yelled.

  “First it’s Operation Crazy Girls,” Pudge said.

  “If we can pull this off, we can do anything,” Charlie said. He ran up the stairs. “Prepare to be amazed,” he announced.

  7

  NEW BEGINNINGS

  Charlie held the dressing-room door open for Pudge and hesitated for a moment before going in. He chided himself for being so ridiculous; he told himself twenty times that it was no big deal; and yet he was a bundle of nerves as he walked into the dressing room for practice. Pudge and he had talked about the Rebels’ problems, and both agreed that it all boiled down to Rule Five. They had to play together, as a team. Right now they weren’t.

  “How’s it going, boys?” Charlie said loudly. He parked himself next to Pudge and unzipped his bag. He figured the best strategy was to make a joke about the Wildcats fiasco.

  “I got a text from Jake Wilkenson. He promised to be nicer and to stop spearing and hitting guys from behind. He says that from now on the Wildcats are gonna be a skill team — no more rough stuff.”

  If crickets began chirping it would not have been more awkward. Pudge looked like he wanted to jump into a hole. Not the best beginning, but he wasn’t giving up that easily. “Okay. I admit. I made that up. Jake didn’t text me. The Wildcats are gonna goon it up like they always do. Next time we’ll step it up. We have a few more games to learn Hilton’s system, and they won’t know what hit them.”

  He could have sworn tumbleweed was blowing down the middle of the room. Where were Scott and Nick when he needed them?

  “Look at it this way,” he said. “At least I’m on time.”

  Jonathon and Dylan laughed, and the twins even cracked a smile. No such luck with the others. Then it got worse.

  “I think we should speak to the coach about assistant captains,” Brandon said.

  Charlie raised his eyebrows. Brandon wasn’t looking at him, however.

  “Matt and Nick aren’t playing, and we don’t have any assistants on the ice, and when Charlie got kicked out, we had no one to speak to the ref … or anything,” he continued.

  “Matt will be back soon,” Charlie said.

  “Whatever,” Brandon said. “We can deal with it when he is. I think Spencer should be an assistant captain for now, and probably should be one anyway.”

  “Not sure the Rebels’ problems are about having assistants on the ice,” Charlie said. “We need to work as a team more, out-hustle our opponents, win the battles, and …”

  “We don’t need clichés and stupid rules, if you ask me,” Philip said.

  “We also don’t need to learn a new freakin’ style of play in the middle of the year,” Nazem said. “I left a good team for this, and it’s like chaos.”

  “It’s not chaos,” Charlie said. “We’ll get going. It’s a slump, for sure. When we get everyone back …”

  “There you go again,” Spencer said. “They come back and, like magic, the Rebels can’t lose. Philip and me won’t even have to show. Scott and Nick can play the whole game.”

  “We’re a team,” Charlie said.

  Spencer spun a roll of tape around his shin pads and pulled it until it snapped. Brandon and Nazem began to tie their skates.

  “That couldn’t have gone worse,” Charlie whispered to Pudge.

  His buddy grunted in agreement and pulled out his skates. “Might have to talk to Hilton,” he said.

  “Charlie. What’s this I heard about a fire at the Rainbow Café?” Dylan asked. “I passed by on my way to band practice, and it had yellow caution tape around it.”

  Charlie grimaced. That was about the last thing he wanted to talk about. But at least it changed the topic. “There was some damage. No big deal. It’ll be fixed soon. A total pain for my mom, though.”

  Dalton came in. “The ice will be ready in seven minutes. The ladies are almost finished their practice. A friendly reminder from your friendly manager.”

  “Hi, Mr. Friendly Manager,” a few boys joked.

  “Yes. Well, hello … and thanks … Anyway, here’s another friendly reminder of our game on Tuesday at 7:45 against the Flames,” Dalton said.

  Some of the guys cheered.

  “Please be there at 6:45 at the latest,” Dalton said. “Coach Hilton wants a good warm-up.”

  “Don’t tell us — tell Joyce,” Jonathon said.

  Charlie forced himself to laugh with the others.

  “Charlie, Charlie,” Pudge pushed his knee. “The skates work better when they’re done up.”

  Charlie grinned weakly and bent down to tie them up. “They say the mind is the first thing to go,” he said.

  Spencer stood. “I think I’ll be out first to prove my love for the game,” he said.

  “Sucking up to Hilton is more like it,” Brandon said.

  “Wants to watch the girls
is really more like it,” Will said.

  Spencer dropped his helmet on the butt end of his stick. “That’s why I’m keeping the hat off. It’s good to publicize.”

  “You’d be smarter to go with a paper bag,” Nazem said.

  Spencer grinned. “You might be right,” he said, and he pushed the door open.

  “That dude will have a date by the time the Zamboni’s off the ice — guaranteed,” Will said, nudging Brandon.

  “Don’t I know it,” Brandon said. “Let’s go. He might need help.”

  A few others got up and left also. Charlie rifled around in his bag for his gloves.

  “You going old-school?” Pudge said.

  Charlie gave him a questioning look. Pudge tapped his own helmet.

  “I’ve lost it,” Charlie said, tossing his gloves off and putting his helmet on.

  “While you’re at it, you might want to tape your shin pads,” Pudge said.

  “I don’t suppose I could borrow some?” Charlie said ruefully.

  Pudge had a roll in his hand. “Way ahead of ya.”

  Charlie taped his socks and followed Pudge out. The Zamboni had a lap to go.

  “The ladies in question are the Eagles,” Pudge said.

  Spencer, Brandon and Nazem were talking to Julia, Rebecca and Alexandra. Julia had her helmet off, her face flushed and lightly covered in sweat. Rebecca and Alexandra were in street clothes. They had also been badly hurt in the bus accident and were still not able to play. Spencer appeared to be holding court, and all three girls were laughing.

  “Let’s go say hi,” Pudge said. “I wonder when Rebecca and Alexandra can start playing again.”

  “Go ahead,” Charlie said. “I just have to fix my skate.” He knelt and untied his laces. He felt weird joining in after what had happened in the dressing room, and the girls might ask about the café, and he didn’t feel like talking about that either. He looked over. It was strange seeing Julia joking around with Spencer. She was usually so serious.

  Jonathon opened the door to the ice. “Up and at ’em, Rebels,” he said, giving them each a back slap as they filed on. “Can we borrow the boys for a moment, Jules?” he called out. Jonathon and Julia had been neighbours since they were kids and they were good friends.

  “When I’m finished with them,” Julia replied.

  “Actually, we don’t really need them,” Jonathon said. “They’re kinda useless.”

  “Thanks for the vote of confidence, dude,” Spencer said, slipping his helmet on. “So the movie’s at seven, right? We should go early and grab a smoothie at the Mercury.”

  “How about six?” Alexandra said.

  “Works for me,” Spencer said.

  “Us too,” Nazem and Brandon said.

  “Sounds good,” Rebecca said.

  Charlie had heard enough and he made a beeline to the ice. In three strides he was at top speed, whirling around the boards and behind the net. Of course, it was no big deal. Julia and her friends could go out to a movie with whomever they wanted. Maybe it bugged him a bit that they had never wanted to go to a movie with Charlie and his crew. On the other hand, he didn’t remember asking them. But so what? There were way more important things, like turning this team around.

  Hilton blew his whistle to start practice. Charlie dragged his right skate behind him and slowed to a stop at centre.

  “Bring it in,” Hilton said, and the Rebels surrounded him and took a knee. “Don’t get down on yourselves if something doesn’t work. The Wildcats game was not our best, obviously, and we didn’t do a good job of staying disciplined.” Charlie kept his gaze on the ice. “I don’t want you to think everything was bad. I saw a couple of perfect breakouts with the defencemen pushing and the forwards covering, and you did play them tough for a period and a half. That’s the team we want to become: hard on the puck, lightning counterattack, and a punishing defence. We’re just not there yet.”

  He held up his whiteboard and began sketching a drill. “We’ll start with this. Breakout Two — and the possibilities are endless.”

  That was greeted with some ooohs and ahhs.

  “Again, it’s about choice. D1 has the puck. He takes it up the right side and is met with pressure. He drops the puck back to a moving D2. At the same time, the left wing and centre cross and swing wide. D2 can hit either with a pass or keep it himself. The right wing breaks across the top. If there’s no pressure, D2 can keep it himself and make a pass once he’s past the hash marks, or even past the blue line if he can make it.

  “Lots of options, and lots of opportunities to mess up — so let’s practise.”

  They practised for the next ten minutes, and all that time the players seemed to be focused on the messing up part. Twice Brandon cut the wrong way. Christopher seemed overwhelmed by the choices, and invariably he held onto the puck too long and then flung it in desperation, generally for an icing. Charlie almost ran Pudge over, and one time he forgot the play entirely and stood in the slot like a pylon.

  When Brandon took over for him, Charlie drifted over to speak to his coach.

  “No. No,” Hilton barked. “Left wing and centre cross. Winger has to cut wide to give the defenceman an angle. Try it again.” He drifted toward centre. Charlie felt awkward, as if he was chasing after him.

  “Excuse me, Coach. Can I ask a quick question?”

  “Of course. On that last one you need to be the one to gauge where the winger is on the ice. It’s not enough to mechanically cut to the boards.”

  “Right. Yeah. I guess.” He didn’t want to talk about the breakout. “It’s more a question about the team.”

  “Spencer! Quick. Do it quick. You can’t take so much time. Rule Four — the puck moves faster than you.”

  Hilton tucked a glove under his arm and rubbed his chin with his hand. “I heard about the Rainbow. Your mother must be very upset,” he said suddenly.

  “We saw the café this morning. There was a bit of damage, some water too. It’ll be okay. She has to deal with the insurance company and stuff.”

  “It must be upsetting for you too.”

  “It’s not that big a deal — a few repairs.”

  Hilton put his glove on. “Let me know if I can help.”

  “Thanks.”

  Hilton blew his whistle. “Will. As I said to Spencer, much faster. Much, much faster. Put some effort into it. You have to get across the ice. For the next few, break it off closer to the blue line. Don’t always go for the breakaway. Do it again, Jeffrey.”

  “About the team?” Charlie said.

  Hilton frowned.

  “I think some of the guys are having trouble with the new style,” Charlie continued. “Me too — I just tried to run Pudge over — but I love it, don’t get me wrong. It’s hard to unlearn how you always played, and still play instinctively — only that’s not it …”

  Hilton’s eyebrows arched. As usual, Charlie felt nervous when speaking to his coach.

  “What I’m trying to say — maybe sounding pathetic right now, but … What I mean is, some guys are getting a little frustrated and feeling the team is not doing great. I don’t know what you can do about it, and I’m all for learning about hockey … Maybe we could combine the styles for now?”

  Hilton blew his whistle. “Run it again,” he ordered. He removed his left glove and tucked it under his arm. “Rule One — keep it simple. This is simple stuff. The problem is you’re all trying to complicate it. The solution is not to go back. Think of a mountain. When you’re halfway up, you have no idea what’s on the other side. You can’t see. Then you get to the top, and you can see everything. Hockey’s like that sometimes. Soon this will be second nature. Give it a bit of time. Trust me.”

  “And one last thing … um … someone mentioned making Spencer an assistant captain, especially since Nick and Matt are hurt,” Charlie said.

  Hilton gave him a close look. “What do you think?”

  Charlie did not really like it. But the new Rebels seemed to want it
badly. “I like it. He’s a great player, and — how should I put it? — he’s vocal in the room. The guys listen to him.” He thought it best not to mention which guys.

  Hilton blew his whistle again. “Come on in,” he yelled. To Charlie he said, “You’ll like the next drill: neutral-zone counterattack.”

  Charlie grinned. “Sounds exciting, Coach.”

  “We’ll get back to that,” he said to the Rebels as they grouped around him. “Before the next drill, I want to address something. Charlie has been telling me that some guys are getting down on what we’re trying to do here. I respect the feedback, but you have to trust me. For some of the newer guys on the team especially, I understand your frustrations. This might be different from what you expected. It’ll begin to click soon. I promise, and it’ll make you better players and the Rebels a better team. Okay?”

  Most of the guys nodded.

  “Also, I’ve been considering a slight change, what with Matt and Nick still sidelined. I’d like to appoint Spencer assistant captain. Makes sense for when Charlie’s not on the ice. Sound good to everyone?”

  The Rebels slapped their sticks on the ice.

  “Thanks, Coach. I won’t let you down,” Spencer said.

  Hilton sketched the next drill on the whiteboard.

  “Assume there’s a neutral-zone turnover and our right D gets possession. Immediately, he fires it across to his partner, putting him under pressure because … what does he have?”

  Charlie and his teammates had responded to the same question countless times the past month. “Choices,” they answered on cue.

  “Correct. Quick pass to the centre cutting up the middle, a short give to the left winger, and he’s also got the right winger in the middle. He can even go wide to D1, although D1 needs to be careful not to get caught up ice in case of a deflected pass or some other catastrophic event. Shall we try it, gentlemen?”

  Charlie pushed off his knee to get up, and then bounced on his toes a few times. It was time to turn this practice around and energize.