Nick watches as AJ skates around the rink singing “Dancing with Myself” with Boosh and Fedoruk as Barber stares at them. Yeah Nick was certain now: AJ was a character within himself. He was also certain that they were not signing the right words. Nick looks back down at the other end of the rink as a few guys are taking shots on Brian. Brian was not having a good day at all and they had a game that night. Shot after shot was getting behind him and after a few you could see Brian starting to tense up. He was going to blow any second now.
“What the hell!” Brian yells slamming his gloves down on the ice and throwing his stick down the ice and Boosh stops it with his skate, “Damnit!” Brian yells pulling off his mask and scanning the ice as he notices that everyone had stopped what they were doing to watch him.
Brian looks around the ice at the faces that were staring at him with concern in his eyes and lets out a deep breath before skating from where he stood near the net over to the door that led off of the ice. Kevin takes off after him as the rest of the team watches. Outbursts from the goalies were not an unusual thing for the Flyers. Boosh and Brian both had their shares of temper tantrums. Brian was having more then Boosh now though. Boosh was getting better and showing improvement while Brian felt he was betting worse then he should be. Nick honestly didn’t see a difference in Brian. To be honest Brian never did that good in practice, but always came through in the games. Hell no one ever did that good in practice accept Kevin, but Kevin was Kevin.
“Boosh take his place,” Barber says walking out on the ice and Boosh nods pulling his mask over his face and skating down to the net Brian had left, “Well don’t just all stand there get back to work.”
AJ skates over to Nick and nods at him saying hello.
“What do you think is wrong with him?” Nick asks about Brian.
“I have no idea,” AJ sighs, “but if he keeps this up no good is gonna come of it. He’s only going to mess up his mind to think he is worse then he really is. It’s down hill from there. Boosh did it last season. He was a wreck. The hardest position on this whole team is back up goalie and neither of them wants to be it.”
Nick nods, “What’s with the Billy Idol?”
“Billy Idol is the man,” AJ says.
“I thought Jim Morrison was?”
“No he was the man last week. God Carter keep up with the pace.”
“You ok?”
“Yeah fine why?”
“I was just wondering. I mean after the whole McAmmond thing and the penalty goal…”
“I’m fine,” AJ snaps.
“Ok,” Nick says staring at him.
“Hey we’re all going out to eat after this wanna come?”
“Who’s going?”
“All of us.”
“Ok.”
“Hey how are you at softball?”
“Ok guess. Whyyyy?”
“Well the Flyers are starting this annual softball game against the New Jersey state police and we were wondering…”
“No,” Nick says, “I almost killed myself a few days ago with that stupid triathlon and I am not about to get hit in the head with a bat.”
“Hey I was the one who got hit with the oar.”
“Noooo.”
“C’mon it will be fun besides all of us suck at softball besides Williams and me of course.”
“Of course.”
“So?”
“I’ll think about it.”
“Great,” AJ says and skates off taking his position on the ice to take shots on Boosh.
Nick shakes his head and skates down to the other end of the ice to do a drill.
“OW AJ that hurt!” Boosh yells, “You do not aim for my head for the last damn time!”
Kevin walks into the locker room after Brian and sees him sitting on the floor legs spread out in front of him. Kevin reaches down and picks up his mask that was laying on the floor by his feet and walks over to Brian handing it to him.
“You know that costs a lot of money be careful with it,” Kevin says sitting down on a stool by Brian.
“What good will it do for a back up goalie?”
“You’re not a back up goalie, Brian.”
“I’m going to be one. Look at me and look at Boosh. He has gotten like ten times better. He’s like the new Dominator.”
“You’re doing fine. You are being too critical of yourself. So what a few pucks got by you…”
“A few try all but two.”
“Ok, so you had an off day everyone does. AJ has practices when he doesn’t make one goal and he is fine. All that matters is the game and you have been doing fine in the games. How’s Leigh been doing?” Kevin says trying to change the subject.
“Good,” Brian says, “She just got the whole house decorated and she is thrilled that it is finally done. I don’t want to get traded Kev. I mean that is what I’m more worried about then anything. If I don’t do good what is the use of keeping me around. They can always get Neil Little from the Phantoms. He has been doing better then me. It sucks being back up goalie and I know Boosh had to go through it too, but he hated it. He wanted to get traded too. I think he’s out for blood this season.”
“Wouldn’t surprise me,” Kevin says, “Listen you and Boosh have been trading on and off for the past couple of games, so its not like Barber thinks he is better.”
“What about the play offs…”
“Brian they’re months away take it a day at a time.”
“Yeah, but you need to have an official starting goalie for them. I don’t want to sit out the playoffs. I mean we have such a good team this year I think we have a chance for beating the…”
“Ah zip it,” Kevin says, “Do not speak the team’s name.”
“Ok the guys who play in New Jersey,” Brian smiles.
“Good.”
“I really think we have a chance now and I’ll be damned I sit those games out.”
“Brian you have the rest of the normal season to prove you’re a good goalie and you are, but until then do not speak the evil team’s name.”
“Ok,” Brian smiles.
“Where the hell did you guys go to?” AJ asks as he walks into the locker room and the rest of the team files in behind him.
“Just talking,” Kevin says.
“Good for you guys. C’mon shake it up,” he sings walking by them shaking his hips, “Rock the cradle of love. Rock the cradle of love. Yes the cradle of love don’t rock easily it’s true,” he sings pulling off his practice jersey and his pads until he just in his pants, “Sent from heaven above to rob the cradle of love. Yes the pages of love don’t talk decently it’s true.”
“Yeah flesh for your Romeo. Ah yeah baby. I hear you moan. It's easy ya'know how to please me yeah,” Fedoruk sings.
“This love starts my rollin train. You can't stop it. It ain't in vain. I ain't nobody's fool. Come on shake it up. Whatever you do,” Williams sings as AJ puts him into a headlock.
“These are the wages of love,” AJ sings slower, “ Rock the cradle of love. Ohhh yeahh. Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah.”
“They are all insane,” Nick says walking past Brian to his locker.
“They’re our teammates though,” Brian sighs.
“Sad, but true,” Nick smiles at him sitting down in front of his locker, “You coming out with us to eat?”
“Yeah.”
“Good. You sit next to me then.”
“Alright,” Brian smiles pulling off his gear.
AJ stares as Nick’s line heads onto the ice and his comes off. It was the 2nd quarter and there was no score for either team yet. Damn Buffalo Sabers. AJ walks through the small door and sits down on the bench next to Boosh who was chewing his gum as usual.
“You think I’ll get to play?” Boosh asks not looking at AJ, but keeping his attention to what is going on on the ice.
“I dunno,” AJ says as he watches Nick head down the ice with the puck, “You played the last time we played the Sabers right?”
“Yeah,” Boosh says, “But we play the Senators in three days and the coach said he wanted me to play them.”
“Oh so you’ll play the next game if you don’t play now?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s not bad.”
“Yeah.”
AJ looks over at Boosh as he says yeah and stares at him. Boosh was one of his best friends, but at the same time he knew he was not someone you wanted to mess with during game time. Boosh was a great guy, but when it came to the game he reminded AJ of some kind of hockey Hitler. He was there to win and that was all. Loses were not acceptable to him. He reminded AJ of himself.
AJ turns his head as a Saber player flies down the ice with the puck. Kevin slams him into the boards, but another Saber picks up the puck where he left it taking to the net once more. Brian was shifting from side to side on his skates, but AJ saw it coming before it happened. The Saber got close enough to Brian then faked him out by dropping it back to his right to another player. The Saber took the shot and it flew past Brian above his stick shoulder. He could hear Barber throwing one of his famous tirades behind him and Nick’s line came back as Nick looks over at AJ and shakes his head.
Fifteen minutes later the score 1-0 in favor of the Sabers, a player heads down the ice with a puck flying towards Brian somehow managing to get passed Kevin. AJ could hear Nick muttering something about the player should be a finger skater instead. 2-0 now. Brian was lying on his stomach on the ice looking up and slamming his fists onto the ice.
“Boosh get ready,” Barber says walking behind Boosh and patting him on the shoulder and calling a time out then waving for Brian to come off.
Boosh gets up and walks out onto the ice then skating up to Brian who is skating off. He looks at the shorter man and smiles at him patting him on the back before skating over to the net. The sound of the fans screaming Boosh echoes off of the arena walls as Brian takes a seat on the bench next to Nick throwing his stick down.
Nick figured it was better to let Brian cool down before making any moves to talk to him because at this time he did not look happy at all. His brow was scrunched up and his arms were crossed across his chest. Nick had seen Boosh play before in the previous games, but he had never really paid close attention to it. To say the least Boosh is a mad man on the ice. He would throw his body all over the ice saving the puck in any means necessary. He would come out further then was normally safe for a goalie and actually slam into the on coming player while Kevin picked up the lose puck. Nick was glad Boosh was on his side. Every time he would save a puck the word Boosh would echo off the walls from the crowd.
It was almost the end of the 2nd as AJ flies down the ice with the puck passing it between himself and Fedetenko as Williams took up the far side. AJ, Williams and Fedetenko set up and play and soon enough AJ had the puck somehow and shots. A hat trick. 2-1 now. The ice gets littered with various hats as AJ skates around the rink soaking up his glory with open arms as his teammates skate up to congratulate him. It takes them a few minutes to clear the ice of the hats and AJ and Williams took that time skating around the ice singing along to “Mony Mony” that is playing on the loud speakers with the crowd. Brian somehow managed to stay pissed off during the whole ordeal.
By the third it was all tied up 2-2 after a quick goal from Gagne two minutes into the game. Brian still looked pissed off to Nick too. Nick shakes his head and hops over the small wall onto the ice as the line changes. As soon as he steps foot on the ice Kevin passes the puck up to him and he was heading down the ice full speed with Fedoruk skating alongside of him running interference crashing into anyone who comes up to them. Nick skates up to the goal and then shifts to the right skating around the back of the net to the other side flipping the puck in quickly. 3-2 and that was how it ended. Nick’s shot was the highlight of the game on the post game show as well as Boosh’s saves.
Nick looks over at Brian and goes to say something but stops as he sees Brian heaving his bag over his shoulder and heading towards the door out. The press even knew to stay away from him and stick to talking to AJ who at this point was surrounded by cameras and microphones with Gagne. Nick shakes his head as he looks up and sees that the reporters finally noticed him and were heading his way. Nick hated the press.
“Hey batter batter. Hey batter batter. Swing batter batter,” AJ says as he stands on second base at the charity softball game.
“AJ will you please shut up,” Fedoruk says turning around on the pitchers mound and looking at him.
“It’s raining,” AJ says smiling as Fedoruk shakes his head and turns around getting ready to pitch again.
Nick looks at him from first base and shakes his head.
Yeah they were a poor excuse for a softball team to say the least. The only run in the first inning was by Williams who was currently behind Nick in the outfield along with Kevin in the center and Boosh all the way on the left side. LeClaire was playing shortstop and Recci and Brian had somehow managed to get into the outfield too. McGillis was playing catcher while Tocchet was at third. The New Jersey state police were killing them. It was dark by now and to even everything out they were getting six strikes instead of three. LeClaire drew the line though when they purposely missed catching an easy fly ball so he could get on first.
Williams was once again wearing his famous white socks and the guys were still making fun of him. Nick had seen everything from Boosh hitting a foul ball backwards his first time at bat to Tocchet finally catching a fly ball and doing a back flip after he caught it. The game was being held in the sticks as AJ liked to call it for a small crowd of people who purchased tickets. AJ had spent the previous innings trying to get one of the bat kids to go by him a pretzel and soon enough they got him one. Boosh was soaking wet because AJ had thrown his water onto him early into the game and the two had had an all out war in the dug out.
The game was close to being tied up by now. Wonder why huh? It was all for charity though and they were having fun. The only really good players on the team were Brian and Williams. AJ just seemed to be able to hit not catch though. Williams had managed to steal all of the bases during one hit, but Fedoruk would try and he wouldn’t make it. The batboys and girls were being picked from the crowd and the players were busy in the dugout the whole time signing various things. There was also a crowd of kids behind the fence right behind Boosh. He had actually reached over the fence at one point and caught a ball only to have it bounce back out and one of the kids take it.
“Back to bat,” AJ says as Williams catches another fly ball.
Boosh shakes his head and walks up to the plate and hits the ball making it to first. AJ walks up swinging the bat and pointing in a direction as Nick shakes his head. AJ hit the ball, but it went in the exact opposite direction.
“I meant to do that,” AJ says as he gets to first and Boosh gets to second, ‘C’mon Carter,” AJ says clapping his hands as Nick gets to bat.
Nick wasn’t a great player he would be the first to tell you this and he did hit the ball, but it went towards the left as all three of them make their way for the next base. Nick looks over as the ball he hit flies between third and second and Boosh jumps about three feet in the air as the ball flies under him. Nick looks over at AJ who was near hysterical laughing laying on the ground staring at Boosh.
“AJ get up,” Kevin says as he comes to bat and AJ slowly gets up before bursting into another fit of giggles as Kevin hits the ball bringing Boosh home AJ to third and Nick to second.
Brian walks up to bat and starts laughing as AJ points to Boosh who is walking back to the dug out then leaps into the air in an over done jump. Brian hits the ball and AJ makes a run for home crossing it and walking back to the dugout singing, “Whose house? Runs house. I say whose house? Run’s house.”
The game ended 22-23 in favor of the New Jersey State police. Nick and the others lined up for a picture for the police and as soon as they are done everyone heads towards the dugout locker rooms except Brian and Boosh who head over towards the fans to sign things. Everyone else comes out a few minutes later to sign things as AJ continues to sign the same line over and over again with Fedoruk dancing around, “Whose house? Run’s house. I say whose house? Run’s house.”
Nick was dead set that he was on one of the best teams in the league winning or not.
