The Flyers season had started out with an amazing starting record of 14- 4 and a home record of 7-0. The gears in the team were beginning to turn at an amazing rate and according to their fans there is no stopping them now, and so begins the quest for the Stanley Cup.
Kevin sits on the Flyers bus sitting in a seat and staring out the window watching the scenery pass. After so many years as a player and having to travel so much all the scenery begins to look the same, but for some reason he felt like he could watch it forever. He had the Lord of the Rings book open on his lap and he was about 456 pages through it, but it just sat there with him only glancing down once and a while. It was 18 games into the season now and they were on their way back to the First Union Center to play the Devils that night. All Kevin really wanted to do was see his wife and lay in his bed to sleep late. Of course it was basically impossible to sleep late now with his daughter and son running around at five in the morning jumping on him to wake him up.
Kevin had been married since he was twenty-one to his wife Kristin and his son and daughter were twins at five years old. His son was named Ethan and his daughter was Isabella. Ethan looked like him with black hair and big green eyes while Isabella looked like her mom with dirty blond hair, but she had his green eyes. They would watch him on TV with their mom and he could already tell Ethan was going to play hockey when he got older. He would bring him to the locker room some times and he would go wild running around with a stick bigger then himself and taping things. Last year when Kevin played on the pro USA team with Gagne against the world team, Ethan was running around with Isabella in the locker room with a camera taking pictures of anyone who would pose along with Mario Lemeuix’s son.
“Hey Kevin,” Brian says walking up and looking down at him in the seat,” Wanna go play schnarpel with me, AJ, Recci and LeClaire?”
“I guess,” Kevin sighs folding a page in his book to mark his pot and setting it down his seat.
Kevin gets up and follows Brian where a table on the bus sat. The table was made for four people, but with AJ and Brian in one seat Kevin could easily fit in. Schnarpel was a game pasted down from hockey player to hockey player on the road. It was usually played after a win, but since everyone was bored out of their mind and the rain outside seemed to worsen it. Schnarpel was a card game only known by hockey players of every league and it consisted of every player having at least ten bucks and involving trumps and tricks.
“AJ let me ask you something?” Recci says.
“Ok shoot,” AJ looks at him as he scuffles the cards.
“ What makes you tick?”
“My heart,” AJ smiles.
“No, what goes on in your head. I mean one minute you are singing the Beatles the next the Doors or reciting lines from Shakespeare plays.”
“That’s me,” AJ shrugs.
Kevin had wondered the same many times, but he had never bothered to ask AJ. Leave it to Recci to ask him what was going on in that mind of his. With that AJ starts to hum a song that Kevin knew he knew, but couldn’t think of the name. AJ also seemed to be a living storage unit for useless music that he often pulled out for no reason. Yesterday in a game against the New York Rangers AJ started to sing the Doors “Break on Through” and after the win he had told the press that Jim Morrison’s grave should be kept where it was and Paris officials had no right to move it. Kevin was just hoping that AJ wasn’t going to pull a Jim Morrison on them and die because something wasn’t right with the fact that AJ always seemed happy. He would just have to wait to find out though.
Brian stares at AJ as he starts bouncing his head along to his humming. Brian liked AJ and he liked the fact that he wasn’t the only one on the team who seemed happy all the time anymore. Kevin said he should stop eating so much candy, but what was life without candy?
“Sunday bloody Sunday,” Kevin sings as AJ looks up at him and smiles still humming,” I knew I knew it from somewhere.”
Brian wasn’t looking forward to tonight’s game and the irony of it all was it was Sunday, so AJ’s song wasn’t helping. Brian had faced the worst embarrassment of his career last year losing to the Sabers 8-0. He had played only one quarter a little of the second letting in five goals when Boosh came in to relieve him. Boosh had three times as many shots on him and he only let in three for the rest of the game. Towards the end of the fourth quarter the crowd was beginning to yell “Nah nah nah. Nah nah nah. Hey hey goodbye.” That was the worst song in the history of sports Brian decided.
Brian watches as AJ puts down his cards and walks up to the front of the bus and runs back down the aisle taking his seat again.
“Nobody better have looked at my cards,” AJ says as LeClaire points to Recci.
“Not me,” Recci stares.
That’s when Brian heard the familiar sounds of “Where the Streets Have No Name” come floating out of the bus speakers and AJ once again starts bouncing his head along to the song.
“This song always makes we want to ride a horse,” Boosh says walking up and sitting across the aisle from the.
“That’s cause you’re weird,” AJ says simply,” Want me to deal you in?”
“How far into the game are you?”
“Not that far,” Brian says picking up some cards and handing them to Boosh.
Boosh and Brian had been rotating goalie positions for the past few games and each of them was getting anxious to hear who Barber would pick to play starter. Back up goalie was the hardest position to play on the team. It wore on the ego and not only affected the player physically, but also mentally. More mentally then anything especially if you knew you could be better then the guy on the ice. All he could do though was take it a game at a time and tonight was his game to prove something.
Nick stares down at his sketching book and tries to get an angel of Recci’s head right as he looks up at the guys playing cards and back down. He looks up again and his eyes lock on Brian’s who was staring at him. He notices a shadow come over his book as he is trying to sketch’s AJ’s ears right, but he decided they were two damn hard and big for his head. He looks up and sees Brian standing over him looking down at his sketch. Nick quickly shuts the book and stares at him.
“Yeah?” Nick asks Brian arching his eyebrows a little.
“That’s good. Really good.”
“To late now you moved and I wasn’t done.”
“Oh should I go back?”
“No, it’s ok.”
“You know who else sketches like that, Boosh’s wife Ness. You should ask him to see hers some time.”
“Nah that’s ok. I like to keep them to myself you know.”
“Yeah,” Brian says sitting down next to him.
“Kevin is married right?”
“Yup.”
“And you are too?”
“Yup.”
“So how come I never met your wife?”
“Oh you wanna meet her? That’s great,” Brian smiles and his eyes lighten up,” You’ll love her.”
“Leigh right?”
“Yeah, I’ll introduce you tonight after the game.”
“Sounds good to me.”
“Hey you wanna come play with us?”
“What is it?”
“Schnarpel, that’s all.”
“What?”
“You’ve never played, Schnarpel?” Brian’s eyes widen.
“No, why?”
“Guys!” Brian yells back standing up,” We got a newbie who needs to learn how to play Schnarpel.”
“Bring the kid back here,” Kevin says,” and make sure he has ten bucks.”
“C’mon,” Brian pulls Nick up and drags him to the back of the bus.
“Fresh meat. Fresh meat,” Recci smiles at him as Nick sits down next to Boosh.
“Sunday bloody Sunday. Sunday bloody Sunday. Sunday bloody Sunday,”
AJ sings,” And it’s true all are new. When fact is fiction and TV reality. And today the millions cry. We eat and drink till the moment they die…”
AJ walks into the locker room later and over to his locker to find Nick and Brian on the floor already dressed for the game with Brian trying to explain schnarpel to Nick still. This was going to take a while, AJ thinks as he puts his bag down and starts to get changed into his gear. He takes out a roll of pre wrap and tape and tapes his right wrist flexing it to make sure it is tight enough. He pulls on his headphones and listens as Jim Morrison sings “Riders on the Storm” and continues to get changed.
He finishes getting changed and makes his way over to where Boosh was standing in front of his locker dressed in full gear. Boosh was looking down at his pinky and taping it tightly.
"Jesus what happened to you?” AJ asks turning down the volume on his headphones and Boosh looks up at him frowning.
“ I think I broke it.”
“Get it looked at.”
“I’m not getting benched for this, not now.”
“Don’t make it worse.”
“I played through one in the minors I can play through one now. You’re one to talk with your wrist,” he says stuffing the tape in his locker and pulling on a glove.
“But my wrist isn’t broken.”
“I can deal with it. I don’t use my pinky anyway.”
“Whatever you say man.”
“What song tonight, A?” Fedoruk asks walking up to AJ.
“I dunno. “Lady Madonna” I guess cause we’re gonna need prayers to beat these guys.”
“Lady Madonna” it is. Lady Madonna children at your feet….”
AJ stares from the bench as a devil skates by full speed down the ice with the puck toward Brian. Brian wasn’t having a good game so far. It was the second quarter and he had already let in three goals. Gagne had scored one for them in the first quarter, but that was all they had so far. Barber was down at the other end of the bench talking to Boosh who was chewing his gum that he never played without. Brian was not going to be happy with this game and AJ knew everyone knew it too.
“AJ you’re moving to the second line for now,” Barber says walking up behind him,” You’ll play left wing for Williams instead of right. We need a goal bad, so get out there when the shift change comes.”
“Alright,” AJ sighs.
“You don’t want to move up?” Nick asks.
“Not really. I’d rather play with you and Fedoruk. Nothing against Primeau and Fedetenko though,” AJ says as LeClaire, Gagne and Recci come over to the bench,” Well I’m on,” he says and hops over the short wall onto the ice.
As soon as AJ touches the ice Kevin passes the puck up to him and he goes skating down the ice dodging a defender and taking a quick shot on Broduer only to have him get a glove save. The rest of the game seemed to mirror that one shot and no matter how many shots AJ got off they were all caught. He stayed on the Fedetenko/Primeau line and as AJ gets slammed into the boards in the third a devil gets the puck taking it back down ice. Kevin slams him into the boards, but another devil picks up where the other left off taking it to the net and shooting. Brian throws himself in the air to no avail as the puck goes into the net. Brian stays sprawled out on the ice slamming his hands onto it as Kevin goes over help him out, but Brian pushes his hand away and gets up himself huffing and puffing about the goal.
By the time the third came the Flyers were ready to throw in the towel. They were tired from the game the night before and there was no way they could come back three goals to just tie in the eight minutes left. AJ though Kevin looked dead on the ice. He had played almost the whole game and was moving very slow now. AJ starts skating down the ice after a devil and AJ could see what was going to happen before it did.
“Kevin! Get out of the way!” AJ yells skating faster after the devil, but it was to late as the devil slams into Kevin and Kevin falls to the ice and stays down.
“Kev?” Brian says staring at Kevin laying on the ice on his back as AJ, Fedetenko, Primeau and Therien skate over to him.
“What’s wrong Kev?” Primeau asks,” Can you feel your legs.”
“Yes, I can feel my legs you idiot. It’s my fucking right knee.”
“You ok,” Brian asks skating up and pulling off his mask staring down at Kevin.
“C’mon AJ help me get him up grab his right arm,” Primeau says
“Ok. Up we go Kev,” AJ says as him and Primeau pick Kevin up balancing his weight between the two of them carrying him off the ice.
Luke Richardson goes in for Kevin the rest of the game and they end up losing the game 4-1. Brian was so worried about Kevin that he didn’t even bother throwing one of his temper tantrums in the locker room. He got changed as quickly as possible and went to see Kevin in the trainer’s room. Coach Barber comes into the locker room and tells the team Kevin twisted his knee and he was going to be out for the next few games until the trainer thinks he is healthy enough.
“Fuck,” AJ throws his helmet into his locker.
“Calm down. Kev will be fine and we can make up the game,” Nick looks at him.
“No, we can’t,” AJ snaps and walks away grabbing his bag and leaving the room.
“I guess I’ll meet Leigh some other time,” Nick says to himself as he takes off his skates.
