Chapter 5: The Stanley Cup and The Proposal
“Yeah sure.” Brian answered. He grabbed the remote from the little coffee table in front of him and switched the channel to ABC.
“What’s the score?” Nick asked as he sat down on the couch next to them.
“It’s commercial right now.”
“Who’s playing again?” Leighanne asked.
“The Colorado Avalanche and the New York somethin’. I don’t remember the other team. The only other hockey team I know of other than the Avalanche are the Mighty Ducks and I don’t even know where they’re from.”
“Gees, I hope they win. That would suck for Arlet.” Brian said.
“Oh yeah. If she came to visit, she would be so depressed.”
“Speaking of which, when is she planning on comin’ over?”
“Probably sometime this weekend. I’m not sure though.”
“I hope she comes. I didn’t really get to talk with her when I last saw her cause you dragged her off to eat. From what I hear, she seems really nice. I’ve never really seen you this happy before.” Leighanne told him with a smile.
“No actually, last time I saw him this happy was when he told me he broke up with Mandy. But yeah, you are surprisingly happy all of a sudden.” Brian responded.
Nick blushed. “Aww shucks guys. She’s just a really good friend of mine. I will admit, I’ve never really had any real girl friends and when I meet a girl, I usually ask her out. But she’s different. She’s so cool and I’ve never met a girl as cool as she is. I can’t explain it.”
Leighanne and Brian smiled at their young friend.
“And welcome back to the Pepsi Center here in the beautiful Denver Colorado. Hi everyone, I’m Bill Clement.”
“And I’m Brian Englem. Welcome back to Game Seven of the Stanley Cup Finals with the Colorado Avalanche and the New York Rangers. We sure are in for some good hockey in his last period.”
“You’re right Brian. We have seen outstanding performances from both clubs. They have been moving and handling the puck with great ease and have been getting them into the zones really well.”
“Not only have the forwards and defensemen been doing well, don’t forget the amazing goaltending we’ve been getting from both sides of the rink.”
“That’s right, these men between the pipes; Patrick Roy and Mike Richter have been on top of there game today.”
“Let’s look back at some of the highlights from the last two periods...”
The shot went from the two commentators to highlights of goals being scored, shots being blocked and the goalies making saves from shots that you were sure went in.
“Wow. I never realized how cool hockey was. Man, how could you see those pucks coming at you like that. Especially when there are so many people in front of the net.” Nick asked in amazement.
“Well, that’s what some teams do to score. They get a lot of traffic in front of the goalie so the goalie can’t see it very well so they could have an advantage and score easily. But it looks like Colorado’s goalie does very well with lots of traffic in the net.” Leighanne answered, surprising both Nick and Brian.
“Leighanne, how come you sound like you know a lot about hockey?” Nick asked lifting an eyebrow.
“Well, when I was younger and in high school, I dated a hockey player. He didn’t play for the NHL or anything, he just played for a local team there. He did dream about playing for the NHL though. Anyways, while I dated him, I would go to his games and support him and his team. At the games, I learned a lot about hockey. We dated for four years but broke up when he went up to Canada somewhere to continue to pursue his hockey career. I haven’t talked to him since. I wonder how he’s doing.”
“I didn’t know you dated a hockey player.” Brian said.
“Well, you never asked. I also dated a player from the LA Kings once. Nothing serious, just for two months.”
“Who?” Brian and Nick asked in unison.
“His name was Jaroslav Modry. He was a defensemen for the Kings. It was just for two months. That was when I used to live in LA.”
“You dated a hockey player? Weird.” Nick said.
“Well it looks like the refs are ready to drop the puck. Lets go back down to center ice where the face-off will happen at any moment.”
“Thanks Brian. Here we go into the third period with the score 3-2, New York ahead by one goal.”
“Colorado and New York have their top lines out. Sakic, Forsberg and Hejduk for Colorado and Lindros, Fleury and Rucinsky for New York.”
“Sakic and Lindros square off for the face-off. Colorado wins the face off as Adam Foote carries the puck into the Rangers territory. Shoots on goal, blocked by Richter. He gives the puck to Rucinsky as he looks for someone to pass to. Short pass to Brian Leetch who carries the puck out of the zone and into center ice. He shots the puck from the far side deep into the Colorado zone as Patrick Roy stops it behind the net. He leaves it for Steven Reinprecht who passes it to Chris Drury. Looks like Bob Hartley wants to put out his second line to get some more offense going on.”
“Boy, that second line has been doing amazing. Especially after the return of left-winger, Ville Nieminen who was traded last year to the Pittsburgh Penguins along with Rick Berry for Darius Kasparitius. Both Kasparitius and Nieminen are out on the ice, Darius as a defenseman and Ville as a forward.”
“Here’s Kasparitius with the puck, near side. Rink pass to Blake. Back to Kasparitius. Pass to Reinprecht right to Nieminen. Up to Drury. He has the puck. Looking around for someone. Nieminen right in front of the net. Drury shots and SCORE! Colorado has scored to tie the game at three! Let’s take a look at that goal.”
“There Reinprecht who passed it down to Nieminen who then passed it straight up to Chris Drury. As you can see, Drury is looking around for someone he could pass too. You can also see at the top of your screen, Nieminen tapping his stick on the ice, calling for Drury to pass to him. Drury answers with a shot/pass to Nieminen who made a perfect deflection right upstairs. What great team work!”
“That was cool. I wonder how they know it’ll go in.” Brian said after watching the replay of the goal.
The TV shot then went to the crowd where Arlet and Sarah appeared on the screen.
“You can see here Chris Drury’s girlfriend and the godmother of Ville Nieminen’s child. They must be excited.”
“This line is on fire! The second line has scored early in the period to tie the game at three. A goal from Ville Nieminen with the assist from Chris Drury got the crowd here at the Pepsi Center up on there feet and cheering so loud that I could barely hear. It’s great! These two really know how to work together really well.”
“Hey! It’s Arlet!” Nick shouted, pointing at the screen.
“That’s cool! Man, I thought our concerts were loud. Gees, compared to this, it seems our fans are whispering. But it seems so great to be there.” Brian commented on the crowds reaction to the game-tying goal.
The television then went down to the Colorado Avalanche’s bench as Chris and Ville sat next to each other, smiling huge and playfully pushing each other.
“Oh, that’s Chris. Yeah, him and Sarah make a really cute couple.” Leighanne pointed out.
Chapter 4: "Vacations All I Ever Wanted..."
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