Chapter 371: Joey XX—Under His Wing
Things didn’t seem so strange when Joe looked to his left and he saw Alex Tanguay readying for the start of the game. When he looked to his right and saw Cecile, her eyes round, her teeth on her lip, her cheeks blushing, then things looked strange. He laughed silently to himself and was met with his wife at the face off circle. Her eyes narrowed and she leaned forward, not even making eye contact with him. Oh yes, that was strange as well.
His heart warmed over when he saw Mitchell waddling onto the ice in little black skates, holding onto the hand of a professional referee, Kerry Fraser who had been kind enough to volunteer some of his time for this game. The most entertaining thing about the sight was the black and white striped ref outfit that Mitchell was dressed in. An honorary ref for the day, how priceless! Not every day did a man get to share the ice during a game with his wife and son, and be on display for the world to see.
“Hi there kid,” Joe said jovially.
“Can’t talk Dad,” Mitchell said in a serious voice. “Working, I gots a puck to drop.” And indeed the boy did have a puck in his chubby little hand and he held it up high at the face off circle.
“Little Mitchell Sakic,” the announcer said over the broadcast system, “He’ll be a referee for today so Mom and Dad better behave!” Laughter from the audience and a collective, “Awwww.”
Debbie wrinkled her nose and Joe could see the stick trembling in her hands. She wanted to win this face off real bad no doubt, and all of a sudden, Joe didn’t think he had it in him competitively to just let her. Mitchell dropped the puck and as soon as he did was whisked into the air by Fraser who skated him to the safety of the penalty box. In the meantime, Joe swiped the puck cleanly behind him before Debbie even got a taste of it and he laughed.
“Hey!” Debbie cried, “You’re supposed to let me win it you pig!” Joe laughed and then cried out in surprise when Debbie threw her body onto his in her anger. He fell to the ice with her on top of him smacking his chest with her gloved hands. He couldn’t stop laughing and the whistle blew with loud applause from the audience.
“It looks like our first penalty of the game!” The announcer declared. “Who will it be on?”
Debbie rolled off Joe, crossing her arms as she sat on the ice. Sakic grinned and he saw Kerry Fraser speak into a small microphone attached to the front of his shirt. “We’ll let our ref for the day call the penalty on this one.”
“Ha he won’t turn on his Momma!” Debbie said triumphantly.
Joe could see Mitchell in the penalty box holding onto an oversize microphone. “Mommy four minute misconduct!” Mitchell declared in a triumphant voice.
“Mitchell!” Debbie shrieked spitting her mouth guard into her hand. “Mitchell how could you to your own Mom!”
Joe shook off his glove and wiped a tear from his eye and the audience laughed as well.
“Sorry, Mommy,” Mitchell said in an unapologetic voice, “But I have to sit in here all alone and I lonely!”
Debbie shook her head with red cheeks and a laugh and she skated to the penalty box. Once in there she grabbed their son and gave him a big kiss on the cheek. The audience cheered loudly as she sat down with Mitchell in her lap.
So four seconds into the game and already Joe’s team had a power play. He grinned, he liked winning, and in these sorts of events, his team never lost. “Cecile,” Joe said in a serious voice as they readied for the next face off. “If I put the puck on your stick don’t panic or give it back, just shoot it. Can you do that honey?”
Cecile’s black eyebrows lifted on her ivory face, her cheeks and nose red and she nodded. “Gotcha. Just shoot it. What if… what if I get it first?” Joe felt pleased at her answer because it meant she could understand him through the mouth piece. It meant the women had been practicing with them enough.
“Give it to
Cecile pulled her lips in and nodded. “Ookay sounds sensible.” She worked her jaw from side to side, a little uncomfortable with the mouth guard more than likely.
Joe patted her on the shoulder, feeling avuncular and generous, like he did whenever he had a young rookie first timer in his charge, fresh from junior ranks or a short stint in the minors. A young sponge to soak up knowledge, sometimes he liked having that feeling of being a teacher to one.
He looked to see the competition on the penalty kill, Keaner and Muller with Footer and Morris at defense. Hey, those cheaters! They didn’t have either a girlfriend or wife on the ice that was a rule wasn’t it? A girlfriend or wife had to be on the ice at all times! Those dirty little… He skated to the Fraser. “Hey, Team White doesn’t have a better half on ice, is that legal?”
Fraser squinted at the penalty kill unit. “Woah, hey.” He skated to Team White’s bench and rectified the situation. Joe smiled triumphantly at a glaring Keaner as Muller was sent back to the bench and replaced with Josefina. He sized up the woman, she looked even taller than normal in those skates, and she seemed comfortable enough in gear. How much of a problem would she be against, say…Cecile or Rory?
As soon as the puck dropped, Joe won it from Keaner and flicked the puck to his right. “I got it!” He heard Cecile cry as if she’d won a hand in poker.
“Not for long!” Josefina cried and by the time Joe turned around, Cecile cried out as Josefina shouldered her hard to the ice and stealing the puck she flicked it to Keaner.
“Thanks
babe!” He heard Keaner yelled and the carrot haired monstrosity took the puck
and lost it at the red line as Blake and Muir took him out. Keaner rolled onto
the ice with the crowd cheering the hits and Josefina darted in stealing the
puck and actually taking it into Team
“Holy!” Joe muttered as they scrambled to get there. Both Blake and Morris balked at touching Jo who flicked the puck back to Keaner. Within seconds Keaner actually deked Patty out at the net, more than likely surprising the goalie and flicked the puck in for a goal.
The crowd exploded and Joe scowled at the red light and the noise. Keaner hooted triumphantly and grabbed Josefina’s hand, kissing the back of her glove. As they skated back to the bench Jo looked over at them, dangling her mouth guard between her teeth and winked. That arrogant little…!
“I’m so sorry, Mr. Sakic I didn’t know she’d hit me like that, I’m really sorry I ruined it!” Cecile gasped and Joe looked at her terrified, sad eyes.
“You hurt?” Joe asked.
Cecile shook her head and Joe smiled at her until she smiled back. “Hey it’s just the beginning, next time you’ll be ready. Shake it off we got the rest of this game to go.”
“I won’t let you down again!” Cecile exclaimed. “You’ll see!”
Joe grinned and he resisted the urge to put his hand on the top of her head and ruffle her hair. She had a energetic, red cheeked quality that reminded him of a young rookie, a teenaged one that needed a lot of care. He patted her on the shoulder and then raised his eyebrows when Drury, who had just jumped over the boards leaned over to kiss Rory. “Drury!” he barked.
“Yeah
Captain?” Drury replied.
“This is a family game, no
making out on the bench!”
Drury grinned and raised his eyebrows.
Cecile sat next to him and Joe put his hand on her back to get her attention. “Now watch here,” Joe said, “See how Chris takes the face off. Look he just won it so he’s passing the puck to Alex now here’s where you got hit…”
Cecile leaned forward and she nodded, watching intently.
“Now when you have the puck, keep your head up, which basically means be a little paranoid because the fact of the matter is you’re gonna get hit if you hang onto it too long and stand still. See, Alex just dodged now he passed it because he has no other avenue of….”
And Cecile listened to him; the girl actually listened to everything he said. She nodded, asked questions, and pointed out a couple things herself. There were a couple moments where their team buzzed around Aebischer’s net and shots were fired and each time Cecile would cry out encouragement.
“See how it’s working?” Joe asked.
Cecile nodded. “Yup, when is it our turn again?”
“Pretty soon,” Joe replied.
A vapid moment by Drury at the blue line led to a turnover in which Peter Forsberg had a break. Joe grimaced and Cecile cried out in horror. Joe watched with confidence as Patrick came to life, scurrying into position looking like a fiddler crab heading to battle, his right leg scooting himself into the right spot… Peter fired it and… it went in! Peter’s celebration was huge and Patrick crossed his arms petulantly.
“NO!” Cecile moaned. “Is that another short handed one?”
Joe nodded grimly. He didn’t like the way this game was starting.
“God maybe Patty needs those damn Smittens,” Drury grumbled as he came back to the bench.
“Or maybe you need to watch that blue line!” Cecile snapped.
Joe laughed at Drury’s pricelessly surprised face. “What’s got into you?”
“Oh Joe has been giving her the history of hockey in the past minute,” Rory said airily causing a smile from Drury.
“Yeah and watch that blue line if you’re there alone!” Joe snapped back at Drury. He hopped over the boards with Cecile right behind him. He could feel her presence clinging to him, like a nervous kid would. The face off won, Joe flicked the puck back and skated towards the net. He glanced over his shoulder and received the pass from Tanguay. He shot the puck at the net but Aebischer made the save.
The rebound, however flew outside of the crease and remained untouched for one precious moment, only one person stood near it.
“CECILE!” Joe yelled.
The girl didn’t look at him, she cried out as she smacked the puck and it flew into Aebischer’s pad. Joe assumed that the goalie would cover it but instead, Cecile descended like a raptor and dug the puck out, and then flicked it over David’s pad and into the net. The light went on and Joe laughed to see Cecile’s mouth flop open and her eyes wide in disbelief. The crowd roared and Aebischer fell face first on the ice.
Joe skated to Cecile and grabbed her by the shoulders.
“Does that count?” She asked, no color in her face, her lips a faint shade of blue.
“Of course it does you silly!” Joe laughed and he hugged, losing himself in the moment and picking her up and swinging her around before putting her down.
“Oh wow,” Cecile murmured, “I feel kinda bad for David.”
“Eh don’t feel bad for a goalie they never deserve it.”
“Oh..” She murmured and then she smiled and squealed, “I got a goal!”
Joe grinned. “Great now let’s teach you how to hit.”
Cecile blanched.