Chapter 445: Joey XXVI—Acting Weird
It had come
to this, and Joe didn’t like it when it happened, the road trip had to be
salvaged. So far in three games they’d only had one point,
He never supposed for an instant that he would go into management or coaching after retiring from hockey, just because of decisions like this. He looked at Hartley, who waited for an answer. The Coach stood patiently, and then he spoke, “So what do you think Joey eh?”
Joe nodded. “We need the two points, he’s our best chance.”
Bob patted him on the shoulder, thanked him and then walked away to go discuss the decision with everyone else in charge. Joe sighed and went to the team bus. They’d only had a light skate earlier that day, just to keep them loose, everyone had been subdued and quiet, sensing no doubt the importance of the game, and the enormity of their defensive weakness.
What stuck most in Joe’s mind, however, was Patty in the bathroom, leaning against the tiled wall, groaning and putting a hand over his left hip. Private moment, Joe had just walked in, Patrick alone, and when he’d noticed his presence he’d straightened up quickly and smiled in greeting. Still, Joe thought of Patrick’s last performance, they could have won, they should have won, Patrick had made close to forty saves, allowed only one goal, and he’d clutched his ailing hip shortly before that game as well. Everyone had pain, physical or mental; there would be no reason not to expect anything but full devotion from Patrick.
Patrick right now sat on the bus, sharing his seat with one of the call ups from Hershey, a big kid, a defenseman, he’d been pretty good last game, but had also been responsible for a couple giveaways. Joe had not really exchanged many words with the kid, he’d just not found it in him to, and anyway Patrick seemed to have it covered. Ever since the last game ended, and the kid had bombarded everyone with apologies, Patrick had smiled and thrown an arm over his shoulder, and explained to him kindly all of the things he needed to do to be better. Always a lifesaver when it came to new faces, Patrick was. Joe never ceased to be grateful for that. Not that Joe didn’t like these new kids, or these visitors, it’s just that, he felt somewhat shy around them, after all they looked at him as Joe Sakic, and what did they expect a Joe Sakic to say? Joe still didn’t know. Better to let a Patrick Roy take care of that department.
The funny thing he noticed, getting off the bus at the arena, was the enormity of Peter Forsberg’s smile. Whereas the rest of the team seemed a little tense and solemn, except “the kid” who now seemed enraptured with the persona of Patrick Roy, and even Modano seemed a little on the glum side, Peter looked as bright as the day he’d first united with Jo… well maybe. They could have, Joe thought about it. Well, that would be good news but if Josefina had come back Debbie would have told him immediately for certain. He doubted that was the case.
“Hey, Pete,” Joe called.
Forsberg
raised his eyebrows and looked at him, “Yeah?”
“What’s on…”
“Joe I just wanted to talk to you!” Peter interrupted, “How are you doing?”
Joe frowned and he stopped on the sidewalk. “Good, um I was just going to ask…”
“Great!” Peter cried and he dropped his duffel and grabbed onto Joe’s hands and that really surprised him, and it didn’t feel comfortable at all. Joe made no secret of wriggling his fingers free but Peter tenaciously grabbed them again and squeezed harder. “I’m just great Joe and guess what!”
“Ow!” Joe snapped trying to free his hands, succeeded in freeing his right hand only to have it snapped up again by Peter, who oddly enough seemed to be trembling. “What? Peter, Ow you’re being…”
“We can be friends now!” Pete grinned.
Joe stopped struggling with Peter’s hands and frowning he looked at him from the corner of his eye. “Ye-es?”
“Yes!” Peter exclaimed. “Yes!” He let go of Joe’s hands and grabbed tightly onto his shoulders. “We can be friends now isn’t it great!”
Okay, he really would love to give Pete the benefit of the doubt, so Joe squinted and scanned the files in his brain, tried to remember something, anything that would prove that Peter had not just lost his mind and possibly be in need of removal from the team. “Uh, Pete, were we not friends? I mean, I can’t remember not being friends, did we have a fight or something that I can’t bring to mind?”
“No, no fight,” Peter breathed and he made a firm fist with one hand, a fist of determination. “No, everything’s fine now, that’s the point, everything’s just fine.” He licked his lips and seemed to be looking into the distance, at everything and nothing with a rather blank expression. Great, that woman had pushed Peter over the cliff of insanity, could she be held liable for that? Joe wondered.
“Pete when was everything not fine between us?”
Peter grinned. “Well I did some soul searching, over the last few days, I’ve discovered some things about myself, and other things that may not be that important but I thought they were but it was just like an itch, that’s all, just an itch, it’s scratched Joe, heh. It’s scratched and I don’t have to worry about it anymore cause we can be friends isn’t that just…. Just…” Now he seemed at a lost for words.
“Swell?” Joe asked with a lifted eyebrow.
“Swell!” Peter cried and Joe was just amazed, just dumbfounded by the reckless, odd, just forceful way Peter closed his fingers on his upper arms and just, just… KISSED him straight on the mouth, and not even chastely either, but with parted lips and a quick tongue, and just… just…
Joe shoved Peter off. “Have you gone INSANE?” He roared and he looked around thankful that no one seemed to have been around to see that.
Peter winked. “It’s cool. It’s cool. Everything’s gonna be ooookay!” Whistling happily, Peter straightened out his collar, grabbed his duffel bag and sauntered into the arena. Joe could only watch in amazement.
Okay, he thought, I gotta call Debbie and tell her to call Jo, because Peter needs someone to keep him occupied, the man’s lost his mind!
It didn’t take long for the other drama to unfold in the locker room. Joe looked up from the stick he was shaving down to see Hartley motion David Aebischer towards him, and Joe could tell by David’s suddenly pale face that the boy knew what had to be coming. And Joe looked at Patrick, and he saw the faintest smirk on his face before it melted to a stoic determined game face. Of course Patrick would know that he was too important not to rely on for two points.
“But you promised!” Aebischer cried, too loud, without even a motion of composure and Joe felt terrible. After all, he had given the final word on the net minding situation for tonight’s game. He could understand the utter frustration the young man would be feeling. Perhaps he had been excited all day, waiting for his chance to show the world how he could be depended on for two points. Joe looked again at Patty who rested his forehead on his fingers, eyes closed, lips moving, prepping himself. As anyone could wait, Aebischer would have to. A game couldn’t be spent on experiment, not a game like this.
As for the Peter situation! Well, the man may have lost his mind, but at least it translated into poetry on ice. There were moments where the world seemed to stop, where time seemed to stop and everyone on the ice could only just gape in wonder at the red headed demon on skates, watch him and desperately try to rein him in. All night, Joe watched the Canucks hang on Peter, bang into him, lasso him down, and Peter dealt back with his own fair share of shoulder swings and elbows. Unfortunately nothing turned into goals yet, but Patrick seemed to be holding his end of the net nicely, very nicely, vindicating everyone’s reasons for using him.
“Wonderful thing to see really,” one of the refs, Kerry Fraser said brightly to Joe during a TV tune out. “Peter’s staying on his feet today. Have a good talk with him did ya Joe?”
Sakic laughed, ah he didn’t mind when anyone took a jab at Pete, not really. “Sure, his girlfriend did actually, gave him her impressions of it.”
Kerry raised her eyebrows. “Woah hey is that why she left?”
Joe felt his eyes tear with repressed laughter. “News circles fast!”
Kerry nodded. “Yeah, well….” He skated back to position as the time out ended.
Late into the third the game still scoreless, Hartley tossed Joe, Peter and Modano on the same line. Sakic smirked a little to himself hopping over the boards realizing exactly how sparkling a line combination that was on paper. How ridiculous really. They skated easily into the play, taking and passing the puck but as Joe caught a quick glimpse of Peter’s bluish lips, her felt his stomach crawl a little with the memory of that kiss. What the hell had gotten into Pete? Did he actually think he could exchange one Jo for a Joe? Ah bad pun Joe!
Extraordinary! The Canucks seemed out of sorts in the defensive zone, a mix up in communication or something but things fell to the point that Modano who’d received the puck from Peter sent it back. Thing is, four guys were already clustered around Pete and ideally Modano should have shot the puck, while he was unguarded. Peter didn’t panic and he went for the back of the net, and funnily enough, all four Canucks guarding him followed him perfectly in a line, in a hockey player conga train around the back of the net. It would be perfect if… YES! Pete zipped around to the front, unleashing the puck as he did so before the Canucks goaltender could reach the post properly, and the puck crossed the line setting the red light on.
“Yeah!” Joe cried as the
Embarrassed and angry, the Canucks players didn’t allow Peter much of a celebration. As the Swede lifted his arms in celebration all four players slammed into him, bumping him almost comically before flinging him back into the boards with a crack that sent Peter sliding slowly down them to the ice as before they skated away from him. Joe felt his mouth drop open, and he honestly couldn’t say he’d seen players try a stunt like that outside of the movie…
“Woah hey!” Kerry Fraser called, “What are we reenacting ‘Slapshot’ here or something?”
“You’re gonna call that right?” Joe said sternly following the diminutive helmet haired referee to the boards where Peter sat on the ice, groaning with half open eyes as fans banging against the other side of the glass jeered him.
“Sure,” Kerry replied and he leaned over Peter, his little hands resting on his thighs. “We’ll let Peter help me out, how ya feeling Pete?”
“Uhaaa…” Peter squeaked in a high unnatural voice. “Ungh eeee!”
“That bad huh?”
“Eee…”
Kerry nodded. “So theyall hurt you or should I just call one?”
“Nooo…” Peter squeaked but Joe wasn’t sure if Peter really understood where he was at the moment.
“No? You’re okay?” Kerry grinned and patted him on the shoulder. “Well then, that’s good, you’re a big man, a real big man. Glad to see you toughing it out.” Kerry stood up and rubbed his hands together. “Well that’s that.”
“You’re not going to call that!” Joe exclaimed. He didn’t really care for questioning referee decisions especially on a nightly basis but there were always special occasions, when it just could not be avoided.
“Sure I’m gonna call all four, which ones were they again?”
“All four!” Joe said and he couldn’t believe that Kerry wouldn’t know who all four were.
“No more like three, just three were doing the initial hitting,” Kerry mused rubbing his chin.
“Three?” Joe repeated with a frown.
“Yeah you’re right, I’m overreacting I should just call two,” Kerry nodded.
“Two?” Joe gasped feeling like a useless parrot.
“Yeah you got me I should just call Pete for diving right?”
“Call Pete for diving!” Joe exclaimed.
Kerry widened his eyes, “Joe I can’t believe you’d turn on your own teammate like that, where’s your sense of team unity you schmuck?” And he smiled and he winked and Joe really wanted to snap his stick over Kerry’s rock hard hair at that moment.
But he just
stood quietly and watched as Kerry pointed at one Canuck and called him for the
roughing penalty, no sense in going overboard right? Joe really wished they’d
have scored on that power play, however because with an empty net, the Canucks
laid on an overwhelmingly aggressive attack in the last minute of the game,
scored to tie the game and only seconds later, scored to win it.