Playoffs

Adam and I walked into the building with his parents not very far behind us. Alice reassured us that everything would be okay and the two left to go find a good seat in the crowd. I looked over at Adam and he saw that I was not happy about this.


"Mads please, I can't have you being mad at me now. I need you this game." He said to me, nerves lacing his voice. I took a deep breathe and smiled at him before walking to the changing room door. 


I opened and as soon as I walked in all eyes were on me. Some happy looks from Connie, Guy and a few others but also disappointed looks from a lot. The stares got even worse when Adam stood next to me.


Again some were good looks but most weren't which upset me. It shouldn't matter if he was a Hawk, they didn't know how bad his life was. I then heard the door open again behind me and when I turned I saw Bombay.


"Hey I wasn't sure if you would turn up." He said to Adam with a smile.
"Yeah whatever, I just want to play hockey." He replied and looked at me. Bombay obviously didn't see i was there until now.


"Maddy, it's great to have you back and playing again." He petted my shoulder .
"I'm only here so Adam plays." I breathed out loud enough for only him and Adam to hear. Coach ignored my comment and then got everyones attention.


"Ducks, you all know Adam Banks." Coach introduced but nobody said anything. I simply walked towards my locker which happened to be moved next to where Adams was and started getting changed into my gear.


"On behalf of the Ducks, I'd like to wel-" I looked up and saw Charlie trying to make Adam feel included but Jesse cut him off.
"Cake-eater." He had a disgusted look on his face.


"Jesse just shut up for once, you don't have to be so judgy towards everyone all the time!" I basically yelled at him and that made him go quiet, but not for long.
"Maddy, just because he puts on a ducks jersey, it doesn't mean he's a real duck!" He yelled back at me.


"If anyone here isn't a real duck it's you! You're the one who has to have all the attention pointed towards you or that if you don't play then nobody plays! I'm sick of it! You are one of the reasons I was going to stop playing hockey!" 


I was almost crying but I made sure that I wouldn't. Not in front of everyone.
"Would you two calm down. Jesse just get out on the ice, I'll talk to you after the game." Bombays voce was stern and sharp. He was mad, or upset.


Soon enough everyone else was out on the ice but Adam, Bombay and I were still in the changing rooms.
"They are a real good group once you get to know them." Bombay reassured Adam and then brought him over to our lockers.


"Maddy I'm glad you showed up, I didn't think you were playing anymore." He said to me and sat down on the bench opposite me.
"Like I said to Jesse, I wasn't but Adam said that he wasn't going to play if I didn't and I care about his future so I decided I should. That wasn't a great welcome back though, I will admit." I looked down to the ground and put my jersey on.


"Is Jesse the reason you didn't want to play or is it something else as well?" He asked me but I kept my head down.
"I gave you so many chances after the game where you wanted us to cheat but I got so sick of being disappointed by you that I gave up." 


"Can we talk about it after the game though? I don't want to be distracted while i'm playing." I ask and he nods before getting up and leaving. Finally both Adam and I were ready so we headed out to the ice.


Warmups weren't that bad, mainly because we grouped off and it meant that Adam and I could practise without being called names or being stared at. The first two periods of the game were boring and nothing much happened.


They scored one on Goldberg but we kept it up there end for a majority of the period. Coach didn't want to put me in yet because 'I was rusty and needed to see our offences and defences'. He just didn't want to put me in because he knew nobody would pass it to me.


We were at the ends of the second period and Adam had the puck behind their net. He couldn't score so he sent it to Charlie who passed it to Jesse. Jesse kept getting the puck because Guy and Charlie had a player on them.


Adam was open and could easily score except fro the fact that Jesse refused to pass it to him. Eventually Charlie got rid of his player and Jesse shot the puck to him expecting it to be returned but when Charlie hit it to Adam, Jesse was more than annoyed. 


Adam got the goal and we were now tied. Everyone on the ice went and huddled around Adam, all cheering except fro Jesse who just pouted. I got annoyed that Bombay was switching up the team but I still wasn't on.


"Coach I've been practising." I said once everyone was about to go on for third period.
"I just don't think you've had enough time." He kept making up excuses.
"Coach do it, we need her out there with us." Guy came up and stood beside me with Connie and Averman.


"With both Banks and Maddy out there, we could get more goals." Connie argued. I was glad that somebody was helping me try to get back on the ice.
"Fine but if you mess up, you're straight off again." I smiled and got ready to go on the ice.


"Alright!" Coach yelled and got our attention.
"Goldberg you're gonna sit this one out." He was pulling the goalie while it was a tied game. That was one of the dumbest plays I think I've ever heard of but if i said anything i wouldn't be playing the game at all. 


"Caoch you can't pull goalie when we're tied." Karp said, thank god that somebody else said it because if they didn't I was going to yell it out. 
"Listen, listen, Listen!" Coach yelled and got us all to shut up again.


"A tie isn't gonna help us. We need the win. Fulton, you're our extra man. Everybody, get the puck to Fulton.That is your job." 
"We doing the statue of liberty play?" I asked and looked at him.


"Yeah?"Connie asked from beside me but coach shook his head.
"No. Take the shot Fulton. You might only get one so it's gotta be good." 
"But coach, 1 out of 1." Fulton didn't believe that he could do it. 


"Soft hands Fulton, concentration not strength." Guy smiled and I looked at him. He was now looking at Connie and winked. My jaw dropped and I looked at her and mouthed 'we are talking about this later'. 


She laughed and nodded her head.
"That's right! Okay let's go get those Huskies!" He yelled and we all got back on the ice. It was Connie, Guy, me, Fulton, Charlie and Adam. 


We were trying to get thew puck to Fulton but we never got the chance and now we only had 16 seconds left of this game. If we didn't get this goal then we wouldn't win or make playoffs. It was the last face off and Adam got the puck straight to Fulton.


We all got out of the way but still made sure that we were ready incase we needed it which we did because when Fulton went to take his shot, a Husky player came and got the puck. Fulton chased him down and thankfully got the puck back.


We were keeping the rest of the players away from Fulton so that he had a chance to take his shot. 8 seconds left and we were all on edge yelling for him to shoot while still trying to keep the other players away from him. 


Fulton shot the puck and we were all out of the way. We watched as one by one the Husky players dodged the puck that was coming towards them at a very fast pace. Even the goalie dodged out of the way, he clearly didn't want to get injured.


Now we just had to make sure the puck wen into the net and not somewhere else. Well it did in fact go in the net but not only that, it broke through the net. The timer went off and the score went up. We one a game and made it into the playoffs.


Everyone was screaming and hugging and so much happiness went around for us considering we had never made it into the playoffs before. We tackled Fulton to the ground in joy. 





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