As the linesman indicated that the next faceoff would be at the dot just to the left of where they were sitting, Jake leaned across the empty seat. “Does your brother ever let the crowd get to him?”
The sister grinned. “He says that during the games it's mostly just a bunch of noise, but if someone's loud enough he can sometimes figure out what they're yelling.”
“That's perfect,” Jake said, tapping his fingers on his knees. The buzz of the crowd had faded to a murmur during the stoppage, and someone had decided not to play a snippet of music during the break.
In ones and twos, the players started to trickle over to the faceoff circle. The wingers and defensemen paired up on either side, with Harris and his Reaper counterpart facing the crowd. When the centers squared up at the hash marks, Jake cupped his hands around his mouth and let out a roar.
“Hey, Tony Harris!” The centers began to put their sticks down to take the faceoff. “I'm sitting next to your sister. She's hot!” Coming from barely 10 rows above the ice in a quiet arena, and with a voice accustomed to shouting across a home improvement warehouse, his chirp boomed.
Harris' head popped up like it had been pulled on a string. He had seen earlier where his family was sitting, and his eyes seemed to instantly lock onto the smirking Jake. At the same moment, the linesman dropped the puck. The forwards scrambled for it, and the Reapers' Haynesworth shoved it back to his right winger. Boston Mike, unencumbered by the momentarily distracted Harris, carried it toward the slot. The IceCutters' defenseman realized his blunder and scrambled to make up for it. But now Boston Mike was closer to the boards than the center, and as defenseman approached he dished the puck back to Haynesworth directly in front of the goalie. The forward fired a blast, and Harris proved to be an effective screen as the puck rocketed between the netminder's skates and popped into the back of the net.
The goal judge flicked on the red light above the glass, the goal horn thundered and most of the thousands of fans in the crowd rose to their feet, cheering and clapping, as Haynesworth dropped to one knee and did a fist pump. Baseball caps began to fall on the ice like a multicolored snow flurry as the fans congratulated their player on his third goal of the game, a hat trick.
In the stands, Jake was getting high fives from the happy drunks in the row in front of him while many others nearby laughed, including Tony Harris' sister. “That was just terrible!” she said, her southern drawl heavy in every syllable. Tony Harris' brother looked much less amused.
“That's hockey,” Jake replied, sitting down. “I couldn't pull that off again if I tried. That was a beauty.”
The goal song segued into the Beatles, and once more the crowd serenaded Schneider. “Naaaa, na na, na na na na, na na na naaaa, HEY JUDE!”
With the video replaying on the scoreboard, the public address announcer marked the official scoring. “It's another Riverton Reapers goal! His 14th of the season and third goal of the game, scored by number 29, Carter Haynesworth! Assisting on the goal, number 15, Mike Wagner! Time of the goal: 10 minutes, 2 seconds. Reaper goal scored by 29 Haynesworth, assist 15 Wagner, at 10:02.”
“And the other apple goes to number 88, Jake Parrish!” Jake shouted, pumping his arms into the air. This brought another round of cheers from the fans sitting near them. He waved. “Thank you, thank you. Number 88 in your programs, number one in your hearts. I'll be here all season.”
But in addition to the Harris group, someone else was not celebrating the 5-1 lead. In the seat to Jake's right, Jenna sat with her arms crossed and scowl on her face. When he leaned forward to talk to the happy drunks, she stood and headed for the aisle. Gabe and Corinn exchanged glances, and she followed Jenna out to the concourse. They had the area mostly to themselves. A few people were returning to their seats from visits to the bathrooms or ordering what passed for food at one of the concession vendors.
Jenna stopped abruptly and turned on her heel. “I can't believe he's flirting with someone else right in front of me.”
Corinn's eyebrows furrowed. “What are you talking about?” She was used to Jenna's jealous streak, but she was having trouble seeing what prompted it this time.
“That girl next to him. He's been flirting with her all night, and now he's showing off.” Jenna rolled her eyes and shook her head. “She's probably not even that guy's sister.”
“I don't think taunting a player into making a mistake is really flirting,” Corinn said. She wasn't surprised that Jenna was overreacting. “He's just having fun.”
“I don't like it.”
“He's having fun at the game. That's just what you do here. You talk to the people around you, come up with jeers. It's all part of the fun.” She paused, trying to think of an example Jake would come up with. “If that had been the guy's brother sitting next to him, he probably would have yelled something like, 'Your brother says you're terrible,' or something like that.”
Jenna sighed and still looked agitated. “Maybe. But I think he should stop talking to her.” She pushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear. In the arena, the crowd noise swelled as the play intesified.
“It's harmless,” Corinn said, beginning to turn back toward the section entrance. “Come on, worrying like this is no way to start a weekend.”
Jenna shook her head slightly and said nothing, but followed. An usher in a blue jacket blocked their way and held up a small laminated paper that read, “Do not enter until play is stopped.” They waited for about a minute for a linesman to whistle an offside call, then they were allowed to return to their seats.
“Everything OK?” Gabe quietly asked Corinn after she sat down.
“Oh, just the usual,” she answered. He inclined his head in understanding.
***
Riverton Reapers
10 Mike Pallardy RW 6-1 200 06/11/85 Boston, Massachusetts
15 Michael Wagner LW 6-3 215 08/24/81 Embrun, Minnesota
21 Bryan Mudgrass C 5-10 175 02/10/84 Kelowna, British Columbia
29 Carter Haynesworth C 6-2 220 01/13/86 Duluth, Minnesota
41 Brandon Kruger RW 6-1 215 06/15/82 Speedway, Indiana
44 Marcus Rycroft LW 6-0 185 10/27/85 Kanata, Ontario
55 Derek Panetta C 6-4 200 07/23/81 Calgary, Alberta
57 Curtis Holmes LW 6-0 205 07/02/83 Oakville, Wisconsin
61 Fryderyk Marakovski RW 6-0 190 04/25/89 Gdansk, Poland
64 Roger Myers FC 6-1 195 03/11/82 St. John's, Newfoundland
71 Chris Slusher FRW 5-11 185 02/03/86 Point Pleasant, New Jersey
4 Sebastien Norrington D 5-11 200 04/26/81 Bel Air, Maryland
7 Shane Hessler D 6-0 215 07/09/82 New Brighton, Minnesota
8 Bobby Gasper D 5-8 175 07/19/84 Kamloops, British Columbia
14 Keith Robertson D 5-11 195 04/13/87 Akwesasne, New York
23 Luke Brown D 6-1 185 10/04/83 Thunder Bay, Ontario
27 Martin Alloy D 6-2 220 05/20/74 Missasauga, Ontario
39 Mark Birnie D 6-3 215 10/10/80 Grand Forks, North Dakota
33 Danny Geoffredo G 5-10 165 01/01/85 Albuquerque, New Mexico
31 Sam Knetchal G 6-1 190 12/08/82 Solsgirth,Manitoba
Head coach: Pat Tillman
Assistant coach: Gary Fleming
Trainer: Anders Oldfather
Lakehaven IceCutters
5 Corey Ramirez C 5-11 180 09/22/81 San Diego, California
6 Alexander Kurodevev LW 6-1 200 07/06/80 Moscow, Russia
7 Ben DiCarlo RW 5-11 185 08/30/88 Toldeo, Ohio
9 Morgan O'Brien C 6-8 257 06/16/83 Galahad, Alberta
10 Nicholas Miller RW 6-3 225 08/02/82 Huntsville, Alabama
11 Thomas Baker LW 6-1 185 12/29/83 North Bay, Ontario
12 Scott Vandenfeld C 5-11 190 04/13/87 Cornwall, Ontario
15 Brett Sanderson LW 5-11 185 01/08/85 Dry Creek, Texas
17 Robbie Stubel RW 6-0 195 10/08/86 Highland, Michigan
20 Ed Theomantopolos F 5-11 175 04/06/80 Livonia, Michigan
21 William Genovy F 6-0 220 11/21/84 Madison, Wisconsin
22 Anthony Harris D 5-11 180 08/12/81 Knoxville, Tennessee
23 Travis Bonecutter D 5-11 195 03/17/86 Portage La Prairie, Manitoba
24 Aaron Johansson D 6-3 225 09/06/79 Orleans, Ontario
32 Collin Stewart D 6-2 185 09/26/85 Cornwall, Ontario
39 Craig Gallaway D 6-0 200 05/11/83 Troy, Michigan
42 Erich Bazin D 6-1 210 06/28/84 Concord, Minnesota
84 Nick Kuqali D 5-11 180 01/27/82 Vanderhoof, British Columbia
33 Jude Schneider G 6-2 210 08/18/81 Kingston, Ontario
38 Nathaniel Jones G 5-11 185 08/19/85 Chesterfield, Missouri
Head coach: James Cornwell
Assistant coach: Terry Wise
Trainer: Russ Greenberg
Stirling Tully Monsters
1 Edgar Swamp C 5-10 190 12/04/82 Beausejour, Manitoba
2 Andrew Bruce LW 5-11 190 04/13/81 Guelph, Ontario
4 Brent Tennyson RW 6-1 225 07/06/79 La Habra, California
5 Jeff Byrd C 6-1 190 04/20/88 Cornwall, Ontario
7 Jeremy Shore LW 6-2 190 02/25/82 Monroe, Washington
15 Glen Stockdale RW 6-2 205 10/14/74 Grand Blanc, Michigan
18 Roman Vitek C 6-1 190 07/13/82 Zvolen, Slovakia
21 Mat Pryde LW 6-0 205 03/01/85 Hawkesbury, Michigan
27 Faisal Nahan RW 5-11 185 11/06/81 Mississauga, Ontario
29 Jason Schwartz F 6-0 190 01/30/86 Winchester, Pennsylvania
31 Jean Talbot F 5-10 175 02/10/89 London, Ontario
37 Maxim Lavoie D 6-1 190 10/23/84 Montreal, Quebec
42 Sean Cole D 5-11 200 07/12/86 Niagara Falls, Ontario
55 Brian Legace D 6-1 200 11/22/86 Winthrop, Nova Scotia
64 Casey Pearson D 6-0 190 06/10/86 Peoria, Illinois
71 Cody Jones D 6-1 185 12/09/85 Canton, Massachusetts
79 Jimmy Bain D 6-4 230 07/30/84 Rochester, New York
88 Justin Campbell D 5-10 175 09/19/89 Vancouver, British Columbia
35 Adam Fensil G 6-0 200 11/11/87 Beaverlodge, Alberta
33 Dan Trevisano G 6-1 170 12/04/82 Kalamazoo, Michigan
Head coach: Jay Snell
Assistant coach: Keith Ramsay
Trainer: Al Morrison
KAY-TEE STI-INE *clap-clap, clap-clap-clap*
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