Timberwolf Revenge (2 page)

“Hey, Johnny,” Tom said. He was standing near the boards. He heard what Stu said to Johnny. “Three goals. That should put you in a good mood. Maybe you won't be mad at me anymore for my little trick.”

“You should listen to him,” Stu told Johnny. “He did say sorry. Revenge is never a good idea. And remember, we are all friends, right?”

“I don't want revenge,” Johnny said. “I just want to get even with him.”

“Oh,” Stu said. “Maybe next week in school you should learn what the word ‘revenge' means.”

Before Johnny could answer, the referee blew the whistle to start the game again. The other line was
back on the ice. The Calgary Rams did not score against them.

In fact, that's the way the score stayed. When the buzzer rang at the end of the game, the Timberwolves had won five to two.

The team was in the dressing room, and everyone was excited about the win. Suddenly there was a knock on the door.

Coach Smith opened the door.

Everyone in the dressing room saw that it was Ian James, the professional hockey player. He was very big. He wore a Calgary Flames jacket.

“Hello,” Coach Smith said.

“Hello, Coach,” Ian James said. He stepped into the dressing room. He was carrying a hockey stick. He looked at all the players.

It was very quiet.

This was Ian James!

“Where is Johnny Maverick?” Ian said. “I want to talk to the hockey player who scored three goals against my son in three shifts.”

Johnny Maverick stood up. The dressing room stayed very quiet.

“I hope you are not mad at me,” Johnny said to Ian James.

“I am not mad at all,” Ian James said. “I came here to tell you that I was very impressed with your hockey.”

“Really?” Johnny said.

“Really,” Ian James said. “In fact, I am impressed with the entire team. You all played good hockey. You beat my son's team fair and square. And you were good sports. I like to see that in minor hockey.”

“Thank you,” Coach Smith said.

“Thank you,” everyone on the team said.

“I want to wish you all the best in the semi-finals,” Ian James said. “And there is one other thing.”

He held out the hockey stick.

“This stick has been signed by everyone on the
Calgary Flames hockey team,” Ian James said. “I had it in my car.”

“Wow!” Coach Smith said. “Look at this stick, you guys.”

Coach Smith didn't have to say that. Everyone was looking. This was Ian James! The stick was signed by all the Calgary Flames players!

“I want to give this stick to Johnny Maverick,” Ian James said. “He was the all-star of the game against my son's team.”

“Really?” Johnny said.

“Really,” Ian James said.

“Wow!” Johnny said.

“Wow!” everyone on the team said.

Then Ian James left.

“Good job,” Coach Smith said to Johnny. “I'm glad for you.”

Johnny was hugging the stick.

“I love this stick,” he said. “I am going to call my parents and tell them as soon as we get to the hotel.”

“You love the stick?” Tom Morgan said. “Are you going to sleep with it?”

Nearly everyone laughed. But Johnny didn't.

“You already played one trick on me,” Johnny said. “But I'm too smart to let you do anything to this hockey stick.”

“I was just making a joke about sleeping with it,” Tom said. “And I said I was sorry about the other trick.”

“I don't believe you,” Johnny said. “So the answer is ‘yes'.”

“The answer to what?” Tom said.

“To your question,” Johnny answered. “You asked if I was going to sleep with my hockey stick.”

“Oh, that question,” Tom said.

“I'm going to sleep with it,” Johnny said. “I'm going to eat with it. I'm going to shower with it.”

“Sleep and eat and shower with it?” Tom said.

“That's right,” Johnny said. “You might play another trick on me, but there is no way in the world you are going to get this hockey stick away from me. And that's a promise.”

The Howling Timberwolves went to a restaurant after the game. Johnny and Stu sat at a table with Tom and Coach Smith. Johnny had his hockey stick with him. The rest of the team sat at tables nearby.

When the waitress stopped to take their orders, she said, “That's a hockey stick. You're not planning to play hockey in here, are you?” She was making a joke.

“I'm guarding it,” Johnny said. “I'm going to sleep and eat and shower with it. I love this stick. Nobody is going to do anything to my stick!”

The waitress laughed. She thought Johnny was making a joke too.

When the food arrived Coach Smith was away from the table. He was calling the parents in Howling to let them know the team was in the semi-finals.

Johnny had ordered pancakes and sausages. He put some syrup on a side plate. Then he put a piece of butter in the middle of the syrup.

“What are you doing?” Stu asked Johnny.

“I heard that butter gets hot if you put salt on it,” Johnny answered. “I want to see if it's true.”

“That's crazy,” Tom said. “Putting salt on butter doesn't make it hot.”

“You're probably right,” Johnny said. “But I want to find out for myself.”

Johnny poured a little bit of salt on the butter.

He opened his hand and put his palm right over top of the butter. He waited. He looked at Stu.

“Tom is right, Stu,” Johnny said. “It doesn't get hot. I don't feel a thing.”

“Maybe try some more salt,” Stu said.

Johnny put more salt on the butter. He opened his hand again and put his palm over the butter.

“Nothing,” he told Stu. “I don't feel any heat.”

“Of course not,” Tom said. “I told you it was crazy. You're dumb to think it would work.”

“Well,” Johnny said, “maybe it doesn't make the butter hot enough to boil water. Maybe you need to get your hand as close as possible to feel it.”

Johnny lowered his open palm until it was almost on the plate.

“Hey!” Johnny said. “I'm right. Tom is wrong. I can feel the heat.”

“No way,” Tom said. “That's crazy.”

“You try it,” Johnny told Tom. “Then we'll see who is right.”

“I'm right,” Tom said. He reached across the table. “Move your hand, Johnny.”

Johnny pulled his hand away.

Tom opened his hand. He put his palm directly above the butter. “I don't feel anything.”

“It doesn't make the butter hot enough to boil water,” Johnny told Tom. “You have to have your hand really close.”

“This close?” Tom lowered his hand so it was almost touching the butter.

“Close enough,” Johnny said. Then he quickly pushed Tom's hand down into the plate. He squished Tom's hand into the butter and the syrup.

“Hey!” Tom said.

Tom lifted his hand. It was sticky from the butter and the syrup.

Everyone on the team began to laugh at Tom.

“Now we're even,” Johnny said. “You made me put my hand in the toilet. And I made you put your hand in the syrup.”

“Even!” Tom was mad because everyone was laughing. “I don't think so. Just wait until I get you back!”

“Guys,” Stu told them. “Revenge is never a good idea. And we are all friends. Remember?”

“Revenge?” Tom said. “I don't want revenge.”

“Let me guess,” Stu said. “You just want to get even.”

“Exactly,” Tom said. “So Johnny better watch out. Because something really might happen to his Ian James hockey stick.”

The score was four to three. The Timberwolves were losing to the Calgary Hawks in the semi-final game. If the Timberwolves lost, they were out of the tournament. If they won, they would stay the night in Calgary. The finals would be the next morning.

But there was only five minutes left in the game. The Timberwolves needed two goals to win.

“This doesn't look good,” Johnny said to Stu. They were on the bench, waiting for their shift.

“No,” Stu said. “Maybe I shouldn't have eaten all those pancakes at the restaurant.”

“You mean today?” Johnny asked his friend. “Or all your life?”

“Hah, hah,” Stu said. “Aren't you funny.”

“Yes, I—” Johnny stopped. He was watching the game. “Oh no. Our goalie just tripped their center. Our team is going to get a penalty.”

Now the Timberwolves were a man short. This was big trouble. Coach Smith sent Johnny and Stu out, along with Tom.

The Calgary Hawks moved the puck into the Timberwolves end. Stu went into the corner to get the puck. He fell. As he was sliding along the ice, he swung for the puck with his stick. It bounced off the boards, right onto Tom's stick. Tom saw a defenseman in front of him. He shot the puck off the boards around the defenseman to center ice. Tom raced as hard as he could to get the loose puck.

He got past the defenseman. Suddenly, he had a breakaway!

Halfway to the goal, the other defenseman tried to trip Tom. But Tom managed to stay on his skates. He skated hard toward the goalie. He fired a high wrist shot into the top of the net.

The Timberwolves had scored!

Now it was four all. But there were only three minutes left.

Johnny and Stu and Tom skated by the bench.

“Can you stay on the ice?” Coach Smith asked them.

Tom nodded. He went back to the center ice to take the face-off. Johnny and Stu stayed on the ice too.

The referee dropped the puck. The Hawks center won the draw. The puck went to the left defense. Tom didn't chase the puck. He waited near the center.

Johnny charged forward at the defenseman with the puck. Tom watched carefully. He saw that the left defense was going to pass to the right defense. He waited to the last second. Then he charged ahead just as the left defense began to pass across the ice.

Tom intercepted the pass!

He had another breakaway.

This time the defenseman tripped him. Tom slid on his stomach, watching the puck go into the corner.

When the Hawks defenseman touched the puck, the whistle blew.

The referee called a penalty.

Tom got up on his skates again. He saw that everyone was looking at him.

Johnny skated close to Tom.

“Good job,” Johnny said. “The referee is going to give you a penalty shot.”

“What?”

“A penalty shot. If you score, we will be ahead.”

Tom took a deep breath. He looked like he was nervous.

The referee placed the puck at center ice. It was quiet in the arena. The referee blew the whistle.

Tom took the puck and slowly skated up the ice. He crossed the blue line and picked up speed.

The goalie came out of the net to make sure Tom didn't have much to shoot at.

Tom faked left. He went right. Then left again. The goalie fell for the move. Tom rolled the puck to his backhand and lifted it into the open net.