Part 31 - Pure Gold

The next day, the second last day of 2004, I sat in the stands with Chris Getzlaf, Dane Phaneuf and well, what felt like half of Winnipeg and surrounding area and cheered Canada on against Finland. Deep down though, I didn’t really want to be there. I was still upset about everything that had happened the night before. I wasn’t sure if Sidney even WANTED me to be at the game.

Of course, I knew that Dion wanted me there and I tried to make myself think about my friendship with D. We’d always had the attitude of bros before hoes. D was my bro. We were friends for life. I’d only just met Sidney. I couldn’t let my feelings for him override what D and I had had for years.

So, at three thirty in the afternoon I sat tensely in an uncomfortable hockey arena seat, a beer in each hand as I waited anxiously for the puck to drop. Beating a team in exhibition meant nothing. What did mean something however, was the fact that, thus far in the tourney, Team Canada had outscored their opponents 24-4. I knew that and so did everyone else, including the boys on the team. Even so, when I’d seen Dion briefly he still had his Dion-on-game-day face was on.

“Relax sexy.” Dane said, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. “Have fun. We’re about to get another win and finish in top spot in the pool by finishing off the Finns.” As he said this, his arm snaked lower and he reached to take one of my cups of beer.

I shook my head and shook off his shoulder with a laugh. “You just want my beer honey and you know that’s not allowed. Not until you’re 18. Then D and I will take you out on the town in Calgary and get you fucked up good.”

“True on both counts. I look forward to my eighteenth birthday and yes, I did just want your beer.” Dane said with a grin. “But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t relax.”

“Very true.” I agreed, quickly chugging one of the beer in my hands and tossing the plastic cup on the floor. “Well that should help.” I said with an unladylike burp and a laugh.

Chris and Dane both laughed. “You know that you are going to be so wasted Drew.” Chris pointed out.

“Darling, that’s the plan.” I said with a grin.

They laughed again. “But you won’t hang out around me when you’re drunk.” Dane pointed out with a little bit of a pout.

“True.” I replied. “So I guess I’ll have to send you back to your Mommy and Daddy when I start feeling too happy baby boy.” I said.

Dane made a face. “You’re no fun Drew.”

“Now Dane….” I said slowly taking another sip of my beer. “That is simply not true baby boy. I may be many, many things, but not fun is simply not one of them.”

We all laughed that time, but we weren’t laughing for very long, because less then two minutes into the game, the march to the penalty box began, with Getter leading the way, taking an early penalty for hooking. Fortunately the Canadian penalty killing squad (which of course includes my boys Mikey, D, Patrice and Brent, although not always at the same time) was able to kill off the Finnish advantage.

No sooner was Ryan back on the ice then a Finnish player was being taken off for interference. With a power play unit that was clicking the way Canada’s was, it was no surprise to anyone in the stands when Canada scored (courtesy of Corey Perry from Dion Phaneuf) less then ten seconds into their first power play of the game. Dane and I high fived each other as everyone around us cheered.

Some people even clapped Dane on the back as if he were responsible for the pass that his brother made. I was sure that over with the rest of the Phaneuf contingent there were people doing the same thing to Mr. & Mrs. Phaneuf too. For some reason, people like to give credit to the families of amazing people when they can’t meet the people themselves. I’ve never really understood it.

Either way, the entire crowd in Grand Forks, Canada (as the city had become for the past few days, whether the actual population of the city liked it or not) was ecstatic as Canada took a 1-0 lead. To the surprise of, well me, who had expected a penalty filled affair after the two early penalties, the game seemed to stagnate for awhile. Nothing happened until a Finnish player took a penalty about ten minutes after Corey’s goal.

This time however, Canada was unable to capitalize, something that had the fans in the stands buzzing. Then, with less then two minutes left in the first, Patrice Bergeron took a bad penalty. Not that Patrice did anything stupid that caused him to take a penalty, rather in international rules what Patrice did was considered charging I guess. Because it looked like a clean hit to me and the rest of the Canadian fans (if the boos were evidence of, well anything).

However, the boys were able to excite the fans before the end of the period when Fraz sent a pass up to Mikey who’d managed to sneak behind the Finnish defense. Mikey went in and scored an absolutely gorgeous short handed goal that had the entire crowd on their feet as the period ended with less then 40 seconds left in the penalty to Patrice.

I sent Chris to go get more beer, since I didn’t feel like leaving my uncomfortable arena seat. Canada had a 2-0 lead after one period of play and they had all of the momentum too boot. The second period promised to be far more exciting then the first, which, while it had had its moments, had not been the best period of hockey that I had ever seen.

It’s not that I enjoy lopsided wins or anything like that. I’ve never thought that a team has to go out there and win 10-0 every single game in order for me to enjoy the game. In fact, I can enjoy a 1-0 game more then a 10-0 game. But the hockey that’s played has to be good. There needs to be big saves and big hits and all that kind of stuff. A fight or two is nice, not in international hockey of course, but in the CHL or the NHL it’s a nice touch. Toss in some great odd man rushes or short-handed chances and I’m in hockey heaven.

The last period simply hadn’t offered that. So while I sat and chatted with Chris and Dane and the people sitting around us, I was really thinking about Sidney. I wanted the game to end. I wanted to be drunker then I’d ever been before. I just felt like Sidney wanted nothing to do with me, and at this point, after having had to fend him off for since we’d met essentially, I wasn’t sure what to do.

Part of me hated thinking about him so much, I mean, maybe I had been right before. He was a 17-year-old kid and he wasn’t thinking about me, so it was stupid of me to spend so much freaking time thinking about him. Last night he’d made it clear that he didn’t want me around, so I needed to stop thinking about him.

Yet when Team Canada took the ice, my eyes immediately sought out number 9. I couldn’t help myself. He didn’t appear injured when he was skating, I noticed almost immediately. But I knew how badly he had to be hurting. The bruise I’d seen last night was just plain nasty and he’d been wincing in pain every time he moved.

Just as I’d suspected when the second period started, Team Canada had all the momentum after that short handed goal even though they started the period with just under a minute left in that late penalty to Patrice Bergeron. The boys did a great job in finishing off the penalty kill, destroying any hopes that Finland might have had of scoring on that power play opportunity.
A minute after finishing off the penalty kill Jeff Carter made the score 3-0 on a pass from Getter.

We all stood up and cheered, and when the assists were put up on the board, people started clapping Chris and his parents on the back. Chris winked at me. “Like I had something to do with this.” He said with a grin. “’Cause you know I taught him everything I know.”

I laughed. “I’m sure you did. Then he took it and kicked your ass a few dozen times before learning everything that other people could teach him.”

Chris laughed. “Well yeah, but I can still kick his ass on the grid iron.”

I laughed. “And I can probably out skate him.” I said. “But that really means nothing.”

“I don’t know.” Chris said. “That out skating him thing sounds like it could be useful.”

“She can out skate Dion too.” Dane added. “I’ve seen it. It’s funny.”

I laughed. “Well I did figure skate competitively for years. I should hope that I’d be able to out skate a couple of hockey players.” I said pointedly. “I mean, Getter and D can out stick handle me any day….” I paused and looked at Chris and Dane pointedly again. “No sick jokes you two. I’ve heard them all. But they can handle the stick and the puck far better then I ever could, and I would never want to run into D on the open ice, but then again, I’m one of those silly people who values my life.”

The guys laughed. “I could take him out on the football field.” Chris said. “But you’re right. If you value your life, getting hit by Dion Phaneuf on the open ice is not the way to go.”

It took nearly thirteen minutes before Team Canada was able to hit the score sheet again and it was like a repeat of the earlier goal, Jeff Carter from Ryan Getzlaf. I finished off my beer in celebration and, after high fiving and hugging Dane and Chris, went to get another two. To my surprise however, by the time I got back to my seat the score was 5-0.

“What happened?” I asked immediately, taking a sip of the beer which no longer tasted like piss, indicating to me that I was now on my way to drunk. I mean, it still tasted gross in comparison to Canadian beer (which I still didn’t like), but it could have been worse.

“Shawn Belle from Mike Richards.” Chris said. “Finland has changed goaltenders.”

I snorted. “Like that’s going to help.”

I was proven right less then twenty seconds after I got back when Jeff Carter scored his third of the period, this time on a pass from Andy Ladd. “Nice pass Andy!” I cheered. “Way to go Jeff!”

Hats rained down on the ice since Jeff had just scored a hat trick, causing a slight delay in the game, which the Finns apparently didn’t mind since they didn’t complain to the refs or anything. I guess they figured that the down time would maybe take away some of the Canadian momentum.

Like that was going to happen. Just over a minute later Corey Perry made the score 7-0 on a pass from Patrice. Both Sidney and Dion were on the ice, which meant that this would totally help their plus/minus rating, so I cheered for them too. The period ended with the score 7-0 and now everyone in the stands was buzzing because we all knew that Team Canada was just 20 minutes away from earning a bye through to the semi-finals.

I finished my beer during the break and sent Chris for more, sending Dane back to his parents as I did so. Dane grinned and winked as he went, telling me he’d say hi to his parents for me. He knew full well that after six beer I was well on my way to being drunk. I just grinned and stuck my tongue out at him and told him that I’d maybe see him later… if he was lucky of course.

“So what are we doing after the game?” Chris asked, taking a sip of his beer.

“What do you think?” I replied, taking a sip of mine.

“Well we’re either going to go hang out with the boys or we’re going out and getting wasted.” Chris said. “Personally, I’m all for going out and getting wasted.”

“Good choice.” I replied with a grin. “Though I suppose we should grab something to eat so that I don’t spend the entire night puking my guts out and then dry heaving.”

“Well that was a pretty picture.” Chris said with a grimace as the third period started.

I shrugged. “I speak only truth.”

And I was definitely speaking only truth less then two minutes into the period when Dion, who was standing straight up and laid a hit on one of the Finnish players. “That’s a horrible call!” I yelled jumping up. “Two fucking minutes for being big and strong D!” I called to him as he was escorted into the penalty box. “Fucking awful call.” I grumbled. I was even more disgusted when a 10-minute misconduct was added to the penalty. “What fucking game are the refs watching?” I demanded. “It’s not D’s fault that he fucking out weighs the Finnish kid by, like 50lbs.”

Everyone around me laughed, apparently amused by my anger. It also apparently didn’t matter that D was in the penalty box though. Because with less then twenty seconds left in D’s stupid penalty Patrice sprang Andy and he scored a short handed goal of his own, making the score 8-0. However, while D was serving his misconduct penalty Shea Webber and Shawn Belle took back to back penalties, giving the Finns a two man advantage with two of our best defensive penalty killers in the box.

It was only a matter of time before the Finns scored and less then 30 seconds in to the two man advantage when Finland finally hit the score sheet. Not that it really mattered. I mean, the score was 8-1 and there was under 6 minutes left in the game. The game ended on a low note. Sidney was crossed checked by Mikko Kuukka (who got a penalty for the crosscheck) and Sidney was then given a penalty for roughing.

Not that I could blame him… not only because they’d been gunning for him all game (which they had been) but because I could only imagine how much that cross check had hurt his back. “Are you going to come see the guys?” Chris asked, as we stood to leave.

I watched as Belarus and the USA took the ice. The Belarussians looked primed and ready to go. “You know I may just stick around and watch this game.” I said. “I’m not in the mood to go back to the hotel just yet. How about we take a rain check until tomorrow night on going out and getting plastered?”

“Yeah sure.” Chris said. “Whatever you want. Although why you’d want to watch Belarus play is beyond me.”

I shrugged. “I’m just in the mood to see some more hockey.” I said. “Tell D and the guys I said hi and that I’ll see them later.”

“Sure.” Chris said, still looking at me oddly. “Whatever you want Drew.”

The truth was that I didn’t want to see Sidney. I didn’t want to worry about him hurting and I didn’t want to let him hurt me again. I could go to the concession, grab something to eat, sit and watch a game, and generally just keep to myself. D might worry, but I just wasn’t in the mood to hang out. So I sat back and got ready to watch a hockey game.