Part 27 - Pure Gold

The next day, Brent was back in the line up and I was back sitting with the regular fans, in a seat right behind the Team Canada bench. I waved at the guys as they took places on the bench after warm up, receiving a grin and wink from Reggie as he took his place on the bench. This game against Sweden was going to be a big test.

A beer in my hand and WAY more Canadian fans in the crowd I was ready to have a great time. Canada got a super early power play when the Swedish goalie took a high sticking penalty, but couldn’t capitalize. Right after the penalty expired everyone in the crowd shot to their feet as Jeff Carter scored giving Canada a 1-0 lead with an assist going to Ryan.

“Way to go Getter!” I yelled as everyone else around me yelled things about Jeff.

An older guy near me looked at me oddly. “You know him?” He asked.

“Yeah.” I said. “RyRy and I met in Calgary a couple of years ago.”

“Steve Getzlaf.” He said, sticking out his hand. “That’s my boy.”

“Nice to meet you Mr. Getzlaf.” I said with a smile and a laugh. “I’m Drew Whitney. I’m a good friend of Dion Phaneuf’s, and I went to University in Calgary.”

“Nice to meet you too Drew.” He replied.

We chatted some more about things like the weather (it was disgusting, the highways were awful), and what we thought the team’s chances were (good of course). Then Danny Syvret, the lone defenseman who wasn’t from the ‘Dub took a bad penalty for hooking and Sweden was on the power play. About 40 seconds into the power play they snuck one past Jeff Glass, and D was on the ice. I shook my head. The game was tied.

The guys took three more shitty penalties before the end of the period, but we were able to kill off the first two and all but 40 seconds of the last one before the period ended. I turned to Ryan’s Dad. “I would not want to be in the locker room after that.” I said with a low whistle.

He laughed. “I take it you’re from Red Deer not Edmonton then?” He asked.

“Oh yeah.” I said with a blush. “I didn’t mention that?”

“Don’t think so.” He replied.

“Well, Coach scares me, and I’m not even on the team.” I told him.

Mr. Getzlaf laughed. “That’s the way it should be.” He replied. “When you respect someone enough to fear their anger, then they have definitely established themselves in your life. It’s good for the boys.”

I nodded. “Discipline is always good for teenagers.” I said with a bit of smirk as I thought of all the times I’d seen an underage Ryan out at the bar.

“Oh yeah, I forgot.” Mr. Getzlaf said with a wry grin. “You’ve known my son for quite awhile.”

I laughed. “Well he’s always fun.” I said.

We talked and I continued to drink through the intermission. I was nervous and worried about the game. Canada should not be in a tie game. Not with the type of team we have. So I drank (I know, I know, it’s not exactly a solution, but it made me feel better at the time). However, when the boys came back on to the ice I saw the look in their eyes and I knew that this period was going to be different.

And less then a minute in, after killing the rest of a Clarke MacArthur penalty, Clarke himself made amends for taking the penalty in the first place, going down the ice and scoring a goal to give Canada a 2-1 lead. Under 4 minutes later, Nigel Dawes added another, giving Canada a 3-1 lead. Now I wasn’t only drunk happy, I was we’re winning the game happy (two very different forms of happy I assure you).

Except then Canada took another three straight penalties. I was particularly pissed at Fraz for taking a stupid high sticking penalty. I mean, Sweden got basically a 2 and a ½ minute two-man advantage. However, Patrice made up for his stupid penalty (a slashing call I think) by scoring to give Canada a 4-1 lead.

Three minutes later, I nearly split beer all over myself (instead I drenched my closest neighbours). The reason? Sidney scored a fricking AWESOME goal on the power play. The score was now 5-1 Canada and all the Canadian fans were cheering and having a great time. It’s always a lot easier to have fun when you’re team is winning.

The Swedes took a late penalty and Canada came back on the power play in the third. It only like, 20 seconds before Sidney scored his second of the game on a sweet feed from Corey Perry. It was 6-1 and the guys were totally in control of the game. That was proven under 30 seconds later when Andy scored on a nice pass from Getter. With the score 7-1 and 19 minutes left in the game, the Team Canada faithful were absolutely thrilled and positive that our boys were going to win.

Then, towards the end of the game, Mr. Getzlaf and I went insane when Ryan scored his first of the tourney. At the end of the game the guys had the official press conference and ton of media stuff to deal with, so I stuck around to watch the first bit of the next game, which was the US vs. Switzerland. The teams actually appeared to be fairly evenly matched (mainly because something seemed to be wrong with Al Montoya, the US goal tender – he seemed uncomfortable in net).

At the end of the first period my cell rang. “Hello?”

“Where are you Drew?” D’s voice replied.

“Watching the Switzerland-USA game.” I told him. “I figure you guys would be awhile, so I just decided to hang out and watch the game.”

“What’s the score?” He asked.

“1-0 for the US.” I told him. “It hasn’t been a great game though. Montoya looks awkward in net.”

“Do you know who scored the goal?”

“Ryan Callahan.” I told him. “He’s from the OHL isn’t he?”

“Think so.” D replied. “So are you coming down or are you going to stay and watch the game?”

“Coming down.” I said. “I’m hungry.”

Dion laughed. “You sound like me.”

“D I’ll see you in a couple minutes.” I said. “This is costing me long distance.”

“Sure thing Drew.” He replied.

I hurried down the Team area. I was stopped by security (of course) and to my surprise Coach saw me before I could flag down Dion. “Delreinne….” He said with a smile. “Nice to see you. She’s Dion’s cousin.” He told the guy as he shook my hand. “We didn’t know if she’d be coming or not, so we didn’t get her clearance ID. We’ll do that right away.”

“Of course sir.” The security guard said, letting us past.

“Thanks Coach.” I replied.

“Are you enjoying yourself so far?” He asked.

“It’s been a lot of fun.” I said. “I’ve really enjoyed getting to know some of the other guys and the team played really well today. Jeff looked better in net.”

Coach nodded. “He did.” He said. “But I think Dion and Sidney are getting anxious for your company.”

I turned and offered him my hand. “Great game Coach. Thanks for all of your help.” I told him gratefully.

“What was that all about?” D asked, giving me a hug and a quick kiss on the cheek.

“Coach saw me trying to flag you down.” I said punching him softly in the chest. “And let me in.”

“Sorry Drew.” He said. “But I didn’t see you.”

I rolled my eyes. “And you tore me away from and made me leave a shitty hockey game for this?” I teased him.

D shook his head. “Sometimes I wonder why I put up with you.”

“Well that’s an easy one D.” I said as I laughed. “Because nobody but me will put up with you!”

“Very funny Drew.” D replied rolling his eyes.

“Hey baby.” Sidney said, coming up besides me and kissing my cheek.

“You played well this afternoon.” I replied giving him a hug.

“Thanks.” He replied smiling softly at me.

“What about me?” D pouted.

I kissed his cheek. “You’re such a baby Phaneuf.” I replied. “You crunched the Swedes up good.”
He laughed. “I try.”

I giggled. “Of course you try D, if you didn’t you wouldn’t be here.”

“True.” He replied. He sniffed me, not very delicately I might add. “You smell like beer. How much did you drink?”

I shrugged. “Enough.” I replied. “And I did manage to spill on myself and my neighbours a couple of times when I got all excited over stupid penalties and great goals.” I laughed.

D shook his head, and Sidney looked a little surprised. “You’re drunk.”

I stuck my tongue out at him. “I am happily tipsy.” I replied. “Get some dinner in me and it will kill my buzz but good.”

“Then let’s get you back to the hotel and into the restaurant before you say or do something stupid okay?”

I stuck my tongue out at him. “Now here’s the pot calling the kettle black. Like you’ve never said or done anything stupid when you were drunk.”

“Yes, I have done stupid things.” He replied. “But I never danced on a bar and had to be arrested by my own Dad.”

I made a face. “You know I was only arrested because the Cops came to do an ID check while I happened to be ON the bar. If they hadn’t seen me and my friends then they wouldn’t have called, like all the cops in town to come arrest us.”

D rolled his eyes. “I’ve only heard the story a million times Drew, from you and from other people. Now come on.”

I reached over and patted Sidney on the arm. “See you later hun.” I said rolling my eyes at D. “But my big little brother is worried that I might do something stupid.”

He laughed, and grabbed my wrist, pulling me close to him. “And what kind of stupid thing is Phaneuf worried about you doing?” He asked, his lips so close to mine that I could feel his breath cool and minty on my cheek.

“Oh no you don’t Crosby.” Dion replied, pulling me away from him. “I am not a moron, I know exactly what you are trying to do and there is no way in hell that I am going to let that happen.”

Sidney grinned and shrugged, despite D’s ire. “Come on Neufy… you can’t blame a guy for trying.”

I laughed and blew him a kiss. “You are bad Crosby.”

D shook his head as we walked away. “Can you believe that?” He asked.

I laughed. “D you seriously need to have the stick removed from your ass.” I told him. “He was just being an idiot. It’s not like I haven’t seen guys do that a hundred times before.” I paused.

“You could have trusted me to deal with it though. I may have a buzz going, but that doesn’t mean I’m stupid.”

D laughed. “I guess you’re right Drew. But you know that I don’t like it when guys take advantage of you.”

“Yet you laugh your ass off when I take advantage of them.” I pointed out. “Do I sense a double standard?”

He shrugged. “Yes you do.” He replied. “But I don’t care. You’re the closest thing to a sister I’ve got.”

“What about Dane?” I teased.

D shrugged. “It’s not as much fun to tease him about being a girl now. He just laughs at it.” He paused. “Have you actually talked to Dane?”

“I’ve seen him with your parents a couple of times.” I said. “But I haven’t stopped to talk to him or anything.” I glanced at him. “Every time I look though the contingent around your parents keeps getting bigger and bigger. How many people came to watch you play?”

“About 30.” He said. “Including you.”

I shook my head. “I should get back to the hotel and go grab something to eat.” I said as I kissed him on the cheek. “I’ll see you later okay?”

“Behave yourself.” Was his reply as he hugged me.

“I always do Phaneuf.” I said as we both laughed. “I always do.”