Duke pulled me forward to introduce me to his teammates. It was pretty nice having someone bring me into the crew because I was not the most social… and I’d never joined a team mid-season before, so this was a newexperience.
And out on the ice… it turned out to be a great experience.
I played center my whole career, but here in Toledo, they had me playing wing… And I’m not gonna lie– it was a nice change. Instead of having to play the puck both ways and constantly having to hustle back on defense to help back-check, I was able to focus more on just getting the puck in the net…
Another plus– after one of our forwards was put in the box, it messed up the lines, and I was finally able to play with Duke.
“Hey, hey, budday!” Duke shouted as he chewed his mouth guard and let it half hang out of his mouth while gliding over to me for a knuckle punch before the faceoff. His eyes glinted as he shot me a wicked smile. “Just like in thebackyard?”
That got me smiling too. “Let’s do it, bud.”
And we did.
As soon as the puck dropped, I went in and scooped it up from between the two centers fighting, and I could see Duke getting open… It was clear we still had that extra sense when it came to playing together.
That whole shift, I pretty much knew where Duke was gonna be moving… and I was able to shoot off some no-look passes to him that really messed up the other team’s defense.
The sleepy coach must’ve noticed our mojo too, because he started double shifting us.
When there was about five minutes left on the clock, I was able to create a two-on-one for us… Duke and I versus a rando defenseman who had no chance against us.
My shirt was billowing back with the wind from my speed, and the Toledo crowd was really making itself known. I caught myself actually smiling as I skated my ass off down-ice. I hadn’t had this much fun playing hockey since my Ice League days…
I quickly passed to Duke. He stickhandled a bit before faking a shot, then slid the puck back over to me for a one-timer… and I slapped it right over the goalie’s glove, making the goal light shine bright red.
I continued skating and jumped on the glass behind the net in celebration– which was yet another thing I hadn’t done since my teenage days.
After that goal, the score was 3-1. We had the victory in the bag… and we’d also managed to piss off the other team.
The next faceoff, I could hear the opposing winger chirping at Duke… and I could also see Duke’s face turningred…
A split-second later, Duke was throwing his glovesdown.
“Eh!” I yelled at him.
His eyes twitched over to mine and that was all it took… I was giving him the calm sign– which I hadn’t used on him since he was a squirt.
That immediately disarmed him. Instead of fighting, he threw his head back and laughed. The other team’s winger looked back at him like he’d lost his mind.
41. Griff
Three days later - Detroit
With permission from the doctor, I broke Sav out of the hospital early in the morning, and instead of immediately returning to the apartment, I had a different idea.
When we missed a turn for their townhouse, Sav looked at meskeptically.
“Where…?”
“We need to set some new goals.” I took my eyes off the road to glance at her quickly. “Get out of this slump, see a sunrise and all that shit, as our teammate used to say…”
She just closed her eyes and nodded, probably remembering Nick’s words after she broke her ankle.
I drove us about a half an hour outside of downtown to a little town called Plymouth.
Plymouth had this amazing park in the middle of a neighborhood that was filled with tall trees which the sun’s beams shone through beautifully. The park also featured their high school’s beautifully maintained football stadium, a playground for little kids, and basketball courts.
Nick and I had come here plenty of times through the summer that I trained here in Detroit with him after his rookie season… We’d workout on the track surrounding the football field and climb the stadium stairs, then mess around on the basketball court. Nick was atrocious at basketball and young kids would come up and whoop his ass. He’d laugh it off like the good sport he was and smile for pictures with them.
