The Tournament

by Angelo Kontos

  Toronto managed to kill the penalty, and Mike hit Alex with a perfect long-distance pass that sent him on a partial breakaway as he stepped out of the penalty box. Alex pumped his legs and skated hard to pull away from the two New York defenders trying to catch up.

  A long lead pass and a good one to Bucco! Bucco’s in on goal with a shot…HE SCOOORES! Alex Bucco puts Toronto on the board with a wicked shot, cutting New York’s lead to 3–1!

  Alex’s goal appeared to wake the team from their slumber. For the remainder of the period and with renewed energy, Toronto took the game to New York. Curtis also rediscovered some of his assertiveness in front of the net and was repeatedly slashed by Marty Reed, who took a penalty.

  On the power play, Mike carried the puck behind the net and looked like he was about to centre it, but instead threw another pass out to Alex on the blue line. Alex let go of a hard slapshot and it tore into the short side of the net. Suddenly, Toronto was within one goal and the home crowd became anxious. Toronto kept pressing, and New York were lucky to get out of the middle period with a one-goal lead.

  In the dressing room, Alex taped and re-taped his sticks. As explosive as Vanstone was for New York, Alex and Mike were dominant forces on the ice for Toronto. Isaac leaned over toward Alex from his stall and said under his breath:

  “You’re playing freakin’ amazing,” Isaac said. “This guy should’ve threatened you a long time ago.”

  The action early in the third period was spectacular as both teams went at each other in end-to-end action. Matt was stopping the puck but allowing big rebounds, and New York was close to capitalizing.

  Something was going on with him, Alex figured, and Freddy “The Flash” must have had an idea, because Alex saw Freddy pulling Matt aside in the dressing room. Alex recalled how in the last year of the Deep Six dynasty, something similar happened to Matt and no one ever really knew what it was, although drugs were suspected. The team managed to win back then, but they couldn’t afford for him not to be at his best now.

  Halfway through the period, Toronto suffered a major blow to their chances when Vanstone wound up from just outside the blueline and fired a hard shot right through Matt’s five-hole to give his team a two-goal cushion. As Vanstone jumped through the air and waved his arms around wildly to celebrate, the score was now 4–2 for New York with less than ten minutes to go. Matt was slow to get up, so slow that Ken rushed a trainer onto the ice to ensure he was not hurt. Ken also instructed his backup goaltender to start stretching.

  “Seriously?” the backup goalie asked.

  “Yes, seriously,” Ken answered.

  The backup goalie stepped onto the ice and got down low to start stretching out his groin. The crowd booed, and the New York coach laughed and said a few things in the direction of the Toronto bench. No one believed Ken would pull Matt out of the Toronto goal. Matt would have to be dead.

  Matt eventually got up and skated over to the bench. He indicated that he was okay and swapped his goalie stick for a new one. Freddy gave him a knowing look as if to say, “You can do this.”

  The backup goalie came back onto the bench, and Matt returned to his crease to jeers from the crowd, who were all over him for allowing a bad goal. Matt gave his head a shake and Alex tapped his pads in encouragement.

  With just over three minutes left in the third period, Barry collected the puck behind the Toronto net and stood there for a moment to consider his next move. Mike came roaring through and picked it up. Over the next several seconds, the Big Chief put on the play of the series.

  Here’s Hill now coming out with it, and he gets by one New York player and makes a nifty move to get by another one! Now Marty Reed’s coming at him again at centre ice. Look out! Oh, and a brilliant spinarama to get away from him! Hill still has it…

  Bucco and Banion are trying to catch up. Hill keeps going…puts it right in the New York defender’s skates…one way, now the other and gets by him too! One man left! Look at him go! Mike Hill! In on goal! Ohhhh runs out of room and couldn’t get a shot off. Gets it and throws it out front! Bucco…SCOOOORES!!!

  The Toronto bench went crazy, and the crowd gasped in disbelief. Alex just helped Mike finish off the best offensive rush of The Tournament. Replays showed Mike deking out every single New York player on the ice until he managed to get in tight on the goalie. A quick recovery and crisp pass to Alex, and Toronto was within a goal of tying it with two and a half minutes left in regulation.

  As play resumed, New York did a good job of clogging up the neutral zone and making it difficult for Toronto to move the puck through. Then with just over a minute left, Ken waved Matt over frantically. Matt put his head down and skated as quickly as he could to the Toronto bench. One of the players opened the door for him and he jumped through it while Alex simultaneously swung his legs over the boards and took the ice as the sixth attacker.

  In the staff lounge at the hospital in Toronto, Diana sat in very much the same spot where Alex had found her early yesterday morning. She and some of the other staff were watching the game on television. Since Alex revealed to her that the ghosts from his past had reappeared, Diana had been in a trance.

  And there goes Richards to the bench! Bucco is back on the ice! A sixth attacker!

  What did they want? Why now?

  Diana looked up at the television as Cole’s voice rose excitedly.

  There’s Hill with it in the corner. Hill…to Bucco… SCOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORES!!!!!

  The doctor, hospital custodian and two nurses watching the game cheered loudly as Alex stepped into a beautiful pass from Mike and unleashed a bullet shot into the top corner above the New York goalie’s glove to tie the game in dramatic fashion.

  The Toronto players on the bench all leapt to their feet and water bottles went flying every which way. Even the usually unflappable Ken smiled.

  Alex Bucco has TIED THE GAME! Don’t go anywhere, folks. We’re not done yet!

  Alex was playing his best game of The Tournament and Diana wished that she could enjoy it more. He asked her to not contact him. After all this time apart, were they going to go back into a black hole again? Diana didn’t want to think about it.

  In New York, the buzzer rang to end the period. Overtime, for the second consecutive game.

  Diana got up and left the lounge. She had to help him. The mood in the Toronto dressing room was uneasy, but optimistic. All they needed was one goal from any of their players to win The Tournament. No one dared mention falling back on a Game 7. Alex promised his teammates that he’d hit them over the head with his stick if any of them said anything to that effect. Despite their success in seventh games during this tournament, Alex generally thought of them as a crapshoot.

  “Anything can happen in a Game 7,” Freddy reiterated to the team, mirroring what Alex was thinking. “Let’s end this now.”

  “It’s been quite a ride,” Ken said while holding a fist up as a symbol of strength. “I’m so proud of you guys. Go out and finish it.”

  The team tapped their sticks on the floor and cheered. Before long, they were back on the ice to start overtime in front of New York’s rabid fan base.

  Both teams played it safe for the first several minutes. There were many innocent dump-ins with forecheckers who were afraid to commit, and all the players seemed wary of making a mistake that would end it. Eventually, Curtis rode his stick a little high on a New York player while backchecking, and the referee called a penalty.

  The power play actually put New York back on their heels, as the Toronto penalty killers were surprisingly aggressive. Mike finessed his way into the New York zone, getting past Vanstone and others. As he took the puck into a corner and prepared to shoot, Vanstone’s stick came up under Mike’s chin and clipped him. Mike went down immediately, and Vanstone’s reaction suggested that he didn’t mean to do it. This happened right in front of the referee, and his hand did not go up to signal a penalty.

  Mike got back up and removed his glove to touch his chin. He sho
wed the referee that he was bleeding. The referee’s hands stayed down by his sides as he skated away from Mike and Alex, who were practically stalking him. Ken and Freddy were shouting at Alex to bring the referee over to the bench.

  “You saw that, right?” Alex asked as he cut the ref’s path and tried to steer him toward the bench. “What’s going on? You saw that, right?”

  The referee skated over to Ken who was standing at the front of the Toronto bench. In the background on the arena screen, an unflattering replay showed the referee staring directly at Vanstone as his stick came up and cut Mike.

  “I didn’t see the stick come up and cut him,” the referee said.

  Ken’s eyes widened and his head tilted to one side as though a different angle might help the referee’s comment make sense.

  “What are you talking about???” Ken asked incredulous. “Everyone saw it!”

  “You were staring right at it!” Freddy chimed in furiously.

  “Look, all this does is take away their power play,” Ken reasoned. “You have to call that. You called our guy for a lot less.”

  “I didn’t see the stick cut him,” the referee repeated before skating away.

  Mike took off to the dressing room to get a quick stitch on his chin.

  “Can we at least have a minute to get our guy back on the ice?” Ken asked.

  “You already used your timeout,” the referee responded before blowing his whistle to line the players back up.

  Without Mike, Ken had no choice but to put Alex up front with Isaac and have Barry and Todd on the back end. Alex was about to take the faceoff, which was not one of his strengths.

  He lost the draw and New York went on the offensive. They set up their power play in Toronto’s zone, and Vanstone soon had the puck behind Toronto’s net. He snuck a pass behind Toronto’s defender Todd to a New York winger, who tapped the puck easily into the open side for the game winner.

  As the crowd erupted and Wayne Vanstone flapped his arms excitedly, Toronto players left the ice frustrated. Alex didn’t say anything to the referee, but made sure he gave him a long, hard stare as he skated toward the bench. The referee got off the ice in a hurry as the home fans continued to voice their approval.

  Alex uncharacteristically slammed his stick against the bench as he went off and made his way to the Toronto dressing room.

  Suddenly, the stress of returning to Toronto washed over him. He had to deal with Havock. He had to make sure no harm would come to Diana.

  And of course, there would be another Game 7.

  84.

  As soon as the team bus arrived back from New York, Matt and Freddy returned to Freddy’s condo. Both were emotionally and physically drained. Matt went straight for the sofa bed that Freddy let him crash on. It had been almost four days since he last took a hit of anything.

  Matt and Freddy’s shared experience in getting off drugs led them to believe that Matt’s excessive sweating and nervousness would soon subside. Matt certainly felt edgy during Game 6 and found it much harder to concentrate, with a bad headache pounding against his temples. It was all he could do to hold it together and stop a few pucks.

  Freddy had fallen off the wagon too on that awful night, and was determined to get back on. He came out of his kitchen with a tall glass of lemon water. He grabbed Matt by the arm and pulled him up to a sitting position.

  “C’mon man,” Matt grumbled. “I need to sleep.”

  “Just drink this,” Freddy replied.

  Matt gulped the water down and burped like a child.

  During the first night Matt had crashed there after decking his father, Matt and Freddy talked about rehab. To their mutual amazement, Freddy and Matt discovered they’d both been patients at Tranquility and just missed each other. The pricy rehab facility instantly became their favourite topic of conversation. In effect, they were acting as each other’s sponsors.

  “What’d you think of the food there?” Matt asked.

  “Amazing,” Freddy replied.

  “I hated it.”

  “That’s because you’re an idiot.”

  Matt laughed and studied the exercise weights that Freddy had set up in a corner of his penthouse unit.

  “Remember how they talked about motivation during those group sessions?”

  “Sure,” Freddy replied. “How’d it go again? What motivates you? Learn it… Know it…”

  “…Embrace it,” Matt concluded.

  “Yeah, that was it! ‘Embrace it!’” Freddy laughed.

  “So, what was your motivation?” Matt asked.

  “Different things, I guess. I named my parents, especially my mother. It just kinda hit me, you know. I wanted to do right by her.”

  Matt nodded slowly. “Yeah, do right by her. That’s good.”

  “What was yours?”

  “Huh? My what?”

  “Your motivation, stupid. What’d you pick?”

  Matt got up and looked out at the lake through one of the condo’s large windows.

  “I had a hard time with it…never really chose anything,” Matt said.

  “Oh.”

  “But I know now.”

  85.

  Diana sat across from Dr. Williams in the doctor’s office. She looked up at a vent that had a piece of tape hanging from it to indicate whether air was circulating. The tape was not moving, and the room felt stuffy. She had just finished explaining Alex’s situation and found it somewhat hard to breathe.

  “I don’t think you’re getting much air in here,” Diana said.

  “So, this threat is real?” Dr. Williams asked. “These men have made themselves known to Alex? Why now?”

  “I don’t understand it,” Diana responded. “I’m not sure Alex does either. I think when everything happened he was just a kid, and this mob or whatever it is forgot about the whole thing. Now he’s on TV getting all this attention, they figured out who he is…”

  “And think they can extort money from him?”

  “I guess so. I don’t know what to do.”

  “The police?”

  “As much as he can be hotheaded, Alex isn’t stupid,” Diana replied. “If he could have gone to the police, he would have by now.”

  “That kind of caution is understandable after what they did to his father.”

  “He wouldn’t worry about himself. He never worries about himself, and I think that comes from the guilt he’s always carried around.”

  “Then what could worry him?” Dr. Williams asked.

  Diana took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. Dr. Williams looked at her.

  “It’s you,” Dr. Williams said. “He’s worried they’ll get to you.”

  “I just can’t think of what else it could be,” Diana responded quietly.

  “Diana, this is dangerous.”

  “I know.”

  “Can you go away somewhere until it blows over?”

  “I won’t leave Alex again,” Diana answered.

  Dr. Williams leaned back in her chair and thought hard for a minute. The alarm on her desk went off and their session was over, but she ignored it.

  “Can you think of someone you can go to who might be able to help?” she asked while leaning across her desk and putting one of her hands over Diana’s. “Anyone?”

  “It might be a long shot, but I think so,” Diana said.

  “Then go there. As soon as possible.”

  “Okay.”

  Diana stood up to leave. Dr. Williams came around her desk and gave her a hug.

  “Be careful, Diana.”

  “I will.”

  86.

  Ken never thought he would visit Macdonald a second time. Pertia had advised against it, but when Ken returned home he suddenly felt the urge to see the old bastard again. Ken knew it must have been Macdonald who fed that crap to Brooks Edwards, a reporter with a similarly dysfunctional moral compass.

  Shortly after he arrived, Ken was led out back to a large garden where a nurse was helping Macdonald with
his stretching exercises.

  “Looks like your friend is here, Mr. Macdonald,” the nurse said cheerily. “Let’s get you back in your chair.”

  Macdonald momentarily froze when he saw Ken. He allowed the nurse to help him back into his wheelchair, which was parked under a gazebo. The nurse and orderly then left as Ken sat beside him.

  “You know when you came after me back then, I didn’t have the guts to fight, and you got away with it. And you still could have,” Ken said, “until you decided that ruining my life once wasn’t enough.”

  “What do you want?” Macdonald asked in a terse voice, continuing to stare off into the distance.

  “Over the years, you know what I’ve never been able to figure out?”

  “What do you want?” MacDonald repeated.

  “I never understood why,” Ken responded.

  MacDonald looked over at a nurse who was with another patient in the garden picking flowers.

  “People like you…” Macdonald finally said, “…don’t make the world work.”

  “People like me?”

  “You should leave.”

  “People like me?”

  “Nurse!” Macdonald yelled out.

  Ken leaned in closer as he saw orderlies and nurses assembling at the door.

  “You’re just a bitter old man and a coward.”

  The same nurse who greeted Ken reappeared with two orderlies behind her. She had a more serious expression on her face.

  “You can’t accept who you are, can you?” Ken continued. “So, you took it out on me instead.”

  The orderlies positioned themselves on either side of Ken.

  “Well, I have to go now,” Ken said to Macdonald. “Good luck. You’re going to need it.”

  “Who are you?” the nurse demanded.

  “Excuse me,” Ken replied as he walked away.

  “Why did you come here?” the nurse asked.

  Ken stopped and gave her a thoughtful look. “Let’s just say that Mr. Macdonald and I needed to clear a few things up.”

  He walked back into the building and straight out the front door, feeling completely unburdened for the first time in almost fifteen years. The nurse stood in the garden puzzled. She turned and saw Macdonald looking out at the flower garden.