I’ll give you three guesses what’s on it.
Figured it out?
No?
Okay, I’ll tell you. Mr. Ridiculous got me a shirt with—yes, you guessed it, even if you didn’t—potatoes on it. This one is two potatoes high-fiving, and underneath them it says ‘Best Spuddies.’ He’s such a dork, but he’s my dork.
Also…it should come as no surprise that he got himself the same shirt.
So far the BTU Alumni are two for two, with Tucker Hayes taking home the title for fastest skater and Jase’s brother Ryan decimating the competition in the puck control challenge.
We’re seven goalies in on the save streak challenge, with Jake Donovan being the last to step between the pipes. Normally a goalie faces one player from each team in a selected division, but with so many players coming from BTU, they switched it up and he’s only facing those who used to be Titans—plus Cali.
Jake’s already edged out San Jose’s goalie, Hall, by one goal, and now the guys are huddled at center ice. After all the stories I heard last night, I can only imagine what they are all plotting.
They break and Tucker heads for his shot, but instead of taking a breakaway for the net, he starts twirling like an ice dancer, using his stick as his dance partner.
“What in the world?” Ella exclaims next to me.
I’m pretty sure things are about to take an entertaining turn.
Tucker misses, unsurprisingly.
I scoot forward, literally on the edge of my seat as I see Jase take the puck. He gets into position and then Cali is jumping on his back, and the two jokesters of the NY Storm try their hand at the man nicknamed The Brick Wall.
After Jake blocks the shot, he holds out his arms as if to ask, That’s all you got?
Wade Tanner skates out, but instead of going to center ice, he goes behind the opposite goal, the audience in the arena and inside the bar silent, all of us waiting with bated breath for what is going to happen next.
He holds an arm in the air, and the four others hustle to join him.
“Oh my god.” I laugh as the five of them skate out in a V shape, passing the puck between them as they head for Jake. “He just called for the flying V.”
“Well, they messed that up then because it’s the captain who is supposed to call for it,” Zoey states in a display of her own knowledge of The Mighty Ducks.
“The only thing that surprises me is they didn’t have the jerseys ready to go.”
“You better text Loverboy and tell him how disappointed we are about that oversight.” Zoey puts on a good front of being serious, but it cracks the instant she looks my way.
On the TV we hear the announcers say, “Should have gone with the knuckle puck,” as Jake makes a glove save.
“Can we please watch the trilogy this weekend?” Ella asks.
“Oh, but I always cry when Hans dies in the third one.” Zoey pouts.
“Yeah, but the guy from The Sandlot is so hot in it.” Ella says this like she’s a lawyer who just rested her case.
“He’s in two”—I hold up my fingers in a peace sign—“of the Mighty Duck movies. Don’t you think you should know his character’s name?” I take another sip of my beer.
“Nope.” Ella shakes her head, her ponytail whipping her in the face, snagging on the long lashes framing her almond-shaped eyes. “He will always be Benny the Jet to me.” A hand goes over her heart. “All I’m saying is the guy did some good growing up.”
My beer sprays the table at her comment.
Using a napkin to clean up both the table and my face, I focus back on the TV where Cali is about to take his turn. He gets into position, bending over, one hand at the top of his stick, the other halfway down, but then he straightens and looks toward the team benches. He waves to someone, gesturing for whoever it is to come out.
Every eye in the bar is riveted to the screen. Freddie even turned the volume up to hear the announcers. “Looks like even the youngest Donnelly is getting in on the fun.”
Sean Donnelly and Cali huddle together, and the way their bodies are hunched over, it’s hard to make out what they are doing. A few seconds later, Sean reaches underneath his Blizzards jersey and pulls out one of those mini souvenir hockey sticks you see in gift shops.
“Callahan isn’t actually going to use that, is he?” The disbelief in Ella’s voice is clear.
“I think so,” I say as, sure enough, Cali retakes his position. Looking like the Hunchback of Notre Dame, he skates for his shot and misses.
“This is the best thing ever.” Zoey throws her arms in the air, doing a little dance in her seat. “It’s just like when they used to do the breakaway challenge a few years ago.”
She’s right. Through the years, the challenges have evolved or are switched out for others, but the couple of years the NHL did the breakaway challenge were some of the most fun to watch. It was a lot like the slam dunk contest the NBA does during their skills competitions.
None of us are really basketball fans, but we love to watch the crazy ideas the players come up with to dunk the ball. We even make sure to set our DVR for all the sports’ all-star-type challenges if we are working during them.
The camera pans to the benches again, and I see Jordan hand a hockey stick to Ryan before he skates out for his attempt. He hands the stick to Sean when he gets to center ice, and I can tell it must be his because it’s the proper size for a nine-year-old.
Sean takes the puck and positions himself at about a forty-five degree angle from his oldest brother, scooping the puck on the blade of his stick and tossing it to Ryan, who catches it on his own blade, something that is extremely hard to do.
Ryan juggles the puck with his stick, tossing and catching it over and over then circling the stick this way and that, never letting it drop, once again proving he’s one of the best puck handlers in the league, if not the best.
“How long do you think they’ll keep this up?” Ella asks when Ryan misses.
“No idea.” I could honestly watch this all night.
Again all five convene in a huddle before pulling in Sean to join them. The youngest Donnelly is so much smaller than the others that when he gets folded into the group, he disappears like a kid playing in racks of clothes.
This huddle takes longer than the first, and when they finally break, it’s Sean who has the puck. He stands there, shifting his feet back and forth on the ice, waiting. For what, I’m not sure.
The announcers are speculating amongst themselves until Jake’s little sister—in her own Jake Donovan Blizzards jersey—skates out to pass off a pair of black hockey gloves.
Jase told me all about how close Sean and Carlee are, and I snort when he gives her a kiss on the cheek as he accepts the gloves. Looks like charm runs in the family.
I don’t know if it’s because he’s the only one taking the shot seriously, or if Jake gave him a gimme—I suspect the latter—but Sean’s shot finds the upper corner of the net, finally bringing an end to the competition.
I drain my beer and immediately reach to refill it. I gotta be prepared because the next two challenges are what Jase is known for.
I can’t wait to see what happens.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
The Skills Competition is my favorite day of the All-Star Weekend. Through the years, the challenges have varied, but this year there are six: premier passer, fastest skater, save streak, puck control, hardest shot, and accuracy shooting.