Ice Magic by Matt Christopher

Author:Matt Christopher [CHRISTOPHER, MATTHEW F]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780316095693
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published: 2009-12-19T05:00:00+00:00

8

Off the ice!” yelled the coach. “Pronto!”

Pie sprinted off, pulled up sharply near the boards, and stepped over the wall. As the other members of Line 1 skated off the ice, Line 2 scrambled on.

“That Seal surprise you, Pie?” Coach Hayes asked.

Pie, his chest heaving with each inhaled breath, nodded. He expected a lecture from the coach about the play, but Coach Hayes said nothing more.

There was nothing to say, anyway, Pie thought. The Seal just stole that puck from me and took off. That’s all there was to it. The guy was just lucky he had open ice ahead of him. A thing like that doesn’t happen often.

And it’s a good thing it doesn’t, Pie thought grimly.

The teams’ third lines scrambled onto the ice and then off again without scoring.

“Let’s have some teamwork this period,” Coach Hayes prompted as Line 1 got on the ice to start off the second period. “Terry, quit yelling at Pie out there or you might be watching the rest of the game from the bench.”

“Who’s yelling at him?” Terry snorted and zipped onto the ice without waiting for a reply.

The men skated to their positions. The face-off. The fight to control the puck. Bang! Terry socked it to Bud. Bud dribbled it into Seal territory and was suddenly body-checked, but not before he drove the puck against the boards. It bounced back onto the ice and skittered toward the Seals’ goal, where Pie and the two Seals’ defensemen charged after it. Pie, feeling his oversize skates hampering his speed, kicked the ice accidentally with the toe of his skate and fell flat on his stomach.

The Seals got the puck, passed it back up the ice, and shot it to a wingman. Pie felt a hand grab his arm and help him to his feet.

He didn’t see who his benefactor was until the guy had sped away on his skates. It was Terry.

Pie bolted after him, ignoring the powdery ice that covered the entire front of his uniform. He sped alongside the boards, this time trying not to stumble. It would be awful if Terry had to pick him up again.

Frog Alexander stole the puck away from a Seal and belted it up the ice to Terry. Terry swerved in a half circle, the puck hooked in the curve of the blade of his stick, and started back up the ice with it. Two Seals charged after him from his left and right sides, and he passed to Pie.

Pie stickhandled the puck across the blue line, then across the neutral zone into Seal territory. Now the Seals’ defensemen were after him, arms and legs churning as they swept upon him like vultures. Far ahead he saw the Seals’ goalie crouched in front of the net, wide open spaces around him.

Pie glanced at the puck — taking just enough time to make certain that the blade of his stick would strike it exactly right — and swung.

Smack! The puck lifted off the ice and sailed through the air like a miniature flying saucer.

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