Goose's Big Adventure

As Natalie rounded the corner to drop the boys off, Gustav was fighting the urge to throw up. He wanted to make sure his first game as a Red Wing was going to go well, but he had a bad feeling something was going to happen. What that was exactly, he wasn’t sure.

“We’re here, boys. Good luck tonight. I’ll be cheering you on right behind the bench,” Natalie said, grinning. One of the perks of having a brother in the NHL was getting seats behind the bench at every home game. This was her favorite seat in the world and she wouldn’t trade her seat for anything. As Gustav got out of the car, she noticed the nervous look on his face and called him over. Confused, Gustav walked over to the driver’s side to talk to her. Smiling, Natalie pushed herself up, leaned out the window, and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

“What was that for young lady,” Gustav asked. Elizabeth laughed.

“To wish you luck since you looked nervous. I always do that to my brothers. It makes them smile,” she explained, blushing.

“Well, thank you for the luck. I will need it,” he said, winking as he walked away. Niklas shook his head at him.

“Are you falling for my sister Gus,” he asked quietly but with the protectiveness of an older brother. Gustav backed up and blushed at the look in Niklas’s eyes.

“She’s a beautiful girl, anyone can see that, but I’m not,” he replied. Niklas could see right through his lie but decided not to press the issue: his friend had enough to worry about as it was.

“How do you feel, Gus? You nervous,” he asked, intentionally changing the subject. Gustav nodded as the two men made their way to the locker room.

“I…..I really am,” he said, paling at the loud noise the crowd was making. Niklas frowned, worried. When the last time someone paled at the noise of the crowd? He shook his head to clear it. After all, everyone got nervous in different ways. Deciding to help him out, Niklas stopped him and gently pushed him into the wall. He kept a firm hand on his shoulder as he met Gustav’s clear blue eyes.

“Listen to me, Gus. You will be fine. I know you’re nervous and I can understand that, but you know what? Being nervous is not going to help you play your game. Trust me, when you’re nervous, you make easy mistakes and you can lose your head out there. I know you want to proof yourself good enough to stay, but being nervous is not going to help, got it,” he asked firmly but softly. Gustav slowly nodded. Niklas was right: being nervous wasn’t going to help his case at all. Sighing, he readjusted the bag on his shoulder and followed Niklas back to the locker room door. The two men went inside, where they were greeted by the loud calm voice of their captain.

“Hi Kronner, hi Gus. You ready to win against Pittsburgh tonight,” Hank asked, wiggling his eyebrows. Niklas burst out laughing and Gustav rolled his eyes internally giggling at how Hank was acting.

“I was born ready cappy. I love beating Mr. Golden Boy,” Niklas said, fist bumping Hank as he sat at his locker. Gustav did not say anything in reply to Hank’s question, but he simply sat at his locker by Justin and began to quietly undress. Normally Gustav would be throwing playful insults and one liners at his teammates, but he was nervous as heck. While he wasn’t looking for the three goals; four assists game, he also didn’t want to play a sloppy game. After all, he had a lot to prove to himself and his teammates if he wanted to even stay with this team.

Goose rested his stick on knees, breathing hard as the sweat dripped down his face. His team did have a one nothing lead, but he was exhausted from the grueling punishment he was taking from the Penguins. Crosby seemed especially relentless on the rookie forward. Goose snorted and rolled his eyes as Crosby skated up to him.

“Is that your girl, Nyquist? Cause I’m gonna make her mine,” Crosby said, smirking at the young forward. Goose glared at him, blushing a bit at the mention of Elizabeth’s name as he straightened his back to face his enemy.

“First of all, she is not “my girl” Crosby. And even if she was, why would you bother making her yours? Her loyalty is to this team, not yours,” he snarled back. Crosby’s eyes flashed with anger and something dark and cold which Goose could not describe, but chills were sent down his spine when he saw it. He knew Crosby meant to cause trouble to Elizabeth, but if he could, he would prevent it.

“She’s beautiful and I love her smile. I can see something in her that I haven’t seen in other girls,” Sidney replied. Goose shook his head.

“I know that she’s beautiful, but she doesn’t like you. She told me she hates you for what you did to Hank,” he answered. Crosby gave him a dirty look.

“Your captain is the dirty one, not me. Did you see those dirty checks he threw on my right winger in the finals a few years ago?” Goose shoved Crosby hard. He had enough of his comments and he promised to make him pay. He knew exactly what the young captain was talking about: he was talking about the fight Evengi Malkin had in the finals against Hank. Goose knew full well that Hank would never throw a dirty check against another player.

“You have a very twisted mind, Sidney Crosby. Hank would never throw a dirty check against anyone. You are insulting my captain,” he snapped. As Crosby was about to give him another shove, Jonathan Ericsson, known as “Big E” to his teammates, came over and shoved Crosby over.

“Why do you think insulting my captain and my best friend’s little sister is gonna get you anywhere Crosby,” he asked in amusement. Crosby’s eyes held a scared look, but he sent Jonathan a dirty look.

“Your captain is an idiot and an asshat and your best friend’s little sister is hot and I’m gonna make her mine,” he replied, smirking. Jonathan let out a low growl in his throat. He knew that Natalie did not want to date Sidney Crosby and even though he wasn’t her big brother, he would make sure Crosby did not come anywhere near her. As he was about to shove Crosby, the referee blew his whistle.

“Enough of the fighting boys. Come on, let’s go on with the game,” he yelled. Crosby smirked as he skated towards the face-off circle, but the glares that Jonathan and Niklas were sending him sent
cold fear up his spine.

“Your ass is mine Crosby,” Niklas snarled. Crosby was surprised, for he hadn’t known Niklas to be the type of player to get angry or fight, but he knew the hatred in Niklas’s eyes was real.

“And why it is yours Kronwall? Because of your sister,” he snapped back. Niklas scowled and sent him a dirty look as he lined up next to Jonathan.

“Yes you little shit, because of my sister. If you talk about her like that again, you are dead, got it?” Crosby knelt down to take the face off against Hank. As the referee dropped the puck, he slowly raised his stick and hit Hank right under the eye with it. Hank let out a whimper and fell backwards onto the ice holding his face. Crosby smirked in satisfaction and stood over Hank like the attacker he was.

“You are so dead, Henrik. Your pretty little captaincy is over,” he hissed. Raising his stick once more, he used all his strength and brought it down hard upon Hank’s head. The Swedish forward let out a loud scream of pain, and then blacked out.

Niklas POV: I let out a loud gasp as that little brat of a hockey player, Crosby, hit Hank over the head with his stick. The anger that had been exploding inside me ever since he had talked about my sister like she was a piece of meat finally boiled over. My eyes filled with tears when I saw Hank laying there, but my first thought was attacking his attacker. Snarling, I flung myself at Crosby and knocked him onto the ice. I raised my fists and punched him hard in the face. His nose started to bleed and I got spatters of his blood all over my jersey, but I didn’t care. The only thing I could picture was Hank still as stone a few feet away. I lost control of my hands and continued to pound them hard into Crosby’s face. His face became full of blood and bruises and that made me smile in satisfaction.

“I hate you Sidney Crosby! I hate you. You are nothing but an asshole that deserves to never play hockey again. What did Hank ever do to you to deserve that? He is nothing but a good clean player and you hurt him and his career could be over! I hope you get sent to jail you rotten scumbag,” I screamed, full out crying at this point. I felt someone pulling me off of him and struggled to get away. “Let me at him! Let me kill him!”

“Kronner, shh. You need to calm down. You already beat him into a pulp,” Jonathan whispered into my ear. I bit my lip hard and tried to control my crying. Looking to my left, I saw Hank being lifted onto the stretcher. His eyes were still closed and I could see the giant bump on his head. Seeing that made me scream and pound my fist into the ice.

“No! No, Hank. You can’t leave me. You can’t leave us. HANK,” I yelled, thrashing to get away from Jonathan and to get to my captain. “Johnny let me see him. Let me see my captain,” I pleaded. Silently, Jonathan pulled me to my feet and skated me over to Hank. It was then I could see his eyes fluttering open and the first thing his eyes landed on were me. Slowly and shakily, he reached out his hand towards mine. I caught it and gave it a gentle squeeze. It felt a little awkward holding my best friend’s hand, but I didn’t even care at that point.

“Kronner……….you gotta win this game. Please, don’t………don’t play a dirty game. Win it………win it like we always do. For me,” he said softly, his brown eyes searching mine. Biting back my tears, I nodded.

“Don’t worry Hank. I will win for you. I promise.” He nodded back and let his hand fall to his side as he got carried away. I started to sob again, but a quick pat on my shoulder from Jonathan made me remember what I had promised my friend. Turning to my other teammates on the ice, who were stunned into silence, I took a deep breath.

“Let’s win this boys….for Hank.”