He was about to backhand it down the ice, when his frustration boiled over, and he decided to try a rush on his own. The puck skipped over the stick of another player, and it skidded to Charlie. A defenceman beat everyone to the puck, and he fired it around the boards just ahead of a forechecker. The player with the puck dumped it deep into Charlie’s end. The pickup game would be over in a minute, and then he could go home. No one would pass to him - typical new-guy treatment. He’d barely touched the puck the entire game. He wasn’t tired, even though this was his first time on the ice in months. He bent over and rested his stick on his shin pads. His partner corralled the spinning disk and swung it across ice to a player waiting at the red line against the boards.Ĭharlie had stopped skating at his own blue line. The right defenceman shifted across and stripped him of the puck. He sped up as he crossed the red line, hesitated a second, then when he got close to the blue line, jumped up into the air to split the defence. His teammate took the pass, deftly sidestepped a forechecker, and then moved towards centre, cradling the puck with his stick. “Last goal wins,” the defenceman called out, snapping a pass to a player wearing a Montreal Canadiens sweater.

The defenceman ignored him completely and carried the puck around the net and up along the right boards. To Jim York, the ultimate hockey dad, coach, and fan.Ĭharlie Joyce cut across the top of the circle in his own end, looking for a breakout pass.

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Undergrounders by David Skuy