The Penalty Box

Chapter 40

"Callahan, can you come here for a minute?" Coach asked from his office.

"Yeah what's up?"

I walked into his office and saw all of our game footage on his desk. I knew he'd done private War Strategy with his captains before, but never had I been a part of it. This was a whole new game.

"The games ahead of us are some of the hardest," he told me grabbing a disk,"You said you wanted to coach, so here's your chance."

"You want me to come up with a strategy?" I asked in awe.

"You know this team inside and out. And you know the other teams too," he replied," You're going to take the War Strategy part of practice. If we're going to nationals, I can't do it without my players doing whatever stupid things they can."

I looked at his desk and all the games he had on type. I knew we recorded every game, but I never really thought about how many of them there were.

I suddenly felt way too overwhelmed. This was going to be impossible, there was no way I could do this. I could barely lead the team as it was.

"Take them look them over. I know you already know every player in our division, but who knows, you might learn something new."

He handed me a bag of tapes. And very kindly told me to go get suited up for practice.

We were going to Natties, one way or another. I would fight tooth and nail for us to get there.

After a three hour long practice, we all met at center ice again. Only, this time I was the one with the board.

"For years our biggest rival has been the Badgers, and it's because we can go toe to toe with them," I explained," But not anymore. Saturday we're going up against the Lancaster Knights. They have the best defense in the state. And one of the top goalies."

"And your point?" Jones asked.

"I think her point is that, we have to win," Kyler stated,"Seriously Jonesy, keep up man."

"The Knights know every defensive play we've thrown at them in the past three years. So we have to use something new."

I thought of every possible play we'd used before. Then I started thinking about all the NHL 15 games we tried to play, and all the stick-n-pucks we all went to.

"The spin," I laughed," Connor! Do you remember Josh's spin that he pulled at the pick up game that time?"

"Well yeah, he pulled the same move in the Winter Cup," Connor replied," Not that I could replicate it."

"Callahan's on to something,"Kyler interjected," He tried to teach us that one summer. Jepson, you were the only one who came close."

"Alright, we'll get to work at the next practice," I announced," Boys, we're gonna fight our way to Natties, so get ready."

We all broke up and went into the locker rooms to shower and stuff. But all I could think about was new things that we could try during the Knights game. New maneuvers we'd all talked about over the years, but we're never ballsy enough to try.

But now was the time to be stupid and take those ballsy risks. For the most of us, this was our last shot at Nationals, we'd never get this opportunity again.

I was home within the hour. Both Charlie and Jared were out doing God knows what. Conrad, who'd come home with me to avoid our father, was asleep on the couch.

On the tv, old game footage was playing, which is probably why Conrad fell asleep. The team sucked three years ago, which is how old the tape was.

I got up to change out the tape, and just as I was about to sit down, Conrad let out a sigh.

"They're getting a divorce," He mumbled,"That's why Charlie and Jared went to get Branny."

I turned around and looked over at my little brother, by only six months. He was still lying on the couch. Only he had his hands behind his head. I couldn't tell if he was happy about this or not. Yeah our dad had some issues, but I'd been in this position. I knew what it was like when you really didn't want the guy to leave, but he does it anyway.

"It's about time my mom decided to leave him," he laughed,"I've been trying to get her too for years. I think it was your mom that finally convinced her."

"You okay? I mean, as much as the guy sucks, he is our dad."

"He might be our dad, but he's a jackass," he pointed out.

The two of us busted out laughing. For some odd reason, we could laugh at our fathers douchebagary.

"God I just don't understand how a man can turn his back on his family like this again," he said," I mean, I can handle it. But Bran, the kid won't understand why we moved. Or why we aren't a family anymore. He's just a kid Cal, he can't handle this."

"He can handle more than you think Con," I told him," Besides, you guys have us."

And so it began. History was repeating itself once more, only this time history wasn't going to destroy any of the Smith children. We were stronger together. After all, the strength of the wolf is the pack, and the strength of the pack is the wolf.