Making the Cut by David Skuy

ducked low and dropped into his butterfly. The puck bounced off his left pad and ricocheted off Charlie’s skate. For a second he thought he had the short side open, until Savard lifted his stick momentarily and the left defenceman swept the puck out of danger into the corner.
    Richard swooped in neatly and drove up ice. Exhausted after a hard shift, the right winger dumped it in and changed up, as did all the players on Charlie’s side. On the bench, Charlie took several deep sips of water, andpassed the bottle to his linemates.
    “Good effort,” he said. “We had the puck the entire shift. We’ll put one in next time.”
    Simon sent a small stream of water onto the ice in a high arc. “I should’ve tipped that shot. Just missed it.”
    “The D got his stick between my legs and got me off to the perimeter before the shot. I was useless. As least Charlie got close to the puck,” Gabriel said.
    Charlie thought all three of them had played great. Simon and Gabriel had worked like monsters on the boards, cycling the puck, and the shot was right on. If Savard had been half a second slower, Charlie would have scored. They were so hard on themselves, but it was in a good way. It fired him up to work even harder. He turned his attention to the game. The play raged back and forth at a tremendous pace. He found himself getting antsy watching — he had to get back out there!
    Soon enough the centre signalled a change and Charlie hurled himself over the boards. Jake had the puck in his own end, curling in front of his net, moving slowly. Charlie went straight at him, figuring he’d be tired at the end of a long shift. Jake saw him and looked to his right to pass to his winger, so Charlie held his stick out to intercept. That changed Jake’s mind and he swerved back to his left, one hand on the stick, driving hard for open ice.
    Charlie had the advantage of being well rested, and he was able to double back and swing his stick as Jake crossed the blue line. He caught a piece of the puck, and it hopped over Jake’s stick. The two defencemen hadspread out wide to give Jake an outlet, which meant Charlie had an unobstructed lane to the net. Charlie kicked it forward with his right foot and brought the bouncing puck under control by tapping the top of the puck with the bottom of his blade.
    The goalie immediately came out, crouched low, his glove held out wide a little over waist level. His name was Theodore; lightning quick and fearless, he loved to challenge shooters on breakaways, and he was very difficult to beat on a deke. His only weakness was his height. Not the tallest kid, he could be beaten upstairs. Both defencemen were charging to close the gap, so he didn’t have too much time. Charlie dragged the puck behind his back foot, feinted to his backhand and then took a step to his left as if he wanted to deke stickside. The goalie backed up, ready to drop into the butterfly.
    “Perfect,” Charlie thought. He pulled the puck towards his skates with the tip of his stick and snapped a forehand to the top corner. The goalie had given him too much net, and the puck flew over his arm and in.
    Charlie curled back to his end, stick across his knees. It was only a scrimmage, so he wasn’t going to make a big deal over a goal, although it felt awesome to pick Jake’s pocket. In fact, he saw Clark speaking to Jake against the boards. Jake was looking at the ice, nodding occasionally. Maybe that would shut him up.
    Gabriel and Simon held out their hands and he high-fived them.
    “That’s the way to forecheck,” Gabriel said. “Let’s keep getting on them real quick.”
    Charlie rapped his shin pads with his stick and lined up for the draw. Savard came out for Jake.
    “That’s almost two goals in two shifts,” Savard said to Charlie. “Take it easy. You’re making us look bad.”
    That was typical J.C. He always made it seem like everyone else was amazing and he was just an average player. Charlie had played against him