PUNCHED OVER HOCKEY

My friend and I walked into the Joe Luis arena in Detroit to play a game of hockey for the

Stanley Cup Playoffs. We were nervous because we were 700 miles away from our home in

Boston. The rink smelled like dirty socks mixed with popcorn. The smell and the rink were

unfamiliar to us- a new place, a new smell which in some cases exciting. Carl and I were

walking past the popcorn machine, when we noticed that the popcorn here cost more than back

in Boston.

We were on our way to the locker room and passing some other hockey players, when

all-of-a sudden, Carl was punched in the face by one of the Detroit Red Wings hockey players.

I was so mad that I tackled the player and started punching him. Carl had to pull me off of him.

We were all dressing as Tim the coach came in and saw Carl's bloody face. He asked, "What

happened to him?" Carl's face was bloody, and he had a black eye. We told the coach the truth

and he became furious about it. He walked off some where, I assumed that he went to the other

team's locker room to address the coach and tell him what happened but, I was wrong. Our

coach came back with an ice pack, tossed it over to Carl, and said, "Suck it up, you're a hockey

player". Carl never asked for an ice pack nor did he complain. Carl could not wait to get out on

the ice so that he could get his revenge. He was going to see to it that the person who punched

him wouldn't go unpunished for his actions.

The problem was the coach did not need him to get a into a fight. So the coach told me

and a couple of other players to keep Carl out of the penalty box, which should not be that hard

to do. Bob, he other center told me that if Carl got into a fight, then I was not to get in the way. I

was the the best player on our team and nobody needed to see me get hurt. We jumped on the

ice and we were warming up the guy who punched Carl gave him a dirty look. Carl just turned

around and skated off, but he was furious. The coach knew that Carl was going to get into it this

game.

It was Carl's turn to go out on the ice and play some hockey, when a player from the other

team came up behind Carl and punched him right in the back of the head. My whole team stood

up and cleared the benches. All of us were after the other team. That was the worst cheap shot

that anyone could ever take. From behind, Carl never knew what hit him! Soon both teams were

off the benches and fighting. There was blood everywhere. The referees did not know what to

do. They had never experienced this before, because these fights are so rare.

Eventually, the referees stopped everyone, separated them and calmed them down. The

players they could not separate soon separated themselves by fighting until they could not fight

any more. Both teams were disqualified from the playoffs. I was disappointed, but then I said,

"Hey, that's life, there's always next year. Let's just hope it doesn't go the same way!"