Good Old Hockey Game

[Bruin Dumbledez]

Bruin and Kale had decided that it was time for a game of ice hockey. There was nothing better for curing a bad case of the winter blah's than bundling up, lacing up the blades, and firing the puck around on the open ice. Bruin had called in a lot of favours to make it happen, but he was pleased with the results....

Groundskeeper Willie had cleared a patch of ice on the lake and provided a couple of nets.

Hudson Bay had called in a few favours with some of his sports clothing contacts and secured some skates, gloves and sticks.

The sun was shining and one of New Zealand's rugged mountains provided the perfect backdrop for a good old game of pond hockey.

Now, all that was required were some players.

Bruin laced up his blades and headed out on the ice, enjoying the feeling of moving fast again. Not quite like flying, but pretty darn good!!!

 

[Samantha Thatch]

Sam meandered onto the grounds, the snow nearly up to her knees. She was slouching slightly, although she had to stand strait to plow her way through the frigid substance. She was planning to perhaps meander off towards the Owlrey to spend some time with Skyler, but she stopped when she caught sight of Bruin on the ice. She paused, staring, for a moment, one arm up in the air from her vicious attempts to plow through the snow, before it fell to her side.

She struggled over to them, and finally reached the edge of the ice. She stood on the edge of the ice, stil slightly in the snow, watching Bruin and Kale skate around.

"Hey strangers!" she called out, waving her arms wildly, slouching once again, a grand, goofy, crooked grin on her face.

 

[Courtney Potter]

Courtney ran down to the lakefront after spotting Bruin and some other students skating on the lake from a window in the Ravenclaw tower. Being Canadian meant that she loved snow, winter, and hockey. "Hey guys, thought you could start a hockey game without me?" She questioned and stuck out her tongue.

 

[Bruin Dumbledez]

Bruin did another lap and then sped toward the new arrivals, stopping quickly as he got close to them and tried to spray them with some snow from his blades. "Well, hello there!!!", he exclaimed to Samantha and Courtney. He turned to Courtney and added. "Actually, this was a test to see if you really were Canadian. A real Canadain would know that a hockey game had broken out without needing to be told." Bruin gave her a quick wink. "You passed the test by the way."

Bruin nodded to a big hockey bag over near a bench where there was a variety of skates and hockey gloves, sticks and even a few helmets and elbow pads. "Help yourselves if you'd like to join us!"

 

[Kiera Kaster]

Kiera walked over towards the lake and saw some people she knew with what looked like hockey gear. Kiera herself had never play as they didnt have much ice down in the south. She grinned at the group as she walked over to them. "Hey can I play?" she asked with a smile. "But i must warn you I never have played before" she said.

 

[Samantha Thatch]

Sam spluttered as the ice sprayed into her face. She wiped it away with one hand, ooking at it as it melted away, and then gave Bruin a long stare,before suddenly breaking out into laughter. She had most definately changed over the course of the break - she was more confident, happier, even more care free. She then rubbed the back of her head in slight embaressment, giving a small, nervous laugh.

"I'm English, so I wouldn't know what hockey is. Mind explaining please?"

She looked over towards the skates, pucks and sticks, and gave them a wide-eyed, anxious stare.

"I," she began, faltering slightly, "I dunno how skate..."

 

[Kale Thomas]

Kale squished through the snow quickly trying to catch up with the group. When he finally caught up with the others he grabbed a pair of skates which looked about his side and tried to put them on. Kale sat on the frozen over grass and attempted to tie the laces of the skates, he couldn't considering he put his right skate on his left foot and vis versa. Looking up for assistance almost with a four year old child stare for help, "Ugh...What am I doing wrong?" he asked nervously loud enough for his peers to hear.

 

[Bruin Dumbledez]

Bruin looked over the motley crew and smiled... "So let's see here. I've got a southerner, an englishwoman, and hmmm, a boy confused about left and right. This promises to be epic. Come on Courtney, let's get these three straightened out." Bruin helped the other three select some skates and ensured that they were put on the proper feet, moving from one to the other quickly and helping them lacing themselves up.

"Alright, first thing is that your skates need to be tight right up to the top...otherwise you'll be trying to skate on your ankles. Second thing, do not try and walk on skates with your toes forward, turn your toes outwards like this and then take short choppy strides with your feet in a V-shape (i.e. heels together, toes out). Third thing, bend your knees and hips a little and leand forward slightly from the waist, but DO NOT lean your weight on your stick. Finally, keep your stick blade on the ice at all times...our dental plan here isn't what you'd think it would be." And with that, Bruin ensured that the three of them all put a helmet on and then looked to see if Courtney was ready to take them out on the ice.

"Let's forget about the pucks for now and just try skating. If you get going too fast and want to stop, you have three choices...fall, aim for the nearest snowbank, or run into somebody. You can probably guess which one I usually choose..." Bruin said with a mischievious smile. "Good luck and may the force be with you..."

 

[Courtney Potter]

Courtney finished lacing up her skates, grabbed a left handed stick, and headed over to where Bruin was standing. She listened to him attempt to teach the others how to skate and play hockey, giggling as she watched their faces. Once Bruin was done explaining, Courtney stepped onto the ice and waved at the others. "You guys are never going to learn if you don't have some real experience! Get over here."

She bit her lip, she didn't want a bunch of her peers ramming into her to stop. "Oh yeah, and the snowbanks are in that direction." She said, pointing at a heap of snow to the side of the ice.

 

[Samantha Thatch]

Sam stood up, wobbling greatly. Even though her skates were quite snug, it still looked like they were too big. She lookd strangely disproportioned. Adjusting the slightly large helmet upon her head to a better angle, she peered through her cage. "I can't believe I'm doing this..." she mumbled to herself, half frustrated, half anxious. She tried to start moving, but, her toes were pointed inward, and the skates slipped from underneath her, sending her to the hard ice, landing on her butt.

"Merlin's pants..."

She stood up shakily, and renewed determination, she pointed her toes outward and tried to do what Bruin had told them to do - short, choppy steps. She started, her arms outwards from herself like airplane wings. She finally got moving.

"I'm doing it! I'm DOING it!" she exclaimed in elation, looking over at Courtney and Bruin in excitement, and then promptly skating into Kale.

{ooc: This is so wierd. I can actually skate decently in RL. It's fun to pretend like I have no idea what I'm doing.

 

[Kale Thomas]

Kale listened to Bruin's instructions closely and carefully, nodding after each step. Relacing the skates he put the correct skate on each foot and began lacing the skates accordingly. Kale grabbed a hockey stick and walked the few steps down the the lakes edge, as his skates touched the frozen water a cocky looked danced on his face. After a few minutes, he began to get the feel of the ice, Kale took longer and less choppy steps and even started circles. "BAH! Look what I can do!" Kale screeched with a goofy look on his face skating in circles. Then the unexpected happened, Sam rammed into him.
Kale let out a silly scream and tried to regain his balance, unsucessfully he fell butt first onto the ice, grabbing Samanatha's arm so he's not the only one to topple over. Once on the ice, he looked around laughed loudly.

 

[Kiera Kaster]

Kiera saw the others trying out their skates. Making sure hers were on properly, she slowly stood up. Kiera had gone through a rollar blade phase when she was 8 but this wasnt as smiliar as she thought it would be. She slowly put one foot in front of the other just as Bruin had said. Growing more confident she gained a little speed. She saw Kale and Sam collide and burst out in laughter. Glad that wasnt me! At that point she realized she didnt know how to stop or turn for that matter. She didnt know what to do except keep going towards a snowy bank right in front of her. She flew into the bank head first. It was a good thing she was used to falling. She burst out in laughter but it was muffled by the snow.

 

[Samantha Thatch]

Sam fell ontop of Kale in a tangle of long limbs, making odd monkey-like noises and grunts of pain and annoyance. She rolled off of him, looked up at the sky, heard Kiera ram into the snow bank with a loud flumping noise, and promptly broke out into a maniac-like laughter, that soon rose to such a degree that she could hardly breathe, rolling around on the ground.

 

[Bruin Dumbledez]

Bruin realized that a hockey game wasn't likely in the making, but was enjoying himself nonetheless. It felt good to be skating again and even better to be sharing some laughs with some classmates. He thought about offering the others a helping hand, but knew that they would learn more from getting themselves back upright than he could ever hope to teach them with assistance. He picked up a loose puck, stickhandled a few times, picked a target in the top left corner, and let a crisp wrist shot go from the top of the slot (about 15 feet directly in front of the net).

A loud PING could be heard as he rattled his shot off the crossbar and the puck ricocheted into a nearby snowbank. Some things never change, he thought to himself, recalling that his aim always was just a little off.

He turned back to the others and simply enjoyed being on the rink amongst friends.