Timberwolf Revenge

  Timberwolf Revenge

  Sigmund Brouwer

  illustrations by Dean Griffiths

  Text copyright © 2006 Sigmund Brouwer

  Cover and interior illustrations copyright © 2006 Dean Griffiths

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

  Brouwer, Sigmund, 1959-

  Timberwolf revenge / Sigmund Brouwer; illustrations by Dean Griffiths.

  (Orca echoes)

  (Howling timberwolves series)

  ISBN 1-55143-544-6

  I. Title. II. Series. III. Series: Brouwer, Sigmund, 1959- . Howling Timberwolves series.

  PS8553.R68467T547 2006 jC813’.54 C2006-903016-2

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2006927108

  Summary: Hockey action and humor that will appeal to young readers.

  Orca Book Publishers gratefully acknowledges the support for its publishing programs provided by the following agencies: the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program and the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Province of British Columbia through the

  BC Arts Council and the Book Publishing Tax Credit.

  Design and typesetting by Doug McCaffry

  Cover and interior illustrations by Dean Griffiths

  Orca Book Publishers Orca Book Publishers

  PO Box 5626 Stn.B PO Box 468

  Victoria, BC Canada Custer, WA USA

  V8R 6S4 98240-0468

  Printed and bound in Canada

  Printed on recycled paper, 60% PCW.

  09 08 07 06 • 4 3 2 1

  To Walter Tarnowsky and his beloved Leafs—D.G.

  Chapter One

  Johnny Maverick kicked open the door of the dressing room. The door nearly hit Coach Smith.

  “Hey,” Coach Smith said. “Watch out.”

  “I’m sorry,” Johnny said. He was a center on the Howling Timberwolves hockey team. “But I just lost two loonies.”

  Everybody on the team looked up from putting on their equipment. Some were already tying skates. They were getting ready for a big game.

  “How could you lose two loonies?” Coach Smith said.

  “All you did was go into the bathroom on the other side of that door.”

  “I was pulling my coat off,” Johnny answered. He shook his coat. It jingled. “See? I had a whole bunch of change in my pocket. Two loonies fell out.”

  “So pick them up,” Coach Smith said.

  “They fell into the toilet,” Johnny said.

  Everyone on the team laughed. The Timberwolves all lived in a small town called Howling. They were in Calgary for a big hockey tournament.

  “Are the two loonies still in the toilet?” Coach Smith asked.

  “Yes,” Johnny said. “Right on the bottom.”

  Everyone laughed again.

  “Reach in and get them,” Coach Smith said.

  Johnny asked, “Would you reach into a toilet for only two dollars?”

  Coach Smith thought about it. “No,” he finally said.

  “Me neither,” Johnny said. “That’s why I’m mad.”

  Tom Morgan stood up. He was the other center on the Howling Timberwolves hockey team. It was his first season with the Timberwolves.

  “I have an idea,” Tom said. “I can help if Coach Smith says it is okay.”

  “Go ahead, Tom,” Coach Smith said. “It would be better if Johnny were thinking about hockey instead of his money. This is an important game.”

  Tom looked at Johnny. “Could you give me your coat?”

  “How will that help?” Johnny asked. But he handed his coat to Tom.

  Tom walked across the dressing room in his skates. He pushed open the door to the toilet. Everyone on the team watched. Tom reached into the pocket of Johnny’s coat and gathered up all the change he found. Then he dropped the change in the toilet.

  “What did you do that for?” Johnny said. “That was all the rest of my money!”

  “Yes,” Tom said. “Now you have to put your hand in the toilet to get it. And while you are doing that, you can get the two loonies you lost too.”

  Chapter Two

  “Look!” Johnny said to his friend Stu Duncan. “See in the stands? That’s Ian James!”

  Stu and Johnny were in the players’ bench. The referee was ready to drop the puck to start the third period of the game. The score was two to two against a team called the Calgary Rams. If the Timberwolves won the game, they would go on to the semi-finals.

  “Ian James!” Stu said. “He’s watching our game? Wow!”

  Ian James was a defensemen for the Calgary Flames in the NHL.

  “I wonder why he is here,” Tom said.

  “That must be his son on the other team,” Stu said. “The name on the back of the sweater says James.”

  Then the whistle blew. Johnny and Stu went on the ice to start the game. They were going to play against the son of Ian James.

  After the face-off, Johnny Maverick had the puck at center ice. He passed it to his left wing. Johnny skated fast to the blue line and yelled for a pass back. The left wing gave it to him.

  Johnny faked that he was going to the left of the defenseman. Then he cut quickly to the right. He was around the defenseman! He had a breakaway!

  Johnny fired a hard wrist shot. It went between the goalie’s legs. A goal! The Timberwolves were ahead three to two.

  “Great move!” Stu said as they skated back to the bench. “That was Ian James’s son you beat.”

  The other line went on the ice for their shift. They made sure the Calgary Rams did not score.

  Johnny Maverick went on the ice the next shift. The face-off was in the Timberwolves’ end.

  Johnny lost the face-off. The puck went back to the same defenseman he had beat the shift before. Johnny rushed toward the defenseman. Ian James’s son took a shot that bounced off Johnny’s shin pad toward center ice.

  Johnny chased the puck. The defenseman fell down.

  Johnny had another breakaway!

  This time Johnny deked the goalie. He scored again! The Timberwolves were ahead four to two.

  Then Johnny and Stu went back to the bench. The other line went on the ice for their shift. Once again they made sure the Calgary Rams did not score.

  Johnny Maverick went on the ice again. This time the face-off was in the other team’s end.

  Johnny won the draw. He kicked the puck back to the Timberwolves defenseman. The defenseman took a shot at net.

  Johnny was in front of the goal. He was trying to push the Calgary Rams defenseman out of the way. Johnny looked up in time to see the puck coming. He lifted his stick and deflected the puck into the net.

  Another goal! The Timberwolves were ahead five to two.

  The coach on the other team called for a time-out.

  “That’s three goals in three shifts,” Stu said to Johnny when they got back to the bench. “A hat trick. And you scored them all against the son of Ian James!”

  “Hey, Johnny,” Tom said. He was standing near the boards. He heard what Stu said to Johnny. “Three goals. That should put you in a good mood. Maybe you won’t be mad at me anymore for my little trick.”

  “You should listen to him,” Stu told Johnny. “He did say sorry. Revenge is never a good idea. And remember, we are all friends, right?”

  “I don’t want revenge,” Johnny said. “I just want to get even with him.”

  “Oh,” Stu said. “Maybe next week
in school you should learn what the word ‘revenge’ means.”

  Before Johnny could answer, the referee blew the whistle to start the game again. The other line was back on the ice. The Calgary Rams did not score against them.

  In fact, that’s the way the score stayed. When the buzzer rang at the end of the game, the Timberwolves had won five to two.

  Chapter Three

  The team was in the dressing room, and everyone was excited about the win. Suddenly there was a knock on the door.

  Coach Smith opened the door.

  Everyone in the dressing room saw that it was Ian James, the professional hockey player. He was very big. He wore a Calgary Flames jacket.

  “Hello,” Coach Smith said.

  “Hello, Coach,” Ian James said. He stepped into the dressing room. He was carrying a hockey stick. He looked at all the players.

  It was very quiet.

  This was Ian James!

  “Where is Johnny Maverick?” Ian said. “I want to talk to the hockey player who scored three goals against my son in three shifts.”

  Johnny Maverick stood up. The dressing room stayed very quiet.

  “I hope you are not mad at me,” Johnny said to Ian James.

  “I am not mad at all,” Ian James said. “I came here to tell you that I was very impressed with your hockey.”

  “Really?” Johnny said.

  “Really,” Ian James said. “In fact, I am impressed with the entire team. You all played good hockey. You beat my son’s team fair and square. And you were good sports. I like to see that in minor hockey.”

  “Thank you,” Coach Smith said.

  “Thank you,” everyone on the team said.

  “I want to wish you all the best in the semi-finals,” Ian James said. “And there is one other thing.”

  He held out the hockey stick.

  “This stick has been signed by everyone on the Calgary Flames hockey team,” Ian James said. “I had it in my car.”

  “Wow!” Coach Smith said. “Look at this stick, you guys.”

  Coach Smith didn’t have to say that. Everyone was looking. This was Ian James! The stick was signed by all the Calgary Flames players!

  “I want to give this stick to Johnny Maverick,” Ian James said. “He was the all-star of the game against my son’s team.”

  “Really?” Johnny said.

  “Really,” Ian James said.

  “Wow!” Johnny said.

  “Wow!” everyone on the team said.

  Then Ian James left.

  “Good job,” Coach Smith said to Johnny. “I’m glad for you.”

  Johnny was hugging the stick.

  “I love this stick,” he said. “I am going to call my parents and tell them as soon as we get to the hotel.”

  “You love the stick?” Tom Morgan said. “Are you going to sleep with it?”

  Nearly everyone laughed. But Johnny didn’t.

  “You already played one trick on me,” Johnny said. “But I’m too smart to let you do anything to this hockey stick.”

  “I was just making a joke about sleeping with it,” Tom said. “And I said I was sorry about the other trick.”

  “I don’t believe you,” Johnny said. “So the answer is ‘yes’.”

  “The answer to what?” Tom said.

  “To your question,” Johnny answered. “You asked if I was going to sleep with my hockey stick.”

  “Oh, that question,” Tom said.

  “I’m going to sleep with it,” Johnny said. “I’m going to eat with it. I’m going to shower with it.”

  “Sleep and eat and shower with it?” Tom said.

  “That’s right,” Johnny said. “You might play another trick on me, but there is no way in the world you are going to get this hockey stick away from me. And that’s a promise.”

  Chapter Four

  The Howling Timberwolves went to a restaurant after the game. Johnny and Stu sat at a table with Tom and Coach Smith. Johnny had his hockey stick with him. The rest of the team sat at tables nearby.

  When the waitress stopped to take their orders, she said, “That’s a hockey stick. You’re not planning to play hockey in here, are you?” She was making a joke.

  “I’m guarding it,” Johnny said. “I’m going to sleep and eat and shower with it. I love this stick. Nobody is going to do anything to my stick!”

  The waitress laughed. She thought Johnny was making a joke too.

  When the food arrived Coach Smith was away from the table. He was calling the parents in Howling to let them know the team was in the semi-finals.

  Johnny had ordered pancakes and sausages. He put some syrup on a side plate. Then he put a piece of butter in the middle of the syrup.

  “What are you doing?” Stu asked Johnny.

  “I heard that butter gets hot if you put salt on it,” Johnny answered. “I want to see if it’s true.”

  “That’s crazy,” Tom said. “Putting salt on butter doesn’t make it hot.”

  “You’re probably right,” Johnny said. “But I want to find out for myself.”

  Johnny poured a little bit of salt on the butter.

  He opened his hand and put his palm right over top of the butter. He waited. He looked at Stu.

  “Tom is right, Stu,” Johnny said. “It doesn’t get hot. I don’t feel a thing.”

  “Maybe try some more salt,” Stu said.

  Johnny put more salt on the butter. He opened his hand again and put his palm over the butter.

  “Nothing,” he told Stu. “I don’t feel any heat.”

  “Of course not,” Tom said. “I told you it was crazy. You’re dumb to think it would work.”

  “Well,” Johnny said, “maybe it doesn’t make the butter hot enough to boil water. Maybe you need to get your hand as close as possible to feel it.”

  Johnny lowered his open palm until it was almost on the plate.

  “Hey!” Johnny said. “I’m right. Tom is wrong. I can feel the heat.”

  “No way,” Tom said. “That’s crazy.”

  “You try it,” Johnny told Tom. “Then we’ll see who is right.”

  “I’m right,” Tom said. He reached across the table. “Move your hand, Johnny.”

  Johnny pulled his hand away.

  Tom opened his hand. He put his palm directly above the butter. “I don’t feel anything.”

  “It doesn’t make the butter hot enough to boil water,” Johnny told Tom. “You have to have your hand really close.”

  “This close?” Tom lowered his hand so it was almost touching the butter.

  “Close enough,” Johnny said. Then he quickly pushed Tom’s hand down into the plate. He squished Tom’s hand into the butter and the syrup.

  “Hey!” Tom said.

  Tom lifted his hand. It was sticky from the butter and the syrup.

  Everyone on the team began to laugh at Tom.

  “Now we’re even,” Johnny said. “You made me put my hand in the toilet. And I made you put your hand in the syrup.”

  “Even!” Tom was mad because everyone was laughing. “I don’t think so. Just wait until I get you back!”

  “Guys,” Stu told them. “Revenge is never a good idea. And we are all friends. Remember?”

  “Revenge?” Tom said. “I don’t want revenge.”

  “Let me guess,” Stu said. “You just want to get even.”

  “Exactly,” Tom said. “So Johnny better watch out. Because something really might happen to his Ian James hockey stick.”

  Chapter Five

  The score was four to three. The Timberwolves were losing to the Calgary Hawks in the semi-final game. If the Timberwolves lost, they were out of the tournament. If they won, they would stay the night in Calgary. The finals would be the next morning.

  But there was only five minutes left in the game. The Timberwolves needed two goals to win.

  “This doesn’t look good,” Johnny said to Stu. They were on the bench, waiting for their shift.

  “No,
” Stu said. “Maybe I shouldn’t have eaten all those pancakes at the restaurant.”

  “You mean today?” Johnny asked his friend. “Or all your life?”

  “Hah, hah,” Stu said. “Aren’t you funny.”

  “Yes, I—” Johnny stopped. He was watching the game. “Oh no. Our goalie just tripped their center. Our team is going to get a penalty.”

  Now the Timberwolves were a man short. This was big trouble. Coach Smith sent Johnny and Stu out, along with Tom.

  The Calgary Hawks moved the puck into the Timberwolves end. Stu went into the corner to get the puck. He fell. As he was sliding along the ice, he swung for the puck with his stick. It bounced off the boards, right onto Tom’s stick. Tom saw a defenseman in front of him. He shot the puck off the boards around the defenseman to center ice. Tom raced as hard as he could to get the loose puck.

  He got past the defenseman. Suddenly, he had a breakaway!

  Halfway to the goal, the other defenseman tried to trip Tom. But Tom managed to stay on his skates. He skated hard toward the goalie. He fired a high wrist shot into the top of the net.

  The Timberwolves had scored!

  Now it was four all. But there were only three minutes left.

  Johnny and Stu and Tom skated by the bench.

  “Can you stay on the ice?” Coach Smith asked them.

  Tom nodded. He went back to the center ice to take the face-off. Johnny and Stu stayed on the ice too.

  The referee dropped the puck. The Hawks center won the draw. The puck went to the left defense. Tom didn’t chase the puck. He waited near the center.

  Johnny charged forward at the defenseman with the puck. Tom watched carefully. He saw that the left defense was going to pass to the right defense. He waited to the last second. Then he charged ahead just as the left defense began to pass across the ice.

  Tom intercepted the pass!

  He had another breakaway.

  This time the defenseman tripped him. Tom slid on his stomach, watching the puck go into the corner.

  When the Hawks defenseman touched the puck, the whistle blew.

  The referee called a penalty.