Cage's Misconduct (NHL Scorpions #3) by Nikki Worrell Read Free Book Online

approval. If I’d have gotten a minor, they would have wanted to stone me for it, but since I fought with the ref and didn’t cause us to be short-handed, I was a hero. Fans loved a little aggression against the stripes.
    Keith skated over to me and handed me a new stick. “Relax, Booker. It’s one goal. Let it go.”
    “Yeah. I’m good.” Like I did every time I came back to my net, I skated side to side and then around it, coming back to stop in front, tapped my helmet twice, and got in position with knees bent and glove up.
    New York won the next face off, and Nash fired a shot in the same spot they’d just scored in. That time, I stopped it with my shoulder, causing it to fly out to the corner where it was picked up by our top defenseman.
    Matty Johnson took his time, weaving the puck back and forth through our own players while we made a quick line change. Before he jumped over the boards, he shot the puck forward to Gunderson, who crossed the red line and quickly got off a wrist shot that just missed making a goal.
    The crowd was on their feet as Scorpions continued to swarm the net. Another shot rang off the post.
    “Last minute of play in the first period!” The announcer’s voice boomed through the arena and the crowd roared with encouragement. “Let’s go Scorpions! Let’s go Scorpions!”
    With 0.2 seconds left, Gunderson again threw a wicked wrist shot toward the goal, and Simmer redirected it right into the net. The arena was deafening, even drowning out the goal horn.
    The players on the ice celebrated with chest bumps and high fives all around.
    Back in the locker room, the air was buzzing with the thrill of tying up the game with such little time left on the clock.
    “Okay, guys. Settle down.” Coach DeLeon clapped his hands and waited until we were all seated on our benches. “For a change I don’t have any criticism for you. You look good out there. Keep crashing the net and good things will happen.”
    “No words for Booker’s little outburst?” Carl Rush, the team’s current enforcer, had the same problem I did. Diarrhea of the mouth. He rarely knew when to keep his mouth shut.
    “How about you worry about your job, and I’ll worry about mine? That work for you, Rush?” Without waiting for an answer, Coach left the room to head into his office where the assistant coaches were already seated watching a replay of the goal New York scored on me.
    “What the fuck, asshole?” I walked over to Rush and slapped him in the head. “What’s your problem?”
    “Hey. None of that. Come on, guys.” Keith, ever the peace-keeping captain stepped in between us, gently pushing me back. “Carl, you know better than to poke the bear during a game. And Cage, you do realize how alike you and Carl are, right?” I didn’t bother answering his question as he made his way over to some of the other guys.
    “Sorry, man. I don’t know why I said that.”
    I slapped him on the shoulder. How could I stay mad at him? We were a lot alike. “No problem. If it makes you feel better, I’m sure I’ll be hearing about it later.”
    With a minute left to go until the start of the second period, we made our way back out onto the ice. I tried to catch a glimpse of Karen, but with all the lights swirling around the arena, I couldn’t pick her out. My tickets were in a club box on the blue line, and I knew exactly where it was, but I still couldn’t find her. It didn’t matter, though. There was no time left to study the crowd up there. It was time to get my head back into the game.
    At the end of the second, the game was still tied at one to one. Coach DeLeon was not so quiet this time around. As soon as everyone was seated in the locker room, he threw his clipboard on the ground hard enough to separate the board from the clip.
    “What the hell happened? You guys were on fire in the first. And now you give me three shots on goal in the second? Three fucking shots? That’s unacceptable! This is New York.