Henry laughed. "I'm always early. Which makes you even earlier, and everyone else late." He turned, spinning around on the ice to face her. She was dancing well, keeping her balance and still moving with the music. He let pushed away, gaining speed before turning to glide backwards. He did that a few times, getting himself back into the rhythm of the ice.
"Oh, I love this song!" Babe exclaimed, as I Think We're Alone Now started playing. She spun in a lazy circle, smiling brightly. If Henry hadn't been here, she would have already been singing along. She was fairly close now, though.
Henry shook his head. "You kids and your newfangled music. If it wasn't written and played on a piano at least a hundred years ago, it's hardly worth listening to." He wasn't entirely serious, but he was so behind on what was cool music these days. He really did prefer classical piano music to most, but the song wasn't too difficult to move with on the ice.
"Leave my eighties hits alone, old man." Babe shot back, grinning. She swayed along with the music, spinning. At some point, she started singing along. Her voice was incredible, but if someone had told her that she wouldn't have believed them.
When she started singing, Henry almost fell off the ice. She was really good, and it was surprising. He watched her out of the corner of his eye, and decided to tell her someday. Just not today, because her voice was making him appreciate the song a lot more. Unfortunately, their peace was interrupted as the door swung open and Hawk made his way down.
"Love the music, kids!" He called out, in the way he had where you couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or not.
Babe saluted Hawk, laughing as she pulled her phone out to turn off the music. While she did, she skated back to the gate, stepping out and setting her phone on one of the seats. She was still humming as she skated back out, doing lazy figure eights while they waited for the rest of the team.
Henry continued his gentle circles, while the team slowly started to show up. Once Kevin, Dylan, George, and Evan had shown up, Hawk called all six of them over to the part of the stands he was sitting on with his clipboard. Henry circled his way over and quickly took off his skates before walking over to see what he wanted.
"Kids, we're going to start with a few quick drills. It's going to be Dylan, Henry and Babe against Kevin, Evan and George. Talk strategy, make me proud." He sat back and let the kids decide how they wanted to do this. The teams were organized well, Babe and Henry paired with one of the weaker members. The other three were all about even, the levels of skill similar.
"Huddle up!" Babe called, already back on the ice, at their goal. She studied the other team, recalling the footage of their games she had watched last night. She had a bit of catching up to do, as far as getting in a good rhythm with the team, so anything helped.
Henry followed her out, trying to decide if he was glad she was a clear leader, or a little afraid she would replace him on the team. He wanted the best for the team, for sure, but a part of him also really didn't want to be challenged by someone who was, almost definitely, better than he was. He skated over to Babe and joined the two in a huddle to discuss strategy. Please tell me she isn't a goalie, too… He thought anxiously.
Babe bumped Henry with her shoulder, grinning wildly. "You're one of the best goalies I've played, think you could help us out here? I can't defense for shit." It was true. She was incredible on offense, but guarding a goal? It's like she'd never played before.
He grinned at her, instantly relieved. "Sounds awesome, with you and Dylan out there we'll probably win." He did enjoy playing offense, he just wasn't as good at it. He always had a 50% chance of hitting the puck into the goal; he either made it perfectly or missed so wildly it was closer to his own goal. Dylan was still trying to figure out where and what he was best at, and playing with someone at Babe's level would be good for him. "Ready?"
"On three?" Babe asked, placing her helmet on her head and lowering the guard. Se put her hand out, in the middle of their huddle, and shot Henry a wink. "One."
Henry added his and clipped his helmet with his other hand. "Two." She was definitely going to be good for team morale, that much was obvious.
Babe waited for Dylan to place his hand on top of theirs, adding three, and then she nodded. "Let's go!" There was something about her voice, attitude, and grin that seemed to pep everyone else up, as she skated back and raised her stick in the air.
Henry laughed, moving into position in front of the goal. She was enthusiastic, and he liked it. He didn't have a lot of experience with girls, but he appreciated the easy way she'd seemed to insert herself into the team. She was like a puzzle piece that fit just right.
Babe spun in a circle on the ice as she lowered her stick, sharing a look with Dylan. The other's took a minute longer to converse, but broke apart looking fairly confident. Hawk waited a moment to blow the whistle, and then Babe and Dylan were off at the exact same time towards the puck.
Henry grinned, watching his teammates rush for the puck. They were pretty out of sync, but still worked well with each other and picked up on one another's signals. He loved seeing them all work together, even when they were split up to play against each other.
It took Babe and Dylan a moment, but they were pretty soon in perfect sync with each other. Babe had always been good at picking up on her teammate's styles and speed, and Dylan was no different. She let him grab the puck, which he stole right before Kevin could get to it, and flanked Dylan as he skated near the glass, keeping between him and Kevin.
Henry laughed inside, realizing the flaw in their strategy- there was nothing for him to do. Of course, he wasn't about to sit back and relax, but he was able to enjoy just watching his team's styles and moves. He very much enjoyed this kind of thing, and it gave him time to really pick up on the strengths and weaknesses of each member of the team.
Babe laughed as Kevin checked her out of the way, and watched him miss the puck as it sailed straight into the other goal. It was soon travelling back across the ice though, and Babe signaled for Henry to be on guard, before taking off after Kevin.
He caught the signal, and his brain instantly went into overdrive. He watched the puck like a hawk, noting the body language of each member of the opposing team. He caught every signal they passed, and prepared himself for it. His whole body was wound up, ready to block the little puck whenever it came. And when it did come, he blocked it easily, making eye contact with Babe as he swung his stick to propel the ball to her.
Babe caught the puck, spinning around and ducking past a swing to steal it from her. Her ankle throbbed from the fall earlier, but in the usual hockey adrenaline rush, she barely noticed it. [Insert name I've already forgotten here] managed to steal the puck from her, but she easily got it back, twisting out of the way of a check and continuing on her way.
(I'm barely keeping them all straight)
Henry whistled a few times, lending his cheers to help his teammates maintain their adrenaline. It probably wasn't a problem, giving Babe's enthusiasm, but he did enjoy cheering on their teammates. Shortly after, Hawk called an end to the drills and the team skated over to congregate on the wall near their coach.
"Y'all were hella good!" Babe shouted excitedly as she bumped Kevin's shoulder with her own, and high fived Dylan. "I haven't seen talent like that in forever, no offense to my old team." She added on the last bit hastily, rubbing the back of her neck as she took her helmet off.
Henry cocked his head at her. "Wait, are you serious?" He hadn't thought the team was that good, they were just well adjusted to working together. Maybe he was wrong, though, after all, he hadn't played another team in months. Hawk gave them an enthusiastic nod.
"See, boys and girl, ya'll got talent and ya'll can go places. Really focus, really train, and we'll be playing matches within a month." The team broke out in excited whispers, everyone thrilled at the prospect.