Frank had found himself opposed to Coots in the start as the puck was "faced," with the shoe of a hockey stick on either side. Coots had quite a reputation as a crack beginner. He could get possession of the rubber disc better than any other player among the Cliffords; and hence it was usually Coots who led off whenever the puck had to be faced, which might frequently occur during the game.
This had always given his side a great advantage, and was one of the reasons for their astonishing success. Frank had sized the situation up. If he could not hold his own in connection with this wizard, he meant to try Lanky and see how he would pan out. Much depended on their being able to get their share of starts.
Perhaps Coots was a little over-confident in the initial performance. He had had such an easy time of it in past performances that he may have grown a shade careless, as the best of players will.
"Frank hooked it away from him! See him go, will you? Hey! Clifford, what's the matter with that for a beginning? Wow! what a scramble!" shouted Buster Billings.
"FRANK HOOKED IT AWAY FROM HIM!"
"But there's the left wing cornered Allen! Watch him get it from him!" answered a faithful Clifford rooter.
"Will he—maybe, maybe not!" quoth Jack Eastwick, as Frank, rightly gauging the downward swoop of Gentle, sent the puck over to Lanky Wallace at just the very last second.