Guarding His Goal

by Ralph Henry Barbour

“Shoot!” yelled Crowell.

“Shoot!” implored the spectators.

But the Rock Hill point was rushing desperately at Crumbie, his stick slashing the ice, and it was Jim Rose, coming in from the rear, who hooked the puck away just in time and, miraculously dodging the defenders in front of the cage, banged it home for Yardley’s first score.

Pæans of delight arose from around the barrier and the blue blades of the Yardley sticks waved in air. The Rock Hill goal was telling the point just how it had happened and finding comfort in explaining. Then they were off again, Rose having the puck along the boards. A pass to the center of the ice went wrong and it was the Rock Hill cover point who became the man of the moment. But his reign was brief and ended when Rose sent him sprawling into the barrier. A Rock Hill forward stole the disk and skated desperately, but there was no one to take the pass and ten yards in front of the Blue’s goal Halliday got it away and fed it down the ice. And so it went for the rest of that first period, with no more scores for either side. Twice Rock Hill threatened dangerously and eight times she shot, but only three attempts reached Toby and those were stopped without difficulty. For her part, Yardley only once came near to scoring and then the puck struck an upright and bounded away and Crowell’s attempt to cage it only sent it over the barrier into the snow.

On the whole, Toby had a fairly easy time of it during that half of the contest. It was in the second period that he found his work cut out for him, for, after the rest, Rock Hill showed that she could play hockey. Halliday was hurt in the first minute of play and Stillwell took his place. Five minutes after that Crumbie was sent off for tripping, and it was then that Rock Hill almost snatched a victory. That she didn’t was only due to the fact that Toby, looking ridiculously small but making up for his lack of bulk by his quickness, played his position like a veteran. Stillwell was not Halliday’s equal on defense, and, with Crumbie off, Rock Hill kept the puck around the Blue’s goal for what seemed hours to the goal-tend. Shot after shot was made, knocked down and brushed aside. The applause from the audience was almost continual and the shouting of the contenders made a babel through which Toby, inwardly in a wild ferment of excitement but outwardly as cool as the ice he stood on, slid from one side of the cage to the other, crouched, straightened, kicked with his skates, thrust with his stick and watched all the time with his blue eyes, never losing sight of the puck. Time and again, having shot, Rock Hill secured the disk the instant Toby thrust it aside. Yardley, minus one player, slashed and sprawled and shouted helplessly, with Crowell commanding them to “Get it out of there!” That was a wild and strenuous two minutes for Toby, but he came through with a clean slate. The scorer credited him with seven stops in that busy space of time, but Toby is still of the opinion that the scorer missed some thirty-five or forty! And then, finally, just as Crumbie tumbled over the barrier again and rushed to the rescue, Arnold pulled the puck from a Rock Hill forward and got free with it.

But there was no getting past the opponent’s outer defense now. Cover point and point had learned their lesson in the first period and, with a center playing back on defense, Yardley’s rushes never took her past the outer trenches. Toward the end of the period both teams were trying long shots and failing miserably. Casement took Arnold’s place when the latter bruised his knee against the barrier, and, just before the whistle, Flagg displaced Framer. But the period ended without another tally, the score still one to one.

Five minutes of rest, then, and back to the battle once more for two five-minute periods. Then it was that Coach Loring, deciding to relieve a very tired Toby, called for Lamson and discovered him missing. Messengers were dispatched to the gymnasium but returned to report that Frank was not to be found. Coach Loring scowled, shrugged and viewed Toby doubtfully. Then he conferred with Captain Crowell and the two put the matter up to Toby himself.

“I’ll be all right in a minute or two,” panted the boy cheerfully. “Tired? No, sir, I don’t feel tired a bit!”

Coach Loring smiled. “All right, then, you’d better try the next period anyway. If Lamson turns up we’ll let you off. Do the best you can, Tucker. We’ve fought them off so far and it would certainly be too bad to lose the game now, wouldn’t it?”