Guarding His Goal

by Ralph Henry Barbour

Subsequent to this disappointment Yardley tried hard to score, but were unable to do so because of the stubborn defense of the black-and-yellow goal-tend, who during the ensuing ten minutes made some really remarkable stops. On one occasion Arnold Deering broke through and had nothing between him and the net but the goal-tend. The latter came out and made a neat stop, the puck bounding away from his leg-guard. Had there been another Yardley player on hand to take a shot at that moment the home team would have had another goal to her credit. The Warren cover point started another of his bull-dog rushes, and, after spilling Ted Halliday head-over-heels, himself came to grief when he bumped Framer and went sprawling along the ice to bring up with a crash against the boards. The game slowed up after that and the referee had to warn both teams against loafing. The first period ended with the score 1 to 0 in Yardley’s favor. Thus far the Blue had shown far better offensive and defensive playing, save, perhaps, in the matter of goal-tend. Frank Lamson had had but six chances and none of them had been difficult, thanks to Halliday and Framer. Yardley had lost several opportunities to score by slowing up near goal. Crumbie and Rose both showed a tendency to hesitate when a quick shot would have scored, and all save Captain Crowell showed the need of practice in shooting.

When the second period began Warren again scored the puck at the face-off and took the offensive. She at once invaded Yardley territory, but the man with the puck was “knifed” by Halliday and Framer. The puck went up and down the rink, with neither team showing much in the way of team-play. A scrimmage in front of the Warren Hall cage gave Arnold his chance to shoot the disk past the goal-tend, but again a forward pass was called and again Yardley had to swallow her disappointment. Shortly after that Crumbie was sent off for one minute for loafing, and Warren Hall tried desperately to penetrate the Yardley outer guard, but lost the puck after every rush. Crumbie came back with instructions from Coach Loring to keep the puck away from the Yardley goal. With five minutes of the final period left, the play became fast and furious, Yardley confining herself to the defensive. A black-and-yellow forward was sent off for tripping. Halliday stopped a long shot in front of his position and evaded the Warren Hall players to the net. But his shot went three feet wide. Warren got together with the return of the penalized player and showed a brief flash of team-work, taking the puck down to her opponent’s goal and finally slamming a shot at Lamson. Frank caught the puck with his hand, dropped it and flicked it aside. It bounded off a skate and the Warren right center was on it like a flash. A quick lift and the puck shot into the cage, passing between Frank Lamson’s body and the side of the net. Had Frank shifted himself four inches he would have made the stop, but it all happened so suddenly that he was caught unawares. The period ended with the score tied.

After a five-minute rest the teams went back to it again for a “sudden death” period, the first team scoring to win. Gladwin went in for Crumbie and Casement for Deering, and Warren Hall tried a new cover point. All kinds of chances were taken by both sevens, but to no avail. Crowell had two opportunities to bring the game to an end, but he failed to produce a tally. Once he reached the net unchecked but lost his balance and was unable to shoot. A second time his try was neatly stopped by the goal-tend. Had he followed his shot then he might still have secured a tally, but he swung to the right and the rebounding puck was slashed aside by the point. Darkness made it almost impossible to see the puck now, and when, at the end of nine minutes, a flurry of snow began to fall the referee blew his whistle and brought the game to a disappointing and indecisive end.

Toby took his way back to the gymnasium through the snowy twilight with the rest. Personally he was less concerned with the disappointing outcome of the game than with the loss of his money. Of course he had wanted Yardley to win, but there are more important things in life than a hockey victory, and one of them is losing six dollars and twenty-five cents when that amount has been earned by hard labor and represents something very much like a small fortune. Every one else was talking at the top of his voice in the locker room and proving, at least to his own satisfaction, that, in spite of the final scores, the contest rightfully belonged to Yardley.

“I wish Ted Halliday would fix up a return game with them,” said Framer earnestly. “That’s what I wish.”

“That referee chap was crazy in the head like an onion,” proclaimed Simpson, who had been detached from the second team to take Dunphy’s place. “Every time we shot a goal he called offside on us.”

“Oh, I guess he was all right,” said Jim Rose. “I know for a fact that Cap was offside that first time when I passed to him. There’s no use growling at the referee, Simp.”

Toby waited around a few minutes for Arnold, but when he discovered him talking with Frank Lamson, still only partly dressed, he made his way out and walked over to Whitson alone. Back in Number 22, he searched for the missing box for the fifth or sixth time. A half-hearted attempt to polish up his morrow’s algebra was interrupted by the six o’clock bell and he went down to commons.

The occupants of Table 14 had recovered their spirits, if they had lost them, and were very merry that evening. Or most of them were. Toby was not. Toby satisfied a healthy hunger in almost uninterrupted silence and viewed life gloomily. Supper was half over when Arnold came in. Gladwin at once started a discussion of the game and he and Arnold, who seldom agreed on any subject under the sun, were soon at it across the board. Gladwin was a bit cocky by reason of having been sent in in the overtime period and was more than ever inclined to think his own opinions about right.