CHAPTER 1 Annie Roger slapped her hockey stick against the ice and loudly shouted Come on Grizzlies She watched from her position in front of the goal as the other players took their places for the first face-off of the season Ruby Vogel East Grover Lake’s tall center skated to center ice and came to a quick stop She surveyed her teammates like a general admiring her troops before battle She looked back at Annie The two locked eyes and Ruby nodded 4
Annie slapped her stick on the ice again in return She was ready The crowd cheered with the loudest cheers coming from just above the Grizzlies bench on the other side of the thick Plexiglas barrier Annie saw her friends Ben Mason Logan Parrish and Gabe Santiago waving their arms and rooting for the Grizzlies Logan was even wearing a ridiculous red foam finger that said WE’RE 1 and a hat shaped like a bear head Only Logan Annie thought shaking her head He always liked to goof around Sitting next to Logan Annie saw Carter Cressman Carter was new to Grover Lake Middle School He had started spending more and more time with Annie and her friends something Annie didn’t mind Not one single bit Carter wore a heavy winter coat His 5
hands were tucked into his pockets His black hair swooped over his forehead Annie’s heart skipped a beat Oh man I didn’t realize Carter would be watching me play Of course it was pretty obvious why Carter was at the game when Annie thought about it His dad was the team’s new coach the reason Carter had transferred here Annie took a deep breath and muttered to herself No distractions Focus The ref blew his whistle and dropped the puck The game was officially underway Ruby slashed at the puck knocking it back to the Grizzlies left wing Naya Jessen She brought the puck across the blue line and into the attacking zone 6
The Grizzlies opponents the Rhinehart Rockets had a set of tall imposing twins on defense One of them met Naya head-on and slapped the puck away before she could get off a shot Ruby tracked down the puck and brought it back across the blue line She passed to Heidi Gordon the right winger who had an open shot Heidi brought her stick high and smacked the puck hard It sizzled through the air but was deflected by the goalie Ruby was there for the rebound With a flick of her wrist she perfectly placed her shot over the goalie’s left shoulder It hit the back of the net The red light behind the goal whirled and a siren sounded signaling the goal 7
