Free Roller Hockey Radicals by Matt Christopher Page A

two-on-one rushes for them, okay?”
    “Okay.”
    “Okay, then, let’s go. Put your hands in here.”
    They did their “Go… Skates!” cheer, then went out to face off with the Bad Boys.
    For the first five minutes or so, the game stayed scoreless. Trevor was hogging the puck as usual. Even when Kirby’s man came
     over to double-team him, Trevor didn’t try to pass to Kirby. Instead, he fired off a quick shot at the goal, which the goalie
     easily handled.
    On the other end, the defense was playing better.Jamal had new skates, and both he and Nick were having an easier time skating on the new, smoother surface.
    Finally Spike took a shot that ricocheted off Jamal’s stick and straight past Lainie into the goal. That broke the scoreless
     tie, and it meant the Skates would have to come from behind.
    Kirby decided that Trevor wasn’t ever going to pass it to him. In which case, Kirby wasn’t going to wait around for the pass
     to come. Instead, when his man left to double-team Trevor on the other side of the forward zone, Kirby headed straight for
     the goal crease and stood there, waiting for Trevor’s inevitable shot.
    When the shot caromed off the goalie’s blocking pad, Kirby was ready. All he had to do was guide the puck back into the net!
     As the Bad Boys’ goalie stood in shock, Kirby jumped so high in the air that he felt like he was flying. The Skates all mobbed
     him, slapping him on the back and on the helmet and yelling their heads off.
    It was Kirby’s second goal as an E Street Skate.And he’d hardly even touched the puck!
    “Way to go, Kirby!” he heard his mother shouting from the sideline. “Whoo-oo!”
    “All right!” Marty said, giving him a high five. In a low voice he added, “Listen, Kirby, keep going to the goal, because
     Trevor’s never going to change.”
    “Right,” Kirby said, flashing a huge grin.
    “Let’s see if we can catch them off guard again.” Marty slapped him on the back and sent him over to the faceoff circle.
    The Bad Boys scored once more, right before halftime, on an awesome slap shot from Killer. Lainie flinched in spite of herself,
     and the puck went in, just over her shoulder.
    “Don’t feel bad, Lainie,” Kirby told her at halftime as they cooled down by pouring water over their heads. “That goal would
     have gone by anybody.”
    “I should have had it,” Lainie insisted. She slammed her stick on the ground.
    In the second half, the Skates rallied. Trevor,angry at being pushed around by the Bad Boys’ defensemen, whipped a slap shot by their goalie. That tied the game, and Trevor
     loved every minute of it. This was his chance to gloat, and he took it.
    “In your face!” he said, pointing at the defenders, who nearly lost it when they heard that. They glared at Trevor with pure
     fury in their eyes.
    “Shut up, punk!” Killer shouted, and Spike had to hold him back.
    “Do it in the game,” Kirby overheard him say in Killer’s ear. “Wait for your moment.”
    The game grew tense. Everyone knew that a fight could start at any moment. Then, very late in the game, one of the Bad Boy
     defenders saw that Trevor was looking the other way. He quickly gave him a sharp elbow in the back.
    “Ow!” Trevor yelled. “Hey, come on! That’s a penalty!”
    But there was no referee to call penalties. It had always been understood that if anyone did anything outrageous, they were
     penalized bycommon agreement. But this time, the Bad Boy defender just shook his head and went back to work.
    Trevor was really fuming now. In spite of Marty’s warning to take it easy, he couldn’t resist getting even. Next time he got
     the puck, he tried skating right through the defense and got into it with his shoulder first.
    “That’s a definite penalty!” Killer yelled, staring straight at Marty.
    Marty nodded, disgusted. “You’re off, Trevor.”
    “What!?” Trevor was beside himself.
    “You checked him. You’re off.”
    “But he elbowed me