Storytelling for Week 6: The Boy in the Hockey Helmet

Author's note:  For this storytelling, I decided to do a remix of The Maiden in the Wooden Helmet from the Japanese Fairy Tales by Andrew Lang.  My story will also take place in a universe where people don't bat an eye at weird magical stuff happening on sports teams.  Because sports.

The story is about a young woman who, at the behest of her dying mother, wears a wooden helmet low on her face - hiding away her beautiful hair and face.  She continues to wear the helmet, even as she works or washes her face.  She is taken in by the lord of the land she works after he notices how industrious she is and gives her the task of tending to his wife.

Not long after, the eldest son comes home from a business trip and, seeing the young woman's face after the helmet had tipped to the side, resolves to marry her.  His parents don't approve right away, but eventually consent.  While getting ready for the wedding, the young woman tries to remove the helmet but it doesn't come off - not until she and the son have been fully committed to each other and drank a glass of wine together - does the helmet break apart and fall in front of them - bursting into a bunch of precious jewels.

For my story - I changed the story to an AHL (American Hockey League) goalie who can't take his mask off until he makes it to the NHL (National Hockey League) and wins a Stanley Cup; names used are the names from the rabbits I work with over at Heartland Rabbit Rescue.  The teams are the Pittsburgh Penguins, because they're my favorite, and their AHL affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre Penguins (called colloquially: the Baby Pens).  (Expect a lot of hockey twists coming to my storytelling since preseason is here and the regular season is just around the corner.)

Names note: Sasha is the Russian diminutive for Alexander (like how Bill is the diminutive of William).

If you have any questions about phrases or hockey terms I used here, just ask!  I know that there aren't many hockey fans here in Oklahoma, but this intro is already A LOT longer than I meant it to be, so on with the story!


***


"What do you mean you can't take it off?" Sasha asks; he's trying to stay calm - because he's a good captain like that - but there wasn't much calming about the situation and Sasha's Russian accent was thickened with his worry.

"I mean it's stuck," Nicky replies, panic edging into his voice as he tries once again to lift his goalie helmet off of his head.  And, once again, only the face mask lifts up - but the whole helmet can't be moved from his head.

"Don't worry," Archie says, walking by as he threw his jersey into the bin in the center of the room for washing, "this happened to a friend of mine in juniors - you'll be fine.  It should wear off in a day or two."


*


It did not wear off in a day or two.

"Nicky" (Marc-Andre Fluery, #29 Pittsburgh Penguins) [x]

*

"Nick, do you think this will affect your chances for a call-up?" asks one of the beat reporters.

"I'm not--" Nicky starts.

"With the Pens getting closer and closer to a playoff run," interrupts another reporter, "how worried are you about this?"

"Well, I--" Nicky starts again.

"How do you feel about--"

But Nick doesn't hear the rest; the reporters are pressing in too close and Nick's suddenly bent over, trying to take deep gulping breaths.

Then, as if from on high, Nicky hears Sasha yell, "Get out of the way!"  Sasha's hands are on either side of Nick's helmet as he kneels down and, lowering his voice, says to Nicky, "Easy, little goalie, easy.  Deep breaths, Nick.  Just concentrate on my voice."

After a moment, after the world seems to steady itself under Nicky's feet, he says to Sasha, "I'm not little."  It’s an old argument, something Sasha has been saying to Nicky since he’d first walked into the Wilkes-Barre barn.

"You're little for a goalie," Sasha says, smirking.

"Yeah," Nicky says, pulling away from Sasha and leaning into his stall, "little for a goalie."  He closes his eyes and pretends that everything is okay.  (When he opens his eyes again, Sasha is still kneeling in front of him, concern and sadness in his gaze.  Nicky forces himself to smile.)

*

Sparky, the Penguins leading goaltender, goes down in the middle of the third period against the Flyers and coach comes up to him the next day, says, "Pack your bags, Nicky, you're needed in Pittsburgh."

*

Nicky dresses for the rest of the season, but he's still the back up to Hershel - who was Sparky's backup - and only plays one game.

His helmet still isn't coming off.

*

"I wouldn't worry about it much," says Walter, the captain of the Penguins and a legend on the cusp of retirement; his voice is kind and his Canadian maritime accent thick around the word "about" so that it sounded like "a-boot."  "Really," he continues, "it happens to Sparky every once in a while."

"Do you know why?" Nicky asks.

"No," Walter says, “he says that there's no real rhyme or reason."

"So I could be stuck like this?!" Nicky asks, jumping to his feet as panic hits him.

Walter holds his hands up, says, "Don't jump to any conclusions.  I'm just saying that everything will be okay.  Eventually."

"Look, I don't mean to interrupt," says Buckley, his tone anything but apologetic as he turns towards Nicky, "but I have to ask.  Have you been able to wash your hair, like, at all, dude?"

"My goalie mask is magically stuck to my head and you're worried about my hair?" Nicky asks, deadpan.

Buckley shrugs.

"Go away, Buck," Walter says, chuckling as he shoves Buckley away.

"The people have a right to know!" Buckley exclaims, feigning indignation even as he let his (much smaller) captain shove him towards his own stall on the far side of the locker room.

And just like that, the tension between Nicky's shoulders seems to loosen; and, for the first time in a month, he laughs.  It's a laugh that not faked or forced from him; it’s raspy and halting - as if he had forgotten how.

(It's also the first time in a month that his helmet doesn't seem quite so tight around his head.)

(It still doesn't come off.)

*

They're two games into the Stanley Cup finals when Hershel goes down with a concussion after being run over by one of the opposition's forwards.  Levi, the Penguins's resident goon, had immediately dropped his gloves.

The ensuing fight had been long and bloody and the penalty minutes, coach later screamed at them, hadn't been worth it.

Except that they had been.  There's a significant change in the momentum of the game and suddenly it's as if the Penguins were unstoppable - they win each foot race, each battle along the boards; every power play is capitalized on and no penalty kill sways the game towards the opposition's favor.

After the brawl, Nicky wins his team one victory, and then two, and then three.

*

One more, little goalie, Sasha texts him the evening of the sixth game of the Finals series.

If Nicky could win this one for his team - they would win the Cup.

Still not little, Nicky texts back.

*

The first two periods of that final game are a blur of sweat and heavy bodies slamming into him, of too fast pucks that he's only just able to keep out of his net.

By the third period, the game is still scoreless - until Walter jumps out of the penalty box and is off on the breakaway and the opposing goalie can't stop him - he drops and it's a beautiful goal as Walter slams home a goal, going top shelf.

The goal horn sounds just as the clock drops to zero.  Nicky’s teammates rush him, jumping on him and screaming his name and, sometime during that - Nicky’s helmet falls to the ground.

***


End.

"Nicky" lifting the Stanley Cup

Bibliography: The Violet Fairy Book by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H. J. Ford (1901).