"Okay, Pekka, man! Put the ball in, dude!" Patrick Kane shouts.
Pekka Rinne places the small, hard soccer ball into the hole on the side of the foosball table, letting it roll into the black field.
The ball rolls over to the red centerman.
"Ooo! That's mine!" Sidney Crosby chirps, slowly moving the pole that was connected to the centerman and boardmen. He begins cradling the ball the centerman and boardman that is next to it on the left.
"C'mon, Sid man, just shoot dude!"
"Wait..." Sidney found an opening to pass to his center, and shot the ball, but then is deflected by a blue defenseman. "Nooo!"
"Sorry, Sid, I'm not gonna let you score that easily." Jonas Hiller smiles, shooting the ball to the blue center, pass the boardmen.
"Yes, man!" Patrick looks at where he can score with inquiring eyes.
"Don't let him score, Jonny!" Sidney says between gritted teeth.
"Don't bother me, I'm concentrating," Jonathan Quick replies back, carefully watching every move Patrick's foosball players do.
Patrick then whacks the ball towards Jonathan's goalie; Jonathan saves it, kicking it back to the red boardmen.
"Dang it, dude!" Patrick groans.
"Let me try this!" Sidney begins spinning the pole around, making the foosball players go into a red blur; the ball deflects off of a blue boardman, causing it to to fly out of play.
Pekka rushes over to grab the ball. "When can I play?"
"When someone goes up to ten!" Sidney answers.
Pekka looks at the scoreboard. "It's right now one to one. And the way you guys are playing, it's gonna take forever to get to ten."
"Okay then, man, next person to score wins!" Patrick says.
"That's fine with me," Jonathan agrees.
"Okay, good." Pekka puts the ball back into the slot.
Sidney begins spinning his boardman/centerman pole again. "This is fun!"
"Stop spinning, dude!" Patrick cries.
The ball gets caught into the spinning players and a player shoots wildly, tipping off of a blue defenseman, flying past the goalie.
"I scored!!! Yay!!!" Sidney pumps his fists in the air, high-fiving Jonathan
Patrick groans.
"I had no chance with that!" Jonas tells Patrick.
"I should spin next time, man..."
"Good game, good game!" Jonathan shakes both Patrick's and Jonas's hand.
Sidney does the same.
Then the door to the game room opens and Antti Niemi came comes strolling in.
"Oh there, you guys are!" he exclaims.
"Heh heh, yea, dude, we saw that you had a foosball table and we just couldn't resist but to play, man!" Patrick makes an embarrassed look.
"It was Patrick's idea," Sidney says.
"Oh that's fine. Just don't go disappearing in my house now."
"Wait, why did you even invite us to your house in the first place?" Pekka asks.
"To talk about the playoffs."
"Ooo!!! I'm in the playoffs!" Sidney jumps up and down happily.
"Okay, okay, let's go up to my living room." Antti walks out of the room, with his sidekicks following him.
When they arrived at the empty living room, Sidney, Jonathan, and Patrick sit down on the sofa, while Jonas, Pekka, and Antti sit on their own chairs. A coffee table is in the middle of their semi-circle with the flat-screen TV in front of the sofa that is high up on the wall, behind the table.
"So, who's in the playoffs?" Antti asks.
"I am!!!" Sidney raises his hand in the air excitedly. He is sitting criss-crossed on the sofa.
"Of course you are. Who are you playing against?"
"The Blue Jackets!"
"Sergei Bobrovsky's team," Jonathan says.
"Yup!"
"Who are you playing against in the playoffs, Patrick?" Antti looks at his spy.
"The Blues, dude," Patrick replies coolly.
"Who has powers in that team?" Jonathan asks.
Antti picks up a clipboard from beneath the table and looks at it. "Ryan Miller."
There was silence for a moment.
"Okay...Jonas?" Antti turns to Jonas.
"I'm playing against the Star's!"
"Ooo...against Kari's team..." Jonathan bit his lip.
"Brrr!!!" Sidney shutters.
"Don't worry, we'll win!" Jonas smiles with his mouth closed.
"And Pekka..." Antti's voice trails off as he looks at Pekka, who had a serious look on his face. "Better luck next time."
"It's okay."
"Alright..." Antti turns to Jonathan. "And you, Jonathan, are playing against..."
Jonathan points to his Master. "You."
"Riiiight..." Antti frowns. "Again."
"This time, it's in the first round." Jonathan smirks.
"And the Sharks have the home advantage this time."
"Watch out, Jonny!" Sidney whispers. "You just might be looking at your Stanley Cup dream's doom!"
"Don't worry, Sid! I can do it!" Jonathan whispers back.
"But Jonathan, remember: even though we are friends here, we are not friends on the ice. And what happens on the ice--"
"--stays on the ice," Jonathan completes.
"Good. And that doesn't only go for Jonathan and me, but also for all you guys. Okay?"
Everyone nods in agreement.
"Yup-a-doo-da!" Jonas smiles with his eyes closed.
"Alright... So far, there isn't any attacks by the EHP, so just worry about the playoffs. I'll contact you guys if there is trouble."
"I don't have an intercom though, dude." Patrick points to his bare wrist.
"Sorry, Patrick." Antti shrugs with a smile on his face.
"I don't have an intercom, either," Jonas says. "Same thing with our Finnish predator." He points to Pekka.
"The only people here who has an intercom is Jonathan and me..." Antti's voice trails off. "Oh my, I need to give you guys some!" He got up. "Let me see if I have some more for you guys." He walks away.
"I feel for you, Pekka, that you're the only person here who's not in the playoffs," Sidney says with a sad tone.
"It's fine. Just don't bring it up." Pekka lazily waves his hand in the air.
"Patrick, who do you think's gonna win the series: Niemi or me?" Jonathan asks.
"Ummm...I dunno, man." Patrick shrugs. "Nemo, dude?"
"Ah, okay." Jonathan throws his hands in the air. "Who do you think's gonna win, Sidney?" He looks at Sidney, who's now talking to Bubby Jr.
"Bubby Jr.!" Sidney raised his mini stuffed gorilla in the air.
"He's irrelevant here," Jonathan says flatly.
"Heeey! That's mean!" Sidney covers Bubby Jr.'s small, tan eyes. "He's relevant everywhere!"
"Okay, whatever!"
Sidney holds up Bubby Jr., staring at his black eyes. "Bubby Jr., you are beautiful and wonderful and relevant. Don't listen to what mean ol' Jonny says about you, okay?" He pauses for a moment, hearing what his gorilla is saying. "What was that?" He put Bubby Jr. up to his ear. "I dunno why he's like that with you--he just has somethin' against you. Maybe he's...jealous." Sidney smirks.
"That's not true!" Jonathan snaps. "It's just weird carrying a stuffed gorilla everywhere!"
"Yup, he's jealous," Sidney tells Bubby Jr. He looks back at Bubby Jr. "I love you!" He squeezes him in a tight hug.
"Ugh..." Jonathan places his face on his hands.
Antti walks back into the living room, carrying a black box. "Okay, I'm back with the intercoms! And I got enough for everyone!" He opens up the lid, placing that on the table and begins passing the intercoms to Pekka, Sidney, and Jonas. Antti stops in front of Patrick, holding an intercom in his free hand.
"Nemo man, please, I won't let it get stolen or damaged or anything! I'll keep it as safe as possible, dude!"
"Okay..." Antti holds it out towards Patrick.
Patrick grabs it and wraps it around his wrist. "Ah, I remember this feeling! Thanks, man!"
Antti smiles. "I'm trusting you..." He walks back to his seat and sits down. "Okay guys, so I guess you should get going. Have your intercoms on at all times!"
"How do you work this thing?" Pekka asks.
"I'll teach you." Jonathan tells Pekka. "It's not that bad."
"Okay, let's go."
They all left, leaving Antti in his house.