Hailee Adams had been playing ice-hockey since she was 8 years old and had been a member of The Ducks since she was 12.

She was now 15 and was still close with her friends on the team - Connie Moreau, Adam Banks, Charlie Conway and Lester Averman in particular.

Hailee was playing hockey with Adam on his driveway when Charlie, Jesse, Averman, Connie, Guy and Goldberg appeared.

They told the two that they were back, and they were selected to join the Team USA managed by Gordon Bombay, their coach, playing in the Junior Goodwill Games in Los Angeles, California.

Once they found Fulton, the team met up with Gordon immediately.

"Awesome!" Connie exclaimed as a limo pulled up beside them.
"Can't be from this neighbourhood." Jesse remarked.

"Hey, you guys! I'm Don Tibbles from Hendrix Hockey Apparel. We're your official sponsors. Anybody want a card?" He asked, fumbling around in his pockets.

Hailee and her friends cheered and skated towards the limo. They all jumped into the limo as Gordon got into a separate and more private area of the limo with Tibbles - Hailee was guessing it was business.

***

Hailee loved the feeling of stepping onto the rink. So when she skated on alongside Connie, she couldn't help but smile.

Gordon told them that they were waiting to be introduced to the new members to join the team. If Hailee was being honest, she was extremely excited to meet them, although a small part of her wanted to keep the team as they were.

"So these are the top young players from around USA, huh?" Adam asked as they watched the five new members skate towards them.
Hailee nodded. "I guess so."

"Tell me about my new kids." Gordon told Tibbles.
"That's Luis Mendoza." Tibbles pointed to a tall, tanned boy with black hair and dark eyes. "He's from our Miami club."

Hailee watched the boy skate away from the small crowd of five. His eyes locked with hers, and he smirked. Hailee felt her cheeks heat up as Luis then put his helmet on.

"He's a real speedster - incredible skater! 1.9 seconds blue line to blue line." Tibbles informed Gordon.

"Wow..." Hailee whispered to Connie. "that's fast."
Hailee watched Luis as he skated around the corner of the rink, throwing in spins and fancy footwork to impress Gordon.

"Good looking skater." Connie remarked, looking over at Hailee.
"He sure is." Hailee replied, not taking her eyes off of him.
"Very good looking. What do you think, Guy?" Averman asked Connie's boyfriend.

"Shut up, Averman." Guy rolled his eyes and elbowed Averman in the stomach, making Connie laugh.

"There's one minor problem..." Tibbles began as Luis skated straight into the wall and fell to the floor.
"He has a little trouble stopping." Tibbles said, Hailee giggled.

"I almost had it that time." Luis sighed after his friends helped him up.

"Yeehaw!" One of the new members yelled, making Hailee jump a little. "How is everyone? Y'all ready to play some puck?"

"That's Dwayne Robertson from Austin. He's the best puck-handler I've ever seen." Tibbles commented as The Ducks laughed.
"You mean for his age?" Gordon asked.
"No, I don't."
"I've gotta say... it's pretty impressive." Connie said. Hailee nodded in agreement.

"That's Julie 'The Cat' Gaffney. She won the state championships for Maine three years in a row."
"We have a goalie: Goldberg." Gordon stated, looking over at the young boy who had already taken his place in goal.

Hailee laughed at Goldberg when he slipped and ended up doing the splits.

"Watch this," Tibbles told Gordon.
Mr. Tibbles ordered Hailee, Connie and Averman to take a shot at the net. Since Hailee was the best at shooting out of the three, Averman and Connie made her go last.

She watched as Julie saved both of their goals in awe. Once it was Hailee's turn, she skated towards the goal at a fast pace before stopping and trying to tap it into the net like she usually would, but Julie stopped the puck.

"Wow!" Hailee exclaimed. "That's amazing!"
"Thanks!" Julie smiled.
"Well... we could use a backup." Gordon said.

"Isn't that the kid from the olympics? The figure skater?" Gordon asked as a smaller, familiar boy skated towards them.
"Yep. Ken Wu. I convinced him that hockey had a brighter future. I put a stick in his hand... nobody's been able to touch him." Tibbles explained.

Dean Portman was the last member to be introduced. Hailee had seen him before on the news for almost breaking a player's arm. She was surprised he was still allowed to play hockey.
"That guy's a teenager?" Gordon remarked.

The group watched Dean skate around the rink listening to his heavy and obnoxiously loud music and singing along.
"Uhh, yeah... hormones." Tibbles shrugged.
"He's a goon!"

Hailee watched in disgust as he pushed some of the team members down.

"My kids don't play that kind of hockey." Gordon told Tibbles.
"I believe they're called enforcers, Gordon, and when you play Iceland, you're gonna need it."

"Who does this guy think he is?" Fulton scoffed.
"Alright, that's it!" Goldberg exclaimed, skating over to the commotion Dean had caused.

Hailee was stood with Adam, arguing with Dwayne when Gordon blew his whistle. "EVERYBODY FREEZE!" He yelled.

"Now, we didn't come here to fight, we came here to play hockey! We're Team USA. You represent your country-!"
"That's right!" Tibbles interjected.
"Now I want you to be-"
"All that you can be, right? You gotta raise yourself up-" Tibbles trailed off when he saw the look Gordon was giving him. The teenagers chuckled.

"Alright now, let's start with a scrimmage." Gordon blew his whistle.
"Great! Scrimmage!" Tibbles unintentionally mimicked.

Gordon rolled his eyes.
"Hey, you don't need me here. I've got an appointment anyway. I've gotta see Miss McKay - she's the team's tutor."
"Don!" Gordon called, before he could leave. Gordon held out his hand for Don's whistle.

"You'll get it back at the end of the school term." Gordon joked.
Everyone laughed.

"Alright, Ducks, show 'em what you got! Scrimmage!" Gordon blew his whistle.
Hailee smirked at Connie. "This'll be fun."

Hailee took her position on the rink and waited for the game to begin.
She saw Luis on the other side of the rink and smirked, before returning her attention towards Dwayne, who had got the puck.

Hailee skated towards the teenager and swiftly took the puck away from him. She began to skate towards the goal, when Luis appeared out of nowhere and stole the puck.
"Hey!" She called out.

Luis turned around and laughed before continuing to skate towards the goal.
Hailee watched Goldberg yelled at Luis to slow down, but he couldn't.

"Goldberg, look out!" Gordon yelled.
Luis and Goldberg collided and fell into the net. Hailee burst into a fit of laughter as Luis got up and tutted his head at Goldberg. "Thanks for breaking my fall."

The teenagers played for about ten minutes. Hailee managed to score twice, but the new team members beat them by one point.

They were now surrounding Mr. Tibbles, who had just been knocked out by one of Fulton's killer shots.

"Mr. Tibbles, can you hear me?" Miss McKay asked. "Mr. Tibbles, wake up!"
His eyes fluttered open and he looked around, his face full of confusion.

"Are you alright?"
"Oh, uh, I'll have a cheeseburger, fries and chocolate shake please." He replied.
Hailee chuckled.

"I think he'll be okay." Miss McKay grinned. "We'll keep an eye on him."

"Oh, I'm sorry. He didn't have a chance to introduce us. I'm Michele McKay, their tutor." She greeted.
"I'm Gordon Bombay... their coach." He nervously laughed.

"Who said we need a tutor?" Adam scoffed.
"Yeah!" Hailee agreed.
"I don't need no school!" Dean remarked.

Goldberg threw his arm around the woman. "Ah, Miss McKay. We're America's team, here, shouldn't we just be concentrating on hockey? May I suggest optional attendance?"

"I agree!" Averman, Hailee and Jesse all nodded as everyone else grinned.
"Well, that's not a bad idea-"
"Call me Goldberg."
"Goldberg! Yes! School will be optional!" She announced.

Hailee grinned and looked to Luis, who happened to be on the other side of her.
She quickly turned her head towards Connie, because she knew that if she looked at him for even a second, her cheeks would go red. "I like this chick." She whispered to her friend.

"However, should you not attend, you will not be eligible to play." Miss McKay added.
Hailee groaned. "Okay, maybe I like her a little less." She whispered to Connie.
Hailee heard Luis lightly chuckle, making her smile, but she obviously hid it.

Luis hadn't even been here for an hour and Hailee was already catching some sort of feeling towards him, which she wasn't planning on.