GREAT SAVE, Luongo!

[Cactus]

Without a single question in his mind, Jim Hughson had the most recognizable hockey voice of the modern era. Not only because he'd taken over announcing duties as the voice of the CBC's famed program 'Hockey Night in Canada', but also because for years, he'd been the voice of EA Sports' famous 'NHL' videogame series. Sure, the torch had been passed in the videogame world and now it was Gary Thorne and Bill Clement, but hey, you just can't beat the immortal calls of Jim Hughson.

At least, that was one crazy goalie's opinion, and he knew that a whole bunch of people would disagree with him. This was, after all, the United States, and he was, after all, a goalie.

And everyone knows, goalies are totally nuts.

Maybe it was the fact that his parents subscribed to the NHL Centre Ice package so he could catch the Canadian feeds of the NHL games, or maybe it was just the feeling that local Minnesota Wild commentator Dan Terhaar just wasn't doing it for him, but Trent Hunter knew that in his own opinion, Hughson was the best. Canada had some of the best hockey play-by-play guys, and for his generation, it was generally looked at that the ones who were iconic were Hughson and Bob Cole. For most kids around, they only knew the calls of Doc Emerick or Joe Beninati, but in Trent's opinion, you went Canadian-style or bust.

Funny, the shit that goes through your mind when you've got an NHL prospect about to rip a slapper right by you...

To say that he heard the shot before it bristled the net behind him could have been almost true, if not for the fact that it defied the laws of physics. The simple fact was that his reflexes just didn't come up strong enough to stop that kind of a slap-shot. What pissed him off was that again, it was high glove, and still, he just couldn't manage to get his hand up in time. Shoulders slumping, he fished the puck out from behind him and fired it back up-ice towards centre. Instead of going to retrieve the puck for another shot, the player skated towards him, coming to rest to a stop beside the net, which he leaned on with one elbow.

"Stiil having trouble with the glove?"

Staffan Kronwall's Swedish accent was definitely a tad thicker than his brother Nik had, and as such it caused him to be a little bit quieter than his outgoing brother. It came as a bit of a surprise, then, when Trent Hunter, the school team's starter, had come up and personally asked him to help him work on a few failings that he saw in his game. Staffan had been blasting shots as hard and as accurate as he could manage to various places in the net, but most of the time, it seemed as though Trent's biggest weakness was high glove. He'd been victimized in a recent 4-2 loss on back-to-back shots, and the weakness was obviously bothering the goaltender.

Raising the painted goalie mask up so that it sat on the top of his head, Trent nodded to the large Swede and grumbled a little bit.

"Yeah, I just can't seem to get the hand up in time. The reflexes aren't as good up there, either. Just doesn't make any sense, man!"

Staffan smirked with a bit of an apology on his face.

"Keep in mind, Trent, that you asked me to shoot as hard as I could...I don't know if a lot of the other high school kids can, aside from Nik..."

Nodding, Trent scratched his goatee.

"That's the whole point. I know you've got an absolute cannon, and you can put it pretty much wherever you want. Makes you the perfect guy to help me get over this shit, but it just doesn't seem to be improving at all! I mean, Kronny, we've been out here for a good three hours!"

Chuckling, the larger boy tapped his stick on the ice a couple of times.

"It isn't going to happen overnight, friend. What happened to that optimism of yours? If you have a weakness, we'll get it out of you, if it means taping your hand to that post."

Finally, Trent broke a smile.

"Ahh, wouldn't that be somethin', ah? Probably not a great idea to tie any part'a me up, though. There's a few people who'd jump at the chance to fire pucks at me while tied up...WITHOUT equipment..."

The two boys exchanged a laugh, and then Staffan gestured to centre.

"Go a little while longer?"

Trent nodded his goalie mask back down onto his face, the determination back in his eyes.

"Let's do it. I'll stop those shots of yours if I've gotta break my hand doing it!"