PT #1

Prompt 1

Magnus Liljestrom stepped into the locker room and looked around to see familiar faces. The Superstars team consisted mainly of his fellow S53 players, many of whom he had come up through the ranks with in the Juniors as a member of the extremely strong S53 draft. There was the British Bruiser Edward Williams @Aephino as Center, although these days he'd gone fully into his Texas Renegades persona and sported a black cowboy hat and bandanna habitually; right winger Ryuuji Minamino @Nhamlet from the Chicago Syndicates, who tipped his fedora at Magnus when they locked eyes; left winger Sven Svenson @LordBirdman who was trying to describe something to Williams using extremely animated (and rude) hand gestures; and his future defensive partner/heated rival Jukka Timonen @juke, who was already getting up to greet him as he walked to the stall with his name and jersey.

"Timonen, you son of a bitch!" said Magnus as they walked towards each other.

Their hands smacked together in a macho display of pure testosterone and bulging muscles, catching the attention of everyone else in the room.

Timonen's arm started wavering as Liljestrom squeezed harder.

"What's the matter, Chicago has you pushing too many pucks?" Magnus' grin grew larger.

"Make it easy on yourself Lily - OK OK OK, enough!" said Timonen, as he gave up. "You never did know when to quit, did you, huh?"

"Damned good to see you, Timmy," said Magnus. "Let's get down to business."



PT #2

Prompt 1

Magnus settled into his position as both teams squared up at center ice. Team Up-and-Comers were the first opponents they would face in this tournament, and they had a pretty good roster. Not as good as the Superstars, but good.

With the puck dropped by the referee at center ice, both teams sprang into action. Edward Williams out-muscled Jonathan Granstrom off the puck at center, swept it back and neatly onto Jukka Timonen's stick. Magnus moved up ice, ready to receive the breakout pass from Timonen, which he neatly tapped forward with his skate to his stick as he crossed the line. He saw Finn von Murphenstein lining him for a hit, so a little juke to avoid him and then Magnus put the puck in the slot for Ryuuji Minamino, who had driven in and used Williams' body as a pick for his defender. Minamino fired off a heavy shot towards the net, but Jon St. Ark managed to use his blocker to deflect it out of play as Sven Svenson stood there screening him.

No goals yet, but the Superstars had let the youngins know that they were going to be in for a game.

PT #3

Prompt 1

It all seemed so easy. There was an enticing opening left open by Gabriel Johnson, where Magnus could've carried the puck through and caused a chance in the slot - but a few seconds later it was a 3-on-2 going back the other way where Eko Van Otter put the puck up high past Jobin who could only watch helplessly as the shot sailed past him. He replayed the sequence in his head, how Johnson baited him in, stripped him of his puck and sprung the Old Farts Team for an odd-man rush. The rest of the game tightened up defensively, but every single mistake that happened was exploited ruthlessly. The old farts seemed to know where to be to cause the maximum chaos, to take advantage of any little weakness shown by the Superstars.

After that defeat, Magnus knew that he had much more to learn, and that he would be staying up late reviewing game tape. Seems like the old dogs still had some tricks left in them.

PT #4

Prompt 1

Last time, the Grizzled Vets got the better of us, as they had tricks up their sleeves that we hadn't seen. They might be old, but they had experience and the wiliness to use them. Gabriel Johnson managed to make me look foolish as he nutmegged the puck past me and joined in on an odd-man rush, leading to the game-winning goal.

However, this time we were wise to their tricks, and used our physical advantages to overcome their old men bodies. It was a tight game, with both sides playing crushing defense, and there was a lot of back-and-forths on the ice. We got a little chippy too as we didn't want to let the old farts win. The game-winning goal was probably a bit of a dirty play, but the ref wasn't looking and I managed to slow Aaron Wilson long enough for our scoring winger Ryuuji Minamino to break free and let off a wicked shot, which bounced off both posts and in, for the game-winning goal. Wilson was pissed and was yelling at the ref, but there hadn't been a penalty called so we were good in that regard.

Next up... whoever we're facing next.

PT #5

Prompt 1

So, here it was. The final game, this time against the Hall-of-Famers. Not sure how these old coots are still gamely hanging on, but they are and they haven't been easy customers for the previous teams. You'd have expected them to wither away and die, or fall down and break a hip or something.

That's OK. We can beat them with treachery and youth. Now that we have lessons from the Old Timers, and the secure knowledge that we're at our peak.

The puck drops, we battle for 60 minutes, and in the end, we had a late goal that sealed the deal. A perfect lob pass from me to Minamino, who streaked in and beat their goalie up top for that picture-perfect game-ending goal. As the clock wound down we mobbed together at center ice, celebrating our win and enjoying the feeling. Maybe we can meet up again at the all-star game, but for now, this was our victory to savour.