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The bet’s tied. The thought was rather absurd. He’d not cared about the bet, entering it to appease Novak and for his own amusement. What a silly thing to consider at a moment like this. Five goals for him and Novak, five for Everett. This decision—or lack thereof—was an unreasonably important one. Right now, Henri held not only the game on the blade of his stick, but this silly little bet with his linemates.

You could take it yourself…wouldn’t it be nice to say you beat a player like Everett at something?

It would be nice.

Decision made, he scanned the ice for the best way to execute it. He lazily skated lower down the boards into a seemingly innocuous spot.

Winning bets is fun, he thought as he took a deep breath and then raced out of the corner. But winning games is more fun.

The closest defender clearly hadn’t anticipated this move. Too late, he tried to dive into the way and fell onto the ice. His teammates rushed to try and cut Henri off, which only opened up the perfect moment…

Henri kept his eyes on the net, pulling the puck back. The goalie squared up, ready for the shot. Instead, Henri passed it. He didn’t need to look as he sent it flying. How many times had they done this in practice? He knew where Everett was standing, knew where he liked the puck.

Henri watched the goalie blindly leap to the opposite side of his net, desperate to stop the inevitable. But it was too late: the sound of Everett’s stick connecting with the puck was like a gunshot, the force of his swing bringing Everett to one knee. The puck moved too fast to track. Blink and you’d miss it: from Henri to Everett to the back of the net. Beautiful.

The goalie’s head sank in defeat, as did the other Aviators as they skated with slumped shoulders back to the bench. The arena was quiet except for the Turkeys shouting a mixture of cheers and whoops and a lone gobble sound that might’ve been coming from Briggs down the ice in net. And then there was no more sound at all, because he was being crushed.

Winning bets = good.

Winning games = better.

Having Dylan Everett pull him in for a huge, monstrous hug that kind of hurt despite the pads, with his bright blue eyes locked on Henri and Henri alone, a huge grin aimed at him = very best.

abqturkeysnhl (December 6, 2023): The Turkeys win in Manitoba 3-2 over the Aviators thanks to a hat trick from the Cap The three stars of the game:

Everett

Baptiste

Briggs

See you in Albuquerque next Thursday when we host the Mustangs. Let’s go Turkeys!

turkeytalk (December 6, 2023): THE TURKEYS WIN!! They’re returning to Albuquerque with 7/10 possible points from their northern road trip which is fantastic. That keeps them in a low Central Division playoff spot. I know there’s still a lot of hockey left, but it’s so much easier to hold onto these spots than claw your way back into one.

↪ gobblegoals: did…did LHB just hand the bet over to Everett? like my man had his own scoring opportunity, had Novak down low for one too, and actively chose to give it to Everett?? isn’t this the same guy every previous coach has called selfish and not a team player and has a bad attitude?? wow. wooooooow.

↪ luc-henri-sourit: HE IS SO HAPPY have I died and gone to heaven?

turkeytalk (December 6, 2023): Postgame interviews are in. For those who were following the Everett-Baptiste-Novak bet, I’m going to post the relevant parts…

↪ turkeytalk: Novak: “It was just a friendly bet to keep the boys on the scoreboard. We had some inconsistency going into the season we wanted to iron out. I mean, it obviously did wonders for my stats.” When asked if they’ll keep it going: “I’m too old to be that amped up every game. Maybe during playoffs.”

↪ turkeytalk: Everett: “Baps is so good at that. Just slowing down the game to the speed he wants. Controlling the puck and the play so the other team doesn’t stand a chance. You saw on that power play how he just danced around everyone. Made it look easy. Waited for someone to bite and sent that pass. Sure, I scored, but I don’t even get a shot on net if Baps isn’t the one setting things up for us.”

↪ turkeytalk: Baptiste: “Everett’s one-timer is lethal. We all had a chance, but his was the best one, so I gave it to him.” When asked if he has any regrets: “That Novak will be upset with me.”

↪ turkeytalk: When asked who won the bet, Everett: “I did. I don’t want to say I ever had any doubts, but they had me worried after Edmonton, not going to lie. They each owe me a bottle of wine. Pretty tame in retrospect. Should’ve asked for more.”

↪ gobblegoals: I just. Love this team so much.

CHAPTER 32

Nover (December 2023)

Beep beep wine delivery service for NHL all star Dylan Everett

Know where he’s at?