Power Plays

By Maureen Ulrich

Jessie McIntyre, 14, is new to Estevan Junior High, and she's having trouble fitting in. By signing her up with the local girls hockey team, her parents hope to give her a fresh start and help her make new friends, but bullies can be found everywhere-including the dressing room. Power Plays, a gritty tale about the problems facing today's teens,

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wood Dragon books
• Release date: Aug 5, 2020
• ISBN: 9781989078358

Maureen Ulrich

Maureen Ulrich was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan but grew up in Edmonton and Calgary, Alberta. She started writing horse stories when she was eleven and historical fiction during her high school years. In 1976, she returned to Saskatoon to attend university and graduated in 1980 with an education degree. Her first teaching assignment was in Lampman, Saskatchewan, and she has pretty much lived there ever since. She has been writing plays for young people since 1997. Two titles - Sam Spud: Private Eye (2007) and The Banes of Darkwood (2010) - are available through www.samuelfrench.com. Maureen has also written and produced several professional adult productions - Snowbirds (2015), Diamond Girls (2016-2018), and Lords of Sceptre (2018-2019). Souris Valley Theatre in Estevan SK produced her full-length musical Pirate Heart (2018), scored by the incomparable Ben Redant. In her free time - of which there is not a great deal - Maureen loves to read and write, travel, knit, hang out at rinks and ball diamonds, golf, ski, and ride her motorcycle. Please visit her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or maureenulrich.ca.

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Praise for the Jessie Mac Hockey Series!

Maureen knows her characters and the game. I found myself both believing Jessie and believing in her—this despite her terribly human tendency to speak when she shouldn’t and not speak when she should. Ultimately, Jessie does choose the truth, and that makes her a hero.

Richard Harrison, Professor, Mount Royal University

I enjoy Maureen Ulrich’s writing because she explains hockey in a way that makes sense to me. Thrust into the world of girls hockey, Ulrich’s reader learns the intricacies of playing on a girls team and being a girl playing on a boys team and the challenges of both.

Amy Mathers, Amy’s Marathon of Books

The Jessie Mac Hockey Series played a huge role in my hockey career; it inspired me to push through tough times and pursue my AAA dream. It also taught me how to be a better teammate and person by not judging people without knowing their stories. This series helped me throughout my schooling, hockey and personal life. It’s more than hockey stories; it’s a look into the real world and how situations can be handled. I would highly recommend reading this entertaining and captivating series.

Reauna, age 17

Praise for Power Plays (Book One)

Ulrich demonstrates that there are many ways to succeed in relationships without resorting to any sort of bullying. She stresses the importance of accepting and celebrating the differences between people rather than using them as an excuse for malicious behaviour. This is an excellent novel which provides lots of action, a little romance, and a great deal to think about.

CM Magazine

Really good book, really good read. It was easy to follow the plot. The author was able to get the basic teen issues of bullying and loneliness that accompanies moving to a new town and the natural responses of covering up and hiding.

Jordynn, age 15

I learnt many ways to try and stop bullying. The parts about Jessie going to parties was also very true and how it is hard to say no.

Courtney, age 12

Maureen Ulrich has grasped many of the key issues young teens are dealing with today and rolled them into one to create a fast-paced novel, like the game of hockey. If in need for a humorous uplifting read, Power Plays is definitely the right choice.

What If? Magazine

Each teammate has a unique personality, and even the meanest characters turn out to be likable. Readers will relate to Jessie: she chats with her friends on the computer, dates, and has struggles with her parents. Some lessons are imparted along the way, mainly about teamwork, forgiveness, and bullying.

School Library Journal Review

I have seen things like this (bullying) happen before and when I first read this book it gave me goose bumps because it seemed so real. It really made me think about bullying and how it hurts people and how people can be so mean, sometimes without realizing it.

Haylee, age 13

The author has also managed to insert into the book, without seeming high-handed, a number of other topics, including racism, peer pressure, parental pressure, sexism, and drug and alcohol abuse. I highly recommend this book. With all the underlying themes and topics included in the book, I believe it would be a good one for junior high teachers to include in class discussions.

Prairie Fire Review of Books

As my class read the novel aloud, they laughed together, were intense together, and felt empathy for the characters together. This novel made my class better.

Dana H, Teacher

Normally the action parts of sports novels confuse me. Even though I don’t know much about hockey, the novel’s action was easy to understand.

Kaitlyn, age 13

©Maureen Ulrich, 2020

This book is a revised edition of the previous book under the same title

published by Coteau Books in 2007.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written consent of the author, the publisher, or a license from the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright). For an Access Copyright license, visit www.accesscopyright.ca.

This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents (except historical events) are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead is coincidental.

Typeset by: Christine Lee

Cover photograph by: Wanda Harron

Cover art by: Callum Jagger

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Ulrich, Maureen, 1958-

ISBN: 978-1-989078-35-8

Issued in print, audio and electronic formats

Wood Dragon Books

Post Office 429, Mossbank, Saskatchewan, Canada, S0H 3G0

www.WoodDragonBooks.com

Maureen Ulrich

Box 53, Lampman, Saskatchewan, Canada, S0C 1N0

Contact: [e-mail]

What is a Power Play?

In ice hockey, it occurs when a team has a one or two player advantage over the opposing team due to a penalty.

Having a power play greatly increases the opportunity to score.

Table of Contents

Praise for the Jessie Mac Hockey Series!

What is a Power Play?

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Author’s Note

Acknowledgments

Maureen Ulrich – Author

Wanda Harron – Photographer

The Players

The Jessie Mac Dictionary

Chapter 1

3:27.

three minutes till two days of freedom.

Mr. Wallis drones at the front of the class about our homework assignments for Monday then rolls right into a lecture about tonight’s Halloween Dance and how we have to set a good example for Estevan Junior High. Everybody nods because they’ve heard it before. I haven’t, but it doesn’t matter. I wouldn’t go to that dance if my life depended on it.

Believe it or not, Mr. Wallis is one of the few EJH teachers I like. He’s usually in a good mood, and he tries to make his classes interesting. He uses cool expressions like beware of Greeks bearing gifts and we’re two ships passing in the night. On the downside, he’s obsessed with making us enter our daily homework in the calendar app on our phones.

I realize that everybody’s staring at me. What did I miss?

Jessie, let me repeat this. Where is your phone? Mr. Wallis asks.

As I reach under my chair for my backpack, the plastic seat makes a squonking noise, just like a fart.

The sound is timed perfectly with dead silence. You’d have to be deaf to miss it. Jason snickers behind me. Derrick, who rarely pays attention in class, starts laughing like a hyena. That gets the class going. While Mr. Wallis tries to regain control, I dig like a gopher in my backpack. Eyes burn holes in my back. My fingers brush my phone, but there’s no way I’m taking it out.

It’s a relic. A dinosaur. My dad’s old flip phone from another century.

Mercifully Natalie’s phone starts playing a song I don’t recognize, and Mr. Wallis makes a fuss because he has a rule about shutting off notifications—not that Natalie cares. She gives him this pathetic story about a family emergency, and he falls for it hook, line, and sinker.

By the time I sit up, things are back to normal. I can’t find it, I tell him. I’ll write down my homework. I hold up a piece of paper.

I notice Kim’s smiling at me. She sits in the row to my left. But her smile isn’t friendly. Why would it be? She’s definitely not my friend.

She pinches the end of her nose between her thumb and forefinger and squints her eyes. I scratch the bridge of my own nose with the tip of my middle finger and return her smile.

When the bell rings, I hastily gather my stuff, hoping to be the first one out the door. I won’t even go to my locker.

Jessie, I’d like to speak to you! Mr. Wallis calls from across the room.

What now?

While everyone files out, chattering, I sink into my seat. Kim grins as she cruises past.

When we’re alone, Mr. Wallis sits across from me. His plump face radiates concern. Here we go again. Fireside Chat Number Seven.

I’m worried about you, he says.

I’m sure he is. I’m worried too, but there’s no way I’m telling him that. I make a deliberate effort not to look at the door, where Derrick and Jason stand on tiptoe with their noses pressed against the rectangular window.

Have you made any friends since you moved here?

I shrug.

Mr. Wallis raises an eyebrow. I know it’s tough making an adjustment to a new city and a new school. Adolescence can be a difficult time.

I cross my arms and stare at the clock.

When you arrived, the students in this class tried to be friendly.

I’d like to say Kim and Natalie have everyone—including him—wrapped around their little fingers, but I don’t.

Your teachers—particularly Mr. Kowalski—are concerned for you also.

I shrug again to indicate my lack of concern for Mr. Kowalski’s feelings. The man makes us copy pages of notes—day after day. My hand throbs by the end of his class. Aren’t we supposed to do experiments in science?

Mr. Wallis clasps his hands around his bent knee. You were in a gifted program last year. But you now appear content with average grades. You go home every day for lunch, and you don’t take part in after school activities. Wouldn’t you like to make the most of Grade Nine before you head to ECS next year?

So, I’m supposed to be excited about going to Estevan Comprehensive School—AKA the Comp? If I still lived in Saskatoon, I’d be hanging out with my friends at Walter Murray Collegiate at this very moment.

He launches into a long speech on the importance of adaptation to a new environment and what it means to have school spirit and a bunch of other stuff.

When he stops to take a breath, I stand up and shoulder my backpack. Can I go now? I have to babysit my sister. That’s a lie, because Courtney figure skates after school every weekday.

He looks hurt. Of course. We’ll talk again on Monday. Have a good weekend.

Don’t count on it.

The hall is vacant. As I walk past my locker, I notice a brown puddle on the floor.

Did they dump Coke on my stuff again?

I open my locker. My blue hoodie is soaked, and so are some of my binders and textbooks.

I use my hoodie to mop up the mess and rummage around for a plastic shopping bag. In the process, I find my ringette jacket, which I discarded weeks ago. I roll up my hoodie, tucking in the wet parts, and stuff it in my backpack. I shrug on my jacket, slam the locker and reattach the lock, even though it’s useless. Kim and Natalie know my combination.

Instead of using the Grade Nine entrance at the front, I head for the main staircase, thinking I can duck out the gym doors on the east side. The halls are deserted except for Mr. Saxon, the custodian. As I hurry down the steps, girls’ laughter and the squeak of gym shoes drift upwards. One of the volleyball teams must have practice.

Three girls stand beside the pop machine by the gym entrance. They’re wearing shorts and T-shirts and holding bottles of Gatorade. Kim has her back to me. I stop and consider ducking back up the stairs.

Let it go, Kim. He had a lot of good players to pick from, the dark-haired girl is saying.

Her name’s Tara. She’s popular and virtually inseparable from the tall blonde girl. I don’t know her name, but she’s popular too.

Are you kidding? Jodi Palmer made that team because her dad’s the coach! Kim says.

Kim’s convinced there’s a global conspiracy to keep her off the boys U15 AA hockey team. She talks about it all the time.

The blonde meets my gaze over Kim’s shoulder. Maybe you didn’t have a good tryout.

I step around them hoping Kim doesn’t see me.

Hey, Jessie, where’s your hoodie? Kim’s sarcasm is unmistakable.

None of your business.

Going to the dance tonight? Kim steps between me and the exit.

I’m babysitting.

That’s too bad. You should get out more, Jessie. Get involved in school activities.

Wouldn’t she love that?

Tara points at the crest on my jacket. You play ringette?

Used to.

The blonde says, You’re the new girl, right? What’s your name again?

Jessie McIntyre.

I’ve been here six weeks, and I’m still the new girl. And probably will be until somebody else comes along. I hope it’s soon.

I heard you’re a good setter. How come you didn’t try out for the volleyball team? Tara asks.

Kim laughs, but I ignore her. I moved here after tryouts.

Where did Tara hear about my setting? I’m lucky if I get through PE class without having a ball drilled at my head.

That’s too bad. We could have used you. Kim here sucks at passing, the blonde says, punching Kim lightly in the shoulder.

Maybe you’d like to go to districts without me! Kim screws the lid back on her Gatorade and stomps into the gym.

Whoa! Who peed in her cornflakes? the blonde says.

Hey, Jessie. I’m Tara Brewer and this is Shauna Langley. We’re in 217, Tara says.

Nice to meet you.

I don’t mean it. This whole thing is a set-up. Like the time Kim got Nicole from Room 216 to hang out with me. Thanks to Nicole, Kim had enough info to humiliate me for a week.

Ever think about playing hockey? Shauna asks, exchanging glances with Tara.

What did I tell you? Another set-up.

No.

Are you girls coming to practice or not?

Ms. Franklin, hands on hips, stands at the gym entrance. A whistle dangles from her neck.

Sure, Coach. Shauna heads for the gym.

Tara’s close on her heels. Bye, Jessie. Let’s talk again soon.

Not if I can help it.

The crisp October air chills me as I step outside, but the sun is warm on my face. I cut across the school grounds and head east along the road which winds like a snake beside the edge of the valley. The baseball diamonds below are deserted. The sun glints on the holding ponds beyond the diamonds. The prairie landscape is pimpled with brown spill piles, remnants of the coal strip mining operation. The Boundary Power Station puffs streams of white smoke across a pale blue sky. I avoid looking southeast toward the Shand, where my dad works as an electrical engineer.

I know this move will be hard for you, he told me after he accepted a SaskPower transfer last May, but you’ll have the entire summer to make new friends. When you start Grade Nine in the fall, you’ll be glad we moved.

He lied. We didn’t arrive in Estevan until the second week of classes.

Two blocks from the school, a small playground and paddling pool overlook the valley. I like to stop here on my way home. I move to the south wall of the brick change shack, so I can’t be seen from the street. I drop my backpack and fish out my old agenda from a zippered pocket on the side. Sitting, I start flipping the pages, where my three Saskatoon buds wrote notes and drew pictures. My favourite is Tayja’s cartoon of a dairy cow’s head looking back over its rear end. A bubble comes out of its mouth saying: Luv ya, J! Keisha, Tayja, and I went to kindergarten together. Keisha and I’ve played ringette since we were six. Then Bailey moved in next door in Grade Five and our trio became a quartet. Mr. Oldershaw, our Grade Eight homeroom teacher, called us the Fab Four.

I compare all this to the day Mr. Wallis introduced me to my homeroom at EJH. I felt like a total geek. I knew everybody was staring at my mouth, which is way too large for my face. I wore my ringette jacket because I thought it would give me status.

I was so wrong.

The girls in my homeroom were nice enough at first. They were curious about Saskatoon, mainly wanting to know what the boys were like. Kim never said much. She watched and listened while I blabbed on and on about the Fab Four and volleyball, ringette and softball. I must have sounded like an idiot.

The boys paid me a lot of attention, and I let that go to my head too. I started going out with Riley the first week, then switched to Jason the next. My second major mistake. The girls got all protective of poor Riley. Natalie told me that Kim thought I was a tease, and I dissed Kim right to Natalie’s face. Mistake Number Three. Natalie happens to be the biggest mouth at EJH and Kim’s best bud. Thanks to the magic of Snapchat, the EJH student body is kept up to date on everything I wear, say, or do. When Kim made fun of my jacket, I quit wearing it.

Soon the girls stopped talking to me and started talking about me. I don’t eat lunch at school because I walk Courtney home and fix her a sandwich. Noon is an important time at EJH. The students eat together in the gym then go outside. Everything happens at lunch. The flirting. The rumours. The break-ups.

At first, I begged my mom to let me take a lunch, but she said I needed to look after Courtney. She’s way too protective of both of us, and she won’t let me have my real phone or get a part-time job.

It turns out it was a good thing I can’t stay at school over noon hour because I wouldn’t have anyone