Project Blackhawk (or The Blackhawk Experiment)

After a few more tests and finally getting the grasp of going back in time, the trio gathered together around the computer, as they began to culmulate their new plan. Dave was the leader, as he was the one who found the time machine in the first place.

“So, what should we do now?” Brandon asked, as he put his hands on the table and eyed his comrades.

“We could go back to the final and I could steal another puck from Kaner?” Andrew suggested.

“No!” Dave snapped.

“Wait, if the rule is not to change the past and we are planning on doing something that will change the past, then aren’t we breaking our own rules?” Brandon questioned. “I mean I’m all for changing the past, but not if it’s against the rules.”

Dave sighed and faced him. “We aren’t technically changing the past, I mean we are, but we’ll set things back to normal...those were the rules right? We can alter the past, as long as we right it again.”

There was a period of silence as they thought about what they could do.

“Alright, so how about going back to the draft?” Andrew suggested, cocking an eyebrow in curiosity.

“The draft?” Dave and Brandon questioned, flummoxed.

“Jonny’s draft and Kaner’s. We can fiddle around with the draft...if Jonny doesn’t go to Chicago, he never meets Kaner and thus, no Kazer. But where would he go if he wasn’t going to Chicago?” Andrew smirked and made an evil villain pyramid with his fingers, tapping the tips together in a sinister, “mwahahaha” way.

“Beats me, but I like it!” Dave spoke, nodding his head in agreement. He was rather pleased and excited with Andrew’s suggestion.

The Blackhawk pest raised his head up proudly. “So I can lead this, right?”

“Oh, no, I’m leading. We aren’t following you. But what should we do with the draft? Like how can we mess with it?” Dave asked.

Andrew folded his arms and tapped his chin. “How about we coax Tallon into not picking Jonathan Toews. Instead he can pick another one, we can just get in his ear and sway him. And then Jonny isn’t a Chicago Blackhawk. Then we can repeat the same thing with Kaner and viola, no Kazer. If we’re luckily they’ll be split up and defined enemies of one another.” He threw his head back and cackled.

“Shawzy, you’re so evil,” the Shark laughed, slapping Andrew on the shoulder in play.

“I know, and we can call this little experiment, Project ‘No More Kazer So Shawzy Won’t Be Driven Insane’, eh?!”

“Project what?” Brandon blurted, looking at his ex-teammate.

“Project--” Andrew began to repeat himself, before he was interrupted.

“How about, just Project ‘Blackhawk’, Shawzy?” Dave suggested, chuckling.

Brandon and Andrew slowly nodding. “Like it, Bolly!”

Dave shut the computer off, after typing in the notes what they were doing, because after all this was a project or experiment, so he had to take notes on it. He grabbed up the remote and faced his pals. “Ready to go back in time again, boys?”

“Yeah!” Andrew screamed, energetically.

“NO MORE KAZER!!” they all chanted and stepped onto the pad.

Dave hit the controls and typed in the coordinates and then they were on their way back… travelling through time and space through some kind of magical time warp like in movies. They reappeared in Vancouver, British Columbia, where the 2006 NHL Draft was taking place. They were in the back of audience, looking forward at the stage, where the commissioner was preaching to the audience for the beginning of the draft.

“Whoa, does this take you back?” Dave whispered.

They slowly crept forward, spotting Dale Tallon, an older white-haired gentleman with characteristic dents in his face that made him seem like such an owner, instantly at the Blackhawk table. He was the general manager for Chicago at the time and he was the one who was in charge of drafting Jonathan and Patrick. He was whispering to his people, while the first and second picks went. Erik Johnson and Jordan Staal.

“Mr. Tallon! Mr. Tallon!” Dave called, as he ran toward the man he actually knew. But the GM didn’t actually know who Dave Bolland was just yet. Even though he was selected by Chicago in the 2004 NHL Draft, he didn’t play for the team until Tallon’s last years with the team. And Tallon wasn’t there when Dave was drafted.

The man turned to them. “What? Who are you guys?”

“It’s not important. But just know that you shouldn’t pick Jonathan Toews!” Dave Bolland continued.

“Why not? We need a centre and he’s the best all around player.”

“Pick Kessel!” Andrew stated justly. “Just do it.”

“Who are you working for? You’re for Shero aren’t ya?”

“No, just don’t pick Jonathan Toews, whatever you do, trust us!” Brandon pleaded.

The GM waved them off and went to the stage. He stepped up to the podium and addressed the crowd and everyone gathered. He launched into his speech. Brandon, Dave and Andrew shared an anxious look, before they gazed around the building.

“Look!” Andrew gasped, pointing a hand toward a young-looking Jonathan, who was anxiously waiting his turn to be picked. “It’s Jonny!”

The young brunette glanced up and spotted Andrew. He cocked his head with interest. His deep, dark brown puppy dog eyes burned back into Andrew’s, as he was at a loss for what to do. He finally just waved at him and acted like a fanboy or something, which made Jonathan raise an eyebrow before rotating around in his seat.

Then the GM for the Blackhawks finally spoke up and said the name. “...proudly select Phil Kessel!”

Brandon, Dave and Andrew looked at each other in astonishment. They watched Kessel go up the stairs and put on the ‘Hawks jersey over his suit. He was grinning, as he shook hands. Meanwhile, back in the audience, Jonathan continued to sigh and wait his turn. But he looked confused. He was supposed to go to Chicago...what had happened?

The trio of time travelers returned to the present day and the building.

“What happened? What happened?” Andrew exclaimed, jumping up and down. “We did it!! But what happened?!”

Dave opened the computer to check. “Kessel’s a Blackhawk!”

“And Jonny?” Brandon inquired, curiosity alive in him.

“We’ll see after we mess with Kaner. We gotta get him too and then we can have a little adventure, touring the new NHL,” Dave stated. “So, let’s go back to 2007 now!”

They hopped on the travel pad again, as Dave did his thing with setting up the date and time and then they were whisked off into the time warp again. For longer journeys, they noticed that the cool sci-fi warp happened, otherwise, for shorter trips they simply flickered away and the reappeared, without having to travel through the warp.

They soon found themselves standing in the beginning of another draft, this time in Columbus, Ohio. They darted forward and this time, they didn’t have to talk to Chicago’s GM, thinking he’d remember them. Instead they tried a new tactic.

Dave remembered hearing something about a lottery happening. The Blackhawks had won it and acquired the chance to have the first overall pick, which led to them selecting Patrick Kane. So, they figured they could tamper with the lottery.

“Where are we going to find the lottery thingy?” Andrew asked. “Surely it’s not here before the draft happens. It can’t be like a meeting or anything?”

“Right, it’s not, but the person in charge of it is here. We are going to act as people helping out and sway it away from the Blackhawks. I read about this all during the research, while you and Brandon went out to get lunch the other day.”

“What?” both men questioned, as they walked along side the smart Panther forward.

“I read in an article that it discussed the lottery and how the Hawk won it to get the first overall pick in the draft. It said something like this: The draft order of the first 14 picks was determined by a lottery involving the non-playoff teams on April 10. Under the weighted lottery system, the club with the fewest regular-season points had the greatest chance (25%) of winning the Draft Drawing and could pick no lower than second at the 2007 Entry Draft. The winner of the drawing would move up a maximum of four places, with all other clubs' draft order being adjusted accordingly (no team moving down more than one spot). So, Chicago was apparently originally slated to draft in fifth place, but they won the lottery and as a result had the first overall pick in the draft.”

“So why are we in Columbus where the draft will be then?”

“Because, even though it normally takes place and it conducted by Gary Bettman, the commissioner, in the NHL main quarters...they did it here.”

“How do you--know?” Andrew questioned.

“From my research. Now, they actually have this machine that helps to randomly select the number and the team. So what you two are going to do is distract Bettman, while I snatch the Blackhawks number and ball and instead pick another one. When that’s done, the rest should line up and Kaner won’t be a Blackhawk anymore.”

“Sick!” Andrew exclaimed.

They made it to the room, backstage and snuck in. Inside, Gary Bettman read his speech to the people gathered to view the lotto. “Good evening everyone, we are here in Columbus, Ohio, instead of the NHL offices in New York City on this the 10th day of April, 2007, at approximately 7:30 pm to determine the final order for the first 14 selections of the 2007 NHL Draft.”

He went on to describe what would happen, while the trio got set up in their places and roles. Dave made his way to the machine and took charge of the balls and conducting the drawing. The commissioner for the league ended his presentation and turned to Dave, who was putting the balls in. He winked to Andrew, who raised his hand up, like a student in a school classroom.

“Commissioner!” Andrew exclaimed, loudly.

“Yes?” He turned to face the pest, not realizing who he was.

Dave instantly drew out the number and ball, which was Chicago’s and he pocketed that one. Then he grabbed another one and held it at ready. He didn’t care to know whose it actually was, who was gonna go first, he knew it wasn’t Chicago though. He’d keep the Blackhawk ball though, for when they had to go back and reset everything.

Andrew finished his question, which was something like, “Why are you using a machine, instead of just simply drawing out of a hat?”

Dave shook his head and hit his palm to his forehead, sighing dramatically. The commissioner looked at him weirdly, but answered his question and then turned to Dave, who held up the ball, with a letter 8 on it. He stuck it in the pipe, where it was to go. Then he withdrew the next three numbers, until he was finally finished with the process.

They filed out of the room and disappeared, heading back to the present. Dave immediately went to the computer. He opened it up and typed his quarry in the search engine. Then he glanced up, smiling.

“You HAD to ask him that?” Brandon teased.

“I was on the spot, man.” Andrew remarked with a shrug, half caring.

Dave signalled them over with his hand, as he said, “It was fine Shawzy, and look, Kaner’s not a Blackhawk, some defenseman named Karl Alzner is instead. They weren’t included in the lotto and ended up picking fifth thanks to me...er...us.”

They gazed at the screen in awe. So if Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane weren’t Blackhawks, what were they...what team were they apart of? Well...the three were about to find out and discover just what this new NHL world consisted of...

Notes

AHHHHH!!!! NO KAZER!!!!! WHAT'S GONNA HAPPEN????
OMG did this take some research, I feel like Bolly in this. Haha. So yeah, Bolly's the leader, Andrew's a pest and playing the role of the guy who always has to push things and Brandon is the third guy. :)
How you guys liking this so far? Don't hesitate to comment and let me know. I love feedback, you know. :DDDD And trust me, my stories may be a little dark and out there, but I don't bite. I promise. ;)


Next up: Well, what team is Jonathan Toews in?