Scene: It's The Boston Bruins VS The Dallas Stars & It's Also Brad Marchand VS Tyler Seguin. A short one-shot told from the P.O.V. of Brad Marchand. Ex-teammates, now rivals. Being friends with a rookie who messed up with the big club is difficult.

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Chapter 1: During the Game

Brad Marchand hopped over the bench, onto the ice. He skated hard after an opposing Dallas player. He spotted his ex-teammate across the ice. The sight only made him angrier and more emotional. He was furious at the kid, but mostly at himself. He knew that he had not been playing at his best, heck he knew he was playing horribly. And that had to change!

But as his eyes locked on his ex-buddy, something inside him snapped. He howled and rammed his entire body into one of the opposing Star forwards, who passed the puck across the ice. The Dallas Star, Jamie Benn, fell to the ice. Brad grunted in irritation and skated off, keeping an eye on the man.

In the background, the crowd began to boo several times, when Tyler Seguin touched the puck and taunted with the chant, "Say-gin, Say-gin."

Brad made his way across the ice, toward Tyler, who appeared unfazed at the taunts, cat-calls and jeers from the TD Garden crowd surrounding him.

“You bastard!” Brad snarled, as he raced at Tyler, full of fury.

Tyler finally looked straight at his ex-friend and locked eyes with him. Before Tyler could react, Brad slammed into the kid, sending him to the ice.

“Get off of me, Bruin!” Tyler growled, getting to his feet.

Time seemed to slow down to a snail’s pace, as Brad and Tyler stared at each other. Tyler had called him a “Bruin”, not “Marchy” and Brad felt his heart tear with agony. That had stung the pesky forward a lot.

Tyler and Brad both scrambled to their skates and stared at one another. Hostility surged around them and punctured the air.

It seemed like time had slowed and the atmosphere had grown chill and distant. The taunting from the crowd faded away and fell deathly silent. The world seemed to stop and everyone and everything in the Garden held its collective breath waiting to see what would happen next with the two ex-teammates, roommates and best friends.

“Marchy, going after me is not going to help your game any. I know you are better than this. You’ve played against other ex-teammates before me. How am I any different?” Tyler finally spat.

Brad didn’t respond. He maintained his glare. He was frozen in place. Tyler took a step toward him.

“Instead of going after me, go after the net!” Tyler snarled. “After all, you’ve only had one goal this season so far, and I’ve had seven!”

Brad could feel his heart racing, but each beat throbbed with terrible torment, as Tyler snapped at him with unusual wrath. Tyler finally skated off, going after the puck to help his teammates out. Brad stood, awkwardly still. He forced himself to watch Tyler get the puck and shoot at Tuukka.

It hurt him. It truly hurt him to see this very sight. But there was nothing he could do. He had to help his team out. He had to stop Tyler Seguin (and the Dallas Stars) and that meant focusing on taking shots at the goal and playing his game.

Brad gradually smirked, took a deep breath, and bolted forward, stealing a puck from a Dallas Star. He worked hard to keep the puck, surging down the ice and took a shot on the goal. All of his emotions and what he felt, he mustered into that single shot. The goalie grabbed it and Brad came to a halt. Patrice Bergeron nodded at him. Brad had to smile a little bit. He glanced around and his eyes glazed off of Tyler, who stared at him, speechlessly.

“Two can play at this game Segs,” Marchy murmured to himself, as he went back to the bench for a line change.


Chapter 2 – Overtime

Overtime…

Brad lined up across from Tyler for the first time in the entire game. They’d been avoiding each other for the most part, until now.

“Thanks for the advice, Segs. It really helped me out!” Brad snarled, beginning his chirping.

“I’ll say, you’re a turnover machine!” Tyler spat back.

“Look at yourself! Bergy’s won more faceoffs than you! Is that what you call being a good centre player?”

“Don’t make me hit you, Marchy!”

“Go on, try! I’d love to have you hit me!”

“Shut up!”

“Make me!”

“Marchy, stop chirping!”

“Make me, Segs!”

Tyler and Brad shoved each other back and forth, tying one another up at the line. Patrice glanced to the side to shoot his linemate a look, before the ref dropped the puck and the Bruin centre won it. Again.

Brad tore apart from Tyler, sliding to the side to get open. Tyler struggled to mirror him. Patrice passed the puck back to his defender, who quickly passed it forward to Brad. Brad skated around Tyler and shot at the goal again. And again the puck sailed into the glove of the goalie.

“Aw, better luck next time!” Tyler catcalled, flashing his classic smile at Brad. Though this time, the smile was full of disgust and sarcasm.

Brad rolled his eyes and headed to the bench. Shawn Thornton patted him on the head, sending a dark look to Tyler.

“Don’t start anything, little *beep*!” Shawn shouted at Tyler, who skated into his bench, ignoring the Bruin forward. (We all know what Shawn Thornton said)


A few plays later, Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron, and Tyler Seguin were back on the ice. Tyler and Patrice squared off for the puck drop and Tyler won this time. Brad eyed Tyler, as everyone launched off from neutral ice.

“Hey, Marchy, watch me make a goal on Tuuks like I used ta in practice!” Tyler taunted, as he was passed the puck, skating by Brad.

Brad pursued him, shaking his head. “Not against me, you little Texan!” He stuck out his stick, as Tyler got set to shoot a wrister at Tuukka. Tuukka got ready for him. Brad managed to get the puck out and spun around, keeping the puck close to his stick. He immediately shot it across to his linemate, Patrice.

“Oops,” Brad sighed shrugging. He shot Tyler a smirk and skated off, in case his NEW buddy needed him.

Tyler rolled his eyes and turned around, pushing himself after Brad. The two got into a shoving match, as Tyler easily caught up to Brad, using his speed. They battled all the way down the ice, trying to shake one another.

“You’re not going to win tonight!” Brad screamed.

“Oh yeah?!” Tyler retorted.

Patrice got tangled up, just past the blue-line and sent the puck reluctantly toward Brad. Brad caught it and worked to keep it with him, as Tyler pressed on him. They fought each other for possession of the puck, trapping themselves along the boards and eventually Patrice came and bailed Brad out, once again, by taking the puck in one swift Patrice Bergeron-y move.

“Quit getting distracted by Tyler, Marchy! Your bromance is over! Let it go! We need you to score! We need the hot-headed Brad Marchand!” Patrice snapped, as he expertly maneuvered the puck away from the chaos and passed it to Torey Krug, who came forward from the blue line.

Brad shoved Tyler away and sprinted after Patrice, toward the bench. Tyler brushed himself off. He felt exhausted, but he knew he had to keep going.

He hated the Bruins.

He hated Brad. And he knew Brad hated him.

There was no going back.

Brad Marchand and Tyler Seguin the best of friends were dead, now they were bitter rivals. On the ice.

Overtime came to an end with no goals scored.


Chapter 3 – The Shootout

It was time for the shootout….

“C’mon Coach, let me attempt one of the shootout goals!”

“No, Marchy, I’m not going to allow you to go out there. Besides, you don’t like shootouts!”

“True, but I want to go out and show Tyler up! I’ve got to!”

“No! That’s final. I’ve made my choices already, Bergy, Loui, and Iggy will go out and if necessary Krej will be next in line. You are seventh on the list. You will stay here on the bench and watch. I am not letting your emotions hinder us again. You really need to check your feelings.”

Brad frowned and folded his arms. He didn’t respond or fight with his coach. He watched as Patrice skated out for the first attempt.

Brad shot a quick look to see that Jamie Benn, Tyler’s new buddy was getting ready. Jamie and Tyler were chatting with one another and laughing. They appeared to be calm and in good moods. Brad couldn’t help it, he could feel pain erupt from deep within. He felt a sharp stinging in his head, as tears formed in his eyes. He shut his eyes immediately to close out the horrible sight before him. He felt sick.

When he opened his eyes once more, Patrice was ready for his moment. the whistle blew and the grand centre seized the puck with his stick and quickly shot across the blue line to pull his best Patrick Kane shootout move to help the Bruins win.

Goal!

Patrice did a cool little shuffle step and channeled his inner Patrick Kane. His shot went through the legs of the goalie, into the net, behind the Stars’ goalie.

Brad jumped up, along with the rest of his team and cheered for his friend. He blinked the tears away and forced himself to ignore Tyler and not look at him to see his reaction. Patrice rounded the goal and flew by to fist-bump his pals.

Jamie Benn took his place. Brad shouted his disapproval and booed Jamie with the crowd. The Star forward launched forward at the whistle and took his shot. Tuukka robbed him. No goal for Jamie Benn!

Jarome Iginla was up next. No goal. (Jarome was welcomed into the bench with, “it’s okay”, “good try”, “you’ll get it next time” and etc.)

Brad turned his attention back to the ice, as Tyler Seguin skated out to center. He was oddly calm and had a stern expression on his face. He was focused. The sing-songy chant from the Garden’s crowd surged on, but it didn’t faze him.

Brad had always thought Tyler was a good shootout scorer. Certainly, Tyler wasn’t Patrick Kane or Jonathan Toews or even Corey Perry (Mighty Duck), but he was more consistent at penalty shots and shootout goals than anyone else, including Brad. (Probably why Brad didn’t like shootouts much...eh?)

Tyler removed his helmet for a quick moment, as he shook his scraggly, sweat-soaked hair mop atop his head. Brad could hear the loyal Seguinistas screaming in the crowd, amongst boos and catcalls from others.

“Put your helmet back on, you old lady!” Shawn chirped from the bench, a few players across from where Brad sat next to Patrice.

Ignoring Shawn’s outcry chirp, Tyler put his headgear back on and skated around to keep his feet moving. He was focused on his mission.

As Brad watched Tyler, he hoped that the kid had begun the descent of his one-on-one goal shots. The whistle blew. Tyler launched off the spot, scooping the puck into his stick. He charged forward, pulled a fancy footwork move and slapped the puck cleanly into the net, behind Tuukka. He rounded the goal, shot Brad a wink, as he passed by the Bruins’ bench (probably attempting to get a rise out of his ex-teammates or some kind of chirp from Shawn Thornton) and fist-bumped his own teammates on the bench.

He ended by throwing his arms around Jamie Benn.

He hadn’t begun the descent.

And that was enough to stick a massive dagger into Brad Marchand’s hope (and the Bruins’ chances of winning).

Notes

I did have this as a stand alone One-Shot, but to decrease the amount of stories and also bring these back, I’m moving it to the One-Shot story collection along with a few others, hope you don’t mind.

Wow...in the notes section I had this comment, "It's so wrong and it will never be right..." and look at how I feel today? Now there is Bennguin or Bacon!! XP