Edmonton, Canada

Western Conference, Sutton Place

Brock and I rush out of our room and to the elevators. Millsy is standing there, the up arrow lit brightly. He looks startled and frightened.

"You heard that?" Brock questions him.

"If I didn't Brock, I wouldn't be here before the elevators," Millsy dryly remarks back to him. Then he turns and faces me. He is completely serious and stern as he asks, "Petey, do you know who screamed?"

"Kirby Dach. He's one of the Blackhawks rookies...I remember his scream when I watched the Flames throw him into the dumpster."

"I swear to God if this has anything to do with Calgary Flames, I will--" The beep and doors opening cut him off, but I know what he's going to say. He's about had it with Calgary and Tkachuk's posse running the hotel.

The three of us enter the elevator and head up to the Hawks floor.

Before long, we are walking along the Blackhawk-themed hallway. On the opposite side, near an emergency set of stairs, Stromer, Kuby, Olli, Brinksy and Alex Nylander are all huddled over Kirby, who is lying on the ground.

"C'mon Kirby, what happened?" Brinksy is questioning.

"Bro, you look like you've seen a ghost?" Stromer remarks, running a hand through his hair and looking around.

We rush over to them.

"What the hell happened?" Millsy demands.

"I don't know, I was walking by and...he just suddenly came out of the staircase and dropped to the ground," Kuby says.

"Coyote..." Kirby mutters out, sitting up and wrapping his hands around his knees.

"Which Coyote?" Millsy snaps.

"Milly, easy," Brock scolds, putting a hand on Millsy's shoulder.

Kirby looks up at Millsy and shakes his head. "Can't...tell...you."

"C'mon, was it Kelly?" Stromer grumbles. "I should never have--"

"--no! It wasn't him! It was a coyote! Like an actual coyote!" Kirby suddenly musters out.

"A coyote attacked you?"

"Hey, shut up down there, we're trying to sleep!" Tkachuk's thunderous voice snarls. "Take your haunted coyotes with you, little baby! I need sleep, so I can heal and return and crush some stupid Stars!"

Millsy rushes over to the railing and peers over the side. "You're a stupid star, asshole!" he snaps, looking up at the floor above him.

"I'll come down there and cut you, Miller!" Tkachuk's snarl comes again. "Better yet, I'll cut the little Canuckling!"

I duck behind Brock, instinctively.

"You're NOT touching Petey."

"Whatever," Tkachuk growls. "Just keep it down. And for once, I have nothing to do with harming the little Hawk."

"So a coyote attacked Kirby," Brinsky says, drawing everyone's attention back. "Who the hell has a coyote outfit here?"

Millsy leaves the railing and comes back over to us.

"I say we talk to Kelly," Olli suggests. "Wake his ass up!"

Brinksy nods and steps to the side to contact Kelly.

Within seconds, Clayton Keller, dressed in just baggy black pants is hurrying down the hallway toward everyone.

"What's going on?" Kelly asks, rubbing sleep from his eyes. "I was just about to nod off, when y'all rang." He spots Kirby hugging his knees sitting on the ground. "What's wrong with him?"

"Kuby said he was walking along the hall when Kirby stumbled out of the stairwell scared half to death and just crashed to the ground. He's been sitting like this for the past twenty minutes now," Brinksy fills the Coyote in.

"And you said something about...?" Kelly begins to say.

"He said a coyote attacked him..." Brinksy says, looking down at Kirby, who is muttering to himself and rocking back and forth.

"Well, I can tell you that none of my teammates own a coyote costume. I think I saw someone coming into the hotel earlier and they had something furry in a bag...I couldn't make out who it was, but he had a full beard and slightly ginger hair..." Kelly recalls, tapping his chin. "I didn't think much of it."

"Was it JT Compher?" I question. "He's the only one I can think of who's ginger and has a beard."

"I doubt that, he's a smart Av and he wouldn't cross into our bubble space just to prank Kirby Dach...it can't be Compher."

"Is there anyone here in this hotel then...?" Kuby ponders.

"Well, we've deduced it's not an Arizona Coyote. It's not Chicago Blackhawk related and it's certainly not Vancouver Canuck born," Millsy says, thinking. "It's not a team outside our hotel and the only team remaining here is the Calgary Flames..."

We all nod at him.

Suddenly Brock jerks to life. He drops down in a squat and looks at Kirby. "Did the coyote have a limp at all? Anything odd, out of place?"

Kirby shakes his head. "No...walked, moved perfectly fine."

Brock looks up. "A name is coming to my mind. We can eliminate Tkachuk, but we can't necessarily eliminate the rest of his teammates. There's one that comes to thought with everything that's happened so far."

"Who's that?" everyone inquires.

Brock shakes his head. "Sam Bennett."