The Wonderful World of Rudolpha: The Christmas Classic

The residents of the North Pole are gathered at the arena. Today is the Christmas Classic, the most exciting hockey game of the year. In the stands, Bianca the rabbit, Frost the snowy owl, Mistral the penguin, Storm the fox, Snowflake the polar bear and their teacher at the North Pole Animal Day Care, Rudolpha the reindeer, sit with their families.

The crowd cheers as the players skate onto the ice. Mrs. Claus is coaching the Mischievous Elves, dressed in red and gold. They’re playing against the Playful Elves, wearing green and white and coached by Santa. They’re battling for the Ice Cup, the most prestigious award in North Pole hockey.

After a rousing version of the National Anthem sung by Minstrel, Storm’s father, the puck drops.

In the first period, the Playful Elves have a 3-0 lead thanks to a hat trick by their captain, Jack. But the Mischievous Elves don’t give up. Mrs. Claus rethinks her strategy during intermission, and at the beginning of the second period, her players take advantage of a power play and score their first goal. From the net, Tricksy stops shot after shot. Then Taiga intercepts a pass in the neutral zone and scores.

At the end of the third period, the Mischievous Elves are still down 3-2. With under a minute left on the clock, Mrs. Claus pulls her goalie during a face-off in the opposing team’s zone. The team scores.

The fans are on the edge of their seats as the game goes into overtime. The teams skate back and forth at lightning speed and the goalies make spectacular saves. The children cheer for their favorite players.

With just three seconds left in the period, Taiga passes the puck to his team captain, Bright, and she shoots and scores the winning goal. The Mischievous Elves have won the Ice Cup!

Half of the team hugs each other, while the other half lifts Mrs. Claus into the air. Tears of joy are streaming down her face.

In the stands, Rudolpha hollers, Mistral jumps up and down and Snowflake yells, “I love hockey! Go Mischievous Elves!”

Sad that the team they were supporting lost, Frost and Bianca console each other by talking about the big party that’s happening later in the day.

When Bright lifts the Ice Cup high into the air, Storm declares, “one day, I’m going to be a goalie.”

“Foxes can’t play hockey,” Frost tells her.

“There’s a first time for everything,” Rudolpha says.

Storm smiles and imagines herself holding the Ice Cup in the air.

Written by Johannie Dufour and Sarah Beauregard
Translated by Cyan Caruso-Comas