Love For A Game

Chapter 2

Colbert is already on the ice. Their big star, number nine, is a guy by the name of Darren Reynolds. Darren really is the whole package, let me tell you. He is five foot eleven, and 192 pounds. He has fifty six points in twenty games (32-24). He leads their team in hits, with an average of six hits per game. I've been on the receiving end of many hits from him. He is a feared player around the league, due to his strength and power. Hell, his imposing figure is enough to make someone turn the opposite direction.

The referee, John Kelly, stands at centre ice. He has been the referee for most of our games this season. He is a fair ref, who tends to let a few things go at times. He allows the players to just play the game.

In this league, overtime is a five minute, four on four affair, exactly like the National Hockey League. Overtime is non-stop action until the end. It is the most intense part of any hockey game. The first to score a goal wins the game for their team. Scoring an overtime winner automatically makes you hero for a day. Hey, you just won the game, right?

The teams line up in their positions. I am at centre. Luke is on my left. Nathan and Josh are back on the defence positions. Noel is in goal. On the other end, Darren stands opposite me. I don't know their other three skaters. Nick Jenkins is their goaltender.

The referee looks at Darren and myself, and asks us if we are ready. I nod. Darren grunts. The ref raises his arm, and drops the puck at centre ice.

As soon as the puck hits the ice, the action begins. I sweep the puck back to Nathan, who passes to Luke. He is like a speeding bullet as he skates into Colbert's zone. Luke drives to the net, letting go a high wrist shot. The puck sails just over the crossbar, hitting the glass.

Luke follows the puck, picking up his own rebound (he is very good at that). He passes back to Josh, who shoots it. The puck goes through traffic towards the net. Nick Jenkins makes a pad save, and covers it with his glove. The whistle blows, and I skate to the bench.

Off the next faceoff, our centre, Sam Kline, wins it back to Connor Jost, a winger. Connor lets a high shot go, wide of the net. Darren Reynolds picks it up behind his net and starts to skate up the ice with it.

He passes our blue line and stops. He raises his stick as if to go for a slap shot, but doesn't shoot. Instead, he passes to the right faceoff circle, where a winger is waiting. He one-times the puck towards Noel. Luckily, Noel is there and he makes a good glove save. There are three minutes and twelve seconds left on the clock. I jump on the ice, for a real important shift.

Hockey is, and has been for a very long time, a sort of religion for me. From the moment I was three years old and watching Saturday games with my father, hockey has been my bread and butter.

The first game I saw with my dad was a Saturday game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadiens, back in 1971. I remember being fascinated by seeing Jean Beliveau and Yvan Cournoyer skating up and down the ice. I swear, their jerseys were made of silk, the way they flapped behind the players as they skated.

Now, my ambitions are stronger than ever. Once I am old enough, I want to play junior hockey, and later on, I hope to play in the NHL. I know that I can make it big in hockey someday, that I just have to work hard to get where I need to go.

The referee drops the puck, and I lose the draw to the Colbert centre. He shoots and the puck hits Noel in the chest. Noel uses his stick to bat the puck away, and Josh takes possession.

I see my chance. There is a huge gap between the two Colbert defenders. Josh let's go a long pass, which I corral at our blue line. I begin to skate forward, as fast as my legs can carry me. I am like a speeding jet in flight. I push past the two defenders, and I am on a breakaway.