Love For A Game

Chapter 8

That afternoon, Noel and I meet up with Nicole at the community ice rink. It is three forty-five, fifteen minutes before Nicole's tryout begins.

Noel is one of the only ones on the team that side with me on Nicole trying out. He fully supports it, because he has seen her play and how she handles herself. The rest of the team doesn't see that; they chose to believe in what Josh had said.

Noel and I go to the men's locker room, and begin changing into our hockey equipment. We put on our pads, pants, socks, undershirts, and skates. Lastly, we pull our jerseys over our heads; mine with number seventeen on it, and Noel's with number thirty-one on it.

We walk out to the ice at five to four. We are amazed to see that Coach Bennington is sitting at one of the benches. Even more amazing is the fact that Nicole is on the ice, shooting pucks into a net.

Noel and I go over to Bennington. He smiles at us. "She's been here since three, just skatin' around and shootin' the puck," he says.

I watch as she skates a lap around the ice. Her speed is phenomenal. She moves tremendously around the corners. I have never seen anybody who can skate like that. Not of our level, anyway.

Nicole finishes her lap, and looks at Noel and I, finally realizing that we're there. She grins and waves at us. Noel and I both sheepishly grin back.

"Ok," Bennington says seriously. "Let's get started."

Bennington first has Nicole skate a few laps around the ice. Once that is done, he has her skate through the pylons, in a very similar fashion to what we did in practice on Friday. She skates through them, around them, and she weaves through them like they are nothing. I can tell that Coach Bennington is impressed, because he can barely stop himself from grinning.

He then has Noel stand in net while she takes shots. Bennington asks Nicole to try her wrist shot first. She is able to snipe the puck into the top corner pockets of the net with ease.

Next, is the slapshot. Her shots are low, yet very quick, and very deadly. Noel makes some saves, but only because he's a good goalie. Most of the pucks go in.

Finally, Bennington has her go one-on-one with me, to see how she fares against an offensive threat. She is able to stymie me pretty quickly, and often. She tends to use her stick, instead of playing the body, which is ideal, because she will be much shorter than most of the other players.

At the end of the tryout, Bennington gives us all a few minutes to rest and get out of our equipment. Noel and I meet up with Nicole outside the locker rooms.

"That went well," she says.

"Are you kidding?" Noel exclaims. "Coach Bennington could barely contain himself, he was so happy!"

"You're really good," I say. "I wonder if you're what we need for this team to win a championship."

"I don't know," Nicole shrugs. "I mean, with you two on the team, you would think you'd be unstoppable, right?"

"So far, we have," Noel replies. "We are 19-2. Tops in the province."

"Damn," Nicole says. "Why do you need me then?"

"We could use someone to finally beat the Colbert Crusaders," I mutter angrily.

"Why? You've beaten them before, right?"

"Yes," Noel says. "We can beat them in one game, that's fine. But one you get into a seven-game series with them, they begin to wear you down more and more as you go along. It gets kinda tricky at that point."

"Ah, I get it."

Suddenly, Coach Bennington walks up to us. He has a plastic bag in his hands. I do not know what is in the bag.

"That was an excellent tryout, Miss Lavoie," he says. "I want to officially welcome you to the Ryerson Raiders hockey team."

Nicole's eyes light up. She cannot help but grin now. She begins to cry, but this time, they are not tears of sadness. They are tears of pure and utter joy and happiness, and pride, because she knows that she can hold her own against all odds. She has shown that today, by making the Raiders.

"In this bag you will find your practice jersey and your team socks," Bennington continues. "Now, what number do you want on your jersey?"

She doesn't hesitate. "Twenty-two," she says.

"Done," he says. "Now, I expect to see you at practice on Thursday, alright? Now, I have to go get some paperwork done." He strides away.

Nicole wraps me in yet again another hug. "Thank you so much! You have no ideas how much I appreciate this!"

"You deserved it," I say. "I told you, you could be one of the best defenders in the league."

"You think so?"

"Yes, I do."

"Quick question," she says.

"What's that?"

"Do you want to come over for dinner?"

***

The song on the side is "Civil War", by Guns N' Roses.