Love For A Game

Chapter 19

We climb back into first place in the league. We play better and better each game. Noel earns five more shutouts, finishing with eleven on the season.

We end the regular season with a 35-13 record. I end with seventy-seven goals and forty-four assists, for 121 points in forty-three games. Nicole ends the season with twelve goals and twenty-six assists, for thirty-eight points in twenty-three games.

I lead the league in scoring, obviously. I also win the award for Most Valuable Player. Noel wins the Goalie of the Year Award. Coach Bennington wins the Coach of the Year award. Nathan wins the defenceman of the year award.

However, the season isn't over yet. We still have the playoffs to fight through. The top eight teams in the league make the playoffs, with two best-of five rounds, and a best of seven to determine the league champion. If we win, we go on to the Ontario Minor Hockey Championships, where the best teams in Ontario battle it out.

Our first round series is against the Lakefield Thunder. We are at home for the first two games, then in Lakefield for games three and four (four only if necessary), then at home again for game five (again, if that is necessary). Lakefield has one good player, a left-winger by the name of Tristan Johns, who is speedy and has a good shot. He also scored seventy points this year. He's going to be tough to beat, but if we can shut him down, I think we will win this series easily.

The way the system works, is that we won't have to face the Crusaders until the finals. I think that it works better that way; have the top two teams fight it out on the ice in a first-to-four showdown.

We start our series against Lakefield tomorrow. During practice today, we work on our power play, our penalty kill, and our four on four. Special teams will be key in the playoffs; if we are bad on the power play or the penalty kill, we won't go very far.

Once we are in the dressing room, Coach Bennington has a bit of a speech for us. "Tomorrow we start the playoffs," he starts. "We all know what happened last year. We don't want that to happen again, do we?"

"No!" We all shout in unison.

"That's what I want to hear," he replies. "So we have to watch ourselves this year. Our opponents will play better and harder. We have to watch out for injuries, and also bad penalties. That's what screwed us up last year. We can't have that happen this year. This is is our year to win it all. First, we'll win the league. Then, we will win the damn province too!"

We all cheer.

***

I arrive at the arena a half hour before the game the next day. I change in our dressing room, and go out to the ice to warm up a little bit. I skate around, going as fast as I can. I am not wearing a helmet, so I can feel my hair flowing behind me.

I take some shots on goal. I use every shot I know of, wrist shots, snap shots, slap shots. Once I am done, I head back to the dressing room, so the zamboni can clean the ice before the game.

I always do this before a game; it is sort of my ritual. Some say that I am crazy for doing it, but I don't think so. I just love the game, the thrill it gives me when I step onto the ice, and skating around as if I am flying. Sometimes I feel like I truly am flying. The love for hockey is what keeps me going; it always has.

When I enter the room, everyone is already there. Nicole smiles at me when she sees me. I smile back. I sit in my stall and lean my head back against the wall.

Finally, we are told that it's time to go. We all stand, and file one by one out the door. We walk out to the ice, and we skate out.

It feels good to skate on freshly cleaned ice. It feels similar to when you run across a floor that is freshly waxed. We skate around for a minute or so, doing some last minute stretches. Finally, the referee blows his whistle, and we line up from the draw.

This is a playoff game, and the atmosphere is as such. The crowd is buzzing, the players are all shaking in their skates (myself included), and you can cut the tension with a knife. The intensity of these games compared to the regular season is easily a hundred to one. This is the best time of year, for this reason.

The puck is dropped, and the flurry of action begins. We take possession, dumping it into the Thunder zone. Luke chases after it, but the defender reaches it first. He passes to Tristan, who speeds up the left side. He stops at our blue line, taking in his surroundings. Finally he passes to his centre, who brings it in. He shoots it, and Noel makes a good catch with his glove. I skate to the bench.

The play starts up again, and Nicole takes possession of the puck. She skates up the middle, and crosses their blue line. She passes back to Ryan, and cuts back to the line. Ryan passes back to her, and she shoots a low sizzler. It dings off the goalpost, and goes in. The score is 1-0.

The rest of the period goes back and forth. With about four minutes left, Tristan brings it into our zone, and scores, tying the game at one. The period ends that way.

The second opens up in our favour. I score a goal three minutes in, and Connor adds one two minutes later. With three minutes to go, Luke scores to make the score 4-1 after two periods.

The Thunder start to outplay in the third period. They score about halfway through, a nice goal from their defenceman. However, that is all they can muster, and the game ends with a score of 4-2. We have taken a 1-0 series lead; if we win two more, we advance to the next round.

I have no doubts that we will beat the Lakefield Thunder. I just have doubts about facing the Crusaders. They are a tough team, and I don't know if we have the strength to overcome them.

***

The song on the side is "Eye of the Tiger", by Survivor.