Love For A Game

Chapter 31

I jump onto the ice, exploding out as if shot by a cannon. I feel as such, and I skate around, feeling my jersey flap like silk behind me. The feeling is exhilarating.

I can hear the Ryerson fans cheering us on. It's a comfortable feeling, knowing that we have the fans on our side. I look up to the far side and see a large group of fans from Colbert with a banner that says, Reynolds 4 Prez. It's a little unsettling, but I know that I'll have to deal with it.

The referee blows his whistle, signifying the start of the game. We line up for the opening draw, myself across from Darren. Darren gives me a sneer; I simply look down, ready for the drop of the puck.

The ref raises his arm, and asks us if we are ready. We both nod to him. He raises his right arm, the own with the puck in it. He lowers his arm, and drops the puck at centre ice.

Darren and I clash, desperately trying to tie the other up. Luke comes in and grabs the puck from the melee and brings it into the Colbert zone. He lets a shot go, and Nick Jenkins makes an easy glove save, stopping the play after only eighteen seconds.

The next faceoff, I win it back to Nicole. She passes to Ryan, her defence partner, who passes to Charlie. Chars takes it around the back of the net. He waits for a second, then puts it my stick. I one-time it, but it goes wide. Jenkins may have gotten a piece of it with his blocker.

Play goes into our zone. Darren walks in and takes a slap shot from the slot. Noel stops the shot with his pad and stops the play. We have played a minute and four seconds.

I remain on the ice for the next play as well. I am now on with Connor and Sam. The puck drops again, and Darren wins the puck back to his defender. He shoots, but in block it with my left knee. Pain flares up my leg, and I get up slowly. I have a hard time getting to the bench. I climb over the boards and sit down, massaging my knee.

Coach Bennington walks over to me and pats me on the shoulder. "You good, Devlin?" He asks.

"Just my knee, Coach," I reply. "I'll be fine."

"Eddie!" He calls to the trainer. "Get an ice pack!"

Eddie runs to the dressing room and comes back a moment later with an ice pack in hand. He passes it to me, and I press it to my knee.

Darren has the puck at centre ice. He carries it into our zone, and passes to his winger. The winger shoots. Noel stops it, but Darren smashes home the rebound. It is 1-0 Colbert.

The Ryerson fans begin to boo. The group of Colbert fans (the ones with the banner) go wild. I jump onto the ice. Once they see me, they begin to chant.

"Devlin! Devlin! Devlin! YOU SUCK! It's all your fault! All your fault! All your fault!"

I've never seen or heard anything like this before. Especially in our home building. It amazes me that fans could be this clever to come up with a chant like this. It kind of throws me off.

I win the draw back to Josh. Josh passes it up to Luke, who flies up the left wing. I go to the right side, where I call for a pass. Luke gives me a small nod, and let's a nice saucer pass go to me. I get it on my stick, and shoot it in the net. Tie game. There are still twelve minutes to go in the first period.

With five minutes and thirteen seconds left in the period, a Colbert defender fools Noel and shoots it from behind the net, banking off of Noel's skate and trickles in the net. 2-1.

"Devlin! Devlin! Devlin! YOU SUCK! It's all your fault! All your fault! All your fault!" The Colbert fans chant.

The first period ends that way. "We still have a chance here," Coach Bennington says during the intermission. "We just have to play tight. No bad penalties. Shoot everything you have at the net. Every shot counts, because a lucky one can tie this game in a heartbeat."

The beat down starts early in the second period, when Josh takes a hooking penalty behind our net just three minutes in. Just thirty four seconds into Colbert's power play, Darren rifles a shot from the faceoff circle, banking off the crossbar and in. 3-1. The chant starts up once again.

Another penalty by Nathan this time puts Colbert back on the power play just six minutes later. It takes a minute of twelve seconds of penalty killing before a Colbert winger one times the puck at the point, beating Noel. It is now 4 to 1 for Colbert. This time, the chant is deafening.

We can feel our hopes of winning slip between our fingers. And then, with three minutes left in the second period, Darren scores his third goal to lock in a 5-1 lead after forty minutes. After the goal, the Colbert fans chant so loudly that I can't hear myself think.

We head to the dressing room after two periods with slumped shoulders and heads down. We sit in silence at our stalls as the menacing thought sinks in: this is the end. The final gasp.

After the success that this year has brought us thus far, we have had it in our heads that we had it made. We had the championship in our hands already. All along, it has been inevitable. Winning is not possible. Luck is not on our side.

On the other hand, leads like this can be, and have been blown before. It isn't impossible to come back from this. It won't be easy, that's for sure. But it is something that needs to be done. I know that every one of my teammates is currently feeling down and depressed, nothing but pessimistic thoughts racing through their minds. I know that something must be said to get those thoughts out of their heads.

And I'm going to be the one to do just that.

I stand up. Everyone continues looking down, seemingly not noticing. "Okay," I say, causing everybody to look up at me.

"I know that you're all feeling pretty down right about now. Hell, so am I. But you know something? We can get through this.

"There's still a period left," I continue. "That's twenty minutes to score four goals. It goes without saying that it'll be tough. But it isn't impossible. It is doable.

"All we need is grit, tenacity, and determination. We need that feeling in our hearts that we can defeat the demon that lies before us. We will not let it slip through our fingers. This is our game, and we. Will. Win!"

Everyone cheers in our small cramped room. The atmosphere in here has changed from dark and gloomy, to the feeling of hunger and want. The want for the title is there.

Now we just need to take what's ours.

_____

The song on the side is "Renegade", by Styx.