Love For A Game

Chapter 32

As I jump onto the ice, many thoughts race through my head. Was what I said actually true? If so, how true? Can we really overcome this? What will my teammates think of me if we fail?

I line up at centre ice across from the devil himself, Darren Reynolds. "I bet that trophy will look good in my hands, huh, Devlin?"

"It ain't over yet, Reynolds," I reply. "There's still twenty minutes left."

The ref asks both of us if we are ready, and we both nod in response. He raises his arm, and drops the puck, starting the game.

I grab the puck and immediately send a sharp pass to Luke. Luke tries to take it into their zone, but is taken down by the defender. The guy grabs the puck and crosses centre with it, before dumping it in behind our net.

Nicole grabs the puck behind the net, and holds it there. She motions with her arm for the wingers to hug the boards. All three of us forwards go to the walls, and Nic starts to come up the ice.

She passes our blue line, and then centre. The Colbert defence is so shocked by this that they let Nicole pass their blue line without any difficulty. Once she is between the faceoff circles, the two defenceman converge on her. Then, she makes a beautiful drop pass back to me. I grab the puck and rip it in top shelf. It is now 5-2.

I skate over towards Nicole. "Nice play," I say, patting her on the back. "Don't try that again, though. They'll be expecting that." She nods to me and skates over to the bench to receive fist bumps from our teammates.

Play starts up again, and immediately, we take control. The jump that we have missed all game long is suddenly here, and it could not have shown up at a better time. Our team, which once consisted of depressed kids who thought losing was imminent, now consists of the most determined kids one might ever see. We dig in the corners like never before. We throw every puck at the net that's possible, getting quite a few scoring chances as a result.

Eight minutes into the period, Charlie bangs home a rebound to reduce the lead down to two. Seven minutes later, Nathan blasts a shot from the point that beats Nick Jenkins cleanly. With five minutes to go, we are down by just one goal.

I win the following draw back to Nicole. She passes up to me and I dump it in. I see their centre go to the bench, and Darren hops on the ice. It's only fitting that he and I finish this out one on one.

Luke takes the puck behind their net. He waits for a few seconds, and then throws the puck around the boards, back to the point. Josh takes it and passes to Nicole. She winds up a shot, but doesn't take it. Instead she passes to me. However, Darren expects this, and intercepts the puck before it gets to me.

He races up the ice with it. He is one on one with Nicole. He takes a shot, that Noel stops and covers with his glove. Darren skates in and jabs Noel's glove with his stick. The puck comes loose and Darren bangs it home.

I immediately skate to the referee and cause a big fuss. "That was goalie interference, ref!" I shout. "Noel had it covered!"

Nicole joins me, as well as Luke and Charlie. "Calm down," the ref says. "I agree with you. Just let me see what the linesman has to say." He skates away.

Behind us, the Colbert fans are chanting in full force. "Devlin! Devlin! Devlin! YOU SUCK! It's all your fault! All your fault! All your fault!"

I skate over to the bench. Coach Bennington looks furious, but also like he's trying to keep it bottled in. "That won't count, will it?"

"I don't know, Coach," I reply. "Ref says he thinks it shouldn't, but he'll talk to the linesman about it."

"He obviously had it covered," Coach says. "You can't jab at him like that and expect it to go your way."

If it is allowed, our chances of a comeback will be halted. With less than three minutes to go, and a two goal deficit, it's damn near impossible from those odds. If it isn't allowed, then we have a chance. It all comes down to the officials' decision.

Finally the ref skates over to us. "It's not gonna count," he says. "It was obviously interference. It's still 5 to 4."

We breathe sighs of relief while the ref tells the same news to the Colbert bench. They don't take it too kindly, and they look pissed beyond belief.

The faceoff is at centre. Once the puck is dropped, the play is ours. It's as if the disallowed goal completely took the game away from the Crusaders. The only one of them that has his game is Jenkins, who makes spectacular saves to keep the puck out of his net, their lead, slim as it may be, alive.

Time dwindles down as the clock bleeds into the final minute. The puck is in our zone, Colbert finally getting a push. Everyone is dog-tired, but we push on anyway. Darren takes the puck at the line, but fumbles it. I see a chance, and five to poke the puck away. Suddenly, I see a blur pass me, picking up the puck.

It's Nicole.

I look at the clock. There are eight seconds remaining. Nicole has a breakaway. She passes the blue line with six seconds to spare. She dekes once, and almost shoots, but the stick of a diving Darren Reynolds trips her and hauls her down before she can. The buzzer sounds and the Crusaders begin to celebrate.

Now, the rule is, if a player is on a breakaway, and they are tripped, hooked, or slashed, and they are prevented from shooting, they are then awarded a penalty shot. Since Nicole was tripped and hauled down before she had a chance to shoot, she should get a chance to have a penalty shot.

The Colbert players are at their bench, yelling and celebrating wildly. The referee skates over to their bench, halting the celebration for a moment. He says a few words, and their coach goes nuts. He's so furious, he starts pulling at his hair.

The ref skates to us. "Lavoie gets a penalty shot, Coach," he says to Bennington. "She was hauled down with a clear path to the net. Whenever you're ready." He skates away.

Now, we have never practiced these before; we never thought we had to. Now, it is needed in the most important situation possible: score, and it's a tie game headed to overtime; miss, and we have once again failed to beat the Crusaders.

Coach looks at Nicole, who has a determined look on her face. "Just remember," he says. "Just stay calm. No pressure. It's nothing on you if you miss, ok?" She nods in response, and skates out to centre.

The referee drops the puck on the centre dot, and skates to Jenkins. He whispers instructions to the goalie. He raises his arm, and blows his whistle. "Go ahead."

Nicole skates around the puck three times, finally grabbing it on her third pass. She skates slowly through centre, and crosses the blue line.

She dekes once, then twice, and then a third time. Jenkins doesn't make a move. Nicole approaches the net. She then puts the luck through her legs, and rips a shot. Jenkins expects it to stay low, and he goes down to stop it. However, it gets more lift than he expected, and it finds the pocket of the top corner.

Nicole has done it. It is now a tie game, with the one thing that hockey players both love and hate approaching.

Overtime.

_____

The song on the side is "Piece of Mind", by Boston.