Sticks and Skates [Wayhaught]

Life on Ice

Nicole had never felt more like death.

It must've taken her fifteen minutes to get the energy to even roll over this morning, never mind actually get out of bed.

She'd known that no matter how good of shape she was in, she'd be sore after the first day of preseason. But, wow, was she not expecting this. Every single muscle felt like it was on fire, and she was sore in places on her body she didn't even knew could be sore.

She ran her hands over her face and groaned as she noticed the darkness outside her window. No matter how long she'd been playing hockey, she never could quite get herself used to the early morning practices. She'd never complain though, she loved it too much. Most days she couldn't believe she was still playing at her age, and the fact that it was now her job.

She remembers draft night a couple months ago, the absolute anxiety as the night went on without hearing her name called. Round after round finished off and the doubt kept creeping in with each pick that wasn't her. She'd known she wasn't one of the top options, and she never tricked herself into believing she'd be picked in the first or second round, but by the time round six rolled around, she was starting to accept that her career was over and she'd have to find a real life job. She'd allowed the words of others to hold truth, that she wasn't good enough or that the league was a silly pipe dream. The last pick of round seven, the final round, was being mulled over when Nicole had officially resigned herself to her fate of being a NARP when her phone rang.

She hadn't travelled to Ottawa for the official draft, she knew that she wasn't going to go in the first couple of rounds, and instead stayed in her off-campus apartment in Edmonton with CJ and watched the telecast from her couch anxiously. No parents, no teammates or friends from campus were there to watch with her. Her parents had been in and out of her life up until she went off to college and cut them out completely. Her teammates weren't exactly what you'd call teammates and didn't really ever care about each other outside of the locker room and she'd always been too preoccupied with class and hockey to make any real friends on campus. So, Nicole was stuck on draft night, alone with CJ, Calamity Jane, her favorite ginger cat.

When her phone had rung, CJ jumped ten feet in the air, Nicole recalls with a smile. It took her a moment to answer it, not wanting to get her hopes up, thinking it was most likely a telemarketer. But, the Purgatory Blue Devils had the last pick and the caller ID on her phone was an unknown number from Purgatory, AB, so she took a deep breath and answered it.

"Nicole Haught?" The gruff voice on the other end asked.

"Yes, this is she." (She still cringes at the phrase).

"My name is Randy Nedley, I'm the head coach of the Purgatory Blue Devils," the words had spiked her heart rate up exponentially, "How would you like to come play for us?"

Her eyes were filled with tears of pride, she had done it. She had made it (this far, at least), when others said she had no chance.

"It'd be an honor sir." Was all she could manage to say without sounding like she was fighting tears, but she was certain he could hear the smile she was wearing.

"Alright, well we're gonna go ahead and use this and make you our official pick then. Welcome to the team Nicole." Nedley said, and he sounded prideful as well.

"Thank you sir, thank you." She'd answered and the call had ended.

Turning back to the telecast, she watched the league commissioner walk up to the stage, and make an official announcement.

"With the final pick of this year's draft, the Purgatory Blue Devils select Nicole Haught, Center, University of Alberta."

She'd spent the rest of June, July, August and the first week of September in Edmonton working on her game before finally getting to Purgatory a few days ago, signing a lease on the small apartment she was currently residing in. (She was grateful that at the very least, her landlord allowed her to keep CJ in the apartment with her).