Queen II Barzal

Chapter One: Mat

Game 7. Stanley Cup finals against the Vegas Golden Knights. There were 4 minutes left. The score was 2-2. I had the puck touching my stick. I sprinted to the net. I made a one-on-one encounter with Marc-Andre Fleury. I hit the puck with my backhand. The crowd as well as my teammates yelled with excitement. I lifted my hands up and did a celly on the ice. A smile was plastered huge on my face as I saw the puck hit the back of the net. We had the lead, 3-2. These last few minutes were crucial. Semyon Varlamov was in the net and made an amazing save before the clock ran down. The horn sounded and the team piled on me, giving me hugs.

"Let's go!" We cheered.

We won my first Stanley Cup and the Islanders first since 1983. I smiled through my interview with Shannon Hogan, who was just as happy as I was.

"How do you feel winning the Stanley Cup?" Shannon asked.

"It feels great, you know. I love playing and the guys make it really enjoyable," I said.

"You played with such great heart through the entire playoffs, how does it feel having that game-winning goal?" She asked.

"It's an amazing feeling, you know, but I wasn't the only one," I said. "Hats off to Varly with amazing saves and Beau with the assist, this was our game to win,"

"And your first baby is actually due today, your wife is in the hospital already?" Shannon asked.

"Yeah, baby number one is on his way," I said. "My wife is probably watching this from the hospital,"

"Well congratulations on both, Mat, have a good one," Shannon said.

"Thank you," I said.

After the end ceremony, I rushed to the hospital.

"Hey, baby, I'm here," I kissed her forehead. She still had the game on the TV. "Are you okay?"

I noticed her crying.

"You played great, Maty," She said. "This baby is going to be so proud of his daddy,"

I smiled.

"It's been an awesome night," I said. I held her hand. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine, contractions are every few minutes, but I'm-" She cut herself off and squeezed my hand. "I think I'm going into labor... right now,"

I called in a doctor. Bela didn't let go of my hand as the doctors delivered the baby. I was in tears as they cleaned up the baby. It was mostly tears of joy, but Bela's hand squeezing really hurt. Bela held the baby first as the doctors mentioned,

"It's a girl,"

Bela kissed the baby's forehead and started rocking her.

"Have you decided on a name?" The doctors asked.

"Uh," I looked at Bela.

"We kinda decided on Tyler... we were told it was a boy," Bela looked at me. "Tyler,"

"Tyler Grace Barzal," I looked at the baby. Bela let me hold her.

"Hi, Tyler," I rocked her in my arms. "It's your daddy,"

The baby was silent.

"I just won the Stanley Cup on your birthday," I said. "It's a big day for a lot of reasons,"

I smiled.

"But you wanna know what my favorite part of the day was?" I asked the baby softly. "Meeting you,"

I kissed her again and put her back in Bela's arms.

"You okay, Bela?" I asked.

"I need a shower," She said.