This Love is Ours

Chapter 68: The Kiss that Changed a Life

{Patrick}

"Alright boys, one last set of suicides, and then we'll call it a day." Coach Q says, blowing his whistle.

A few of the guys groan, (under their breaths of course), and we all make our way back down to the end of the ice, for a last set of suicides.

Suicides are literally the worst thing ever.

Whoever invented suicides, is legitimately Satan.

And the beep test.

The beep test is maybe the one thing worse than suicides.

I skate over to the end of the ice, and Coach Q blows the whistle, telling us to start on our final set of suicides.

I begin skating, pushing my legs as hard as I can, my strives long and powerful.

I am at the head of the pack.

I reach the blue line and back, center ice and back, far blue line and back, and finally, the opposite end of the rink and back to where I originally started.

Jonny and I finish at the exact same time, and I immediately start laughing as soon as I finish.

"I swear to God I was going to beat you that time." Jonathan laughs, breathing heavily.

"You wish, Jonny." I laugh, hitting him on the shoulder.

"Good practice, Kaner." He says, nodding.

"You too, man." I say, taking a few deep breaths to catch my breath.

It's Thursday, May 18, about 3:00 in the afternoon.

Right now, the Blackhawks are at the end of a very hard, hour-long practice at the United Center.

The Hawks play game one of the Western Conference Finals tomorrow night, against the Vancouver Canucks, here in Chicago.

I'm pumped for the new series, but the Canucks are unbelievably strong this year.

They are going to be a tough team to beat, but the Hawks are a tough team to beat as well.

We are going to push hard, and that is exactly what Coach Q has done at today's practice.

We have been working extremely hard in our last few practices, and today was probably the worst of them all.

In the end, all of this hard work is going to be worth it, though.

Tazer continues to encourage the rest of the guys, and within a few moments, the entire team has finished their set of suicides.

"Alright boys, I really like the efforts I have been seeing over the past few practices. I know I have been pushing you guys hard, but this series is crucial, and we are going to have to battle hard. Now hit the showers, boys." Coach Q instructs, blowing his whistle once again.

In one big group, the entire team begins to make their way towards the bench, to head back into the locker room.

I grab my Gatorade water bottle, and take a few long sips of cold water.

I look around the UC, at all the empty seats and find myself staring in awe.

I've been playing and practicing in this arena since my NHL career started, and I still find myself in disbelief at how legendary this arena is.

The Madhouse on Madison.

I take another big gulp of water, before following behind Johnny Oduya and Saader into the locker room.

I head to my stall, and take off all of my hockey equipment.

All of the guys head to the showers, and then return back to the locker room, changing into our original clothes for the day.