Thin Ice (Corey Crawford)

Making A Mend

Corey

We take on the Wild in the second round of the 2014 post season and this series was a little bit easier than the first. Losing your first two games is never ideal but we rattled off four straight wins to take down the Blues. And the Wild weren't as tenacious is as the Blues, plus they have a real problem with stopping Patrick Kane and I'm just happy I don't have to be the one to try and figure out how to do it. He was a world class player, always has been. And when you have him and Jonny and Saad and Hossa and Sharpy coming at you there isn't much you can do about it.

But there's other things going on besides the playoffs. Tonight Sam decided to go visit her old beer league team and I join her. They've been pretty busy since she made her NHL debut getting a lot of interest in playing for them. They got a goalie to replace her as she went off to bigger and better things. But those guys were her people, they let her in the game when she was lost and helped her become a damn good player. She felt like she owed them so she bought them all a round of beer before tonight's game. We all sit around in the locker room and the guys tell me the best stories from when Sam played here. I can tell she missed it, just playing for fun when not so much was on the line. But she's made for greater things than this and she knows it.

"I can't believe that you guys are having a kid, that's crazy" Sams friend Scottie says as he shakes his head.

"I'm not sure it's fully sunk in for me either" Sam admits. "I mean one moment you're getting a elbow to the head in the most watched Olympics event in 30 years and the next thing you know you're having a kid. It all happened pretty quickly" she admits.

"You excited" Mike asks me and I smile big.

"I've never been more excited in my life" I admit. "The Stanley cup, the Olympics, that was all pretty cool. But to be a dad, to love for no reason at all but that feeling is so strong. I can't wait to look at the baby and see everything I love so much in one little person" I say.

I hear the door open and turn to see Josh leave through it. I see Sam let out a sigh because he was supposed to be her friend and she was hoping she could make amends. But hearing the girl you wanted got everything she wanted and more without you can't feel good. Especially given their history. And I know she doesn't have those kind of romantic feelings for him anymore, I'm not worried about that. She's not the type to be dishonest or disloyal to anyone or anything. Sam is always open and she told me about Josh and what happens the very first night I could tell something was off. But she doesn't want to be cheated out of quality of life, that's why she didn't wait around for him. She still wants to be friends, to be a part of his life. But I think he's still a little confused on his feelings and what it means.

She starts to get up but I place my hand on her leg. "I got this" I assure her and she nods. She wanted to talk to her friends after all, unfortunately that meant Josh too so I wanted to go get him for her.

So I head out and find him sitting outside of the skate room. He had a skate in his lap working on his laces. I go and sit next to him and he lets out a sigh.

"What do you want" he grumbles.

"I don't think we have ever officially met" I start and he stops messing with his shoe. He looks up to me as I put my hand out. "I'm Corey Crawford" I try.

He sets his skate to the side and shakes my hand. "Josh Taylor. I am actually a big fan of yours, believe it or not" he claims and I laugh.

"Sure do got a funny way of showing it" I tease.

"Yeah, I know. I guess my situation is just... frustrating. And it's not your fault you're who you are. I can't blame you for that" he admits.

"You think everything that's happened is because of who I am" I ask him. He just shrugs his shoulders as I shake my head. "While you are partially right, because she did fall in love with me. But it's not because I play the sport she loves or for the team she loves or the position she loves. That's not the part of me she fell in love with.

You know as well as I do none of that stuff matters to her. When I met her she all but gave up on hockey so that can't be what connected us. She cares about being good to people and finding the good in people, just like her dad taught her. Just like she is teaching her brother. She cares about people but not who they are. Who they're going to be, that's why were together" I explain.

"I could have done that for her but she didn't give me the chance" he claims.

"She was here for two years before I swooped her up. What was stopping you all that time from going out and being with her" I ask.

Silence falls over the room as his head falls. I kinda felt bad because I could only imagine what it would be like to have someone like Sam slip through my fingers. It can't be easy. But she still wants to be friends.

"Nothing stopped me, that's why we never ended up together. She was always busy and I thought us being together meant she had to give something up in order to be with me. But I was wrong, she didn't have to change in order to be with me. I'm just mad because you knew that before I did" he explains.

"Well I'm sorry it didn't work out. She thinks the world of you, she's told me. She wants to be friends" I tell him.

"She doesn't need to waste time with the likes of me" he claims.

"She's been looking forward to coming back to this beer league because she loved playing with you guys. She might have been very over skilled for this league but she loved it here. And you guys helped her get to where she is now. She knows that and it's about time you see it too" I insist.

He lets out a long sigh before turning to me. "You're right" he admits. "I hate it but you're right."

"It's not very often that I am so I will take this small victory to heart" I joke making him laugh.

He gets up and I do too. We head back into the locker room and he sits down next to Sam. She smiles night before looking over at me. She sends me a wink and I wink back.