Thin Ice (Corey Crawford)

Epilogue

Samantha

With every successful athlete there has to be a little bit of luck. Even Michael Jordan surprised himself sometimes with the shots he made, even Michael Phelps had to win by the tips of his fingers in some races. God given talent and skills earned by hard work are the staples to every successful athletes career. But there's a bit of luck in there too, like a rain delay that halts the momentum in the bottom of the ninth inning in game seven of the World Series allowing you to redeem yourself and end a 108 year old championship drought.

So the recipe to greatness is skills, talent, hard work and a little bit of luck. In my case my luck was a bad piece of steak and a pulled hammy in warm ups. That was what got me into the moment every hockey player dreams about, playing in the nhl in front of 22,000 screaming fans wanting to know who you were. And in every way possible it was like a dream, even I have a hard time wrapping my head around how much my life changed after that. Even without my dad I wake to on these crazy adventures while falling in love and starting a family. I was living the dream.

And it's not always perfect, sometimes being a mom and a hockey player is harder than I'm allowed to admit, that's part of the reason there weren't women in hockey in the first place because they would have to miss time and their responsibilities are different. But at the same time family comes first and hockey is usually a part of the family so we don't have to worry about it.

I guess Corey and I were the first true hockey family. For the first time it wasn't father-son or cousins or stuff like that. It was two goalies in the NHL learning how to make it work on and off the ice. We've had our fair share of issues trying to make sure Mia was taken care of and that we can get what we need done too, but we make it work. We learn every day how to make things easier and it helps.

Corey and I got married before the start of the 2016-2017 season. After a year in college Shawn moved out to Carolina to start his pro career. And in true hockey fashion his first game is opening night here in Chicago. After losing in the first round last season we were looking to get our feet under us again. Our dear friend Scott Darling went to The Wild to become a starter and while I will miss that man with all my heart, he deserves to be starter. And that allowed Corey and I to split the net here in Chicago. And I had no problem letting him play more games because his stats were way too good for a guy who doesn't get respect as a elite goalie. But he let me have this one so we can have a Miller vs Miller-Crawford showdown, the first ever brother sister shootout. Shawn even picked the same number as me just to tease me. And I was ready to face off against my brother in the first showdown of our careers.

"You ready to see your uncle Shawn wipe your moms face across the ice" Shawn says in his baby as he picks Mia up from her high chair. She was two now and growing every single day. She loves to run around and has even gotten into playing with the hockey sticks lying around. She knows a few words and loves to just scream, no words, just screaming. But I love my loud and hyperactive little girl with my whole heart. She was such a sweetie and I would do anything for her, luckily she doesn't ask for much.

"She's a smart kid, she knows I won't let you beat me" I assure him as he rolls his eyes.

"We'll see" he challenges.

After we have lunch together he heads back to moms to hang out with her too before the game. Since I was starting I had a pregame nap to take and a certain schedule to follow. Corey took care of baby duty and let me get ready how I wished.

Come game time Abby and Dayna kidnap Mia letting my mom come down to ice level and take a bunch of pictures of Shawn and I on the ice. Once warm ups start I go to center ice where Shawn and Corey we're talking while stretching out on the ice. I snow Shawn a little as he smiles at me.

"I thought you would be too scared to come over here" Shawn teases.

"I'm not scared of you" I scoff.

"Someone is forgetting that I spent my whole life training to beat you" he reminds me.

"And how has that been working out for you so far" I joke.

"Shut up" he mumbles and I laugh at him. I playfully tap his pads with my stick before skating past him.

"Good luck" I yell out.

"Uh huh" he yells back.

The game comes and goes and the Blackhawks win. Shawn has a good game but when you're playing against Artemi Panarin and Patrick Kane as a goalie all you can do is hold on to your jock and hope to god one of those guys are off. But they never are, we saw that last year. They were a force to be reckoned with and not even I would dare to stop them.

So we get off the ice and do interviews. Like always I'm kicked out of the locker room because quite frankly I didn't want to see all of that anyway. I was a married woman and one of those guys in there is the man I'm married to. I don't need to see the rest of that.

So I lean against the wall and answer all the questions they throw at me like always.

"What was it like looking across the ice and seeing your brother" they wonder.

"It's crazy. Our dad literally bred us for this and I wished like hell he was here to see it. But I know that this is exactly what was meant to be" I explain.

"What does it feel like knowing that the team trusted you to start the season" another asks.

I just smile and I play with the ring I put back on my finger. "The best way I can explain it is like skating on thin ice. The feeling of your heart racing not sure what's going to happen next. You can't trust that the next step is the right one but you can trust that there is a way to get through anything. And if the ice cracks we don't want to make it break, control the crack and keep skating. You have to trust in what you don't know, like thin ice over a unforgiving lake.

When my dad died I thought that was my ice breaking moment. Little did I know that was life just telling me I can't go down that path anymore, I needed to turn around and take a different way until I was off of the thin ice and where I now I can build something sturdy off of.

And I think I'm there" I admit.

"For you what's going to happen next? You have the Olympic medal and Stanley cup, you got married and have a beautiful daughter. Your brother just made his NHL debut and is sure to be doing some great things in the near future. What's next for you" a reporter asks me.

"The sky's the limit, I can always be better. I can always do more. Whatever happens next just helps me get to the next part and the part after that. The future isn't written, all I know is that whatever it may hold should be some of the best times of my life" I smile.