Yes, I did a one shot about hockey. I'm Canadian, sue me. 😂
The Blue Valley Tigers were up by 2 as the time ticked away. There was 1:14 left in the third period of what had been a very intense hockey game. Blue Valley was currently the top team in the Round Robin phase of playoffs after a great regular season thanks to the teamwork of their defensive line consisting of juniors Sam Golbach and Colby Brock. Not only were they line mates, but they were also best friends, and their brotherhood was evident on and off the ice.
As the time ticked away, the sound of the crowd cheering coursed through the arena. Winning on home ice was truly one of the best feelings in the world. Sam and Colby listened as the last minute of play was announced. When the final buzzer sounded, the whole team gathered on the ice in celebration. They quickly shook hands with their opponents before returning to their dressing room. Once Sam and Colby were changed, they exited the locker room together, both of them talking as they walked towards the back doors of the arena.
" Hey Brock, Golbach, got a second?" someone asked.
Sam and Colby turned to face Jacob Wright, a senior that played on the team of their rival school, Turner High. Several of the teams currently in the playoffs would often come to other teams' games to scope out the competition.
" What do you want, Jacob?" asked Sam.
" Just wanted to say, great game out there," said Jacob. " Your team is not bad. Of course they haven't played us yet."
" What's your point?" asked Colby.
" My point is that Turner High has been the reigning champion 2 years in a row," said Jacob.
" Well, that's nice," said Sam, annoyed. Both he and Colby turned to continue on their way when Jacob yelled after them.
" I plan on making it 3," Jacob yelled.
Colby stopped in his tracks. " Sounds almost as if you're afraid to play us," laughed Colby.
" You wish," said Jacob. " I'll see you losers on the ice tomorrow." Jacob walked back to join the rest of his team.
" What a jerk," said Sam.
" Ignore him," said Colby. " We'll settle it on the ice."
The next day, both teams were currently warming up on their respective sides of the rink. Colby looked over and watched the opposing team's warmup, not at all intimidated by them, even though he knew that's what they were trying to do. Suddenly, one of the Turner High players met Colby at the center line.
" What's good brother," said Nate. He was a childhood friend of Sam and Colby's. Sam skated next to Colby to talk to Nate as well.
" Long time no see, how have you been, man?" asked Colby.
" You know, same old, same old," laughed Nate. " How about you guys, anything new?"
" We're moving to LA this summer," said Sam.
" No way, that's so sick," said Nate. " We should hang before you guys leave."
" Definitely, we could go to the warehouse, you remember?" asked Colby.
" Oh, how could I forget the warehouse?" laughed Nate. They were suddenly interrupted.
" Hardy, what the fuck are you doing?" asked Jacob. " Get over here."
" I should get going, but good luck guys," said Nate.
" You too," said Sam.
Once warmup was over, everyone waited in anticipation for the game to start. Right off the bat Blue Valley scored and minutes later, Turner High put themselves on the board. It was back and forth like that all night. The game was tied 4-4 going into the 3rd period and neither team felt like playing overtime. One of them needed to win.
Jacob and his linemate Brandon skated over to their bench when their coach called timeout. Jacob whispered to Brandon.
" We need to take Brock and Golbach out of this game," said Jacob.
" How do we do that?" asked Brandon.
" Leave it to me," said Jacob.
When the game started again, the puck was shot into the Blue Valley Zone. Colby received it and chased it, Jacob was hot on his tail. Colby had the puck on his stick when suddenly, a gloved hand shoved his face into the sideboards and he fell down on the ice, wincing in pain. The referee blew the whistle as several of Colby's teammates skated over to him.
" Seriously man?" said Nate.
" Shut your mouth, Hardy," said Jacob.
Sam was fuming. He watched as Jacob skated away, smirking. Sam quickly followed him.
" That was an illegal hit," yelled Sam.
" It's a contact sport Golbach, it's how you play the game," yelled Jacob.
Sam finally caught up to Jacob and pounced on him, bringing him to the ground. Both boys had their gloves and helmets off as they punched each other until the refs finally broke them up, leading them to the penalty boxes.
" Wright gets 5 minutes and Golbach gets 2, for roughing," said the ref.
" Are you serious?" shouted Sam. " Five minutes for an illegal hit to the head? Throw him out!"
" Quiet Golbach," said the ref.
" Bullshit," said Sam.
Colby had taken a couple minutes to recover and was fine. Thank god for helmets. Colby eyed Sam in the penalty box and then looked up at the clock. 3 minutes left in the period and both teams had a 4-on-4.
If Jacob's plan had been to ignite a fire in Colby, he succeeded. Once the whistle was blown, Colby was determined to get a goal. He hurriedly skated into position, waiting for just the right moment to strike and take advantage of the opposing team's mistakes, and he found it. When the puck slipped past and Blue Valley gained possession, Colby sent the puck towards the Turner High net like a rocket and chipped it into the top corner. Colby cheered and jumped into the side boards as the arena announced a goal, he skated past the penalty and pointed his stick at Sam, who banged his stick against the glace.
" Fuck!" yelled Jacob.
Sam laughed to himself as he heard the boy curse in the penalty box directly beside him. In the end, Blue Valley had won by a single goal, thanks to Colby. But it wasn't over. They had another game against Turner High tomorrow, and that one was do or die.
Jacob was still yelling as both teams made their way off the ice. He yelled at his teammates and then looked over at Sam and Colby.
" You got lucky, Brock," said Jacob. " Tomorrow, you're finished."
" It's called losing, you should get used to it," said Colby.
" What the fuck did you just say to me, Brock?" yelled Jacob. He had started to walk towards Colby, but both of their coaches held them back.
" Get the fuck off of me!" said Jacob, ripping his arm away from his coach and retreating into their dressing room.
Jacob angrily threw his helmet down on the floor of their dressing room and then sat beside Brandon.
" You good man?" asked Brandon.
" What do you think?" asked Jacob. " That son of a bitch Brock thinks he's so tough, that's cool. If we can't hurt him physically, we'll do it emotionally instead."
" What do you mean?" asked Brandon.
" Trust me," said Jacob. " Just follow my lead and we have tomorrow's game in the bag."
The second game had started out much like the first one, except this time, Turner High came out even stronger. It was now Blue Valley trailing by one going into the last period, and with only 10 minutes left.
" Whatever you're going to do, you need to do it soon," said Brandon, as he looked at Jacob.
Jacob had an evil smile on his face as the game resumed. Once Blue Valley intercepted the puck and gained possession, that's when Jacob struck. He waited for Sam to receive the puck and then chased him, and when he got close, he purposely hit Sam in the throat with his stick, sending him down instantly. The ref blew the whistle hard and Jacob smirked as he watched the blond, barely conscious on the ice. Brandon and Nate skated over.
" What the fuck was that?" asked Brandon.
" Taking one for the team," said Jacob.
Colby had seen what had happened from the other side of the ice and quickly skated over to Sam.
" Sam, you okay?" asked Colby. The blond didn't respond. Colby got down on one knee and heard Sam's shallow breathing.
" Sam?!" said Colby. " Sam!!"
Several of Colby's teammates had to hold Colby back as the medics raced onto the ice, tending to the blond. One of them holding his head still and the others coaching him through the breathing. He could see Sam struggling to keep his eyes open. The entire arena was silent as the fans and both teams looked on.
Colby was almost in tears seeing his best friend practically dead on the ground and then the stretcher came out. Several medics helped secure Sam to the stretcher and he was carried out to an ambulance. Both teams watched as he was carried out and the fans clapped for him.
" Better watch your back next time Golbach," said Jacob, when he was carried by the opposing bench.
Colby whipped around and skated towards Jacob, but several of his teammates held him back.
" You did that on purpose you son of a bitch!" yelled Colby.
" Jesus, Colby, stop embarrassing yourself," said Jacob. " If you can't take the pain, don't play the game, it's that simple."
" He'd better be okay Jacob, you hear me you motherfucker?" yelled Colby as he tried to escape from the grasp of his teammates holding him back.
Nate shook his head as he watched Jacob skate over to the bench, clearly beaming with pride at what he had just done. Jacob stopped to talk to Brandon.
" That'll rile him up," said Jacob, proudly.
" You could've killed him," said Brandon.
" I told you, we needed to take them out," said Jacob. " One way or another."
" You ain't right man," said Brandon.
" Whatever, now you'd better fucking win," said Jacob, as he left to go to the locker room, having been thrown out of the game.
Colby glanced up at the upper bowl where other players from Turner High had been sitting and watching the game. He saw Jacob now sitting up there.
As the last 10 minutes ticked away, the game was tied once again. Colby had been all over the place, not able to focus with his mind being on Sam. He was making stupid mistakes he wouldn't normally make and was trying so hard to stay focused. This had all been part of Jacob's plan. Rile him up enough so that he loses focus. Colby usually wasn't one to be bothered by words, nor being hit, but when it came to his best friend, that was a different story.
The game went into overtime, and now had made it to a shootout. Turner High shot first and Blue Valley cheered as the shot was saved by their goaltender. Next, Jake shot for Blue Valley and the shot went it, they were now up by 1. Nate shot next for Turner High and his shot went in, both teams now tied again.
Each time one team would be up by one, the other would score and tie it again. Colby was the next person to shoot for Blue Valley. Colby squared up with the goaltender and skated towards him, guiding the puck back and forth, faking out the goalie and scoring in the bottom corner. The crowd cheered as Blue Valley scored. Brandon was next to shoot for Turner High.
Brandon got into position and began skating towards the goaltender. All of Blue Valley knew how great of a player Brandon was and would be lying if they said they weren't nervous. Brandon skated towards the opposing team's net and shot the puck towards the center, straight at the goalie and he saved it.
The crowd went wild and The Blue Valley team hopped over the bench and stormed the ice in celebration. Colby had stayed back and watched Brandon skate by him. Brandon looked at Colby, smiling and nodding and that's when Colby realized. Brandon had purposely missed that shot. Colby smiled back at him and nodded, indicating his Thank You.
Jacob walked back out to the bench, fuming. " What happened?" he asked, angrily.
" I missed," said Brandon.
" You never miss," said Jacob.
" It happens," said Brandon, smirking.
" Fuck you bro," said Jacob. " Fuck all of you. Bunch of fucking losers."
After the game and the handshake, Colby wasted no time. He immediately got changed and made his way to the hospital. He met Sam in his hospital room, happy to see that he was awake. He wasn't allowed to be dismissed for another 48 hours, just to make sure his breathing was completely back to normal, but Colby had been telling him the details of the final game.
Nate came to visit shortly after Colby had arrived along with several other of the Blue Valley teammates and their coaches. Everyone wished Sam the best and were happy to see he was okay.
" They said I should be good to go in time for the championship game, but no promises," said Sam.
" Fingers crossed," said Colby. " I miss you out there."
" Thanks," laughed Sam.
Suddenly there was another knock on Sam's door. Sam and Colby both turned to see Brandon standing in the doorway. Sam gestured for him to come in.
" Hey, I'm glad to see you're okay," said Brandon.
" Thanks," said Sam.
" Good game Colby," said Brandon. " You guys did great."
"Thanks, you guys had a good run too," said Colby.
" Yeah, I guess," said Brandon.
" Colby told me what you did," said Sam. " That was really amazing."
" What Jacob did was uncalled for," said Brandon. " If I had known I would've stopped him before he did it. It was the least I could do to make it up to you guys. Besides, it's just a game, we'll get you next year."
" Looking forward to it," laughed Colby.
" Well, see ya" said Brandon.
" See ya," said Colby. He then looked back towards Sam and smiled. Sam caught his gaze.
" What?" asked Sam.
" It's just really good to hear your voice," said Colby. " I was really worried."
" I'm tougher than I look," said Sam.
" Don't I know it," said Colby.