My Hockey Enemy

GameTime

I'm ready when the puck drops. Lawson, obviously wasn't.

I won the face-off with surprising ease. The second the puck dropped, I swiped that puppy over to Bax. I shoved into Lawson, as my team and I pushed our way down the ice. Someone was closing in on Bax, so he passed the puck back to me. Lawson was too close on my tail for me to hold the puck much further. As we neared the blue line, I looked at Jax, made eye contact and passed the puck over the line, which he caught gracefully. He took off, and I followed up the center ice, close behind.

Unfortunately, Lawson's defensemen pinned Jax to the boards, so he had to release the puck. Their winger came up and grabbed it. But not fast enough. I was on him in less than a second. I grabbed the puck, only for Lawson to come up behind me, knock my stick upwards, sending the puck away from me.

That bastard!

I had no time to waste, so I skated for the puck when I heard the whistle blow. I stopped and took in my surroundings. Lawson's defenseman was on top of my man.

Jax! He was down on the ice. I skated over to him as fast as I could after all the skating I had just done. He looked up at me and grinned.

That butthead!

I was worried.

I reached down to give him a hand. "Are you okay?" I asked, concerned. He stood and put his arm over my shoulders.

"I'm all good," he said. I looked at him skeptically. Don't get me wrong. Jax is a big boy. But that guy who hit him? Friggen MASSIVE. Like I'm kinda scared of him, massive.

"I promise" he assured. Alrighty, if he says so. Though I'm going to keep my eye on him for the remainder of the period.

We all skated in for a line change. The new lines went to position in the offensive zone. I watched intently as the puck was dropped, my team took the win there, but, their defense in front of the net got hold of the puck before Aris (another right-winger) could shoot on net.

That defenseman shot the puck into the corner behind the net where the other team had a winger hidden. He took off down the ice into our end. He was stopped by the all-amazing Kinsley, before he could cross the blue line. Kins passed to the other center-man, Kaleb. Kaleb took off again, back the way he just came from. He tried shooting on the net, but he shot from too far away, and the offensive goalie caught it and covered it. The ref blew the whistle, and I was off the bench once more.

***

After first period, it was time for a flood, meaning we would have a 10-15 minute breather, depending on the Zamboni driver.

Back at the boys' dressing room, I sat, exhausted. Kaleb got hit in the hand really hard, and I had to do a double shift at the end, to give him a minute to recover. Usually I wouldn't have to do that because we are supposed to have two extra players, on top of our pre-assembled lines, but those two both got sick before we had to come all the way south for these games. I mean, the extra game time was nice, but I am soooo tired now.

I've got 8 more minutes till I need to have my breath back and be ready to win. Neither team scored in the first period. Everyone is working their butts off. Both teams really want to go to provincial's this year.

Kins is sitting beside me, gloves and helmet off, face red, mouth open like a fish, trying to cool down by pulling her jersey away from her, then letting it drop before repeating. I feel the same way. Though I may not be as red because I have a darker complexion.

Coach Zeller and Harlin are discussing something I don't have the energy to try and listen to, in the corner of the room, but it looks intense.

There's a hockey water bottle being passed around the room, for everyone to drink out of. When it gets to me, I squirt some in my mouth and then on my head. It felt so nice, to have the cool water dripping down my overly warm body. I felt eyes on me and looked over to see Bax staring at me. We made eye contact and he looked away blushing. I smiled sadly. It's not that I'd never date Bax. But coach Harlin made the no-dating rule, and, well, Bax was almost like a brother to me. I just really wish he'd stop having a crush on me.

Four minutes till it's time to get back out on the ice. I have finally cooled down enough to feel like a normal person again. I sat up a little straighter and tuned in to Kins and Johna's conversation. "No, you can't do that, it's faster to go through Mr. Jakson's field" I heard Kins tell Johna. "Right Kay?" she then asked me.

"I don't even know what you guys are talking about". I stated to them

"We're talking about how, if we were to ride our horses to school, what the fastest route would be. If I rode down the road to Kins' house, then we went down road 45, it would be the fastest way to school." Johna told me.

I looked at him, and thought about it for a second. Plotting the route in my head. Johna lives maybe five kilometers down the road from Kins. If they were to drive, Johna would be right. However, with the horses, they'd be able to cut across Mr. Jakson's field, making it much faster. I looked at Johna and told him "Kins is right. It would be faster to go through the field".

Johna grunted, clearly not happy about being wrong. Then Kins just had to add the "Told you so", with her signature sass. I tuned back out, realizing there was no point trying to be in any conversations right now. I started going over all the plays I messed up during first period and mentally correcting myself, so I'd have a better concept for next time.

The buzzer rang out, calling us back out the door for the second period. I have a feeling I'm going to end up in the penalty box this period. But I for sure know I'm going to score. No matter what.