The conference championship was conducted at a neutral rink located two hours from the campus, with a sold-out audience nearly evenly divided between Northbridge blue and the deep green of their opponents, Fairview State — a program that had triumphed over Northbridge in this specific match for three consecutive years, resulting in closely contested and arduous defeats that had lingered in the memories of every senior on the roster since their freshman year.
Cole had played in exactly one championship before, during his sophomore year, just three months before the boarding call that shattered his ankle and, for a while, his sense of identity without hockey. He recalled standing in this very tunnel that year, at seventeen and feeling invincible, convinced that the future would simply unfol
