The relay starts out slow—forty-five laps,
the skaters conserve their energy for the end of the race. Passes
come every two or three laps and Dante’s taking it easy out there
on the ice. When he’s not the current skater, he mills around in
the center of the rink with the others, watching the track and
keeping as far away from Dietrich as he can. Fortunately, his
teammate seems to be ignoring him today, focusing instead on the
race and barely glancing at Dante whenever he skates by. Ryan has
to admit that Dietrich did get off the line well, a nice,
clean start, and the first pass to his friend Aaron was flawless,
even though one of the skaters from Cherry Hill skidded out of a
turn and almost sent them all tumbling down. Maybe Dante was right
about Dietrich wanting to win so bad
