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"Where is baby Luke tonight?" Penn asked Nic.
"In the family room with Fal's mom."
"Briar and Callie are down there with Brandon's mum," Hannah said. "It's a madhouse tonight. The guys want the kiddos to be here, of course."
Penn slapped her hands down on her thighs. "What do you think, guys? Should we get some food? I know it's stress eating, but nachos and beer sound wonderful right about now."
"I'm game," Bella told her.
"Me, too," Holly said. "Let's get some pizza, too. I'm hungry." She hoped she wouldn't pay for it later with killer indigestion, but her stomach was rumbling, and her craving for pizza was strong.
"Maybe a beer will calm my nerves," Nic mused. "To the snack bar!"
* * *
"We want the Cup! We want the Cup!"
"Don't we all," Penn muttered as the Nevada Arena chanted their demands, clapping and stomping as a Tampa Bay player skated off toward the penalty box. "But at least we have a power play. What is it, the third one of the game? We need to capitalize on this. Tampa Bay's penalty kill is stellar, so it won't be easy."
"I looked down for one minute to text Fal's mom and missed the whole thing. What happened?" Nic asked.
"Ludwig hooked Gunnar Klasson," Tabitha told her, pointing to the replay on the video monitor.
"Two minutes of five-on-four hockey. Make it count, boys," Bella shouted, clapping her hands.
Holly peered up at the scoreboard. The game was still tied, with eight minutes left in the third.
"Okay, here we go." Hannah leaned forward in her seat. "Let's do this."
The "We want the Cup" chants changed to "Let's go, Kingsnakes" as the guys tried to set up down in Tampa Bay's zone.
"They've got Sam London out on the power play unit tonight," Nic said. "I know they've been trying some different stuff with Fal out."
"He's a great player." Zoe nervously twirled a lock of her fiery red hair around her finger. "Man, I hope they score here."
Holly chewed the side of her thumb as the boys managed to start cycling the puck. Eli was on defense, while Ryder, Brandon, Tyler Quinn, and Sam filled out the rest of the power play unit.
"Usually Shaw is out at the start of the power play, but I think Coach wanted Brandon because he and Sam are so used to playing with each other, and they have great chemistry," Hannah said, clasping her hands in front of her. "Oh for the love of Pete, guys, please, please score."
Ryder got a pass from Brandon and one-timed it toward the net, but Tampa Bay's goaltender caught it and held on as Sam slid up toward the crease.
"Fuck," Nic muttered, glancing up at the scoreboard. "Only forty-seven seconds left before we're at even strength."
The linesman dropped the puck, and Brandon won the faceoff, tipping the puck in Ryder's direction. Ryder slid it over to Eli, who snapped off a quick pass to Sam.
Sam wristed the puck up into the air, right over the goaltender's blocker and into the back of the net.
The crowd erupted into pandemonium as the red light turned on behind the goaltender and the Kingsnakes goal song blared over the speakers.
"Yes! Yes! Yes!" Holly screamed, high-fiving the girls as they all laughed and danced along with the song.
The boys tackled Sam with hugs, and they were all smiles as they skated off toward the bench.
"Power play goal scored by number twenty-three, his third of the playoffs, Sam London! Assisted by number fifty-two, Eli Donnelley, and number twenty-five, Ryder O'Bryan,"the announcer yelled, and the fans went crazy all over again.
"Okay. We need to keep their asses off the board for the next six plus minutes," Penn said, dragging her hands down over her face. "Just six more minutes. And you know it's going to be nuts."
"They can do this," Bella said confidently. "I know they can. I just know it."
