Ander is poised, ready to stop my shot. I flick it, he hits it, but the puck lands right in front of me again and this time I’m able to push it past him with the blade of my stick. I slide it underneath his leg and go down on my ass in the process.
He falls directly on top of me, but out of the corner of my eye, I see one of the refs waving off the goal before the horn blares.
“Nice try, baby brother,” Ander says as he rises. Looking cocky, he brushes himself off.
I stare him down. There’s no way Coach Chris isn’t going to challenge that call.
And sure enough, over the stadium’s speakers, I hear it announced that the call has indeed been challenged and will be reviewed.
Coach Chris waves us all to the bench while we await the refs’ decision. “Good one, kid,” he says to me. “That goal is gonna count.”
“There’s no way it doesn’t,” Ryan agrees. “That was a clean goal.”
While the rest of my team enjoys this moment to catch their breath, my heart beats out of my chest. It seems like it’s taking forever for the refs to review the goal and talk to the guys in the control center in Toronto who watch and review everything.
Finally, after what feels like hours but turns out to only be minutes, one of the refs makes his way to center ice. Again, the stadium goes quiet.
“After reviewing the play, we have determined that the puck made it over the line before the player and the goalie collided.” He points at the scoreboard. “We got a goal!”
Ryan
Brandon’s goal gave us a two-goal lead, but the Blizzards haven’t allowed us to coast through the rest of this game. They are pushing us to our max and I worry that we’re on the verge of getting tired and sloppy.
Plus, the fact that Connor hasn’t scored yet doesn’t bode well for us. In some ways it’s almost best to let him get an easy goal early. The longer he goes pointless sometimes, the worse it is. It’s like there’s a part of him that refuses to let him not score. A special force that makes it inevitable that he’s going to slip that puck into the net in some impressive, demoralizing fashion.
We just have to hold the line. Play strong. Not give him an inch. And for God’s sake, not let Gavin run any of us over.
Which…Slam!
Of course he takes me down the second I get the toe of my stick on the puck.
“Nice try, Christianson!” he yells at me as he skates off with the puck I just lost thanks to his hit. He skates it into our defensive zone, then passes it to Connor.
I quickly get back up and skate furiously forward. There’s a stitch in my side and my breaths are labored. But I skate through it. Now is not the time.
Connor fades left and Ivanov tracks him, then at the lastminute, Connor passes the puck between his legs to Tavish. Tavish, without any windup, buries it into our net, making the score two to one with five minutes left to play.
I turn my back on all of them as they celebrate. We forgot the cardinal rule when playing Connor Kennedy. He doesn’t play selfishly. He will always pass the puck, forever finding who has the best shot on goal.
“Brush it off!” Coach Chris yells. He places his hand on my shoulder when I get to the boards by our bench. “Are you alright? It looked like it took you a second to get up from that hit.”
“I’m alright,” I say, taking a short breath around a sharp pain in my side.
He shakes his head at me and gestures with his thumb behind him. “Down the tunnel,” he says. “Let the trainers get a look at you.”
Brandon
Uh-oh, is all I think as I watch Ryan head down the tunnel back to our locker room clutching his side. This can’t be good.
As soon as I get to our bench, I ask Coach, “Where’s he going?”
“Just getting him checked out,” Coach says. He fixes me with a serious look. “He’ll be fine.”
“Okay.” I nod at him. I get it. Now isn’t the time for me to worry. Now isn’t the time for relationship-me to take over. I still have a job to do for the next five minutes, and that job is to win this fucking hockey game.
“Roysy!” Coach Chris yells. “You’re in for Christianson. Keep Bouchard and O’Shea covered. You got it?”
“Of course, Coach,” Roysy says as he swings himself over the boards. He’s sporting quite the fat lip from his earlier bout with Gavin.
