I’m not thinking, just reacting, like my body has turned into a slingshot, and the puck is the stone. I tap the puck to the blade of my stick, and then I fire.
The puck soars. David sailing toward Goliath.
Somebody gasps as it sails past center ice. Possibly me.
Then I clock the moment when L.A.’s goalie realizes what I’ve done, and he dives forward. He’s a millisecond too late, and the puck sails past his catcher—so close that he probably felt the breeze.
Then it finds the net.
The fucking net. Top corner.
The lamp lights, and I just blink. This isn’t the kind of thing that happens to me. Or to most people. Goalie goals happen only a few times a decade.
But the whole arena is screaming, so I think maybe this actually happened.
I might have just scored a goal.
Me, of all people.
The ref points at center ice. Goal.
Stoney and Kapski and DiCosta rush the net at warp speed, laughing and screaming. They mob me, and I’m laughing, too. Not too loudly to miss the announcer’s voice, though. “Goal scored by number 90, Becker James. Unassisted!”
“Jaysus Christ, rookie!” Kapski hoots. “Why the hell are you not a forward?”
My skates leave the ice. They’ve hoisted me in the air. “Because I’m too weird to be a forward,” I holler.
“Then how do we account for Stoney?” someone yells from below me.
Good question. But I can’t answer it because everything is chaos. The fans are still screaming, and the game stops for a media break, so I skate over to the bench where Powers is red-faced from yelling and laughing. “Never a dull moment with you!” He slaps me on my shoulder pads. “Now shake it off, reset, and show me another forty-seven seconds of brilliant goaltending before the period ends.”
I skate back to the crease, still grinning behind my mask. I treat myself to another glance toward Forest and see that he and Charlie are clutching each other and waving frantically at me with their free hands.
I lift my catcher and wave right back at them.
You are not alone, my teammate said a few minutes ago.
For the first time this season, I truly believe him.
Fifty
Denver Daily Sports Report
A Wild Night In Denver
Backup Goalie Becker James Scores Once-in-a-Lifetime Goal as Colorado Tops L.A.
* * *
By Marla Knox
* * *
The Cougars’ most promising rookie will be dining out on this for years.
In what started as a tense, series-defining battle against L.A., the Colorado Cougars clawed their way to a 4–3 win Wednesday night in Denver, preventing their exit from the playoffs.
But it wasn’t the score that will go down in history—it was how they got there. Late in the second period, with starting goalie Zack Walcott temporarily sidelined after a brutal collision in the crease, backup netminder Becker James stepped in under the spotlight and stole the show.
