“I’ll see you tomorrow.” I smile and walk out the front door, ready to let Ollie know she can sleep well tonight.
Chapter Six
Skye
The rink lights snap on at seven thirty in the morning, harsh and in your face, just like I’m about to be.
I’m already laced up and ready to go, waiting on my girls to roll in to our first practice as Olympic hockey players.
Being captain of the team means I’m the first one on the ice and the last one off. Not because anyone told me to, but because I need to set an example, and this point in our career is pivotal.
As soon as my skates touch the rink, I tap my stick twice on the ice and listen to the sound echo through the empty arena.
We’re here. We’re on Olympic ice.
It’s time to shine.
Play fast. Play fearless.
“Let’s go, ladies. Ten-minute warm-up laps,” I order as they file onto the rink, big grins on their faces as we take on our first professional day here.
We start with three easy laps. No pucks, just edges.
“Inside edges only. Control your hips,” I call out as we move.
We drop into C-cuts, opening our hips, waking up our mechanics. Then, transitions forward to backward at the blue line.
“Commit to it,” I shout. “Trust your outside edge!”
Everyone is on point, but I can feel the nerves thick in the air. We’re ready, but the nerves are inevitable.
We split into three stations with rapid-fire passing, blue-line walk-and-shoot, and corner retrieval under pressure. Coach Madsen watches us intently from the players' bench, occasionally tapping away on her phone.
I start with station three, rimming the puck hard around the boards.
“Shoulder check before you touch it!” I yell.
Our winger, Rissa, retrieves it with a defender, Liv, closing in. Rissa takes the blow, protecting the puck with her body and reversing it without hesitation.
“That’s it. Olympic teams don’t give you time to think. Keep it up!”
We keep the drill high-tempo, no glide-bys, no lazy sticks; just like we do at home.
“If we flub the pass, we don’t sulk. We reset.”
We make it through the rest of the stations, switch into special teams to power play, then battle drills, and finally a full-ice scrimmage.
Everything goes so smoothly that I almost forget where we are and what we’re practicing for. It’s so fluid that I feel like we’re on our home ice just vibing with each other. The only difference is our home team isn’t here, and that’s part of what makes this team so strong. Even though we didn’t practice together every day, it still feels like our plays are solid.
We do a cool-down and huddle up. Coach Madsen looks to me, and I nod. Time to give these girls a pep talk.
“We’re close. But close doesn’t win gold. Details do. Back checks. Clean passes under pressure.”
I look around at every face, their eyes staring me down as they take in every word I’m saying to them.
“No one outplays us. Not today. Not these next few weeks.”
Sticks start tapping on the ice in agreement as they get amped up while my voice rises.
