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He pats me on the back and tells me to get going.
I hobble out of the stadium and decide to opt out of dinner with the guys and head straight home to catch up on some much-needed sleep.
* * *
I haven’t been to Vegas in a while, and I have to say, I enjoy the warmth as soon as we hit the tarmac. Unfortunately, we’re not there for a holiday. We get to the hotel, have lunch, and go straight over to the stadium.
I have a quick huddle with Jake and Jay before we hit the ice, as there’s nothing like kinda having a game plan. Watching over the footage again on the plane gives me some pointers we can implement straight away. I can see exactly where my rival defenseman is coming from and the tactics he uses over and over.
“I think they’re going to make it hard to put it away early,” Ashton says to me as we’re getting ready for the game.
“Not the attitude Coach would say is the winning formula, but I think he has a point,” Jay adds.
“We just got to bring our best… that’s all we’ve got to do. We can beat them; the footage speaks for itself. They have a great defense, but when we’re on form, we’re better.”
“Your pep talks are what’s on form,” Jay muses.
I give him a look, but he holds up his hands and says he’s all for boosting the team morale.
To beat Vegas on their own turf would be a triumph in itself. Shitty for them, but it is what it is.
We win the third game. Two to us, one to them.
Hostility seems to be getting higher and higher the more the games tick along, going into the fourth with Vegas. By now, I’m missing Emmerson’s presence more than anything, even though she was only at that one damn game. It’s like she’s been here forever.
In some ways, I guess she has been. But looking up and seeing the empty spot where she would be really has my stomach in knots and my heart missing a beat.
This isn’t what I wanted at all.
This doesn’t feel good.
I flick her a text when I get back to the hotel to see how she is, taking a soak in the tub at the same time. I feel tense all over my body, and soaking is sometimes the only way for me to relax my muscles and the soreness.
Emmerson doesn’t reply until the next day, and it sounds very generic.
We make no plans, and she doesn’t say anything about the game. I’m sure she would be watching it at her parents’ house.
I have to use that thought to spur me on. The thought of her watching me has always had a positive effect on me.
Game four continues, and Josh Beauman and I continue our hustle. I have to admit, he isn’t quite as intent on killing me as much as Ace was when we played against New York.
But there’s no love lost between us either.
They want to put this to bed as much as we do them. There’s no way that’s happening.
Nobody even scored in the first period. That’s how tight both teams are.
Ulrich is hurting, as are most of us, but Coach insists he switches him out with Marty to avoid injury for the rest of the second, and puts him back in the third.
It’s a tight second, both teams score a goal each.
Jay lands the puck in a breakaway in the third period, resulting in a flip shot into the net when he’s in close.
Jake and I skate up to him to fist bump, and the rest of the team skate up to congratulate him excitedly.
I finish things off in my signature move, from a one-timer pass from Ashton. I dodge and skate around the defenseman and take an immediate slapper. It slams violently into the back of the net as our fans roar, and I raise my stick for a couple of pumps.
Thank fucking God.
