As soon as the puck hits the ice, we’re all over it. Our energy is goddamn feral. Del is a beast, checking one of the Montreal players with his shoulder as he darts across the ice with the puck.
He passes it to Sam, who zeroes in on the goalie. As his defense partner, I’m right behind him, watching his moves, gauging how he’s going to play this.
The Montreal goalie’s helmet bobs back and forth as he tracks Sam’s handling of the puck. He winds up like he’s going to take the shot, but stops short, right as the goalie dives forward, falling for the fake-out.
Sam passes the puck back to me, and I smack the it into the back of the net. The goal buzzer sounds, and my teammates surround me to celebrate.
“That’s more fucking like it,” Del hollers.
“This fucking guy. Giving rousing motivational speeches, then scoring goals like it’s nothing,” Theo says with a grin.
I laugh and catch eyes with Ellie, who’s sitting in the stands, wearing my jersey. She blows a kiss at me.
My heart feels like it’s going to explode. I wouldn’t be alternate captain—I wouldn’t be wearing this A on my jersey—if it hadn’t been for her. She believed in me when no one else did. When everyone doubted I could ever do it, she had my back. She built me up.
Emotion swoops through my chest as I grin at her. My wife. My love. My everything.
We manage to hold off Montreal the rest of the period. In the third period, Luca and Xander each score a goal, securing the lead for us.
When the game ends, the home crowd cheers. We make our way through the tunnel into the locker room.
“Excellent game, gentlemen,” Coach Porter says. “That was a tough position we were in with the officials. They were terrible, no doubt about it. But you didn’t let that faze you. You let it motivate you instead.”
We all clap and whistle.
Coach Porter turns to me. “I saw that way you rallied your line mates, Connors. Well done. Way to wear the A.”
I grin. “Thanks, Coach.”
We finished getting cleaned up.
“Should we hit up Spanky’s for a drink?” Theo asks.
“I’m in,” I say. The rest of the guys say they’re in too.
“How about you, Markov?” Sam asks. “Wanna join us?”
“Yeah, sure.”
Markov’s a pretty quiet guy. It’ll be nice to have a drink with him and get to know him a little better.
“We gotta toast this guy.” Xander nods his chin at Sam. “He’s getting married this month.”
Everyone whistles and hollers as Sam grins.
“Still can’t believe you’re getting married during the season,” Xander says. “That’s ambitious. And busy as fuck.”
Sam just smiles. “Dakota wants a fall wedding. Gotta give my girl exactly what she wants.”
I grin at him. “Atta boy.”
We all leave the locker room. I spot our ladies standing at the far end of the hallway.
When I walk up to Ellie, I grab her and kiss her.
“In the mood for Spanky’s? The guys wanna get a drink.”
“Always,” she says with a sweet smile. “And hey, I saw the way you rallied the guys after that bad goal. And that goal you scored was amazing.Youwere amazing.”
