“Get the rebound, get the rebound!” I shout, nearly diving in front of the net, extending my stick out to block a BC player from icing it. I skate back a bit from the net, looking for a better angle when I find it. I settle the puck before making contact with my stick and send it flying towards the top right corner of the net. I watch the puck hit the back of my net and the entire student section rises up and screams. During our on-ice celebration my eyes find Eliana in the middle of the student section, screaming her head off and decked out in a blue and white Westchester U t-shirt. I would definitely be upgrading her to a jersey soon.
We’re white hot after I score. Adam hits the ice as soon as my line heads back to the benches, and next thing I know, the puck is sliding between the BC goalie’s legs and we’re up two.
“Look at the two vets leading the charge tonight,” I shout, patting my best friend on the back as he comes around to celebrate. I redirect my attention to Mason. “Hey Coach, you stillthink it was a good idea splitting us up? If we’re on fire apart, just imagine how many goals we’d have now if we were together.”
“If you were half as good at leading your linesmen as you were running your mouth, Keeley, we’d be up by four right now,” he retorts without even giving me a glance.
If he was trying to rile me up, he succeeded.
“Craig, Johnny, watch number 75 out there. He’s big, so he gets winded fifteen seconds on the ice. And their captain? He likes to act like he’s God’s gift to hockey, but he telegraphs nearly every shot he’s going to take. Craig, the next time we’re on the ice and you see an opening, I want you to watch James’s stick and take the puck from him. Pass it over to me whenever you get an opening. Johnny, I want you near the net ready to take a shot as soon as I send the puck towards you.”
The freshman looks at me, eyes as wide as saucers. “You wantmeto take the shot?”
“Did I stutter?”
“I-uh-um, no. No sir.”
“Sir?I’m your captain, not your grandfather.” My attempt at a joke does little to settle him. “Listen to me. We’ve run this drill at least a hundred times in practice. You got this. I wouldn’t be telling you to take the shot if I didn’t think you could handle it.”
He gives me a small nod before taking a big gulp and following along with the action on the ice, tracking the players I pointed out. I can tell he’s nervous by the way he barely celebrates Adam scoring another goal. “Don’t overthink it Johnny, you got this.” Or at least I hope he did. All I could do was hold my breath and get him the puck.
I suddenly felt a pit form in my stomach as I watched Johnny anxiously fiddle with his gloves as he skated onto the ice. Craig sends me a look that screams, “Are you sure aboutthis?” and I give him a shrug. Best case scenario, Johnny scores and builds his confidence. Worst case scenario, I’d settle the rebound and score the goal myself.
“Damn, they have you babysitting the freshman Keeley? How badly did you have to fuck up to get stuck with that gig?” I roll my eyes. James was on a mission tonight.
“Being a captain is more than having a fancy letter on your jersey, Conoway, not that you would know.”
“You’re one to talk. Everyone knows your boy Adam is the one who holds down the team. You’re just a pigeon riding his coattails.”
My jaw slams shut so hard if not for my mouthguard, I’m sure I would have chipped a tooth. It was semi-public knowledge that Coach Jameson had needed some convincing to make me alternate captain, despite the fact that the team had voted me into the position. Whereas Adam was an obvious decision, Coach hadn’t been sure I could handle the responsibility. I’d like to think I’d more than earned my position over the years, but the topic was still a sore spot for me.
Conoway was one word away from being rammed into the boards so hard he wouldn’t know which way was up.I feel the blood pumping in my veins— a sign of how much he’s managed to piss me off.Keep your head on straight,Jake.Win this game and wipe that smug ass grin off his face.A strong part of me wants to tell Craig and Johnny to step back and let me handle this. With how riled up I am, I have no doubt I would send the puck straight into the net if I got possession. It felt like I was going against every single one of my instincts by not jumping in and taking the lead, but I could feel Mason’s eyes burning into the back of my head.
Where Johnny is shaking like a leaf, Craig is cool and composed as he sets up for the face-off against Mark Remmington, one of BC’s top players. Though I can’t hear it, Craig sayssomething to Mark that manages to throw him long enough for Craig to toggle the puck over to our side and send it towards me. Johnny takes a second too long to get into position, and I let out a string of curses as James sneaks up behind me and steals the puck.
I dash like a madman across the ice, legs on fire, as I manage to regain control over the puck. With Johnny clearly too in his head, I look for Craig hoping he's nearby and ready to take the shot. I see him wide open to my right and we lock eyes as I motion for him to get ready. Like a parasite, James is immediately on top of me, relentless. He slashes me in the leg followed by a hard cross-check to my lower back. I listen for the ref to call a penalty that never comes, so I decide to give James a taste of his own medicine. If the refs had blinders on, I may as well use it to my advantage. As I send the puck towards Craig, who’s finally right where I need him, I angle my elbow to jab James right between the ribs.
With him officially off my back, I refocus my attention on adding another point to the scoreboard. I close in on the goalie who has his eyes trained on Craig and I. He’s one of the best in the league, and most days, if you’re lucky enough to get one past him, it’s because he’s distracted by the chaos down in front. I skate back to the center line looking for another angle to attack when I hear Johnny. “The goalie’s locked in on you guys and he’ll never even see me coming. Get me the puck and I’ll go in for the kill.”
“You sure?”
He gives me a firm nod and I notice his nervous look is now replaced by one of sheer determination.
I skate back to my original spot, close to the goal, and make a show of passing the puck back to Craig. We go back and forth, ensuring the goalie’s attention is on us like a cat tracking a laser pointer. When I’m sure we have him right where we want him,I shout, “Now!” my eyes locked on Craig, while my stick is aimed at Johnny. The goalie’s too preoccupied with Craig that he has no idea Johnny’s goal has landed until the buzzer goes off. 4-0 Westchester. I skate over to Johnny, giving him a big bear hug as he stands there, eyes wide in shock. “Atta boy Johnny! First goal of many for you.”
I scoop Johnny’s puck out from the net and bring it back to the bench where I settle in and watch our third line head out. Mason throws me my water bottle and I would’ve nearly missed the faint small on his lips if not for the words he uttered after. “Alright, Keeley. I see you.”
I give him a small shrug like it’s no big deal, while my heart tightens. It’s about time he sees that Jake Keeley could handle his own.
Chapter 27
Jake
The last time I was this uncertain about a party I was 15, had an awful mullet I thought looked amazing and really solidified me as a hockey player, and had never gotten drunk before. Not even the athletics and greek life crossover rager I coordinated last year, which resulted in over a thousand drunken college students flooding in and out of Hockey House, caused me as much anticipation as I feel tonight.
“’Sup, man .” Oliver calls out as he and Adam bring a keg down to the basement. “Tonight should be relatively chill. We didn’t invite that many people tonight. It should be like sixty people max.”
Sixty people was nothing given that ten of us already lived here. I honestly can’t remember the last party we had that was less than a hundred people, but I wasn’t sure what Eliana was expecting. Given the girl had never even been to a college party, I knew that whatever was tame to us would seem like an absolute rager to her. “Are the boys all showing up?”
