Coach Barney givesus his usual words of wisdom before the game, and I follow the guys out onto the ice for a quick warm-up before the pregame festivities.
My eyes automatically track up to the family suite—where all the WAGs are. The fact that I know Piper’s going to be wearing my jersey again tonight makes me that much more turned on, which I shouldn’t be because I’m getting ready to play sixty minutes of hockey.
“What are you smiling about?” Duncan asks.
Of course Duncan skates up next to me the moment I smile. Something that isn’t all that familiar on my face.Ever since Piper came into my life though, it’s becoming a more regular occurrence.
“Nothing that concerns you, asshole.”
“Oh look, maybe you should get laid by your sweet new little girlfriend. Piper, is it?”
“You know exactly who my girlfriend is, Douche. I don’t want to hear her name come out of your mouth ever again.”
“Oh, and what are you going to do about it if I do?”
Nothing that I can do to him right now. We’re out on the ice for warm-ups. To anyone in the crowd, it’d look like we’re chatting about the game. He winks at me as he skates away.
What a fucker. I hope he gets what’s coming to him. He is about as far from a Black Diamond as they come. He doesn’t fit the standard the team holds everyone to. Duncan uses his position on the team to get anything he wants.
I do my best to push Duncan out of my mind. He doesn’t need to be my focus right now. Instead I need to be thinking about Boston and trying to beat them.
From the minute the puck drops, it’s a battle.
Boston takes no prisoners as they skate all over us. No matter how hard we fight, we can’t clear the puck from our zone. I’m pushing myself, but they still manage an easy goal. The kind I hate letting get by me. The anger radiating off Nick is palpable as he slams his stick into the goal.
“We’ll get it back,” I tell him, standing next to him. The hometown fans are booing their displeasure.
“We will.”
“Keep your head up.” I bump him with my stick in his pads before heading to the bench.
Except we don’t. By the time the first period ends,we’re down by two. The way things are going, we are lucky it’s not worse.
“All right, boys. That first period was not how we wanted it to go. Just because we’re down by two doesn’t mean we lie down and give up.”
Coach B looks across the locker room. Heads are hanging while other guys are icing various aches and pains.
“I want you to put that ‘we’re down and out’ mentality out of your heads right now. We don’t need that right now. We have forty more minutes to play. Get your heads on straight so we can go out there and take this win from them.”
“You heard Coach Barney!” Troy shouts, hopping up from his spot on the bench. “Don’t let one bad period get to you. We’ve got this. Let’s get back out there and bring this game home!”
Troy’s words send a pulse of excitement through the locker room. Guys are getting pumped up as we head back out to start the second period.
This time, I’m on the ice when the puck drops. Troy grabs it easily and skates toward the Boston end of the ice. A defenseman blocks Troy’s shot and shoots it to their winger.
I’m ready for them. Skating backward, I watch the two of them as they skate into our zone. I make my move to get the puck from them, but Boston is ready.
One of their guys seems to come out of nowhere and slams me into the boards.
“Fuck!” I yell out, dropping like a rag doll onto the ice.
Fuck. Pain is radiating out from my side as the whistle blows. The ref skates over as do a few of the other guys on our team.
I can’t hear anything over the dull roar in my head. I push up onto my knees before getting back on my skates.
Did I break my ribs? This is not what I need to be dealing with right now.
“Willy, you okay?” Troy asks as I make my way to the bench.
