Hopping over the bench, I head onto the ice as the puck is dropped to start play again. Noah is there, grabbing the puck from Jasper, but before he can do anything with it, he’s slammed into the boards and Boston takes over.
Fuck.
We’ve been on the defensive the entire game and can’t seem to make our own attack. Skating hard, I slide my stick out to intercept the puck, but again, he’s already gone.
“Damn it!”
Dax is there, but another Boston player is blocking him before they send the puck flying into the back of our net.
The crowd erupts around us as Bode leaves the penalty box. He’s pounding his fist into his helmet, visibly upset.
With the score now 4-0 late in the second period, we’re going to have to fight to get any kind of ground in this game.
Morale is low in the locker room, no matter how much Coach and Marcus try to pep us up during the intermission.
An early goal from Marcus in the third period closes the gap, but when they answer a few minutes later with a goal of their own, our collective bubble pops.
After that, we can’t seem to do anything right. It’s like the entire team forgot how to play.
And we end up having our worst loss of the season, 6-2.
Fuck.
“This sucks,” Noah tells me as the two of us head off the ice.
“I can’t tell you the last time a loss felt this terrible.”
Back in the early days when I started playing for the Knights, it seemed like all we could do was lose in spectacular fashion. Now that we’ve all had a taste of how good winning feels, of seeing where we can go, it’s hard.
Each loss feels worse when we know what we’re capable of. Sure, Boston is a good team, but they aren’t the best team in the league right now.
Which makes this loss a tougher pill to swallow.
“I thought we had a chance when Marcus scored,” Jasper tells us as we drop down onto our seats in the visitors’ locker room.
The cold, dark gray of the room doesn’t do much to improve the low morale. Everyone is feeling this loss keenly.
“Tonight was a tough one, men,” Coach Andrews tells us. “I’m not going to lie, I thought we could turn things around in the third period. But we can’t win them all, no matter how much we want to.”
“It’s going to be a long ride home,” Dax groans from next to me.
“I know it will,” Coach answers. “But we’re going to take tonight. And then tomorrow, once we’re home, we’re going to study the film, find the mistakes, and then work on cleaning them up. Learn from this game to make sure we don’t have a repeat performance.”
His gaze looks around the entire locker room, studying each man in here. “This team has grit. We have determination. I know what everyone said when they fired Boyd halfway through the season and brought me in. It sucks. But I know we can be the kind of team people fear playing because they know we’re that good. We have potential. Don’t let this loss convince you otherwise.”
This is why I love playing for Coach Andrews. He’s worlds better than our old coach. Boyd didn’t seem to have the charisma that Andrews has to lead a team.
Even though we lost, he makes it seem like it isn’t the end of the world. When it really isn’t. It’s just a game.
Stripping out of my gear, I hit the showers and change into my suit to leave the arena. A few of the guys are talking to the press. Thank God I don’t have to.
Even though I played well, I don’t feel like I’d have much to comment about it tonight.
“You ready?”
Noah grabs his bag and slings it over his shoulder as I stand, grabbing mine too.
“Ready to get home.”
