Shaw fakes their players out, his body shifting as if he’s going to pass the puck, but instead he shoots it at the net. I’m too far to the right of the goalie and somehow, he sees it coming. He slides to the right, catching a piece of the puck with his blocker as he stops it from soaring past him.
It all happens so quickly, although for a moment, it feels like time is suspended. The puck deflects off his pad, coming right at me. I don’t waste the chance to take a shot as it connects with my stick’s blade. My body shifts, the muscles in my arm firing. A quick flick of my wrist as I spin in front of the net sends the puck right past the left side of his torso.
He slides across the ice, but he’s just a fraction of a second too slow.
The horn sounds through the arena. My heart pumps harder, faster at lightning speed. Holy fuck, it finally happened.
“Fuck yes!”
The four other guys on my line skate over, gathering around me as we take a second to celebrate. “It’s about damn time, Ford,” Cross says, laughter wrapping around us as he taps the backs of my legs with his stick.
I lead the way, skating past the bench, giving all my teammates fist bumps before heading back to center ice for thefaceoff. Whenever a line scores, Coach has been keeping those players on the ice to keep the momentum going.
Theo skates to the dot, checking on me, Shaw and the defensive pair on our line, Cross and Vasily Volkov before he gets into position. My knees bend slightly, my hands gripping my stick as I place it on the ice.
“Finally broke your streak, huh, Ford?”
I glance at the winger from the other team who’s lined up with me. A smirk tugs on my lips as I see who it is. “Yeah,” I nod my head, shifting my gaze back to the ice, waiting for the puck to drop. “Thanks to your ex-girlfriend.”
“What the?—”
The puck drops before he gets the last word out. Theo tangles up his stick with their center, pushing his body into him, creating space between them and the puck.
My feet move quickly from muscle memory and I take possession of the puck, dipping past Aiden Scott with a smirk on my face as I head down the ice. We enter their defensive zone and get another shot on goal before the final buzzer sounds.
Scott gives me a smug look, although there’s a hint of curiosity in his expression. I’d be willing to bet he doesn’t even know which ex-girlfriend I’m talking about. Rolling my eyes to myself, I ignore him. I don’t need to instigate anything, not after the game is already over.
I skate over to the net, falling in line behind Theo as we all skate past Gray, tapping the top of his goalie helmet. “Great game, Gray. You played your ass off.”
“So did you, Ford.” He gives me a toothy grin. “We’re fucking back, baby.”
Theo wraps his arm around the top of my shoulders. “Matty! You were unstoppable tonight.”
“That’s a little generous. I scored one goal.”
“After not scoring any in the last few weeks, I’d say you were on fire.”
Theo laughs, releasing me and bumps his shoulder into mine. We all file off the ice and down the tunnel to the dressing room at the end of the hall. The energy in there tonight is vastly different than it has been the past few weeks.
“Matty fuckin’ Ford!” our assistant coach, Coach Frost, calls out as I walk in. The guys break out into hoots and hollers. “Goddamn, we missed you.”
“Asshole,” I mutter under my breath, laughing as I pull off my helmet and walk over to my spot. Physically, I’ve been here, but recently, I disappeared on the ice. Until tonight.
Everyone starts stripping out of their gear and Cross rises to his feet. “Alright, boys. I think we know who the player of the game is tonight without even saying it.” He holds up the hawk mask, his gaze pinning on mine. “We’re a family. We all feed off each other’s energy, and tonight, someone truly brought what we needed. He stepped up and pushed himself, which made all of us push even harder.”
Our head coach stands off to the edge of the room, a hint of a smile on his lips, but he doesn’t dare to fully let it show. He looks over at me, his dark gray eyes meeting mine.
Coach Ford is ruthless. He has high expectations of all of us and me being his nephew doesn’t grant me any free passes. If anything, he pushes me harder than anyone else.
Cross strides over to me, holding out the hawk mask. “You earned this tonight, fair and square.”
I take it from him, pulling it over my face as the guys break out, chanting my name. “Matty! Matty! Matty!”
Adrenaline courses through me and I climb up onto my seat, curling my fists as I start to hold my arms out to the side, elbows bent. I tip my head back, letting out the most obnoxious, high pitched hawk call that sounds like a war cry.
The room breaks out in similar variations of the sound and honestly, we all just sound like a bunch of psychotic men mimicking raptors from a dinosaur movie. Shaw was the one who informed us that they actually use hawk calls when they make those movies.
A pointless piece of information, but oh well.
