Somehow, impossibly, we’d won.
When I extracted myself from the celebration, Erik was grinning at me with something akin to emotion, which for him was the equivalent of tears.
“Good shot,” he said.
“Good pass.”
“I know.”
Cocky fucker.
I laughed and let myself be swept toward the tunnel, riding the high of victory and feeling more alive than I had in weeks.
The locker room afterward was beautiful chaos.
Music blasted, guys shouted, equipment flew.
Someone had produced a family-sized plastic bottle of Coke and was spraying it around like it was champagne and we’d won the Cup. Coach walked through with an actual smile on his face, stopping to clap shoulders and offer praise that would have seemed alien coming from him on any other night.
“Hell of a game, boys. Hell of a game. Shaw, thatshot was textbook. Erik, fucking great pass. Everyone else, you showed up when it mattered. That’s what champions do.”
Champions.
Coach called us champions.
I sat in my stall, still in my gear, letting the celebration wash over me. My phone lay in my locker, and I had to keep myself from checking it. Jacks had said they’d be watching at Barbacks.
Had he seen the goal?
Had the bar gone crazy?
Did he cheer for me?
The thought made my chest want to burst open in a way that had nothing to do with the exertion of the game.
“Shaw! Press room in ten!” One of the media coordinators poked his head in, then disappeared before I could respond.
Right. The press. The part of victory I liked least.
I stripped out of my gear, ran hot water over my body, and threw on the standard post-game track suit. By the time I made it to the press room, reporters were already assembled with cameras rolling and recorders ready.
The questions started easy.
How did it feel to score the game-winner?
What was going through my mind on that finalshot?
How important was this win for the team’s momentum?
I answered on autopilot, giving the standard responses I’d perfected over years of professional hockey.
Team effort.
Trust the process.
One game at a time.
Then a reporter in the back raised her hand.
