My own team looked torn. Lucien shouted out instructions, but nobody was listening. The practice shots my team took missed.
As I skated around, I noticed a couple of Team C players looking at me, though they averted their eyes when I sent them a glare. Most people were shocked that I still played hockey after I lost my leg. When I skated on the ice, the bottom half of my prosthetic was exposed for everyone to see, as my shorts didn’t go past my knee and there was no use for pads on the prosthetic itself.
Yes, it was uncomfortable to be different. The first day back at practice had been horrible after I’d become an amputee. People had stared. But I’d since put up enough points on the scoreboard to shut people up, so anyone who doubted my capabilities as a player could kindly fuck off.
The practice ended, and I skated to center ice to face off. I knelt down and focused as the referee dropped the puck, and the game began.
Team C didn’t hold back. I immediately snatched the puck, but a brawny griffin body-checked me so hard he sent me sprawling to the ice. My shoulder throbbed as he stole the puck away. I cried out for one of my teammates to intercept him before he could reach our goalie, but he didn’t skate fast enough.
The griffin shot the puck. Our goalie reached out to snatch the puck out of the air, but was seconds too late. The puck nailed the net, and the buzzer went off, signaling Team C had scored a point.
“Dammit!” I smacked my stick onto the ice. We’d only been playing for a few minutes, and already, Team C was ahead of us. I skated off the ice and took the bench as Lucien sent out a fresh line to play. Stefan took a drink out of his water bottle— beside him, Elijah ranted.
“If you hadn’t been such an idiot we could’ve stopped him!” Elijah bellowed at Yan. “It’s your fault he got past!”
Yan stared at the ground, unsure of what to say. Lucien stepped in.
“We’re a team, Eli,” he said forcefully. “If we lose, we lose together.”
“If we lose at all, it’s because these useless fucks couldn’t keep up with me!” Elijah elbowed Yan. Yan took several deep breaths as his face turned red. I knew he was trying not to get mad, because he feared the repercussions from Lord Zlodia if he reacted.
Lucien scowled. “If you had been paying attention to our own corner of the ice, instead of everyone else’s, you would’ve seen you had a chance to intercept the puck long before it got to our side of the rink after we lost the face-off.”
Elijah gaped. He didn’t have anything to say after that— he just punched the boards and sulked. Lucien’s eyes returned to watching the game. I gripped my stick and tried not to break it in half.
Emma was looking at me. She seemed worried. I gave her a nod to show her it was okay, but her frown didn’t lift. She didn’t have to hear our conversations to know that Elijah was getting on my nerves.
The first period was a bust. The second didn’t go much better. Team C didn’t score again, but we didn’t score at all. I shot the puck several times toward the net, but the goalie was damn good and on his game today. He deflected every shot on goal I sent his way. Our own goalie floundered, and almost let another goal in by the end of the second half.
We only had one more period to turn things around, and weren’t even tied up. Emma gave me a small wave as I left the benches to go to the locker room, for the break in between the second period and the third.
I felt wholly embarrassed. My first time playing in front of my girl, and I was skating like shit. I wanted to score a goal, to impress her. At the very least, I didn’t want my team to lose at her first game.
Lucien’s pep talks had done nothing to inspire us in the locker room, seeing as how Elijah kept unhelpfully interceding every time Lucien tried to rile us up. Most of the team was tired, if not feeling defeated.
Lucien turned to me before we left the locker room. “Ethan, you’re team Captain. You need to get morale up.”
“What can I do?” I asked, exasperated.
“If you don’t want to end the season on the bottom of the roster board, I suggest you whip them into shape,” Lucien whispered. “This team needs you.”
I took a deep breath and looked around at the despondent faces of my teammates. Lucien was right. This was a good team— Iknewwe were a good team. I’d played with these guys for ages and seen them in action. How we were performing today wasn’t anywhere near what we could do in practice. They just needed someone to back them up.
I got to my feet, and gripped my stick. I tapped it on the floor, and everyone looked up. Elijah sneered, but he was the only one.
“Look, guys,” I started. “I know we’re getting beat up out there. And right now, things aren’t looking good.”
“Fuck no, they ain’t,” someone said from the back, and a muddled array of agreement rose.
“But,” I said, and the locker room fell silent, “We aren’t playing like we were born to play. I believe in you guys. All of you. There are some amazing players here. But we can’t win today if we can’t skate like we have heart.”
“How are we supposed to do that?” Yan asked. Unfortunately, he’d gotten a black eye, and was holding an ice pack to his head. It wasn’t a good month for hockey for him.
“I know I’m here for one thing. For the love of hockey,” I said firmly. “I play this sport because I love to be out there, not because I want to win. And none of you guys would’ve made it to this level if you didn’t love this sport just as much as I do. So this next period... just go out and play, guys. Play for the love of hockey, because if you do that, we’ll come out on top.”
My words had done something to rouse the team. Several guys were nodding— Stefan jumped to his feet and shouted, “I’m ready to knock some heads. Who’s with me?”
There were cheers. Masculine noises rose up around the locker room, and the team ran into the hallway with a renewed vigor.
