Page 147 of Offside Angle

He buries it before either defenseman can close on him.

1–1.

The Reapers bench explodes while Elias gets swallowed by Cole and Tyler near the crease. Through my lens, I catch the exact moment the tension leaves his face and turns into something fierce and almost disbelieving, and I keep shooting as the three of them skate past me toward the bench.

After that, neither team gives much away.

The game gets tighter instead of opening up, every chance answered by another one at the opposite end while the hits grow heavier and the space between players seems to disappear. I keep finding Matteo through it all, partly because it’s my job and partly because I apparently no longer have the ability not to.

The mark on his cheek has darkened. There’s another bruise starting along his jaw.

I’m going to need him to stop collecting those.

Preferably immediately.

Then Vanguard comes through the neutral zone with numbers and the thought disappears.

Two-on-one.

Matteo is the only Reaper back.

Their puck carrier has speed, his teammate driving the far side, and for a moment there’s enough separation that Shane has to respect both.

Matteo doesn’t chase.

He holds the middle, keeps his stick in the passing lane and matches the puck carrier’s speed just long enough to force the decision. The forward waits too long.

That’s all Matteo needs.

He reaches in at the last moment and knocks the puck cleanly off the stick, turns on his edges, and comes out of the play already looking up ice. A second later the puck is on Elias’s tape through the middle and the Reapers are moving the other way.

The entire sequence takes maybe four seconds.

I catch most of it through the camera.

The rest I watch with my own eyes.

There’s something almost unfair about how good Matteo looks when he knows exactly what he’s doing, all that strength and precision working together without a trace of hesitation. The Vancouver crowd groans around me while he turns back toward his own zone, completely unaffected.

For the first time tonight, I let myself believe this might actually happen.

Not because the score is tied or because Vancouver has started looking nervous.

Because the Reapers look like themselves again.

And Matteo looks like he could play all night.

The third period somehow gets even tighter.

The third period somehow gets even tighter.

Both teams collapse toward the middle until there barely seems to be any ice left to use, every rush forced outside and every loose puck turning into another fight along the boards. Nobody stays out for long anymore. The shifts are short, the hits are getting heavier, and even behind the glass I can feel how little room there is for a mistake.

Then the Reapers find one.

Viktor keeps the puck alive at the blue line when Vancouver almost clears, knocking it down and moving it back into traffic before anyone can reset. Cole drifts into the high slot, gets the puck on his stick, and releases it almost immediately.

Glove side.