Fire & Ice

three

When my alarm went off this morning I was mostly awake already. The nerves were starting to sink in and I knew I needed to try and push them away. Once my blades hit the ice I would be right as rain. But for now my anxiety was at an all-time high as I finally pushed my blankets off my body and got up. I left my alarm on while I got dressed and listened to a few songs on the radio.

            After I was dressed I made my way to the bathroom and took care of my morning routine. Once I was done in the bathroom I walked into the kitchen and quietly made my way through the cabinets to see what Cassie's parents had brought when they dropped her off yesterday. I was able to find some granola bars so I just took the box with me. When I was ready to go I grabbed a post-it note and some cash to leave Cassie a note. I stole your granola bars; breakfast is on me. I'll be back from practice the latest around 1pm, we can go food shopping then. ~McKenna.

            I unwrapped one of the granola bars and grabbed my bag and sticks before walking out of the door. I made it down the hall and saw Rebecca was just leaving her dorm as well.

            "You alive?" I asked and she gave me a look.

            "I swear I didn't drink that much last night; this is going to be a long morning." Rebecca said and as I laughed and we made our way to the rink.

            Just as we got outside I saw Megan standing in front of a bus. When she saw us she waved us over and we hopped on the bus. She told us that they take it over to the rink and will come pick us up before team practices and games so we don't have to walk. I was happy I got to sit down and eat. The ride to the rink was short, barely 5 minutes before we were walking off the bus. The rink was huge from the outside.

            Rebecca and I followed behind the team to take everything in. I couldn't wait to play here. The upperclassmen showed us to the locker room and we walked in and found our lockers. Before we even got to start putting our stuff away the team captains pulled us out of the locker room to a meeting room down the hall. Sitting on tables were large duffle bags.

            "Find your name and grab your bag. Everything inside is yours." Megan said and we all started to move around the room. It took me a few minutes but I found the bag with my name stitched into it and my number 23 sitting right underneath it. When I came here I didn't know if I would get my old number that I had in high school and travel.

            A smile spread across my lips when I saw 23 stitched into the bag under my last name. Just like the other girls I started to unload the bag and was shocked to find all the swag. Wisconsin hockey sweatshirts, tee shirts, track suit, backpack and a pair of new Nikes. I didn't have to long to look over everything as we needed to get dressed for practice.

            I made my way into the locker room and found my locker again and started to change. Today was going to be a full practice so I dressed in all of my pads. When I was done I looked around the room and saw most of the girls had nice new pads. Mine are pretty worn and I'm going to need new ones soon with all the games we have in a season.

            "Before I forget, new girls, see the Sam after practice and he will get you sized up for all the team issued equipment and jerseys." Toni said as she grabbed her sticks and walked out towards the ice.

            I grabbed my own and followed after her. The tunnel that led to the ice wasn't too long and it gave way to the bright ice. It took me for a second to adjust to the lighting. I brought my sticks over to the equipment manager Sam and he placed them along the back wall of the bench. Once he took them I pulled the cage of my helmet down and stepped onto the ice. A few of the other girls were already out here started to warm up and I took a few laps around the ice. The quality of the ice was far better than anything I played on back in Boston. I didn't even want to start practice, I just wanted to skate around on the ice.