Expectations (Book Two)

Chapter 34

Shawn

I am a nervous wreck. I'm sitting in the dressing room in full gear, ready to head out onto the ice. It's the finals tonight. Our last game to either take the championship or come in second place. Even though I am confident in my own and my teams abilities, I still feel the jitters from all the pressure on me.

Our semi-final game had been a nail biter last week. It was a scoreless game that took us to overtime. I drew a penalty that sent us to the power play. It was a shot from the point by one of our defencemen that won the game for us.

Coach already pulled me into his office when I arrived at the arena today. He gave me a whole speech about the great year I've had playing for him. He only briefly touched on my little hiccup of my fighting phase before he told me I needed to step up tonight for my teammates and lead us to the win. I shook his hand and promised him we would get the win tonight.

Now I glance around the room, my knees bouncing up and down as we all wait for coach to come in and give us the go ahead to hit the ice. I'm glad to notice that I'm not the only one who looks like a nervous mess right now.

As I glance around the room at each guy, they all seem to be zoned out as the only sound heard is the music playing from our stereo. I hear the door open and snap my head to the side to see coach walking into the dressing room.

"Alright fellas," he starts as he walks into the center of the room. Someone shuts off the music and the room falls silent. "This is it. All the hard work you put in this season, on and off the ice, has gotten you here. You know if you deserve to be on the ice tonight or not. I don't need to remind you what this game means. Go out there, work every shift, work as a team, and win this game."

He turns and heads out of the dressing room, leaving it silent in his wake. Coach has always been a man of few words and tonight was no exception. The nervous energy in the room doesn't appear to have vanished as I look around again. I rise to my feet and watch as several pairs of eyes flicker to me.

"Let's go boys!" I shout as I lead the way out, hearing some chanting and shouting behind me as we take the ice.

The music drowns out the noise from the boys as I step onto the ice. I'm pumped we get to play this final game in our home barn. Advantage being that our home crowd is in full attendance and no endless hours spent on a cramped bus. I circle our end of the ice, shaking out any remainder of nervousness from my legs.

My whole day leading up to getting to the arena was spent with Lyla. She did her best to calm my nerves all morning and afternoon. She tried to distract me from my busy mind and she actually helped out a decent amount. She had adorably pranced around the house all day, coming up with small ideas for games to play or shows to watch to divert my focus.

Truthfully, none of it worked. Well except for the mind-altering blowjob she gave me after lunch which had me unable to concentrate on anything except her lips wrapped around me.

I glance up into the stands now and find Lyla's eyes instantly. She smiles proudly down at me as she rocks my jersey. Megan is with her again and Max even tagged along as well. I offer my usual head nod to her before I head over to the bench to chat with coach. The buzzer sounds through the arena and I take my spot at center ice, ready for the face off.

I glance up at the game clock as it's stopped with forty six second left in the game. We are currently winning 2-1, but the game isn't over yet. Coach calls for a time out to let my line rest it's legs for a bit since we've already been on the ice for about a minute.

Coach hollers at us to stay with our man and get control of the puck to wind down the clock. The buzzer sounds signalling the end of our time out and we head back to the face off in our end, to the right of our goal.