Hutch

10

Hutch

I can't believe it. We won. I had the game winning goal. Coach is smiling so hard, I think his face is going to break. It took us a while to get cleaned up and then through all the interviews. I had scouts from three different teams come into the locker room to talk to me. None of them were the Raptors though. It was the only negative about tonight's game. The owner was here, but he didn't come by. Maybe I wasn't what he wanted. But I'm not going to let it bring me down at least for tonight. I know I have a good chance of someone offering me a spot somewhere if I can keep up my winning streak and my time doesn't fall behind again.

And that's due to Daisy. Sure, its all about superstition, but athletes live and die by superstition. It's the way it works. If you're not a sports fan, you'd laugh. Those of us in the know, well, we know.

I still can't believe she came. I figured she'd be sound asleep under her blankets or coughing up a lung. She really didn't feel good and her fever was pretty high too. Hopefully, the cold meds I brought her helped. She looked bundled up appropriately tonight. I'm guessing Jenny and Christa made sure of that. And don't think I didn't see my mom sitting next to her at one point. I knew she'd come snooping. I'm glad, though. It'll make it easier for me to convince Daisy to go to Sunday dinner. Maybe not this week or next week, but within the month.

Or Mom will come snooping on campus with food in hand. The guys will love it since its a home cooked meal, but me not so much. I love Mom, but she'll be all up in my business when I have no business to report. She'll ask a bazillion questions about Daisy, questions I don't have the answers for. Yet.

Yet being the key word.

Mom texted that she and the girls were waiting in the family room and that's where I head as soon as Coach declares the interviews over. There's this burning need centered in my gut that rushes me to check on Daisy. She honestly shouldn't be here in the cold when she's so sick, but I'm glad she came.

"Dude, you killed it out there tonight." Dylan slaps my back as he falls into step beside me. Jenny is waiting upstairs as well.

"Thanks. I was worried since my time's been off."

"It wasn't tonight. I think you were faster than you were even last season. Fast and deadly. Any team is going to be lucky to pick you up."

"You did good yourself."

"Yeah, I hope so."

"Dude, you did! I don't think Parsons got a single hit on any of us tonight because of you. You made up your mind about what you plan on doing? Scouts were out and about tonight."

"No, not yet. Part of me wants to try, but I don't know if I'm good enough for the pros. High school and college hockey isn't the same as the NHL."

"You'll never know if you don't try."

"True." He frowns, a heavy sigh leaving him. "I just worry, you know? If I let myself want it and then it doesn't happen...not sure what that would do to me."

"I get it, but if you let fear hold you back, then that's a regret that'll hang over you the rest of your life. The what if factor as my mom calls it. She told me once that if I lived with that kind of regret, it could ruin me later. So I just go for what I want and if it doesn't work, then at least I tried."

"Maybe," he says.

"Think about it, yeah?" I tell him as we board the elevator that'll take us upstairs to the family room. "But make sure to let Coach know so he can let the scouts know. We had scouts from several teams tonight. I bet if he calls them to let them know you're interested in the NHL, they'll remember you."