The Hat Trick

chapter twenty

after a long, boring day of waiting for the game, it was finally time for us to walk to the arena and get ready.

we walked as a team; some of us where chanting and shouting to help excite us and boost our confidence.

though I wasn't playing that night because of my wrist, I was still nervous for my teammates. but I knew they were prepared to compete against the best in the world.

as we approached the arena, Charlie and Adam went ahead of everyone and held the doors open for us; like the kind gentlemen they were.

as I walked through the door Adam was holding for me, he winked at me. I blushed as I continued walking. he was too cute.

even though I wouldn't be dressing out, I still went in the locker room and hung around as they got into uniform.

"are you excited?" I asked Guy as he tied his skates.

"yeah!" he said. "and I'm not nervous at all either. I mean, it's just a game. we still have a chance to win the Junior Goodwill Games even if we loose this. I'm so eager to get out there and play!" he excitedly said as he stood up. I giggled then headed to the rink where I would sit on the bench with coach Bombay and miss McKay.

a few moments after I arrived in the rink, the team skated out and the crowd went wild.

seeing Adam and Luis in their uniforms made me even more attracted to them; they looked so tough.

I was speechless when the Iceland team skated onto the ice. they looked much older than all of us, they were way taller and bigger, and really intimidating.

several minutes later, Jesse and an Iceland player who looked to be nearly twice Jesse's height went to face off.

when the puck dropped, Jesse and the Iceland player, Stahl, fought for the puck before Dean came and purposely knocked over Stahl. the whistle was blown and the ref skated over.

out of anger, Dean swung his arm back causing the referee to fall backwards, and the linesman quickly skated over to him.

"that's it bud, you're out of the game." I heard him holler.

"what?!" I yelled. "you can't do that!! it's three seconds into the game!!" shouted coach Bombay as the linesman escorted Dean off the ice.

we needed Dean, especially now. he was the goon on our team and Iceland's was nothing but them.

the game continued and our opponents quickly scored. though we were only a minute or so into the game, I had a bad feeling about this one.

USA players were falling over left and right. what had gotten into us? we didn't have the magic we had in the other games; Iceland had kicked our confidence to the curb.

finally, Adam got ahold of the puck. he made it close to center ice before being flipped head over heels by an Icelander, making miss McKay and I cringe.

but luckily, Luis took possession of the puck, and being the speedster he is, skated at top speed down the ice towards the goal.

suddenly, he somehow tripped and slid into the boards. I couldn't help but laugh a bit, seeing my boys falling and stumbling all over the place.

more and more failed attempts at the goal for my team, meanwhile Iceland was scoring like it was nobody's business.

finally, coach Bombay called for a time out and the players on the ice skated over into a huddle with the rest of the team on the bench.

"where's our concentration?" asked Bombay.

he continued to yell about how "our best isn't good enough anymore" and how "if we blow this game we're one loss away from elimination", but I was too busy staring at Adam to care. he just seemed so focused, so determined to give it his all.