The Penalty Box

Chapter 45

I gasped for air and poured water into my mouth. We were getting our asses handed to us. Coach was screaming at the 3rd line to not mess up.

We needed to tie it up, that's all. We could make it through overtime, as just needed a tie. My heart and my head thudded. I needed my adrenaline to take over, I needed a boost to get through this.

"Get me the puck," I told Conrad as we jumped the wall," Juts get me the puck and wait."

I wasn't going to take the shot, no I'd give that honor to Conrad. Maybe I'd give it to the new kid on our line, Adam. This was his first season with us, and his last opportunity to be a Lightning player. All I knew was that I'd had enough goals this season.

I had to go deep into the corner to grab the stray puck that I'd missed. I felt the stick in my back before I could really feel the full force of it. My body crumbled, but what really sucked was the elbow to the head I got on the way down.

"Go home little girl," He said skating away.

I got up and skated back to the bench, shaking my head. This was the third time this game. Normally I could deal with it, it wouldn't bother me. Bu three times in one game? That's just crossing a line.

"You okay? Nothing hurt?" Parker asked once I sat down.

"I'm gonna kill him next shift," I muttered.

"He keeps his head down," Parker said quietly," Just keep it clean please."

I grabbed some water and waited. My whole body was buzzing, like it was too amped up to do anything but the game. The clock counted down the minutes. Each hit hurt a little more than the last. Each shot was a little harder and a little faster. We only had a few more minutes left.

Connor had managed to get the puck past their goalie, giving us the lead. My whole body was buzzing. We were going to have our first Nations win.

Just 40 seconds. One shift, that's all it took. Just one shift and we'd win. We were going to win.

"Push boys, cmon push," I whispered clutching onto the boards.

30 seconds.

Just play keep away. Don't let them get the puck, stall for as long as possible. Buy us the 30 seconds we need. I wanted to start celebrating, because we should have it in the bag, but I also knew a lot could happen in 30 seconds. But we were so close.

20 seconds now.

The spectators who were on our side started cheering not long after. The energy picked up, the entire vibe changed. It's like something from a movie.

We started counting down the moment the clock started counting down the last ten seconds. My whole body shook with excitement.

The buzzer sounded and the celebration started almost immediately. We flooded the ice. Sure it was just the first of many games. But for us this was a major milestone. Never had we been to Nationals, let alone won a game. But we would make history, I could feel it.

They would say that Lighting gave hope to those who'd come after us. They'd say we gave them a dream to chase.