Toe Pick (Being Redone)

Pregame

The darkness of the Crombeen Arena still surrounded Travis and Mya as one of the ice arena's many doors burst open and Kenzie ran into the arena.

"Oh my god Mya, I saw what happened. Are you OK?" Kenzie asked, sitting down in the open seat on Mya's other side.

"I'll be fine," Mya sniffled, a few tears still rolling down her dark red cheeks.

"Hey, I know what will cheer you up Mya," Kenzie said, a small smile creeping onto her face.

"What..." Mya sighed, dejected.

"Well, we've only got 2 classes left. I say we blow them off and go get some ice cream before coming back for the game tonight," Kenzie said, slowly standing up.

"But I've got figure skating practice," Mya muttered.

"Yes yes, we all know how hard it is to call your coach and call in sick," Kenzie dramatically replied, earning a small smile from Mya.

"Is that a yes then?" Kenzie asked.

"Sure," Mya replied, her eyes regaining a small bit of their original shine.

"Sorry to drag you out here, Travis," Mya shyly said, her face going red again as she stood up.

"Hey, it's fine, honest," Travis replied as he also stood up. "I'll see you guys at the game tonight," Travis finished as he headed back into Pinewood for the rest of his classes. Back near Crombeen Arena's street exit, Kenzie and Mya made their way out into the cool, early winter air of downtown Aspen, Colorado. Hockey season was a big deal in Aspen and started in early October. The weather was definitely crisp, but Mya was easily kept warm by the cream sweater she wore. The sweater had been a gift from Mya's dad before he went out on deployment at the start of Mya's seventh grade year. Ever since he had died on the deployment, Mya had loved the sweater.

Unfortunately, at the thought of her dad, Mya thought back to the remarks Katie had made about him. That led to sitting with Travis in the arena. Mya has liked Travis since about the middle of eighth grade when they both did the school play. She loved how he was so sensitive and nice to his friends. She also really liked how he didn't take crap from anyone and would always stand up for himself, something Mya had always wanted to be able to do for herself. These thoughts in turn led to the fact that Kenzie knew this. Mya was incredibly private about the fact that she liked Travis and couldn't think of how Kenzie had found out. And then it hit her, the only person she had told about her crush on Travis...Kenzie. These thoughts faded out of Mya's mind however, as the two friends walked up to the entrance of Clive's Creamery.

As the two girls walked into the ice cream shop, they were hit by a wave of cool air, sweet smells, and light conversation of other patrons in the Aspen hot spot.

"Hey there girls," a voice boomed from behind the ice cream counter.

"Hi Mr. Peterman," both Mya and Kenzie replied in unison, bringing a smile to the older African-American gentleman that greeted them.

"Hey, how many times do I have to tell you...you can call me Clive," The man replied as Mya and Kenzie stepped up to the counter. "So, what can I get you two?" Clive asked.

"Could I please do a single cone of mint chip?" Kenzie said, perkily.

"Absolutely, how about you Miss Swan?" Clive boomed from behind the counter.

"Ummm...could I do a single scoop of vanilla with a bit of fudge...please," Mya replied shyly.

"Of course," Clive replied as he prepared the friends ice cream.

After the two girls had their ice cream, they headed into downtown Aspen to look through some of the many shops that lined Main Street. The sky was beginning its nightly transition from light blue to a dark, empty black. The two girls, led by Kenzie, headed into a small shop, Ella's Boutique. Once inside, they began to look around at the generous selection of clothes. Mya turned her attention to a dark red, crimson scarf. It went well with her white sweater and Mya walked up to the counter to pay.

Once the girls had finished looking through the store, they began the walk back toward Pinewood and Crombeen Arena. The early winter sun had begun to set behind Aspen's towering stretch of the Rocky Mountains and the cool, winter sky was alight with hues of orange, pink, and yellow. The two girls, led by Kenzie, eventually made their way to the fan entrance of Crombeen Arena where a growing number of students, parents, and other fans were waiting expectantly with their tickets. As the sun finally set behind the mountains, the floodlights in the arena's courtyard flashed on and Mya's thoughts made their way to Travis who was sitting in Pinewood's dressing room inside the small arena.

Travis sat on one of the three wooden benches inside Pinewood's home dressing room wearing all of his equipment with the exception of his skates, which were resting against his locker, their blades shining. Travis's forest green jersey covered his set of CCM shoulder, arm, and chest pads, the jersey's silver 49 shone in the dressing room's dim light. One final piece of the jersey made Travis proud, a silver "C" sewed onto the left chest, identifying Travis as Pinewood's team captain.

As Travis continued to mentaly prepare for the night's game, he picked up the single piece of paper that rested atop his hockey bag, the Aspen High scouting report. Travis's eyes quickly found the name of Kevin McCown, Aspen High's captain and senior leader. McCown had led Aspen High to 3 straight Colorado State Championships since he began playing 3 years ago. He had scored over 90 goals in his three years and had already received interest from Maine, Michigan, and North Dakota about playing college hockey. Along with that, McCown had been scouted by a few NHL teams preparing for next year's draft.

Travis's job tonight was to shut McCown down. Travis would have to be one of the first people back on defence tonight, making sure to keep McCown in front of him and blocking the shooting lane all night. Travis knew he would be in for a beating tonight, and McCown was 6 foot 4 inches along with being 235 pounds with equipment. As Travis finished reading the rest of the scouting report, Pinewood's goaltender, Alex Montenbault, who was already wearing his uniform and dark green pads, walked up to Travis.

"Hey Cap, keep me clean tonight," Alex joked, referring to Travis's job of blocking McCown's shots tonight.

"You got it Monty," Travis replied as Coach Miller walked into the room.

Coach Miller was a short man, but any height he lacked, he made up for in energy. Not only was he Pinewood's hockey coach, he taught Junior year English and coached volleyball in the fall. Each and every one of the 22 players on Pinewood's hockey team loved playing for him and coach Miller returned the respect. All of the player's sat down on the benches in the dressing room as Coach Miller began to speak,

"Great moments are born from great opportunity. And that's what you have here tonight, boys. One game. If we played 'em ten times, they might win nine. But not this game. Not tonight. Tonight, we will skate with them. Tonight, we will stay with them. And we shut them down because we can! This is your time. Their time is done. It's over. I'm sick and tired of hearing about what a great hockey team Aspen High has. This is your time. Now go out there and take it," Coach Miller concluded as the players laced up their skates. "Take 'em out there Cap," Coach Miller said.

Travis then stood up, grabbed his CCM stick, and made his way to the tunnel that led onto the ice. As he stood waiting, Travis watched the arena's spotlights aim their beams at the patch of ice just outside the end of the tunnel. Then, as the rest of the team lined up behind Travis, a voice came over the arena's speaker system.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Crombeen Arena for tonight's game between the visiting Aspen High Mountaineers and your Pinewood Hawks. And now, please welcome to the ice, your Pinewood Hawks!" The announcer shouted as the arena roared to life. The spotlights at the end of the tunnel began to flash green and white as Travis charged out of the dressing room and out onto the pristine white ice.

After he had taken a few warm up laps around Pinewood's zone, Travis collected a puck and began the team's warmup. He flew in onto Alex who was set in goal. Travis snapped a shot low and directly into Alex's pad, just to get him warmed up for the game. Once the team had cycled through the warmup shots for a bit, they then began a few passing drills before a horn sounded and the team gathered on the bench for the National Anthem. As they did so, Travis glanced up into the stands where he saw Jason carrying a blue slushie, a pretzel and cheese, and a bag of M&Ms. Travis cracked a smile at Jason who began to laugh as he handed the pretzel of Kenzie who went red with blush. Jason also handed the M&Ms to Mya before he sat down. Relieved that Jason had not gotten all of that food for himself, Travis turned his attention to the flag hanging from the rafters. As the National Anthem concluded playing, Travis cast one last glance up at the stands as he prepared for the first game of the year