The Minnesota Miracle [kirill kaprizov]

Chapter Two

"Are you excited?!" Story exclaimed as she turned onto the arena exit.

I smiled, still thinking about the conversations with Kirill. He was so sweet.

"Yeah I am, actually!" I responded.

She chuckled. "It's the cute guys, eh?" she said.

I rolled my eyes. "You could say that!" I exclaimed. "I thought that was one of the reasons why you wanted to bring me along," I said.

She giggled as we approached a red traffic light. "I know, I know," she responded as she stepped on the brake to come to a complete stop.

I smiled again as I saw the distant red lights reading 'Xcel Energy Center' about a few blocks away from the traffic lights.

The light turned green and Story accelerated the car, then turned right onto Kellogg Boulevard.

Not long after we ended up in the parking lot of the arena, then we started walking towards the building after she had found a parking spot and we got our stuff for the game like hats and an extra sweatshirt.

We waited around outside for a couple minutes in the cold before the doors opened and security lines began.

"It's a little chilly out here," I said, but Story laughed at me like I was dumb.

I sighed and rolled my eyes as we finally went through the security line inside.

With no problems, we got through the line smoothly and within a couple of minutes, we had found our seats—which were straight behind the glass and near the Wild bench.

"These are our seats?! How much were these?!" I exclaimed as I quickly got comfortable in my seat.

She chuckled. "My dad got them for free because the Wild and his business are fairly good business partners. I thought you would appreciate these seats since you're so close to the action and the players," she said.

She smirked. "And you can be a few feet away from your crush," she said.

I looked at her after I stared at the hockey players getting their sticks ready and skates sharpened. One out of these players was Kirill, sitting on the far right side of the bench taping his metallic, shiny green stick.

I smiled as he stood up and started to walk toward the left side of the bench where the water bottles were located.

He lifted his head up, and our eyes locked with each other.

He smiled before he filled his water bottle before going back to the right side of the bench, and finally before heading out onto the ice to shoot a couple.

Thankfully, Story didn't notice our exchange of looks, otherwise I know she would go absolutely bonkers because Kirill Kaprizov and I exchanged smiles.

Not long, the first period started and the Vancouver Canucks had possession of the puck.

A lot of shots on goals racked up in the first period, but still no goals were scored before the first intermission.

Story and I went to go get some concessions during the brief period of time before the second period began. By the time we got back, the players were already out on the ice and ready to go.

Quickly, the Wild were able to gain possession of the puck. Unfortunately, the Canucks stole it right back to begin the back-and-forth play.

With five minutes left to go in the second period, Mats Zuccarello was able to get the puck from a tight situation by the Wild goalie, Cam Talbot. He passed it to Kevin Fiala about mid-rink, then Fiala passed to Kirill down by the goal, Kirill shot, and scored the first goal of the night.