One in 2330 ~ Connor Bedard Love Story

23. Shoot-Out Victories

~Sophie's P.O.V~

This game was tough.

We had lots of great chances, but the high majority of them didn't land in the back of the net. Also, Brady was being a bitch to me the entire game. Whenever I would tell him something, he would either not listen to me, or do the exact opposite, which caused a lot of opportunities for Minnesota. Eventually, Alfie had a talk with Brady and finally got him to listen, which I am most thankful for.

Unfortunately, Marco Rossi had scored first in the second period, but thankfully, Branny had evened out the score in the third, from a beautiful lead pass from Forsy. I called it the Swedish goal, as both Branny and Forsy are from Sweden.

After Branny's goal, nothing happened in the rest of regulation, causing the game to go into overtime. Thankfully Forsy hadn't let in a single shot since Rossi's goal in the second. Now, it was time for shoot-outs. I'm really hoping that my shoot-out training with the guys and with Forsy helped, as we needed this win.

"Who you sending out first?" Alfie asked me, the entire team looking at me intently.

"Timmy. You're first." I instructed . I knew that I needed to get the best guys out first, as it would give us the best opportunity. Also, I knew that Minnesota would do the same, so I needed to go big or go home.

The shootouts went for a total of three rounds. Timmy had his shot saved by Minnesota's goalie, causing the entire bench to groan in frustration. Minnesota sent out Mats Zuccarello to shoot for them. All of the guys gripped their sticks in anticipation, praying that Forsy would block his shot.

He did.

I sent out Drake after, knowing that he was good at shoot-outs.

His was blocked as well.

After Drake's shot was saved, Minnesota sent out Krill Kaprisov, and Alfie and I glanced at each other, worry in our eyes.

I let out a sigh in relief when Forsy saved the shot, knowing that was a really hard task to do, as Kaprisov was a really good hockey player.

"Josh, you're up."

I was praying that Josh could pull this off. After Josh, I was going to send out G if it went into round three, as I knew that he could close this off, but I was praying that it didn't.

Josh scooped up the puck and started skating towards the left side of the rink. He skated down in a straight line, all the way down to the face-off circle before cutting into the slot. Josh waited patiently before quickly releasing the puck, firing it between Minnesota's goalie's glove and his body.

The entire bench erupted in cheers as the lamp lighted up behind the net, the puck finding the back of the net.

"Nice job, man!" I cheered, fist-bumping him as he hopped back onto the bench.

The entire team held their breath as Joel Eriksson Ek went up for Minnesota.

He skated up on Forsy's right side, which was also on his back hand, which the second I saw that, I knew we were golden. He skated down to the face-off dot before cutting in left at the slot. He moved the puck from his forehand to his backhand a few times, but by that point, he was way too close to Forsy. Forsy easily poke-checked Eriksson Ek's skate and covered up the puck with his glove, giving us the win.

"Let's go!" I shouted as the team hopped off the bench to congratulate Forsy for his amazing start as a goalie.

We all headed back down the tunnel, huge smiles on our faces from the win.

"K, fellas. I'll let you have the room. Hell of a job tonight by a lot of guys. Obviously the Swedes, brought 'er to the table. Branny, great goal, Forsy, outstanding. Who's got the helmet? Go ahead." D.J said, giving the floor over to Timmy.

"Hey boys, great vin, ezpecially on ze back end today. I zink ve ztuck wiz it all night. Lia, great coaching and Branny, great goal, but I've got to give it to my boy, Forzy." Timmy told everyone, handing the helmet over to Forsy, a huge smile on both of their faces.

"Ya, great game, boys, let's go party now."

* * *

After we had all packed up our stuff, we hopped onto the bus and headed back to the hotel. I sat beside Rids, completely ignoring the glare that was being sent to me by my brother, not really caring what he though.

"Hey,"

"Hey,"

"I heard what happened between you and Chucky, today." Rids told me, making me sigh.

"Don't worry about him." I replied. "He's just being a dick."

"Yeah, but I don't want you to have your brother hate you, just because you're dating me."

"So we're dating now?" I teased, making him blush and scratch his neck in embarrassment.

"I-uh.... I mean... if you want too...." he stuttered, making me laugh.

"Dude, relax." I chuckled. "I'd like that if you would."

"Yes!" he exclaimed. "I mean, sure, that's cool." he recovered. "So, is Brady cool with this?"

"Yeah, kind of." I shrugged. "I mean, when I first got here, he told me that if I were to date anyone, he would prefer it to be either you or Timmy, so, yeah."

"You know, I'm really going to miss you when you head back to Chicago." Rids told me.

"Yeah... honestly, I might not actually go back..." I trailed off, remembering a conversation I had with Alfie and Michael Andlauer before today's game.

"What do you mean?"

"Well... Alfie and Michael approached me before the game and offered me a job as a Senator." I explained. "They said that if I decide to leave Chicago, they would sign me for five years for twenty-five million dollars."

"Are you going to take the job?" Rids inquired, and I could see that he really wanted me to.

"I'm not sure." I replied. "I'm going to give the team about a week or so more, and if Derek isn't fired by then, I'll leave."

"Well, just know that if you do decide to join us, we'll all be here to support you and we'll never treat you like your coach did."

"Thanks, Rids,"

~*~*~

A/n

So, if you're reading this chapter and the last chapter again, you'll notice that I've split up the previous chapter into two parts, as I felt like I had to make Connor's P.O.V a stand-alone. It had a lot of pieces to it, and it didn't feel right to have this chapter added after it. Also, it made a good ending for the last chapter, as it just felt right to end the chapter with: "She's in love with someone else..."

I hope you guys understand why I separated the two chapters, and thank you for all of the support that you've given me throughout the process of writing this book.

-Skylor