Shooting Star

Chapter 4

TWEET! I glanced up at the scoreboard as the referee's whistle blew. This was it. There were 5 minutes left in the game, and we were trailing 2-1.

We'd done okay at the tournament so far. We won our first two games, but we lost the previous one. So we either had to tie this game or win it. And I would prefer to win it. If we didn't, we were out of playoff contention.

"Time out!" Coach Hiller signaled the referee. The ref blew her whistle and we skated over to Coach Hiller and rest of our team. I glanced down the line to Alyssa and Kylie.

"Okay girls, they're gonna try to hold onto their lead for a while," Coach Hiller reminded us. "So our goal is to try to get it into the offensive zone and force a face-off there. Then I think we'll just try to get pucks into the back of the net. Take whatever shots you get. Someone has to be at the crease, trying to get a redirect in or screening the goaltender. Understood?"

"Got it," the five of us (Kylie, Alyssa, Emily, Ruby, and I) called.

The ref's whistle blew again.

The face-off started in the neutral zone. Alyssa won it and slid the puck back to Ruby, who skated up to the blue line and passed it to Kylie. I charged to the front of the net and waited for Kylie to pass to me. Except she didn't. Kylie slid the puck back to the blue line where Emily grabbed it and slapped it wide. A defender raised her stick and it deflected off the stick and into the net mesh above.

TWEET! The ref signaled for a face-off in the offensive zone. I glanced at the scoreboard again. 2:34 left in the third. This was gonna be close.

Kylie took the face-off but the other girl won it. The girl passed to another teammate and they skated down the ice. Ruby and Emily took off, trying to chase them. One of the girls fired at Stephanie, our goalie, but it went wide and bounced off the glass. Emily grabbed it and we started the charge back down the other end.

Coach Hiller gave the signal for Stephanie to leave the net so we could send on an extra player. As soon as Stephanie got to the bench, Michelle jumped into the frenzy. Alyssa fired the puck to me and I passed it to Michelle. Michelle reached for it with her stick, but another girl stole it from her and fired at the empty net. “Icing against the Stingers, 41.2 seconds left in the third period,” the announcer called.

It missed. I couldn't believe it! Less than a minute to go, and we get one more chance to face-off in the other team's zone!

The Stingers' forward won the face-off and shot the puck around the boards where her teammate picked it up and tried to slide it down the ice. The puck gained air and Emily slammed against the boards to try and stop it. The puck landed on the ice and Emily jabbed it inside the offensive zone. Alyssa picked it up and there was a huge scuffle between her and another girl as they fought for it. Alyssa won eventually and slid the puck across the ice, where it hit a player's skate and bounced into the air. Kylie batted it at the net, where the defenseman blocked it by sliding across in front of the net.

Seizing the opportunity, I skated right up to the defenseman lying on the ground, stickhandled the puck around the body, and flicked it over the goalie's right shoulder.

GOAL! The buzzer sounded and the crowd erupted into cheers. My teammates swamped me and slammed me into the boards.

"Guys, stop!" I yelled. "Let me up!"

Eventually they did, but the noise level in the crowd didn't diminish. If anything, it got louder.

"GOAL SCORED BY CARLTON ADMIRALS NUMBER 29, BRIANNA MILLER, WITH 2.3 SECONDS LEFT IN THE THIRD PERIOD!" the announcer told the arena.

That was it. With my goal, we'd made it into the playoffs. Unless somehow the Stingers' found their way with 2.3 seconds left to get the puck behind Stephanie.

With Steph back in net, there was no way that we were going to lose.

And I was right. 2.3 seconds later, the final buzzer sounded and I got swamped again, this time by my entire team, congratulating me and each other.

When we finally made it to the handshake line, the Stingers' goalie shook my hand. "Nice play, Miller. How old are you?"

"14," I smiled.

"You're good," the goalie said. "Good luck in the playoffs."

"Thanks," I said. "You guys were amazing too."

Since we'd tied with the Stingers, we'd knocked them out of the tournament, pretty much. They still had another game to play, but unless the other two teams in our division lost two or more games, they were pretty much out. We'd had to either win or tie the game.

The handshake line ended and we skated off into the locker room. There was a celebration party planned, but I was thoroughly exhausted. I needed an early night's sleep.

"Sorry guys, I'm gonna have to pass," I said apologetically.

"No worries," Kylie smiled. "You can do what you like. I'll see you tomorrow, Breeze."

"Okay," I said, and stepped out of the locker room with my bag, only to get hugged by Adrian.

"Nice goal, Bree," he smiled.

"Thanks," I said.

"Wonderful job out there, sweetheart," Mom pulled me into a hug. "I'm so proud of you."

"Thanks," I said again. "Could we get out of here? I'm tired."

"Sure thing," Mom said, taking my hockey stick. "Let's head to the hotel."

But if felt surreal, scoring the winning goal that sent our team into the playoffs. I was so excited. There was an exhibition game tomorrow, but the final tournament wasn't until next weekend.

We had all day tomorrow to get home. I still had some homework to finish, so we were planning to leave first thing. But I couldn't wait to get back home and tell Janelle what had happened.