Shooting Star

Chapter 33

"It's been 5 minutes into the second period of overtime," the announcer said. "Who will prevail in this crucial game?"

I clenched my jaw and jumped back over the boards, ready to win.

Kylie won the neutral-zone faceoff and immediately passed the puck to Alyssa. We took off for the other zone. Alyssa passed to me and I fired.

The puck, of course, bounced off the goalie's left pad and went around the boards. I chased it, fighting for possession against one of the Whales' defense. Of course, she had to win the fight and pass it up to Williams.

Oh this is not gonna be easy, I snarled in my head.

Ruby had no problems fending Williams off, and passed it back up the ice to Kylie.

Kylie and I took off, Alyssa staying at the blue line to catch the puck if they tried to clear it.

Kylie headed for the goal with two defence charging her. She slipped the puck between their legs and squeezed through them, but the goaltender made the easy save and it went along the boards.

I picked it up and fought for it with one of the defensemen. 

"C'mon," I muttered, finally jabbing it past her to where Kylie was. 

Then I headed for net.

"KYLIE!" I shouted to her.

Kylie saucered it to me and I caught it on the sweet spot of my stick, where Jake had taught me.

I snapped my wrist, thinking, This is for you, Jake.

The puck slid through the goalie's five hole and into the net as I circled around the back of the net, my arms thrown wide and the look of pure delight etched across my face.

"WE WON!" Kylie screamed as she collided with me into the boards.

"YES!" Alyssa yelled as she joined our group hug.

Ruby and Michelle joined us next, followed by a huge rush of our teammates, screaming and yelling in total shock and elation.

"BREE YOU'RE AWESOME!" Annabeth squealed. "WHAT A GOAL THAT WAS!"

The arena was in hysterics; my goal had sent the announcer into a frenzy.

"GOAL SCORED BY NUMBER 29, BRIANNA MILLER, 7:40 MINUTES INTO OUR SECOND PERIOD OF OVERTIME! IT'S OVER, THE ADMIRALS HAVE WON THE CHAMPIONSHIP! LOOK AT THE WHALES, THEY'RE CRUSHED! WHAT A GAME IT'S BEEN!" the announcer howled.

I fought my way through my teammates and squeezed Stephanie tightly, saying, "Thanks for holding us up, Steph."

"I think I should be the one thanking you," she said, laughing. "Talk about a Sidney Crosby mirror!"

"I guess," I said, smiling. "I didn't think of it that way."

Turns out, my goal against the Whales almost exactly mirrored Sidney Crosby's goal against the US at the 2010 Olympics in the gold medal final. Talk about weird.

And coincidental.

But it just goes to show you that if you follow those five easy rules...

1 - Never Underestimate a Whale

2 - Don't Stoop to a Whale's Level

3 - Score As Many Goals As Possible

4 - Don't Let Them Catch Up

5 - Keep Thinking Positive

You can beat the toughest and cruelest team in the league, even when the odds are stacked against you.

Even though we only followed four of those rules... Hmm.

Ah well, no time to think about that now... IT'S TIME TO CELEBRATE!

"There's the championship trophy!" Kylie squealed over the loud and growing noise of the arena.

"It's Jon Wilkins," I rolled my eyes.

We don't like Jon Wilkins. Think of Gary Bettman, the NHL Commissioner. Jon's basically the Canadian Hockey Junior League or whatever they call this league's commissioner.

"Who cares?" Alyssa squealed, mimicking Kylie's perfectly. "He's holding OUR trophy!"

We all gathered in a clump, the girls pushing me forwards.

Jon stepped up to the microphone.

"And what a rush of a tournament it's been," he said. "Congratulations to both the Carlton Admirals and the Copperdale Whales on a terrific final game, it was truly astonishing, with the way the Admirals took a huge lead and the Whales catching up to force an overtime. Both teams should be very proud of their efforts tonight. But there could only be one winner." Jon glanced over to our group. "Brianna Miller, will you come hoist the Championship Trophy?"

"Go," Annabeth hissed, but I was already skating off.

I stood by him as we held the trophy together and the press snapped a picture.

"Go," he whispered, letting go of the trophy.

I was thrilled, and picked it up and skated off with it, holding it high above my head.

"GO BREE!" Everyone screamed.

I kissed the side of the trophy and then passed it off to Kylie. She'd given me an assist on that goal, so she definitely deserved to hold it next.

It was like winning the Stanley Cup. Now I understood for the first time ever in my life how big a deal it was to hold Sports' most coveted trophy in history.

Although we'd had our doubts before, heading into this game all I have to say is...

All’s well that ends well.