Thin Ice

Why, Pray Tell, Is It So Hard For You To Let Me Fight My Own Battles?

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Excuse the mistakes

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Hockey players are extremely superstitious.

We each have our own pregame rituals that we do without fail for every game. Some people have a lucky pair of socks or a shirt to wear under their gear, and neither is ever washed. Others have a certain warm-up stretch they do before putting on any pads, or a certain playlist. Actually, my team had a certain playlist we listened to before every game, and it was currently blasting from a stereo provided by Alec.

For me, my pregame superstition is putting on my gear in a certain order. I know, it sounds tedious and stupid, but making sure to put my right skate on before my left one helps me feel more confident in my game.

Today, everyone’s rituals seemed a little more apparent than usual, and that was because today was our first game against the Kings. If being rivals wasn’t enough, the fact that quite a few guys on my team wanted revenge on Julian for the Haunted Hayride was adding a lot to the tension and anger in the room. I think playing angry is a good way to approach a game, but in this case, I was worried about it overtaking common sense.

I’m looking at you, Dane.

Personally, I couldn’t wait to get onto the ice and kick each and every Kings’ player’s ass. During warm-ups, I’d had settled down in my pregame zone, where all I could think about was the upcoming game and what I needed to do to elevate the level of play and contribute to a team win. This was an important game for our team, not only because it would affect our standings in the league, but because it would earn us bragging rights against the Kings, namely Julian.

After I finished lacing up my skates, going from the right to the left, I wove my hair into a somewhat tight French braid that would fit neatly under my helmet. Then, I tugged on my shoulder pads and then my elbow pads. Like my skates, I put them on going from the right to the left, and then I strapped my neck guard on.

The song on the stereo switched from some Eminem song to Thnks Fr Th Mmrs by Fall Out Boy, and I unzipped the end pocket of my hockey bag and pulled out my black Ice Devils jersey. I let out a deep breath, which was another pregame ritual, and then I slipped it on and adjusted my pads.

As I reached for my helmet, which was nestled in my bag between my practice jersey and my plastic bag of tape, I looked around at my teammates. Instead of being in the midst of conversations, as they all usually were, almost everyone was sitting quietly, some with their eyes closed, and focusing on the game about to occur.

I slid my helmet onto my head and started to snap the clasps, and the music shut off suddenly. Dane, who was sitting on the opposite end of the locker room where he usually sat, stood up with all of his gear on save for his helmet. I wasn’t offended that he didn’t sit down next to me because nobody ever changed where they sat in our home locker room. We’d always sat opposite each other, and I didn’t really need to hold his hand or anything before the game.

“Alright, guys,” Dane said, demanding everyone’s attention. All of my teammates lifted their heads, and it was amazing to see how determined everyone looked. I’m not saying that if we weren’t played the Kings tonight, we wouldn’t be focused, but it was just different facing your rivals.

“I don’t think I really need to give a pregame talk tonight,” Dane continued, looking around the room at everyone as he talked, “We all know what we want tonight, and we all know how we need to play to attain said goals. However, I will say that the Kings need to be put in their place, and we’re just the team to do it.”