So, a month ago, our huge emergency wasn't a bad emergency, Boudreau just needed to give us huge news. With the World Cup of hockey just around the corner, it was supposed to be held in Calgary, but something had happened to the presenters and staff for the cup going into Canada or something like that, so it's being moved to Detroit. The other thing, was for me specifically. As my father is a hall of famer from the Red Wings, I was chosen to present the captains and assistant captains for this years tournament. The ceremony is tonight, and it's pretty much every single NHL player in one auditorium and I call their names to be presented as the captains and alternatives captains.
I'm in Detroit now, I was going to be here this week anyway, with my sister, who's seven and a half months pregnant. I was going to help her and Matt on the finishing touches on the twins nursery.
"Oh Meredith", Cara calls through the house. Cole and I look at each other with confused looks. Cara sounds too happy for right now.
Cara walks into my room where I stand in the mirror, trying to fix my dress for tonight's presentation. It's a casual dress that I could wear anytime, so it's not too fancy. The dress barely touches the floor when I have my three inch heels on. It's light blue, with gray and white patterns all over it. Cara is wearing a form fitting, baby pink dress that fits her and her baby bump perfectly.
"Meredith. I'm doing your hair", Cara says to me. Cole starts to choke as he laughs. I give him a glare.
"What's wrong with my hair?" I run my hand through my natural looking waves. Cara comes up to me and puts her hand on my shoulders.
"Mere", Cara starts. "You are about to stand in front of two thousand people. You can't just blow dry your mess of hair and think that it will do. I'm going to style it like you just walked out of a salon".
Cara pulls me along and into her bathroom where her curling iron and bobby pins sit on the counter. She pushes me onto the toilet seat lid and starts to brush through my hair.
Cara is finally done with my hair after setting some of it in curlers, an straightener more of it. The four of us leave the house and plan on meeting Noah and Ariana in the lobby before we all take our seats in the auditorium.
Matt and Cara go to find our set of six seats first, because Cara's feet were already starting to hurt. Cole and I find Noah and Ariana in the lobby and we talk for a little while until the lights in the lobby start to blink, motioning that the ceremony was about to start.
After the head coach of the Red Wings, Coach Jeff Blashill, and then speeches from each of the head coaches of the eight world cup teams, Gary Bettman starts his speech, then I have to go up to do my thing.
"Now, for our special guest presenter of the World Cup captains. Her father used to play for the Red Wings and now hall of famer, she is the lead journalist for the Minnesota Wild. Meredith Adams".
Everybody starts to clap. I take a deep breath and stand up. I take my walk from my seat in the seventh row and up onto the stage. Mr. Bettman and I shake hands and he walks off the stage, leaving me in front of almost 2,500 people. I walk up to the podium and move the microphone so everyone can hear me. The clapping stops and I start my small rehearsed speech before I announce the names.
"Thank you, thank you. Now, tonight, I have been given the great honor of announcing the captains for each of the eight teams of the world cup. I have known many of these players, both in the tournament, and not in the tournament, for many years. I would love to thank my father, for one, being an amazing hockey player, but being an even better father, in which he wasn't, I would not be standing in front of you tonight. But I guess this isn't an acceptance speech, I'm hear to read twenty-four names off of a card. So, I guess I should get to that", the crowd laughs a little and I smile out at them. I find Cole and our eyes meet for a second. "With us being in America, I will start tonight with the US".
I open the card with USA printed on the front. I read the card in my head quickly, then put my lips close to the microphone. "Captain of team USA is Patrick Kane, alternatives captains, Noah Smith and Joe Pavalski".
I almost scream in excitement, though I know I can't, since I'm the presenter. Patrick, Joe, and Noah start their walks up onto the stage to greet me, where I hand them their team USA jerseys. They stand at the back of the stage as I call the next.
"Team Canada's captain is Jonathan Toews, alternative captains, Sidney Crosby and Brandon Saad".
"Team Sweden captain is Patrick Hornqvist, alternatives captains, Daniel Sedin and Erik Karlsson".
"Team Finland's captain is Valterri Filppula, alternatives captains Mikko Koivu and Jussi Jokinen".
"Team Russia captain is Alex Ovechkin, alternatives captains Evgani Malkin and Pavel Datsyuk".
"Team Czech Republic captain is Ales Hemsky, alternatives captains Tomas Plekanec and Jakub Voracek".
"Team Europe's captain is Marian Hossa, alternatives captains Anze Kopitar and Zdeno Chara".
Now for the last team. The one I've been waiting for. If Cole was going to be on the team or be an assistant, it was going to be North America.
"For the last team of the night. Your captain for North America is Jonny Gaudreau, alternatives captains Cole Anderson and Connor McDavid".
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The Day Has Come (Counting on Hockey #4)
RomanceSo, the day of Meredith's new job has come. She's officially a journalist for the Minnesota Wild, the NHL hockey team. She's also the girlfriend of six years to Cole Anderson, second line center, for the Wild. She's the head journalist, which comes...
