Breaking Through the Barriers

A Different Side

November 15, 2011--- 6:45 PM 

The guys tied the laces to their skates as they finished getting ready and prepared for the game against the Devils. 

“Did Army arrive here yet?” Corvo asked as he fixed his jersey. 

“Yeah I saw her come in about five minutes ago.” Peverley said. 

“She missed practice yesterday and this morning. But coach said that he is going to let it slide since he heard about her break up with John.” Rask stated. 

“Ever since that night, Lauren hasn’t seen or even answered our texts. So what the heck has she been doing the last two days?” Tyler asked 

“Well Brianna told me that she has had to comfort Lauren and today is the first time she has stepped out of her condo.” Brad informed the other guys. 

A sigh escaped the lips of some of the players. “I just hope that she can pull herself together for the game.” Lucic added. 

“We all hope that.” Chara said before placing his helmet on. “Now it’s game time.” 

~

~

I finished placing my gear on and once I did that was when Brianna came in through my door wearing Marchand’s home jersey since tonight we were wearing our alternative jerseys. 

“They’re going to drop the puck in two minutes.” 

I grabbed my helmet “Thanks for telling me.” 

“No prob.” As I was about to leave the locker room, Brianna stopped me and placed a hand on my shoulder. “Are you sure that you can play tonight?” 

“Yeah Bree.” 

“But I’m just worried that you don’t have a clear head going into the gam-“ 

But I cut her off, “Bree don’t worry. Now get back to your seat.” 

I left the locker room and even though I am still filled with rage, I was going to use the rage I had during the game against the Devils. 

Second Period--- Tied at 0--- 12:00 minutes

I skated onto the ice as we changed out. Tonight I have been one vicious son of a bitch, and let’s just say that the penalty box has been my friend quite a few times. Mostly due to the anger I had. 

As we lost possession of the puck I saw that Devils’s Captain, Zach Parise, got a handle of the puck and began skating towards our end of the rink. I spun myself around and with all the speed I had I chased after Parise. As I got close enough, I gave a hard hit to Parise, he fell to the ice and lost possession of the puck. The audience stomped on their feet after the hit I portrayed but I guess the Devils weren’t thrilled about the hit I did against their captain. His teammate Zubrus skated over and towered over me due to his height, but I stood my ground. 

“You think that you can hit him like that?” 

I pressed my helmet against his “Are you blind twirlgirl? Your pathetic captain is still spread out on the ice, you want to join him?” 

“Like you can do that, little girl.” 

Boy did he piss me off “This little girl has gotten three times more goals than you have.” 

I shoved Zubrus and I threw my gloves off and dropped my stick. The crowd began to roar and as I prepared to get a piece of him, Horton skated over and hooked his arm around my waist. 

“Don’t even think about it.” 

I shoved Horton off of me “Buzz off!” 

But then an official stepped in and blew his whistle as he escorted me to the penalty box for my third time tonight. I scoffed and slammed the door shut as the call was for roughing, two minute penalty. Geez! What wimps, Parise got back up. 

End of power play—Bruins—0 Devils—1

I skated out of the box, pissed that the Devils scored. As I was out on the ice, I looked up and saw that coach Julien was signally for me to come back to the bench but I blew him off. 

I waited out in center ice for the puck to come my way. As the players fought for the puck, Krejci cleared the puck from our end and that was when I caught it. I began heading towards the Devils’ end of the rink. As I was the Devils started to attack me for the puck, but I was able to maintain possession. I looked over my shoulder and saw Kelly near the net, so in one swift motion I spun around and shot the puck to Kelly. Kelly grabbed the puck and wrist shot it into the net. The goal horn exploded throughout the arena and the audience screamed. 

I held my hand up in victory as I skated over to hug my teammates. After I was through I headed back to the bench but as I passed the Devils’ bench, I locked my eyes on Zubrus and smirked. 

Final: Bruins—4 …Devils—3 

I walked down the tunnel and as I was heading towards my locker room, Chara called out, “Army can you come in here?” 

I listened and walked into their locker room. “What’s up?” I asked as I fiddled around with my mouth guard. 

“We need to talk.” 

“About what Z?” 

“The way you played tonight.” Seidenberg blurted out. 

I looked at them strangely “What do you mean? I played perfectly fine.” 

“You handed over two turnovers and both of them resulted in a goal for New Jersey. And not to mention the vehement penalties you had on the other players.” McQuaid said. 

I crossed my arms “Who the hell cares. We won.” 

“Yeah barely, we lucked out.” 

I was now getting mad “So you’re blaming me for us almost losing?” 

Lucic scratched the back of his head “It is true though Army. You played very messy tonight, and you just weren’t yourself out on the ice tonight. I mean after your little breakup with John you can’t think cle-“ 

But I cut him off “Why don’t you guys just mind your own damn business and stay out of my life.” 

“We can’t.”

 I looked up and was surprised to see that it was Tyler who said that. He walked a few steps before saying “You are our teammate and whatever is affecting your playing skills affects the rest of us. So you need to resolve this John issue because it is holding you back.” 

“What are you my therapist?” I snapped back. 

“See what is with the attitude? You aren’t acting like yourself. “

“Oh really?” I said as I walked closer to Tyler so that there were only a few feet between the two of us. 

“Look I understand that you are going through a difficult time but you can’t play like a cocky player as you did tonight.” 

“Oh I’m cocky?!” I yelled. “This is coming from the cocky son of a bitch who has his last name tattooed on left arm and can’t even get a date with a girl.” 

Tyler moved his head back and I couldn’t believe I actually said something as harsh as that to my own teammate, let alone Tyler the one I bonded most with out of all the guys. I walked out of the locker room and felt like a total bitch. The truth of the matter was that Tyler and the guys were right. I still haven’t gotten over my break up with John and it was indeed affecting me.

I know this chapter was a little blah. sorry. Anyways remember to comment/vote/fan, and big thank you to those of you who commented on the last chapter XD 

~XOXO Lau