The Hockey Life - A Patrick Kane Fanfic

Part Thirty-Nine - Championship

PART THIRTY-NINE: CHAMPIONSHIP

I expected to have a ton of free time to do whatever I wanted since I didn’t have classes to go to anymore. I was wrong. Even when I didn’t have my own hockey practices or games to go to anymore, my life was still completely consumed with hockey.

Patrick Sharp had been back on the ice, so during the last couple days before the next playoff series, I closely watched him at practices with the trainers. He seemed comfortable with skating, so he got the okay to play again for the first game against the L.A. Kings. However, I was in charge of making sure he stretched and conditioned well before playing again.

Even though I had no excuse not to go to playoff games anymore, I could still only go to home games. I wished I could travel with Patrick, but I couldn’t. I felt lucky that Dylan was able to entertain me with a home game of his own, since I couldn’t travel.

I convinced Tess to come to his game with me. It didn’t take much, since she was always looking for an excuse to get out of the apartment. Plus, she always said yes to hockey. Both of us did, except for during our exams week, which had passed, thankfully.

When we got to the arena, I bought a shirt to support Dylan’s team. Tess just laughed at me for it.

“What? I want to support him! You know I hate going to sporting events without wearing something that shows team spirit,” I explained as I slipped it over the shirt I was already wearing.

“This is his last game on this team, Lean. After today you’ll never have a game to wear it to again,” she said.

“That doesn’t mean I won’t still wear it, even if it’s just when I’m lounging around the apartment. Things are looking good for our friendship, Tess, I’m going to try to keep it that way.”

We bought ourselves refreshments and found our seats in the middle section of the arena (it would have been equivalent to 200 level seats in the United Center). We were there a little early, so I texted Dylan good luck. He thanked me and told me to come down to the locker room area when the game was over. Wow, I had VIP status here, too.

After a few more minutes Tess and I found ourselves engulfed in a sea of red and white, which were the colors for the Chicago Cougars, Dylan’s team. His former classmates and current friends were apparently all seated by us, coincidentally. A couple of guys in the seats next to us had brought a sign that said, “Zuniga for President.”

“So which player are you rooting for?” the guy closest to me asked.

“Apparently the same one you’re rooting for,” I said as I examined the sign.

“Dylan’s your favorite player?” he asked, suddenly very interested.

“Yeah, he kinda has to be. He’s my friend,” I explained.

“No way, he’s my best friend!” he said. “Are you that girl he told me about, by any chance? Lena?”

“Yeah, that’s me,” I answered, hoping Dylan hadn’t talked too much crap about me to his friends.

“Hey Lena, nice to meet you. I’m Zack, by the way,” he introduced himself and shook my hand.

“Nice to meet you too, Zack.”

“So, I hear you’re quite the heartbreaker,” he said with a smirk as he pushed his long, straight black hair out of his face.

“Oh, great. So Dylan still hates me for that?” I asked, completely embarrassed and guilty.

“No, obviously he doesn’t hate you. He never did! You just broke his heart, but it’s no big deal.”

“That makes me feel so much better,” I scoffed.