Love For A Game

Chapter 28

When Coach Bennington hears of what happened yesterday, he cannot hold in his happiness. He's not only happy that Noel and I had the balls to stand up for ourselves, but he's happy that Darren just fucked his whole team over.

The atmosphere in the dressing room is awesome, too. All of us are extremely happy, and all of us are pumped up and ready to play. This is a game that we know we will win. Darren is the kind of player that will take his team on his back, and win it by himself.

I know that I am not like that. We win games because of team effort, because we play hard and try our best. We have gotten where we've gotten because we have a good team and we all work together. We are a family, us Raiders. One that cannot be separated.

It's a shame that I have but just a few more games left with this team. It's a sad thought, one that I must push out of my mind until the season is over. Right now, my sole focus is winning this series, and taking the league championship. It's all I allow myself to focus on.

***

The game couldn't be going any better. With a minute to go in the third period, we lead 7-1. I have two goals and an assist. Nicole has a goal and two assists. Noel hasn't had much work, stopping twelve out of thirteen shots.

Colbert hasn't had it today at all. They have been sloppy with the puck and hasn't been able to perform defensively. They are careless with their checks, and they wander around the ice aimlessly, enough for us to capitalize.

Once the game is complete, we head back to the dressing room. This game has set the stage for the most exciting type of game: a game seven for the championship. It couldn't get any more exciting.

Allow me to go over a few statistics here. Firstly, the two teams are the two best teams in the league, Ryerson being first with a 35-13 record, Colbert being second with a 31-17 record. I lead the league in scoring, with 121 points. Darren is second with 96 points.

Nicole was second in defence points, with thirty-eight. That stat is pretty incredible, since she only played twenty-three games. Nathan was first in defence points with fifty-one.

Noel finished the season with a 1.67 goals against per game average and 11 shutouts. The Colbert goaltender, Nick Jenkins, had a 2.04 average, and posted 6 shutouts. Noel won Goalie of the Year. Nick was the runner-up, but by a long shot.

Last year, Colbert beat us easily, in five games. This year we have already gone six, and it is now down to one game. Winner takes it all, gets all the glory. The loser goes home, to sulk in their own self-pity until the next season begins, when their hunger for hockey returns.

We cannot afford to lose this by any means. Losing means that all of the hard work and dedication put towards this season, dedication we didn't have last year, would be for not. Last year, we were cocky, arrogant, and we expected to win. We were shocked by a tough team. This year is different. We expected nothing, and allowed whatever came at us to face us head on. We have been ready for anything.

The game is set for Saturday at five. The game is in Ryerson, so we will have our home fans here to watch. It will be an amazing game to watch and play. I can't wait for it.

____

This is a really short chapter, I know, but I like it. The song on the side is "Edge of Seventeen", by Stevie Nicks.