Goalie // Sidney Crosby

Nineteen

"At this point Emerson Rousseau has been doing an amazing job of keeping up in the league. So far out of all the games she's played she's only lost two, and has kept an amazingly high SV%. Many were concerned about having a woman play in the league, but she's out to prove that mindset wrong.
The Penguins are definitely starting to see that the risk of drafting her in 2012 and signing her over the summer.. has paid off. Some could argue she's having stronger starts than Fleury and could turn into their main goalie. It will be very interesting to see how the rest of the season progresses with her; but she will be a key piece to a strong playoff run. Keeping her healthy will be important.
And on a more personal note, it's been seen that she's fitting in perfectly in Pittsburgh. There was major concern on how having a girl could affect the teams dynamic even down to the game play- but nothing has seemed to change. But if you look at the last two teams Rousseau was apart of, they too were top tier championship teams. She's always been said to work hard and bring out the best in others. We will have to see how this carries on in the future."

Emerson read the article on her carefully, even down to the comments. She had a smile subconsciously on her face because everyone was so supportive and had good things to say. Even the comments referring to her as 'eye candy' or 'damn for a woman she's not bad' didn't get to her. Honestly, she took those as compliments too. Really no one could argue that she had the skill to be in the nhl. She was high on a lot of the leader boards..

They were now in the final days of December and were going to be facing the Carolina Hurricanes in a matter of hours.

Time was flying by. Sometimes her and Sid would go a few days without talking due to just being tired or busy. Other days they'd spend hours staying up talking about everything in the world. She was head over heels for him and just didn't care anymore.

Speaking of the Captain. He stopped as he passed her in one of the team lounge areas of the arena. "Ems." she looked up from her phone to give him her attention.

"Hey Cap."

"Feeling good?" they could go from good friends laughing about dumb stories from when they were younger to this, very professional and teammates. It made her stomach do flips, seeing him in this mode was attractive as hell.

"Yeah, you?"

"Good as it gets..." he shoved his hands into the pockets of his jacket. Sparking Emerson with some curiosity was how he seemed nervous, had more to say. She could tell by the way he shuffled his feet and could hardly bring his gaze up to hers. His voice on the other hand came out as casual as he asked her, "How about after the game we get some dinner?"

Emerson smiled immediately, but was smart enough to think of something to counter with, "only if we win." of course she knew that could be risky.

"Sounds like a de-"

"And you score at least one of the goals."

Sid quickly masked whatever he was feeling with a smile. It didn't surprise him that she was challenging him like this- but with his competitiveness he wasn't one to argue and back down, "Then I'll be seeing you for dinner."

On the outside Sidney came across as normal, smooth and had confidence that rarely seemed to waiver. Inside though, he felt a slight panic. He now needed his team to pull out a win and he needed to score. But as the older man walked away he couldn't allow himself to forget about the fact that he'd be the player to live up to that. He was pretty consistent on scoring each game, he was the best for a reason.

***

"What, were you trying to throw the game or something so I couldn't take you out?" Sidney teased Emerson as the two walked side by side down a block to where they were going to eat. They won against Carolina 3-2, Emerson having allowed the two goals before they brought in Fleury. Sid of course knew she'd never do such a thing, but he just had to say it.