Breaking The Ice

Who's Who?

TJ's POV

The sound of my own breathing echoed through my ears, my heart pounding in my chest, as I looked across the ice for Harry coming out of the penalty box. I had forced a turnover in their zone and was rushing the puck back up the ice, speeding toward their goalie as the rest of them tried to catch me. I knew with Harry out of the box he would be free to take out the guy on my tail, which is exactly what he did as I reached the net and shot the puck in for a goal in the second period.

"Yeah, Mouse!" Niall cheered as he patted my helmet with his glove in our celebration circle. "Thatta girl!"

"Fucking killing it tonight." Harry grinned as he pounded his glove against mine and we skated back to the bench to switch lines.

"Nice work, Tomlinson." Coach smiled as he clapped me on the back and I took my seat, squirting water into my mouth as I tried to catch my breath.

I sat between Louis and Harry on the bench, Liam and Niall still out on defense as they tried to keep the other team out of our end at the blueline. Lundy, Rex and Shawn weren't doing much to help them on offense, turning over the puck multiple times before Rex took yet another penalty and left them short.

"Fuck, Payno and Nialler are taking a beating tonight on the power play." Harry sighed as we watched them try to ward off another goal shorthanded.

"Well if we'd stop taking bullshit penalties our defense wouldn't have to pick up the slack." Louis snapped before he reached up and banged his stick against the boards, screaming at Shawn to get the puck out of the corner.

We were all on our feet as he was able to get it out, shooting it back to Rex who took off down the ice toward the other end.

"Go, go, go!" Harry yelled as we watched the other team scramble after him as he entered their zone. "Shoot it!"

We watched in anticipation as he shot it with their defensemen hot on his heels, scoring in the top left corner just as the buzzer sounded for the end of the period. They celebrated on the ice for a few seconds before they all came back toward the bench and we all headed into the locker room to get ready for the third period.

"Sick shot, bro. Short handed too, fucking epic." Harry grinned as he pulled Rex into a headlock as we headed toward the locker room, patting his helmet with his gloved hand.

We entered the locker room and the boys all sat in their stalls, taking swigs out of their water bottles and adjusting their gear as I stood against the wall until Coach came in to discuss the game plan.

"Alright, looking good out there for the most part." He sighed. "You guys really gotta stop with the pointless penalties."

"Sorry, Coach." Some of the guys mumbled, sighing to themselves.

"Forwards on the second and third lines, your defensemen are saving your ass out there. It's about time you pulled your weight." Coach said sternly. "TJ, Styles, Tommo, you're the only line out there with any fire under your ass, keeping us in this game."

Harry and I's eyes drifted to each other and he shot me a wink before coach continued.

"Payne, Horan, you guys are laying it all out there tonight without much help, so just keep your legs under you and hopefully you get some relief in the third."

"No problem, Coach." Niall nodded. "We got this."

He and Liam bumped fists as Coach nodded, before he told us all to hydrate and head back out to the ice. I threw my helmet on as we all filed back out, and I didn't miss the muttering Lundy was doing under his breath behind me. I just hoped he would keep it to himself long enough not to start a team argument before the game was over.