Thin Ice

Kelsey Kicks Ass (The End)

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Excuse the mistakes!

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I was angry.

No, not the angry where you hate the world and listen to angsty music. Not the angry where all you want to do is cry. Not the angry where you feel the urge to punch everything and everyone near you in the hopes of some degree of destruction. I was filled with the kind of anger that lit a fire under you and motivated you.

Why?

We were playing the Kings for the last time this season before league playoffs began, and it was also the first time we were playing them since the whole mess with Dane and Julian. I had yet to really prove myself to Julian and his team, and that was the fuel to my fire.

The game had started out in our favor. We were handling the puck well, and our offense spent a lot of time in the Kings' zone, with plenty of scoring chances. About halfway through the period, we'd gotten our first goal. The score remained 1-0 for the rest of the period with the goalie standing on his head, and we went in the second period feeling confident. However, they must have had one hell of a motivational speech because the Kings came back with a vengeance, scoring a goal right off the first face off. We'd managed to hold them off for the rest of the second period, but it wasn't easy. So far in the third period, they showed no sign of reverting back to the less-together team from the first period.

Here's something I really hate about the Kings; when they're on, they're on. The Kings were strong cyclers in the offensive zone, and their breakouts weren't too shabby either. Plus, they were fast. I'm not saying that my team wasn't any of those things, but going from being the dominating team to playing defensively in only a couple minutes could really throw a team.

"Kels! Kels, I'm open!"

How fantastic for you, I thought as I tried to keep the puck against the boards with my skates. There were two Kings players breathing down my neck and trying to pin me to the boards, and I was trying to freeze the puck long enough to get an opportunity to pass it to someone open, or at least get a whistle. My shift was running way longer than it should, but I couldn't exactly change when the puck was still in our zone.

"Kelsey, behind you!"

A second after hearing Dane's voice, I felt the pressure on my back disappear. I didn't have to look behind me to know that Dane had just gotten on the ice, and he was breaking off the vultures so I could break the puck out.

I looked up and quickly saw that Alec was up at the hash marks on the circle, and he was open. I didn't hesitate in sending him a smooth pass. He caught it and immediately turned and started off the ice, bouncing the puck against the boards and around the other team's defensemen as he went, catching it at the red line. Dane and my eyes met for a moment before he sprinted up the ice to support his wings.

"Rogers! Change it up!" Coach Marshall called from the bench, and I let out a sigh of relief before skating quickly back to the bench. I was told by my first hockey coach that when you were skating to the bench to change, you must skate your fastest because the position you were vacating needed to be filled as soon as possible.

I climbed onto the bench as my replacement hopped the boards, and I practically collapsed down on the bench. My dad and brother taught me that you didn't come off a shift breathing hard, you weren't playing to your fullest.