Sunset Boulevard-ON HOLD

Chapter 8-Thanks For That

I took a deep breath as I stared at the floor of the tunnel, listening to the never ending cheers of the sold out Staples Center.

Starting at Center! Your first round draft pick, number 69!!!! Kaaaarrsssooonnnn Blaaakkkeeee!!!

I tapped both sides of the wall and lunged out onto the ice.

Instantly, my breath was taken away. Flashing camera bulbs, cheers louder than the arena music, the cold feeling of the ice. This is definitely what I was made to do.

I skated towards center ice and picked up a puck with my stick and started flipping it around.

"I hope you know how to do more than just that."

I dropped the puck in surprise as I turned around to see a girl leaning against an ice scraper. I was instantly taken back by her curves, her confident posture, her flowing black hair, and those eyes were killer.

"I guess you'll just have to watch the game to find out dear." I say with a smirk as I traced my eyes over her body.

 "Oooohh, someone's a little confident aren't they?"

"As a hockey player you have to be."

She let out a giggle and started to skate away and I skated my way backwards towards her, "What, I don't even get your name?"

"Impress me and I may just tell you."

"Challenge?" Before she could answer someone grabbed me by the arm.

"Blake, you've got to stay away from the ice girls. They'll break your heart faster than they'll break your wallet. Besides, management will be all over your ass if they see you near them."

I turned around to see Brownie laughing his ass off as he finished giving me his warning, "I don't know captain, I'm pretty sure she was flirting with me."

"Of course she was Karson, you're a rookie... It's what they do.

...............

The rest of pregame warm ups were just a blur and I did my best to keep my knees from locking while listening to the national anthem.

I looked up at into the rafters at the end of the national anthem as I made my way to the faceoff circle and prepared for puck drop. I saw the championship banners and retired numbers and couldn't believe that I, Karson Blake, just a small kid from a nothing town in Canada was about to play in his first game, for such a historic franchise.

I took my position and gripped my stick, and looked to both my left and right getting nods of approval from Brownie and Kopi, then I tap my stick on the ice indicating that I'm ready for puck to drop.

My heart begins racing and as soon as the puck hits the ice, everything goes into slow motion. I don't even try to win the faceoff and just throw my body into Bergeron. Kopitar swoops in behind me and picks up the loose puck and drops it back to Dewie right as we all cross the blue line at almost the same exact time.

Doughty faked a slap shot and bounced the puck off the right boards and it came in contact with my stick. Chara and Hamilton, the two Bruins defenders froze as I skated in between the two of the them. Rask came out to the top of the crease and brought his glove up. I dropped my shoulder and faked a leg kick ass Tuukka dropped to the ice in the butterfly position.

Time seemed to stand still as I wristed the puck top shelf and it went into the back of the net.

I took off flying and jumped into the glass as the goal horn went off and my teammates tackled me.

As I skated my way back to the bench for the congratulatory high fives, I looked up at the screen at center ice. 19:57. Just three seconds in to my first NHL game, on my first NHL shift, and I had scored my first NHL goal. This is definitely where I belonged.

......

This is bullshit. This is definitely not where I belonged. As I made my way to the penalty box, the ref skated to center ice and announced the penalty.

Kings. Number sixty-nine, two minutes for interference.

I slam the penalty box door shut and pour water all over my face. I sit down and grip my stick and look up at the scoreboard. We were ahead 2-1 with just over three minutes left to go in the game. Just three minutes after I had scored the opening goal, three seconds in, Lucic tied up the game, and with two minutes left in the 2nd I fired a pass to Kopitar who went five hole to put us back on top.

I was drenched in sweat and my nerves were on edge. Forty-two seconds were left on my interference call. Just as I put my head down, I head the referees issue another penalty.

Kings. Number twenty-three, two minutes for charging.

With 1:42 left to go in the game the Bruins had a 5 on 3 advantage and were about to pull their goalie for the 6 on 3 advantage.

Brownie set down next to me, "I don't care what happens, as soon as your penalty is over, do whatever it takes to clear that fucking puck. We're on the penalty so there's no icing, so just fire it towards the net and hope for the best. If we lose this game because of our penalties, Quick is going to kill us."

I nodded my head and waited for the time keeper to open the door so I could get back on the ice. As soon as he did, I fired out of the box and skated as fast as I could towards Jonathan's crease. Quick was making save after to save but with a whole minute left before the clock struck zero, I knew we could be in trouble.

"Get him out of the way, clear the crease. They're setting up a screen" Quick yelled as I barreled my way into Dougie  and heard him let out a soft groan. Chara wound up from the blue line and took a massive slap shot that bounced off Quick's chest and seemed to just hover over the ice, just as I was about to slap at it and clear the zone, my skates became entangled with Dougie's and I begin to fall to the ice. Just before I hit the ground, I took one last desperation swing at the puck and watched it fly off the end of my stick, and hit Quick in the back.

I closed my eyes in disbelief and the puck bounced and rolled its way across the line and tied the game. Dougie jumped up in the air as the clock read 2.3 seconds left and the game was tied at two apiece.

I bent over and placed my stick on my knees."Thanks for that kid." I looked up to see Dougie smirking and making his way towards the bench.

"Look, Quick, I'm sorry man. I tried to clear the puck and it just didn't work out. I'm sorry"

Quick took off his goalie mask and I could see the anger on his sweat ridden face, "Get the fuck off the ice, and for your sake, you better hope we win this in OT."

A/N--- Hey guys!!! Sorry for so long in between updates... Been hella sick, anywho, I hope you guys like the longer chapter and I'll try to push more out soon. Don't forget to comment and vote, and who wins in OT?