Hockey's Our Game

Chapter 8

I woke up to an air horn in my ear, I punched someone in the gut, it turned out to be Troy “damn I just wanted to say happy birthday” he groaned. “Surprise” he said and then it hit me, Troy surprised me on my 18th birthday.

I jumped out of bed and attacked him with a hug “Troy!” I yelled and laughed and we fell on the ground.

“I know you like your sleep princess” he rolled his eyes and we walked down to the kitchen.

I walked in first and got a cake to the face, I saw Mia smiling at me “happy birthday.”

I just laughed and hugged her and my mom was taking pictures then I got cake on her face and we just laughed, of course my mom took pictures. I wiped the cake off my face “happy birthday baby doll” my mom hugged me and kissed my forehead.

“How does it feel to have your youngest kid turn 18?” I asked

“I feel so old” my dad said and put an envelope on the counter.

“Good you should, you look like your 105” I joked around and hugged him.

“Ha, ha, very funny, but happy birthday angel” he grabbed the giant yellow envelope and handed it to me. “This is for you” he smiled.

I looked at everyone and nobody knew what was in the envelope, it was from The United Center. I opened it and it was a letter and another white envelope. I read the letter first:

Dear Tori,

Happy birthday first off, and what better way to say happy birthday than give you great news. I got the footage of you and Mia playing with my players, and I saw what you and Mia called ‘operation blitz’ and holy shit. I have never seen anyone move like this, you and Mia skate with so much passion and love for the sport. I was able to pull a few strings and now that you are both 18 I would like to formally invite you and Mia to The Blackhawks practice on December 15th, it happens to be a Friday, I’ve already contacted Coach Rob and he said that Fury doesn’t have a tournament that weekend and we don’t have a game. Practice will start at 5:45 on the nose. If you’re late I will not allow you two to train with us, I am a stickler about time, and if a player is late they better have a real good excuse. Also in the next envelope are two season tickets for the rest of the season, including the playoffs, only for home games. Also with the locker room passes for before and after each game.

One more thing is that on December 15th I also got multiple coaches from colleges all over the country looking for skilled players, they are all D1 schools to, and I have also made an appeal to the NHL board about having girls in the league and they contacted me back saying the girls will have to be able to take a blow by men three times the size of them, I saw Sharp hit you pretty hard and you laughed and got back up and snipped on Crawford. With that being said three members of the board will be there watching you, either to tear you two apart or offer you a spot in the next draft and you may or may not be the first women in the NHL.

Again, happy birthday and enjoy cake for me and you and Mia better be ready on December 15th and I hope to see you on Thursday at the game against the LA Kings.

Sincerely, Coach Q

I opened the second envelope and there they were the two laminated official passes of The Blackhawks season tickets. I screamed really, really, loud and jumped up and down while everyone else read the letter. Mia’s face dropped when she read it and looked at me and we both screamed loudly. “Hell yes! The professional hockey world better watch out because double trouble is here to make an impact!” I yelled and Mia and I hugged each other and my mom took more pictures and I had tears rolling down my cheek of pure happiness and Mia had tears rolling down her cheek too, we were both smiling from ear to ear. I was hugging her for dear life and she was doing the same and the front door opened and Holden came running in. Boot free “hey you got your boot off” I said pointing.