Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 88143 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88143 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
I stand there with my stick down, waiting for the ref to come over with the puck. Mav, the center for the Jersey Chiefs, is there. “Look who it is,” he says, smiling. “The bachelor.”
I roll my eyes at him. “Will you accept this stick up your ass?” I ask him, and he throws his head back and laughs.
“When do you play New York again?” he asks me, and I don’t answer him. “I need to get tickets for that game. My money is on Horton,” he says. The ref comes over, and the music in the arena gets louder.
“Okay, boys, let’s get this game on the road,” he says. I get into position, bending a little and holding my stick in front of me.
I look at Mav and smile at him, throwing him off a bit. The ref looks at both of us, and he drops the puck. My stick flies out, and I win the face-off and skate past Mav. Paul gets the puck and passes it to Corey who skates it up and sees us waiting at the blue line for the pass. Once he passes the puck to Paul, Mav tries to block me, but I’m a touch faster than he is. I get in front of the goalie and try to block his view of the puck and the play. Their top defenseman tries to push me out of the way, but I don’t budge, and when the shot comes, I move out of the way a touch to see if it’ll make it behind the net, and it doesn’t. The goalie makes a glove save, and the whistles blows. My line skates off the ice for a change. As I sit there catching my breath, I make the mistake of looking up at the seats.
Zoe is still on her phone, but Zara sits with her legs crossed and her elbows on her knees, resting her chin in the palm of her hand. She watches the play, and I swear she couldn’t look more beautiful. The music in the arena turns off again, so I know the play is starting, and I shut my mind again and focus on the game. The rush is coming from both sides, and at the end of twenty minutes, it’s still a non-scoring game.
When I get on the ice for the second period, I’m ready to turn things around. I skate in a circle while waiting for everyone to get into position, and the referee is skating over. He gets between Mav and I, and he drops the puck. I lose the face-off, and I’m pissed about it, so I start skating backward, keeping my eyes on the puck as the defense passes it among themselves. Once, twice, and then passing to the right wingers who take it into the zone. I play close to the blue line, and I wait for the pass I know is going to come. They box us in, but I skate a touch out of place, and then I see my opening. They try to pass it to the defenseman, but I intercept it. I poke it out of the zone, and I pick up speed. The defenseman is so close on my ass I can feel it, but no one else is beside me. I skate past center ice and hear everyone hustling behind me, but I’m in the zone. I watch the goalie come out of his crease and then back up. I suddenly feel someone at my feet, and he trips me. I lose my balance and end up in the boards, but when I look at the ref, he already has his arm up and is blowing the whistle. Paul goes to the defenseman who is getting up from the ice and pushes him while he tells him to fuck his mother.
I watch the referee take his arm and point at center ice and see that it’s a penalty shot. I raise one foot and get up with my back to the board. The crowd starts booing, and I skate to the middle of the ice, looking up at the replay on the jumbotron.
I watch as everyone else goes to their respective benches and then the referee comes over and puts the puck in the middle of the ice. The goalie skates left and right. The linesman stands in the middle of the ice, and the referee stands to the right. He turns and looks at the scorekeeper, then gives him a nod. He turns back and points at the puck while the linesman now points at the goalie. I skate around, going to the blue line, and then start skating the puck. I pick up the puck on the blade of my stick and skate to the right and then bring it back to the left. I skate straight down the middle, seeing that the goalie is coming out of his crease a touch and then backing up a bit when I get closer. I know the exact spot where I’m going to score. He hunches down and that gives me an even bigger window. He’s expecting me to come in and try to deke him, but I’m not. Instead, I flick my wrist and raise the puck a bit, and it flies right over his shoulder and falls in the back of the net. I raise my stick in the air and skate back to the bench, but while doing that, I glance over and see Zara standing on her feet. She is the only one in her section, and she is clapping. I smile and then go up to the bench and high-five everyone.