9. Chapter 8
Chapter 8
Iloved starting the season at home. Our fans were so damn excited at the beginning of the season, and with our new additions, spirits were high, so we would be much more competitive this year.
The only thing that I hated about this opening game? Natalie wasn't here. For some reason, her date was more important than our game. Although she promised to be rooting us on.
Despite knowing that she wasn't there, I couldn't help scanning the crowd for her. It was an old habit.
As I was looking in the crowd, Cartsy was like, "Dude, who are you looking for?"
"No one."
The last thing we needed to do was talk about the fact that I wanted his sister here at the game in front of the team. It would kick up so much shit, and they would rag on me so much.
It was late into the third period, and we were beating Seattle by two goals, but we all wanted more. Besides beating our cross-border rival, there was too much money on the board for us to blow it. We probably shouldn’t be basically betting on ourselves to have a good night or have something to prove, but the stuff never left the room, and all the money went into the team fund. I wanted to have some fun while we were on the road this year.
As they dropped the puck, Beauchamp, the speedy winger on Seattle's team, started jabbering. "This is my puck, and the comeback starts now."
I snorted. "Bullshit."
Proving my point, Carter snagged the puck and flung it my way. I easily cradled it and streamed down the ice, knowing that Beauchamp would be on my ass. It didn't take more than a couple of strides when I saw a stick come my way.
It was a blatant attempt at hooking. Most players would have gotten away with just a tug or so, but I was short as shit compared to most hockey players. So it was more at my legs, and that hook just pulled me down to the ice.
Which meant power play for us.
I loved being a man up. We lined up for the new faceoff. I scooted back a little bit from my normal positioning so I had a better angle on the goal. If all worked out, I could just fire it on the goal.
Carmie won the faceoff. I'd never seen him be so strong on faceoffs as he had been tonight, but I wasn't complaining that he was winning them all. The win percentage would go down eventually, but until then, I was going to take advantage of each and every faceoff win.
I fired the puck onto the goal, aiming for the bar Mexico. It was always a little risky since instead of the puck bouncing down, it could easily deflect into the crowd if you didn't hit the crossbar just right. Thankfully, I hit that perfect spot where the puck hit the bottom side of the bar, and it snuck behind the goalie's back, making for an easy goal.
After making the score four-one, Seattle's fight just left them.
Once the goalie got pulled, Carter stopped getting assists and finally scored himself. It seemed like he helped to set up everyone tonight since, besides setting me up twice, he set up Scuba.
By the time the clock ran out, we were just buzzing.
Winning on opening day was always the best way to start the season. Scuba and Rainer were proving they belonged with the Legacy and just really shut down our opponent's offensive rush.
As our post-game playlist died out, Carmie whistled. "All right, fellas. It's time to move over to Jokers."
"Not the Roxy?" asked Scuba.
The Roxy is where a lot of hockey players hung out, but to truly celebrate a win, we preferred to go to Jokers. It was a private club that had a similar vibe as Roxy, but it was our place.
"Nah," I said, "That's for the visitors. Why do you think you never see us there?"
Scuba shrugged, "I've seen enough guys there."
Sometimes, you had to make them see the light. But despite what Scuba wanted, we were not going to the Roxy. It was going to be Jokers. I loved Jokers so much.
"You can go to the Roxy, but the rest of us are going to Jokers."
Then, after a few beers, I might check in on Natalie and see how her date went. Hopefully, it was another dud, and I didn't have to think about her having sex with anyone else.