Chapter 27
TOBIAS WAS IN HIS element. Between the smell of the ice, the roar of the fans, the sensation of a puck bouncing off one of his pads or hitting his glove, it felt as if he’d never left the ice.
He was surrounded by retired pros, most of them in their late thirties and forties, but some even older. And Tobias dominated.
Two periods in, and Boston tallied more than twenty shots against him, but they hadn’t found the net.
As he took the ice for the final period, he found his family in the crowd.
His friends from Gym Rat Fitness were cheering for him from the second level, and he heard them before he found them in the stands holding a long sign reading Biased for Tobias!
He snorted at their silliness. Their support meant a lot to him, and they’d become like his second family.
When he found his actual family in the stands, his mom and Natalie wore proud smiles as they gazed down at him.
Madison was ecstatic, waving at him whenever she noticed Tobias looking in her direction, but more often her head stood on a swivel, taking in every aspect of the game from the vendors walking through the crowd selling all different kinds of treats and drinks to Phil the Phoenix making his way through the spectators and causing chaos wherever he went. Then there was Chase.
Chase wore a befuddled expression before the game started, after Tobias took a risk and blew him a kiss. When that didn’t catch his attention, he added a wink, and Tobias could see red spread on Chase’s cheeks even from his spot on the ice.
Once Madison was back home last night, he’d told them about coming to the locker room after the game and they had to do everything they could to make sure Chase came with them.
Madison made it her mission, and he knew she’d be able to do it.
No one could say no to that girl in a regular situation.
Using Madison to get Chase there may have been a dirty tactic, and part of him worried it would backfire, but he had to at least try.
He had to be here hours before the game, so they had to drive separately.
Tobias itched to see Chase after, but first, he had a goal that needed tending.
As play continued, Tobias kept his focus on the puck, shutting down Boston with every shot.
It wasn’t like a typical NHL game. The guys weren’t hitting each other with full force, and everyone avoided cheap shots.
No one wanted anyone to get hurt in a game like this, especially because injuries were so much harder to recover from when you got older.
Plus, nothing was at stake but bragging rights.
They’d earn some bruises, but no one wanted to risk real injury.
While the players controlled their brute strength, their skills were still a force to be reckoned with.
Part of Tobias wondered if it was rude to shut out an opposing team during an alumni game, since it should be for fun and charity, but the competitor in him wanted a zero under Boston’s name at the end of the game.
Boston’s goalie likely hoped for the same result, but those hopes were dashed when the Inferno’s center, Reggie Wolf, notched a goal in the upper corner of the net.
He, like Tobias, would only play for the Inferno alumni for this game, since Reggie was the current head coach of the team.
He wouldn’t be able to travel with the alumni team to arenas since he had his own schedule, but this game worked out with the team schedule and the fans clamored for it.
Wolf’s goal lit a fire under Boston’s blades. They were skating harder and shooting more, but Tobias continued to shut them down.
Halfway through the period, one of hockey’s legends from Boston, Terry Morgan, intercepted a pass between Philly’s defensemen and tore toward Tobias on a breakaway.
Tobias studied his hips, tracked his eyes and watched the puck as Morgan did some fancy stickhandling before shooting from ten feet away. Tobias blocked it with his shinpad as he lunged to one side, but Morgan pounced on the rebound and flicked it toward the opposite side of the net.
Tobias dove across the goal line and caught the puck in his glove, landing hard on the ice, the crowd going wild for the back-to-back saves.
After he held onto it long enough for the whistle to stop play, Morgan came over and offered him a hand getting up.
“You never should have retired, Moyer,” the guy said. “You’re still impossible to score on.”
Tobias chuckled. “Sorry, man.”
Morgan maintained his skills in his fifties, shooting nearly as hard as he did fifteen years ago, and Tobias couldn’t believe he’d shut him down. Morgan shook his head as he skated away for a shift change.
Tobias still had his skills, but he had to remind himself he played against guys years out of the NHL. These weren’t current players, and it was a much slower-paced game. Even so, the compliment made him feel ten feet tall.
He snuck a peek at his fan section and spotted his family and Chase clapping wildly for his saves. Chase’s pride shined in his smile, and Tobias wanted nothing more than to march right up to him and kiss him in front of everyone.
After almost losing him this last week and being reminded of how empty his life was without Chase in it, the truth was now obvious to him.
He was in love with Chase Townsend, and he wasn’t going to let anything stand in the way of them being together. Not anymore.
Nothing except the last minutes of this game.
With a minute and a half left, Boston surprised him by pulling their goalie, giving them an extra attacker on the ice to try to score on him.
Apparently, Boston wasn’t willing to give up, and Tobias readied himself for them.
Wolf led the team, maintaining communication on the ice and being an absolute pest to Boston.
It took their opponents a while before they could even get a shot off, and it was weak, landing right on Tobias’ stick.
Tobias observed the ice and noticed no one charged the net.
Before anyone could crash his position and try to pull the puck off him, Tobias flicked it over everyone’s heads, dumping it into Boston’s zone.
Tobias tracked its trajectory through the air, perfectly lined up with Boston’s net. Their completely empty net.
The puck hit the ice and slid the final ten feet before bumping into the bottom crossbar of the goal.
He scored.
He fucking scored.
Tobias stared wild-eyed at where the puck lay in Boston’s net, shocked at the turn of events. Bodies flew into him, putting him in the middle of a group hug with the rest of the Inferno players on the ice, their shouts snapping him out of his trance.
“Holy shit, you madman!”
“That was amazing!”
“MVP, baby!”
Tobias couldn’t tell what people were screaming as the fog cleared from his head.
In his twelve years of professional hockey, he’d never scored a goal. It wasn’t the rarest thing in hockey, but it was up there. It hadn’t even been a regret that he hadn’t scored because it wasn’t his job. But now that he had?
He knew exactly how he wanted to celebrate.
By doing something else he’d never done. Something even crazier than a goalie scoring in an alumni game. And he couldn’t wait until after the game to do it.