Page 69 of Breakaway

“Logan, she’s Jase’s friend,” Laura scolded. He grinned and kissed his mom’s forehead as he scooted past her and then bounded up the stairs to the concourse two at a time with his long legs.

“I’ll go with him,” Matt said.

“No beer,” Doug said.

“Dad! I’m legal at home.”

Doug rolled his eyes as if he knew he didn’t have a hope of controlling his son. “It’s true.” He shook his head ruefully as he and Remi and Laura sat down again.

Laura shifted in her seat so she could talk to both her husband and Remi. “Jase is playing well,” she said. “He won every face off.”

How had she noticed that? Those face offs happened so fast.

“Yup,” Doug agreed. “Maybe Tag’s going easy on him.”

“He would never do that.”

Doug grinned. “Nope.”

“But they’re going to have to do better forechecking,” Laura said.

A little lost, Remi listened to them analyze the game. God, Laura knew so much about the game, she sounded like a television commentator. After watching four sons grow up playing hockey their whole lives, Laura probably knew as much about it as they did. Remi sighed.

Jase scored a goal in the second period and the Wolves went into the third period with the score tied one-all. But despite intense pressure and a lot of end to end action, the Wolves could not putthe puck in the net. The crowd was up and down with each opportunity, cheering, groaning, booing missed penalties.

“They need to change their lines up,” Doug muttered. “Put Jase with Daviduk and Lalonde.”

There were only three minutes left in the game.

“What happens if it’s a tie?” Remi asked.

“They play five minutes of four-on-four overtime, and then if it’s still tied, they have a shootout.”

“They have to win.” Tension gripped her, every muscle tight, her stomach in knots. She was getting a headache from biting her lips, her hands ached from clapping and her throat was raw from cheering.

And then the Coyotes took a penalty. The crowd went crazy.

“Damn,” Laura muttered. “I mean, oh great.”

Remi turned to her. “Tag just took a stupid penalty,” Laura said. “The Coyotes play a man short now, with him in the penalty box.” Her brow creased. “So for two minutes the Wolves have a power play—a man advantage.”

Remi nodded. “That’s good, though, right?”

“It’s a great chance for them to score.”

“Oh, hell,” Doug sad. “They’re gonna pull their goalie.”

He nodded to the bench where the Wolves’ goaltender had skated over to talk to the coach. The coach gestured wildly and the goalie nodded, squirted water into his mask, then skated back to the net.

“He’s going back,” Remi said.

“He’ll come out when they get the puck down in the Phoenix end.” Doug explained. “Goddammit, that’s risky. Why the hell is he doing that? They’ve already got a man advantage.”

They all sat forward to watch Jase take the face off and, damn, this time he lost. The Coyotes got the puck and immediately headed toward the Wolves net, tossing it back and forth with neat passes, the puck cracking against their sticks. But the Wolves defense knocked the puck away from Jase as he crossed the blue line. He and a Coyote raced into the corner and fought for thepuck along the boards and Remi cringed at the bashing and crashing that went on, a vision of Jase bleeding on the ice flashing through her memory. She shivered.

Finally the puck came loose, but a Coyote slashed at it and sent it spinning down the ice.

“Icing!” Remi cried.

---