Page 104 of Campus Crush
“Don’t worry about me,” I told Drew. “I’m locked in.”
As the rest of the team arrived, I fell into my role as captain, leading warm-ups and keeping everyone’s energy up. The locker room buzzed with pregame excitement.
Coach Maxwell entered the locker room as we were suiting up, his game face on.
“Alright, gentlemen. You know what’s on the line tonight. MSU is a strong team, and we’re pretty evenly matched, which means we need to give it our all to take the edge. Yesterday, we beat ourselves with sloppy passes and missed opportunities.” He looked around the room, his gaze landing on each player. “Tonight, we play our game. We control the pace. We finish our checks. And we don’t let them get close to Gordy.”
He turned to me. “Kane, anything to add?”
I stood, looking at the faces of my teammates—my chosen family. “Whatever happens out there tonight, we stick together. We cover each other. We’ve worked our asses off all season for this opportunity. Let’s make it count.”
A chorus of “Hell, yeah” and stick taps filled the room.
As we filed out toward the ice, Liam nudged my shoulder. “You good, Captain?”
I nodded. “Never better.”
The arena erupted as we hit the ice for warm-ups. The stands were packed, more people than I’d ever seen at one of our games. My eyes automatically scanned the crowd, finding Abby in her usual spot near the glass. She smiled when she caught my eye, and I tapped my palm against the glass as I skated by.
Warm-ups flew by, and before I knew it, we were lined up for the opening face-off. The MSU center across from me smirked.
“Ready to lose that top spot, Kane?”
I just smiled. “Not a chance, Dwyer.”
The puck dropped, and I won it cleanly back to Liam, who immediately fired it up the boards to Drew.
Game on.
The first period was a chess match, both teams feeling each other out, neither willing to make the first mistake. Their goalie made a spectacular save on my breakaway attempt midway through the period. I slammed my stick against the boards in frustration as I returned to the bench.
“You’ll get him next time,” Coach said. “He’s cheating to his glove side. Go blocker.”
I nodded, filing away the information.
The period ended scoreless, both teams heading to their locker rooms to regroup.
“We’re playing well,” Coach said. “But we need to capitalize on our chances. Kane, press hard on the forecheck. Dumontier and Farrell—if the puck gets chipped high, I want aggressive pinches at the blue line. Keep the puck in their zone.”
We nodded, determination setting in.
The second period started with a flurry of action. MSU came out flying, hemming us in our zone for the first two minutes. Gordy made save after save, keeping us in the game. Finally, Drew managed to clear the puck, and we changed lines on the fly.
I jumped over the boards just as Liam intercepted a pass at our blue line. He spotted me streaking through the neutral zone and hit me with a perfect pass.
Remembering Coach’s advice, I faked to my forehand, then quickly pulled the puck to my backhand and lifted it over Reeves’s outstretched blocker. The puck hit the back of the net with a satisfying thud.
The crowd exploded as I raised my arms in celebration. My teammates mobbed me, a tangle of limbs and excited shouts.
“Fucking beautiful, Candy Kane!” Drew yelled, thumping my helmet.
I was too happy to even be annoyed at the nickname.
Our lead didn’t last long. MSU tied it up five minutes later on a power play after Liam took a questionable tripping penalty. The momentum shifted, and they scored again with thirty seconds left in the period. We headed to the locker room down 2-1, the energy noticeably deflated.
“We’re still in this,” I said, looking around at my teammates. “Twenty minutes left. This is where we show what we’re made of.”
They nodded, but I could see the doubt creeping in. Yesterday’s loss was still fresh in their minds.
