Page 87 of Hockey Bois
As soon as the goal hit the back of the net? Time sped up.
There was a whirlwind of motion. Screams, cheers, someone bodily tackling Nick to the ice, and then about six other people dogpiling on top of him. His ears were ringing, and his face hurt from smiling (along with his back because ow, he’d fallen onto the ice). In the distance, somewhere outside the mass of bodies pressed against him, he heard shouting.
“You haven’t even tied it! This goal doesn’t evenmatter!”
The person on the other team yelling didnothingto shut up the Jagr Bombs. If anything, they got louder.
It took the refs whistling and physically pulling them up to make them stop the celebration. There were helmets on the ice—the only “hats” available mid-game—and the Jagr Bombs picked them up as they were shooed back to their side of the rink.
The biggest surprises were Guy, out of net and among those who’d tossed a helmet in homage, and Brady, who shoved a puck into his hand.
When Nick looked at it hours later when he’d gotten home, the outside was taped and a hastily scrawled message was written in black marker.
Nick J. Porter / hat trick / Jagr Bombs v Toothless Wonders / March 4, 2020 / first team hat trick / first player hat trick
In that moment on the ice, though, Nick clutched it to his chest and allowed Donno to guide him back to the bench. There was still a game to play, after all, and they needed fresh players.
They didn’t win the game. It ended 4 to 5 despite their best efforts, but they couldn’t have been happier. The team demanded speeches from Benns and Nick, they agreed on an impromptu team outing at the bar a few blocks away (notably, to Nick, thesamebar where Gail had accosted him a few days ago), and no one passing by would ever have guessed this was a team who’dlost. This was a team high on the euphoria of a comeback. Granted, it wasn’t a complete comeback. Two beers and plenty of toasts in his honor later, Nick didn’t think the win mattered. It wasn’t just a moment for the team, it was a moment for Brady and Nick to reconnect through hockey, the thing that had brought them together in the first place, and it was a complete success regardless of what went down in the scorebook.
“You did good,” Brady said drunkenly as he fell into his Uber later that night. “Score more, ’kay?”
“Sure,” Nick agreed. He was sober enough that he could drive, and he’d already helped three other people navigate the Uber app to get home safely. Brady was the most adorable. Not that Nick was biased. “Get some sleep, drink some water, and maybe take an aspirin?”
“Only if you score more.”
“I am ninety-five percent sure I will never score a hat trick again in my entire life, but I’ll work on that. Night, Jensie.”
“Night, Nick.” A pause. “Eee. Nicki.”
“You can call me Nick. It is in fact shorter than ‘Nicki.’”
Brady shook his head solemnly. “No, no, it’s okay. Nicki. Nick-eeee. Nick Nick Nicki Nick.”
“Uh huh.” Nick ducked down to talk to the driver. “Make sure he gets home okay, yeah?”
“Not my first rodeo,” the driver said. “I’ll make sure he gets inside.”
“Thanks. Jensie, you text me when you get home.”
“’Mkay.”
When Nick got home after another round with Gail, he put the puck on his mantle. He most certainly didn’t angle it so all he could see was Brady’s neat handwriting.
*
Brady (11:58 p.m.)
hoooome
Brady (9:09 a.m.)
[nickihattrick091232.jpg]
[Image description: a picture of the “most interesting man in the world” meme. It reads: “I don’t always score goals, but when I do it’s a hat trick.”]
Brady (9:11 a.m.)
I know you might not need it anymore but there’s a stick and puck in an hour
