One Sport, One Love, One Shot

Heavy breathing was all I could hear. Over twenty bodies were surrounding me, all feeling the same anxious feeling deep inside of them. Slowly every person jumped onto the slick ice, and skated a welcome lap around the rink. Growing cheers reached our ears and we smiled with pleasure. Minutes later, I was alone. All names have been called except mine. I was last...

"Introducing, the first woman in the NHL, Kacee Johnson!" The man announcing the game's overpowering voice filled the arena for a brief second before cheers overcame all.

I felt like I was flying as I took a lap in the arena I had grown to knowing. The slippery ice under my feet gave me a boost as I turned, to dodge the home team's net. I lifted my stick in the air and pumped my fist. But soon, my joy ride came to halt and I had to line up on the blueline for the National Anthem. I stood beside one of my new teammates; Yannick Weber.

"Hey, you nervous?" He asked in his accented-voice.
"Yeah!" I replied, jittery.
He let out a light laugh; he knew where I was coming from. He had played his first NHL game less than a year ago.

The Canadian National Anthem came to an end, and the fans started hooting and hollering for the game to start. I started to make my way over to the bench before the coach nodded for me to go back out onto the ice to start the game...this wasn't planned. I got placed into the face-off circle. I set my stick on the ice and twisted my wrist, so I'd have a better chance of pulling back the puck.

The puck came crashing to the ice in slow motion as my eyes followed it every millimeter that it fell. My head snapped down as the puck came in contact with my stick. I pulled it back and passed it to Hal Gill, one of the new players on the Canadiens.

We preformed one of the plays my line had made: D to left wing, over to right, passed towards the left wing again, but the center picks it up, fakes and shoots. Pretty tricky maneuver, but quite effective at that.

The Leaf's goalie; Toskala blocked all of the shots we fired. That caused a bit of talking in the stands.

I inhaled deeply, and exhaled in the same manner; following the directions that Weber had given to me. I glided over to the bench when our shift was over, and sat down next to Lapierre.

"So, how was your first shift Kace?" He asked.
"Good, very good." I smiled as he hit me on the helmet with his glove.

The game came and went, quickly bringing us into the third period. There was five minutes left in the game...

I had the puck, and was crossing the blueline. Playing with the puck I looked up to try and find someone to pass to. No one was in the Leaf's zone yet, so I looked back down. Right on cue, Tomas Kaberle approached. He stuck out his stick horizontally and crosschecked me into the boards.

My head was spinning as my body came crashing to the ground. I couldn't move, but everyone around me was swarming like thousands of bees. The crowd came to their feet, on edge wondering what happened to the girl who made history. Well, history was twirling in the hands of God now, and no one had any idea what the future would bring.

My eyes fluttered open, and then closed as I tried to keep my mind steady. A few of the guys came and skated over, as Weber dropped the gloves to fight Kaberle. I didn't notice, but I was shaking.

"Girl! You okay!?" Lapierre asked. He skated over and knelt beside me.
I was breathing deeply and blood ran down the side of my face. This wasn't a normal injury, I had a bad feeling. I slowly moved my hand out from under me, and gave the guys a thumbs-up.

A second later, I slipped into unconsciousness.

"Look at her..."
"I really hope she's okay..."
"She better live!"
"She will you idiot! She's strong."

I kept my eyes closed, as my mind slowly started to wake up.
"Je peux vous entendre. Idiots." [I can hear you. Idiots.] I spoke quietly, but sternly.
"Oh my God, she lives!" One of the guys yelled out.
"Told you she would Carey!" That was Weber.

Maxim was the first one beside me. He grabbed my hand, "Ouvrez vos yeux. Je ne doute pas que vous êtes éveillé. Pour autant que je sache, on pourrait vous parler du sommeil." [Open your eyes. I don't trust that you're awake. For all I know, you could be sleep talking.]

I opened my eyes slowly, adjusting to the brightness. He gave me a quick smile.

Suddenly, my head felt like it was spinning. My vision started to blur, and I had no sense of direction. My eyes fell shut in one rapid motion, and everything was gone.

"Guys! Guys! Guys!" Lapierre yelled. They all turned their attention to him. "Get a nurse. Something happened!"

Weber jumped up and ran down the hallway to get a nurse. Silence fell over the room as they all starred at my lifeless body.

This must be what dying feels like, I thought. I could still feel pain, but it felt distant.

A nurse ran into the room, and took a quick glance at my body. her eyes darkened, and my arms froze.
"I'm afraid there's nothing we can do.." The old nurse spoke.
"There has to be somethi-" All the guys yelled.
She shook her head and walked back out of the room.

Maxim walked over to me slowly, followed by Weber, Carey and few others. "This can't be it. We barely knew her....."

Weber looked over at the heart monitor and then back at me. "Look guys!" He pointed over at it. There was a small beat. So small that it could easily be missed. It quickly started to grow, and I started to stir.

"B-Boys...?" I asked weakly.
"Kacee!" They all shouted.
I winced from their voices.

On cue, the nurse walked in. "My Golly...." she muttered in disbelief.

Maxim held me and helped me sit upward, as Weber gripped my hand tightly. "Remember to breathe," He smiled.

As the nurse left the room, coach walked in. "I got a summary on the injury, and it doesn't look like you'll be playing for a while, Johnson."
I looked over sadly. "How long, doc?" I joked.
"Hey, at least you didn't lose your sense of humor. And I'd say two weeks."
My eyes brightened. Two weeks? I thought it would be much longer than that.

At this moment, all the guys on the team were surrounding me.

"Can you guys stand back a little bit? I need my breathing space." I laughed lightly, as they did the same.

Maxim and Yannick were just about to move, when I grabbed onto both of their hands. "You're not going anywhere." I smiled.

They sat back down, as I smiled while drifting back to sleep. A sleep I knew I'd wake up from.