Heart of Man

Luongo was shaky.

Ovie had already notched one over his shoulder, missing the slow glove by a long shot. When Karl Alzner snuck a five-hole shot within half a minute, the entire mood of the Verizon Center shifted. We had the lead, could we keep it? The place was crawling with Canucks fans, eager for the win and Cup that could come with the night.

Tonight, Tanya and I shared the box with a lighter-haired woman and the girl from the other night. I didn’t dare look over across Ovechkin’s mother who was already acting as a barrier. The woman wouldn’t speak to me, only to Tanya, and Tanya would press the question onto me. She didn’t do it to be rude, especially with that motherly smile on her face. I could only guess who it was, and my first twelve guesses don’t count.

Vancouver was on the PK again, taking useless calls that could cost them, such as Raffi Torres and his too many men call. Alex ended up with the puck, even though Mojo was shadowed like crazy, firing one of his lasers into Luongo. He caught it with ease, the whistle sounding and play stopping. There was a delayed penalty towards Kesler for holding that most refs would have missed.

“They can’t lose tonight.”

“Oh? Why is that?” Realizing I had been voicing my thoughts aloud, my cheeks burned as she let out a tiny laugh. Tatyana was the definition of cool and confident, but I knew that she was just as nervous as I. Feeling my stomach ache with the lack of nutrients, I half-hoped the period would be over soon. The Capitals had maintained a 4-0 lead for close to ten minutes with only around half a minute left in the period.

“I’m starving, Tanya. Would you like anything?” The mother’s jaw dropped as she turned to me, her eyes wide. Realizing what implications, especially considering McGregor’s situation, could have, I waved my hands in front of me. “I haven’t each much today, is all.”

She seemed to relax, before shaking her head and turning to converse with the lady and her daughter.

Feeling my phone vibrate, I pulled out the damned device, half hoping it would be dying. However, it only read the name of my former GM in Omsk. Flicking it open and stepping into the quiet corner of the box, he had my undivided attention. “Talk to me.”

“You are scheduled for a conference in Toronto with Bettman on June 30th. I notified him of a situation and he would like any clarification you can give him. I’m still trying to gather things here and talk to Dmitry Medvedev before we approach the FHR board about it all. We do have time until next time, but I thought I would let you know.”

Shaking my head in frustration, I let out an exasperated sigh. “When my father calls, if he calls, what do I tell him?”

“Act normal, like you know nothing. I’m really not sure what to do there, but I think that would be best for now. Actually, I would ask you not to go home for the summer. Either come to Russia or stay in Tampa, but don’t go back to Italy until we can sort this out. He screwed you over once, and I’ll be damned if my friend’s daughter is screwed over again.”

“Anna, are you alright? You look sick.” Startled, I turned to see the girl looking at me worriedly. Smiling and nodded, I ended my conversation with Anatoly and watched her. She was the spitting image, give or take, of Alex. “Must have been bad news, yeah? Tanya said you were dealing with some rough stuff back home.”

God bless that woman.

~

Alex scored at the 6:59 mark of the third period, bringing the score to 5-1 in favour of the Capitals. They staved off elimination so far, but much could happen in the course of 13 minutes. But hey, get a goalie interference penalty, score a goal, who cares? It got the job done.

Burrows and Harper got into a minour scuffle, no doubt screams of princessery and finger sandwiches being thrown around before being hauled off to their respective sin bins. From there on out, it was a continuation of snipping and chirping just to be doing it. Jus to piss the other team off.

With a minute and a half left in the period, Bieksa went after Alex and Kesler after Carlson, all four of them being ejected from the game. I watched through hidden fingers, the scrambling on the ice. I remember fighting him for the first time.

At the time, he pissed me off, but reminiscing, it was almost frightening. Bieksa’s face was bloody, but he had never done that to me. Kevin was also holding his eye, no doubt swelling into a shiner, but Alex never did that to me.

The penalties didn’t matter. They were going to game seven in Vancouver. The Capitals had one more shot at their cup. The only problem, was that Vancouver did as well.

One.