Chances Taken

“That’s what I’m talking about!!!” I yelled happily as I practically tackled Sidney, Geno, Kris and Mike to the ice after I scored my first NHL career hat trick against the Dallas Stars. I was so happy at this moment and we were killing the Stars.

The Stars had scored against Brent Johnson less than four minutes into the first period, but that was the only goal we planned on giving them. Three minutes after that, Kris scored against Kari Lehtonen, with Kunitz and Sidney assisting, less than a minute after that, I scored with Cooke and Kennedy assisting.

During the second period, Kennedy scored six minutes into the period with Max assisting him. Four minutes after that, Jordon scored with myself assisting, and then a minute before the period ended, I scored my second goal of the night, unassisted. That period was an interesting one; we were either on a power play or penalty kill. Kennedy got into a fight with Jamie Benn, both received a major penalty, Brenden Morrow went to the box for slashing Max, and then as soon as he came out, went right back in for slashing Kris, and then, as soon as he came out of the box, he and Kris fought, both receiving a major penalty. Sidney got into a fight with Matt Niskanen, everyone was shocked that Sidney fought, but I think it was one of those fights that they only did it because they wanted to show their toughness. I was even in the box for tripping James Neal, but that was only payback for tripping me in the first period.

Right now, we were eleven minutes into the third period and the score was six to one, Penguins. I was still happy about the hat trick and was still in a huddle with my teammates; Sidney was smiling at me and congratulating me. There were a lot more Penguin fans here than I thought, because there were quite a few hats on the ice. I laughed and broke from my team to head to the bench and pound fists with my team. Pascal was at the end and had opened the door for me because my shift was over. Marc was sitting on a stool in the hallway and smiled towards me, I nodded my head towards him. Coach came over and patted my shoulder, telling me good job. I grabbed my Gatorade bottle in front of me and squirted some of the liquid into my mouth, seriously needing a drink.

By the end of the game, the final score was seven to one; Cooke scored a goal on an empty net seconds before the game ended. When the horn blew, we all charged onto the ice to congratulate Johnson for a good game. When I got up to him, I tapped my helmet with his and he smiled towards me and congratulated me on my hat trick.

We headed for the locker room, I was in the middle of getting my gear off when Coach came in and said that once Brent and I were showered and changed, the media wanted to have a postgame interview with both of us. I figured that we were going to be in the conference room because usually when they wanted to interview us, we were still in our uniforms.

As soon as Coach walked out of the room, he walked back in and told me that NHL wanted an interview out on the ice. I sighed and threw some sweatpants over my spandex shorts and a Penguins shirt with my number on it over my sports bra. I was at the door when Sidney called my name, I turned around and he threw a hat at me and I sighed and nodded my head, we had to wear Penguins attire for these kinds of interviews. I pulled my hair out of my braid and into a pony tail, slipping my hair between the hole in the back of the hat and putting the hat on my head.

One of the staff members handed me the headset and I slipped it onto my head and pushed the mouth piece closer to my mouth, looking towards the camera and smiling. I was asked many questions and while I was answering one, I heard the announcers chuckled, I suddenly felt someone on me and turned around to see Kennedy and Jordan there, they were making faces and I rolled my eyes, laughing a little and pushing them away. I finished the interview, all while pushing Jordan’s face away from mine because he was goofing around and trying to get really close to my face to throw me off.

“You guys are retarded,” I laughed as I walked into the locker room with Jordan and Tyler.

“We were just having fun,” Jordan laughed as he walked over towards his stall.

“We watched,” Kris said as I sat down next to him and he pointed up towards the TV in the room, I hadn’t realized that the interview was broadcasted live.

I snorted and then headed for the showers to get ready for the other interview that Johnson and I needed to do.

-Kris-
It was almost four by the time we got back to the hotel in Dallas and everyone was going to change out of their suits and into comfortable clothes because we were all going to Maggie and Mike’s family’s place for a Christmas party. I just changed into jeans and a long sleeve black shirt and then my Penguins zip up. I walked out of my room with Kennedy and watched as some others came out of their room, everyone was in jeans and just a plain shirt. I was heading to the elevator when I felt someone jump onto my back and turned my head to see a giggling Maggie. I smiled towards her and grabbed her legs and felt her arms around my neck.

“You smell good,” she muttered into my ear and kissed my neck.

We were on the elevator with Geno, Sidney, Jordan, Tyler, Pascal and Marc. Maggie was squirming on my back because I guess Jordan kept poking her sides. We all headed to the front of the hotel to see the bus waiting for us and seeing that some guys were already on. Maggie walked in front of me and I saw that she was wearing some skinny jeans that had some holes in the front, some black Chuck Taylors and then a red plaid button up shirt, her hair up in a pony tail that Tyler kept pulling.

“I’m gunna punch both of you if you don’t cut it out!” Maggie yelled at both of them who were sitting behind us on the bus. The guys that were on the bus were laughing, and I looked towards Maggie to see that she had a smirk on her face, so she knew that they were just having fun with her.

Everyone was on the bus and the driver had the directions to where we were going, it was apparently a half hour drive to the Marshall estate. That whole half hour was spent harassing Maggie, we had fun, even Maggie, even though she was being tortured.

“We’re here!” Maggie said excitedly and she and Mike, who sat in front of us with Max, pressed their faces against the class and I stood up to look above her to see the house that was probably as big as Mario’s and there were cars everywhere.

“How many people are gunna be here Mags?” Marc asked from the row across from us, he was sitting with Sidney.

“Um, with us,” she looked at Mike, “What? About sixty?”

“Sounds about right,” he said and I looked at her surprised.

“That’s a lot of people,” Sidney said and Maggie looked back towards us and smiled.

“Mikey and I have a big family, plus some flew in from Vancouver,” she said and I looked at her confused.

“Who’s from Vancouver?”

“Our dad, his side of the family is mostly there, or across Canada,” Mike said and Maggie nodded her head.

“Our Mom’s from Texas, but they met each other in Boston when Dad played for the Bruins, she was going to school,” Maggie explained and I nodded my head.

-Maggie-
“My babies!!!” Mom yelled as she and Dad ran outside to great the large bus that pulled in front of their house.

“Hi Momma,” I said happily as I came off the bus and walked over towards her, she pulled me in a big hug and kissed my forehead, then moving onto Mike and being sure to smother him with kisses to embarrass him in front of the guys as I moved onto my dad, who was supporting his broken arm with a sling, “How’s it goin’, Gimpie?”

“Shut up,” he said and then hugged me and kissed my head, “Congrats on your hat trick, you did well, we were all watching it!”

“Thanks,” I smiled and moved onto my little brother who was walking out of the house. I heard the guys behind me laugh when I tackled my brother to the ground and hugged him tight.

My parents greeted each and every player and Coach thanked them for having us. Dad told us to go right through the garage and into the backyard. Even though it was the middle of December, we were in Texas and it was in the fifties, this was like fall in Pennsylvania. It was a beautiful day and we walked into the backyard to see my family everywhere.

“That’s a lot of people,” I heard Marc mutter as he saw everyone.

“I think they were just waiting on us,” Mike said and I felt a hand slip into mine and smiled when I saw Kris next to me.

“Look at all the girls!” Jordan and Max muttered and I scoffed.

“If they’re blonde and wearing pink, stay far far away,” Mike said and I smiled.

“Why?”

“Just trust us,” I said and Kris looked at me confused and I gave him that look that said, ‘I-tell-you-later’.

“Are you excited to see your family, Mags?” Sidney asked as he came up next to me.

“I am, most of them I haven’t seen since last Christmas,” I smiled and started to walk forward.

“All right, boys,” Mom called as she walked in front of us, “Foods in the house, help yourself-“

“Beer is on the deck, other booze is in the bar,” Dad said and I smiled, knowing that’s what most of the guys were wanting, “Mags, your Uncles are in the cave.”

“Oh boy,” I laughed.

Coach came up to us and looked at his team, “Go have fun guys.”