Chances Taken

“It’s been announced!!!” Jordan yelled happily as he ran into the locker room and turned on the TV, the NHL channel was on and they were announced the two Captains for the All Star team and of course who the Captains chose to be on their team, “Eric is one of the Captains.”

“Your brother?” I asked and Jordan nodded his head.

“He called me last night to tell me,” he said and I nodded my head.

The NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman came onto the stage, standing front of the podium and announced that Eric Staal, Captain of the Carolina Hurricanes and Nicklas Lidstrom, Captain of the Detriot Red Wings.

My eyes widened when they announced that Lidstrom was Captain of an All Star team. I looked down and then rubbed my face, ‘…So that’s what he meant…’ I thought as I remembered what Lidstrom had said to me before leaving the ice after our win the other day. He had told me that after that game, I had helped him make his decision, I didn’t know what he meant by that, but now I do.

Eric Staal approached the podium and started to announce the players that he picked to represent Team Staal, “For the centers representing Team Staal, there’s myself, along with Ryan Kesler, Jeff Skinner, Paul Stastny, Logan Couture and Tyler Seguin. The left wingers; Alexander Ovechkin, Daniel Sedin, Patrick Sharp Patrik Elias, and Tyler Ennis. The right wingers; Rick Nash, Claude Giroux, Corey Perry, David Backes, and Michael Grabner. The defensemen; Mike Green, Zdeno Chara, Marc Staal, Dan Boyle, Kris Letang, Erik Karlsson, Jamie McBain, and P.K. Subban…”

“Well there goes our vacation,” I muttered to Kris who was sitting next to me.

“It was a nice thought,” he chuckled and kissed my head.

“…The goaltenders; Cam Ward, Carey Price and Henrik Lundvist, with their head coach being, Joel Quenneville.”

“Only one?” Geno asked and looked at Kris.

“Calm down, G, they still need to announce the other team,” Max said and I watched as Nicklas Lidstrom stepped up to the podium.

“For the centers representing Team Lidstrom; Steven Stamkos, Henrik Sedin, Jonathan Toews, Brad Richards, Matt Duchene and Derek Stepan…”

“That’s a lot of centers,” I mumbled under my breath.

“…The left wingers; Martin Havlat, Loui Eriksson, Maggie Marshall-“

I drowned everything out when I heard that name, well everything other than my teammates cheering and jumping to hug me, congratulate me for making the team. I laughed and looked towards Kris, “I’ll be sure to kick your ass on the ice, Tanger.”

“Thanks, Mags,” he laughed and I smiled and felt him hug me, “Congrats.”

“Thanks.”

“…For the right wingers; Patrick Kane, Martin St. Louis, Daniel Briere, Phil Kessel, and Evgeny Dadonov.”

“Who was the other lefter?” I asked, not hearing from all of the cheers.

“Taylor Hall,” Emma said and I nodded my head.

“For the defensemen; myself, Duncan Keith, Shea Weber, Dustin Byfuglien, Keith Yandle, Brent Burns, Cam Fowler, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, and Kevin Shattenkirk. The goaltenders; Tim Thomas, Marc-Andre Fleury, and Jonas Hiller…”

I smiled and ran over towards Marc and hugged him tight, happy that we were going to be teammates, “You and me Flower, we’re gunna be kickin’ asses!”

“Damn right,” he laughed and hugged me.

“…And for the head coaches representing Team Lidstrom; Alain Vigneault and Peter Laviolette.”

‘…Guess I better get ready for the All Stars…’ I thought with a smile on my family, “When do we leave? Where is it held?”

“We leave in two days,” Marc said and I smiled, “Once we beat the Islanders tomorrow, we’ll leave the next day. I think it’s in Raleigh.”

I nodded my head and then grabbed my sneakers and threw them on; we had originally come here to get a workout in. I kept thinking about my teammates, I’ve played against all of them and they were all good, well they have to be since they made it to the All Star team. I looked over towards Mike and watched as he walked over towards the weights once we got to the gym, I felt bad that he didn’t make it.

-Kris-
“Be good, have fun and make sure you kick Tanger’s ass,” Mike said as he hugged Maggie.

“Thanks for the support Mike,” I smirked and Mike shrugged his shoulder.

“See you on game day,” Maggie said and then patted her brother’s cheek and smiled towards me, “Ready?”

“Yup, see ya, Mike,” I said and Maggie took my hand and started to rush to the security check point where Marc was already waiting for us.

“Ready, Flower?!” Maggie asked excited as she linked arms with Marc and I smiled at how excited she was to advance in her career.

We walked through security and made our way to our gate were we boarded our plane and sat in First Class. Marc had the window, while Maggie had the middle and I had the aisle seat. We were due to be in Raleigh around noon and then we were to head to our separate housing destinations.

“I’ll see you later, babe,” I said as we walked over towards our rental cars.

“All right, what time for dinner?” she asked as she walked to the passenger side of the small Chevy car.

“I’ll let you know,” I said and then got into my small Ford car, surprised that we didn’t get better cars.

Marc was driving while Maggie played with the radio; we followed each other as we each went for the addresses that our GPSs were telling us to go. It was the same street, but different house numbers. When we pulled up to the complex I saw the gate with the sign ‘NHL All Star Community’. I punched in the code that we were supposed to know and made my way to Team White’s house while Marc and Maggie made their way to Team Blue’s.

I parked my car and went into the huge mansion, finding the front door unlocked, this was where Team Staal was going to stay during their time in North Carolina. I found the stairs and walked up them, deciding that I was going to choose a room before I do anything else. I walked into the first room and found stuff on both beds, I shut the door and moved onto the next room, deciding to skip some and opened the fifth door on the left side to see that both beds were opened. I nodded my head and walked into the room, claiming the first bed.

-Maggie-
“This one?” Marc asked and I walked over towards him and saw both beds open.

“All right,” I smiled and we walked into the room, deciding that we were going to stick together, being the only Penguins on Team Lidstrom. I chose the second bed, it was closer to the window and I looked into the backyard to see that it was nothing special.

“You wanna look around?” Marc asked and I smiled and nodded my head.

“Yeah, but let’s get unpacked first,” I smiled when Marc whined.

“Yes mother,” he said and I laughed and threw a pillow at him.

Marc and I spent the next hour getting unpacked; hanging up our dressier clothes and then throwing our casual clothes in the small dresser we were each given. I threw my bathroom cattie and makeup box on top of the dresser and threw my suitcase under the bed.

“I’m all ready,” I said and looked at Marc to see him asleep on the bed, “Really?” I threw a pillow at him and laughed when he jumped up, “Ready?”

“I’ve been ready, you took your sweet time,” he said and I rolled my eyes and walked over towards the door.

“Come on, I heard some voices before, I wanna see who’s here,” I said and Marc stood up and nodded his head. As I opened our door, the door across from us opened and I saw Steven Stamkos and Martin St. Louis, “Hiya boys.”

“Hi,” Steven said and then threw his arm over my shoulder as we headed down the hallway, acting like we were the best of friends and known each other for a long time, “What time did you guys get here?”

“About an hour ago,” Marc answered and I looked back towards him.

We got to the stairs and I practically ran down them, Steven didn’t move fast enough and his arm dropped from my shoulders. I heard voices coming from the kitchen and made my way there to see Brad Richards and Loui Eriksson talking to Keith Yandle and Oliver Ekman-Larsson.

‘…So Dallas, Phoenix, Tampa Bay and Pittsburgh are here. Wonder who else is here?...’ I thought as the Tampa Bay boys made their presence known first, ‘…Maybe I should stick with Marc…’