Chances Taken

“You ready?” Marc asked as we were sitting in front of our stalls, ready for our All Star game that was going to start in only a few minutes. I looked at him and nodded my head, “Good.”

Two days had passed and today was our last day in North Carolina, tomorrow everyone went back to their own teams. Yesterday was the Skills Competition and Team Staal won that sadly, the only thing that I did was skate to see who the fastest skater was; they had me against Michael Grabner. I was happy to win that one and then at the end, I found that I had the fastest time over all.

Coach came in and told us to head out to the ice for warm ups, Tim Thomas was in the net first and some of us were stretching while some were shooting pucks at him. After I had done both, I was lazily skating around our half of the ice, stealing glances at Kris when we skated by each other, he always had a serious look on his face.

“Just remember to keep your knees low when you go behind the net for the pass of,” Kane came up behind me and skated next to me.

I nodded my head and grabbed the puck in front of me and shot it towards the now empty net, we were talking about a play that we had been practicing for powerplays, “This seems like it’s going to be an interesting game,” I said and Kane smirked and nodded his head.

When the warm up was over, we headed back into the locker room to do last minute preparations for the game that was going to start soon. Coach came in and announced the starting line; I smiled when he said that it was the Toews line, which meant that Toews, Kane and I would be on the ice with Keith Yandle and Shea Weber.

I saw that my tape was coming off my stick and ended up retaping it and then heard chuckling. I looked up and saw some of the guys looking at me, “What?”

“Pink tape?” Stamkos asked and I smirked and shrugged my shoulders, I always had pink tape on my stick.

“I’m still a girl, ya know,” I smirked and the guys laughed, “You want me to tape yours?”

“No, I’m good, thanks,” he said and I snorted and finished and ripped the tape, running my hands over it to make sure it was smooth.

Coach came in and gave us some advice and then told us to head out. We all walked down the hallway heading for the ice, Marc leading because he was going to be starting in the net. Toews, Kane, Yandle, Weber and I skated onto the ice and skated around getting ourselves prepared for the game to start. I skated over towards Marc and patted his helmet.

“You got this, Flower,” I said and he smiled.

“I’m a little nervous,” he said and I gigged.

“Me too,” I said and he nodded his head. I headed for the blue line because they were about to sing the national anthem before the game begun.

I rocked back and forth between Toews and Weber, biting my lip in anticipation for this game that really needed to start. The anthem was sung and I looked up and turned towards the faceoff circle where Toews was going to go against Ovechkin.

The game started, Ovechkin won the puck, I growled and chased after it, but then found myself cursing fifty seconds into the game when Ovechkin scored a goal with teammates Zdeno Chara and Mike Green. I looked towards Toews, and he nodded his head, knowing that this wasn’t how we wanted this game to start.

Six minutes into the game, I was on the bench shaking my head, ‘…Come on, Flower…’ I thought in frustration because Team Staal was up by four, and they only had nine shots on goal, ‘…Not good…’ I thought knowing that if he let one more in they were going to pull him, if they weren’t thinking it already.

Things started to look up throughout the second half of the first period, where we caught up and by the end of the period the score was tied at four. I wasn’t able to get any points, finding myself getting frustrated. We were back in the locker room and I was just sitting in front of my stall trying to collect my thoughts. I knew some guys were trying to talk to me, but Marc told them to let them be. I normally got like this during intermissions, trying to think over what I could do differently in the next period.

When we headed back out on the ice for the second period, I felt bad, Marc was pulled and Tim Thomas was put in the net. I had a feeling that it was going to happen, Marc probably did too, we were both letting our nerves get the best of us.

I think it finally clicked when Kris managed to get a goal six minutes into the period, five minutes after his teammate Patrick Sharp got a goal; the score was six to four, Team Staal. I sat for a few minutes, but when my other line, Anze Kopitar, Loui Eriksson and I skated onto the ice, we all let our frustrations out on the puck and managed to get it to the back of the Staal net. I cheered at my first goal and was greeted with Eriksson, Kopitar, Keith and Lidstrom.

I skated towards the bench and pounded fists with my teammates and smiled at my first point in the All Star game. I took a seat on the bench next to Keith and smiled towards him.

“Feeling better?” he asked and I nodded my head.

“Much,” I said and he chuckled.

By the end of the second period, we were up by one, the score being six to seven, Team Lidstrom. There haven’t really been any penalties, maybe two and they were both on us. In the locker room, I was sitting in front of my stall going over the previous period in my head.

The third period began and Team Staal soon tied the game up. I sighed as I sat on the bench and waited for my line to go onto the ice, looking down at the A on the left corner of my jersey, ‘…You were given this for a reason, show it!...’ I thought and watched as Matt Duchene headed for the net, we were all standing and leaning over the boards, thinking that he was going to get a goal and bring us ahead by one. But he got a breakaway, before he could take the shot, Ovechkin threw his stick at the puch and I smiled at the fact that this was going to be a penalty shot.

I growled when Team Staal’s goalie, Henrik Lundqvist stopped Duchene’s shot, resulting with us sighing and still tied at seven. Though, the tie didn’t last long when I watched as Kris scored his second goal of the night and allowing Team Staal to be ahead by one.

‘…Fuck! Come on!...’ I growled and looked towards Coach, ‘…Put me on the ice!...’ I sighed when he didn’t, but then cheered soon later when Briere got a goal, tying the game back up again. They were going for another shift when the whistle blew and I saw that Team Staal was getting a penalty. Our first powerplay of the night and Coach jumped at the chance to throw Toews, Kane and I on the ice, ‘…Finally!...’

“Like we practiced, Mags,” Kane said and I looked at him and nodded my head.

“Got it,” I said and headed for the faceoff circle where Toews went up against Jeff Skinner, ‘…Remember, let the puck go. Oh please do let this backfire on us…’

Toews let Skinner win the face off and I watched as the puck was shot down towards our net. Thomas stopped the puck and watched as I went to retrieve it. I took it off of him and went behind the net, taking a deep breath and looking at the clock to see that we had ninety seconds; I looked at the ice and planned a path. When I found one, I kicked into the ice and headed down the ice. The puck was shifted between Kane, Toews and I and just as the penalty clock was counting down the final five seconds, I cheered and smiled brightly was Toews shot the puck into the back of the net.

“That was beautiful, Mags!” Kane yelled and I laughed as Toews, Kane, Weber, Yandle and I stood in a huddle, “Just like we practiced.”

“Nicely done,” Toews patted my helmet and I smiled and nodded my head.

“You’re the one with the goal,” I said and he smirked.

“Wouldn’t have happened if you didn’t make a path,” he said and I smiled and we headed back to our bench to pound our fists with our teammates.

We were up by one, but there was still plenty of time left in the game, we weren’t out of the woods yet. St. Louis got a goal against Team Staal and we were up by two, I was feeling comfortable, but then grew nervous again two minutes later, fifteen minutes into the period, when Rick Nash scored and we now up by one.

Toews’ line was called onto the ice again and we looked at our opponents, Kris gave a small smirk towards me as he was across from me and we watched as Staal and Toews faced off in their zone. The whistle blew and the ref signaled that Toews needed to be replaced; I looked towards Kane and motioned for me to take it. I sighed and skated to the faceoff, taking a deep breath, ‘…You’re here for a reason, you were given the A for a reason. Show them that reason…’

I looked towards Lundqvist and then analyzed the path, figuring if I angled my stick a certain way and got the puck to move I could do a one timer and make it right to the net. I took another breath and looked at Staal, he was looking at me. The ref’s hand came into view in front of him and we got our sticks ready. The puck dropped and I growled when I watched it go off of my stick, but head towards Kane, not the net, not what I wanted.

Kane looked at me and nodded his head, I got myself into position and he shot the puck towards Toews, who shot it back to Kane and he shot the puck towards me, I saw the path, I took the shot, we cheered when the puck went between Lundqvist’s legs and hit the back of the net, ‘…Not how I planned, but nicely done…’

Team Lindstrom was up by two again, there were only two minutes left in the period, I was sure that we had this game in the bag. I headed towards the bench after hugging my line mates and pounded fists with my teammates. Coach patted my shoulder and I watched the game from my seat.

Eric Staal managed to get another goal twenty seconds before the final horn rang. It didn’t matter, because when that horn did ring, Team Lindstrom found themselves to be victorious, winning with the final score of eleven to ten, definitely a close game.

“I knew I was making the right decision,” Lindstrom said as he skated over towards me and patted my helmet, “Not bad, for a girl.”

I smirked, I was happy; I had gotten the winning goal. I playfully shoved his shoulder, “Not bad, for an old man.”

He smiled brightly and patted my shoulder, laughing and nodding his head. I was attacked by my teammates and they were all happy at the win. Soon we all lined up to shake hands with our opposing team, just like what we would do at the end of a round in the playoffs. When I got to Kris, he winked towards me and I smiled, it was quick, but it made me happy to know that even though his team lost, he was happy for me.

“Let’s go out and celebrate!” Kane yelled as his arm went around my neck and he cheered.

“Fine, but you’re not allowed to ask girls for their bras!”