Chances Risked

“You gotta kick deeper into the ice, Dana! That’s how you create a breakaway,” I explained as I stood off to the side with Mike next to me, watching Dana try to improve her speed.

“How’s she doing?” Mike asked and I looked at him, I had my stick in front of me and I was leaning against it with my gloves on. I was in jeans and a long sleeve Penguins shirt, while Dana was dressed in her hockey gear.

“She’s all right, her one timers were awesome, she’s definitely got the Marshall arm,” I said and Mike smirked.

“You’ve been at this for a week, how much better has she gotten?” he asked because this was the first time that he watched me practice with her.

“Better, she’s getting faster,” I said and he nodded his head.

“Well, yours could use some work too,” he teased and I slapped his chest.

“Shut up,” I growled and he laughed, “I’m working on it, Sid’s been helping me.”

“I saw the other day,” he said and I nodded my head, “What else?”

“Her face offs could use some work and she needs to figure out different moves to make goals, because her moves are starting to become predictable.”

“So show her some of yours,” he said and I nodded my head.

“I planned to,” I said and he nodded his head.

“I’m gunna head out, I have to pick Emma up soon,” he said and I looked at him confused.

“Why?”

“She hasn’t been feeling well lately, so I told her to go for a doctor’s appointment,” he said and I nodded my head.

“What do you think it is?” I asked and he shrugged his shoulders and then looked down, I knew that face, “Mikey,” I said and he bit his lip and nodded his head, “What is it?”

“I think she might be pregnant,” he said and I looked at him surprised.

“You knocked Emma up?” I asked and he shot me a glare.

“Don’t say it like that, Maggie, I’m not Letang,” he said and I sighed and nodded my head.

“Sorry,” I said and he nodded his head, “I didn’t mean it the way it came out.”

“I know, sorry,” he said and I rubbed his arm.

“It’ll be all right, Mikey,” I said and he looked at me.

“I don’t know if we’re ready to be parents,” he said and I sighed.

“Just try to relax; you don’t even know if she is,” I said and he nodded his head, “And if she is, we’ll handle it. It’s not like you don’t love her.”

“I ya,” he chuckled and rubbed the back of his head, “I was actually looking at rings the other day.”

I smiled brightly and looked at him, playfully punched his arm and then hugged him, “Mikey! That’s awesome!”

“I know we’ve only been together for almost a year, but-“

“It doesn’t matter, you guys knew each other for years, so you didn’t have to spend that first year trying to get to know each other,” I said and he smiled and nodded his head, “Good for you, Mikey, I’m happy for you. When were you going to ask her?”

“Um, on the twenty sixth,” he said and I squealed and shook him a little, “That’s when we started to date.”

“Mikey!” I smiled and his smile matched mine, “I’m so excited!”

“What’s going on?” Dana asked as she came over.

I looked at Mike, wondering if he was going to tell her, “I’m gunna propose to my girlfriend,” he said and Dana’s eyes widened and she smiled and started to squeal and then jump on the ice, but then fell.

“We’re gunna work on that too,” I giggled as I helped her up.

“That’s so exciting! You’ve known Emma for forever, right?”

“Yeah, Mags, Em and I have been friends forever,” Mike said and I smiled and nodded my head, “But don’t tell anyone, at least not yet, I don’t want word to get to her.”

“Secret is safe with us,” I said and Dana smiled and nodded her head, “I’m just gunna tell the whole team!”

“Mags!”

“I’m kidding!!! Sort of,” I teased and Mike glared at me and I giggled, “I won’t tell- Now go get her!”

“All right, I’ll see you two later,” he said and then left the ice and disappeared down the hall.

I looked at Dana and smiled, “You ready for more or call it quits?”

“More,” she said and I smiled and tapped her helmet.

“All right, but we only have like a half hour left,” I said and looked at my watch.

“Why?”

“Bruins are coming in to practice,” I said and her eyes widened and she started to squeal, “I know, I know, you love the Bruins.”

“If we’re not going for the Penguins, it’s the Bruins!” she said and I laughed because ever since my Dad played for the Bruins, our whole family was taught to cheer for them, even well after his retirement.

“Didn’t you wear you B shirt here?” I asked and she smiled and nodded her head, “Good thing Sid didn’t see ya.”

“Eh, he’ll forgive me,” she said and I giggled.

“Get back out there,” I said and she nodded her head and headed towards the blue line.

“Hey, when are we gunna work on face offs?” she asked and I smirked.

“Sid said he could help you with those,” I said and her eyes widened.

“Sidney Crosby?” she asked and I smirked and nodded my head, “No way! Really?”

“Yeah, I kind of suck at them, he’s been helping me lately ‘cause Coach wants me to start taking some,” I said and she nodded her head, “Probably gunna work on them Monday.”

“All right,” she said and then I shot her a puck and she went back to practicing her speed while trying to shoot the puck. Today was Saturday, tomorrow we had a game against the Bruins and Dana was really excited about it, says she’s gunna wear her Bruins shirt and Penguins hat.

Dana was back to practicing her one timers and I smirked when she hit the back of the net for the fifth time in a row. I looked at her form and saw that each time she did it, she was doing the same thing, “Hey, when you shoot, try to move your body a different way.”

“A different way?” she asked and I nodded my head.

“When you play a team so many times, and you use the same moves, the goalie starts to memorize your moves and predicts where or how you’re going to shoot,” I explained and she looked at me and nodded her head, “Watch,” I said and passed her the puck, “When you think I’m close enough, pass me the puck. This is a drill that we even do, we try to make new moves so that we can trick the goalie.”

“All right,” she said and I back up towards the blue line in the other zone and then came forward. I moved back and forth as if I was trying to get past some players. Dana passed the puck to me and I shot it and watched it go to the back of the next, “Whoa.”

“That’s one way, another way- You know the wrap around?” I asked and she nodded her head, “Well I would be coming down the ice with a puck, we would have someone try to get in front of the net, I would pass the puck to them and then go around the net, the person would shoot it and if they didn’t make it in, I would always be coming around to catch the puck and shoot it. Kind of like a backup plan.”

“What’s the fake out? I know when we were watching your game the other day, the announcer said that that was one of the moves you do during a shootout,” she said and I nodded my head and then grabbed a puck and backed up as if I was doing a shootout.

“You come forward, and try to make it seem like you’re going in one direction, when at the last second when the goalie is lean over to block you, you change your direction and go in through the other side,” I explain as I skated towards the net, “If we take the Bruins, Rask seems to know that Sid likes to come in from the left, so Sid will come in through the left and then at the last second, he’ll turn right, not giving Rask enough time to move.”

“I get it, so the move you do during a shootout all depends on the goalie?” she asked and I nodded my head.

“But it’s not just during a shootout, it’s anytime,” I said and she looked at me, “You see- Usually in the summer we do this, or when we know that a team is bringing up someone from the AHL, we look over videos to try and get a grasp on how the player performs and where they’re most comfortable. We try to find their strengths and weaknesses.”

“What are yours and Mikey’s?” Dana asked.

“Ours?” I asked and she nodded her head, “My strength is my speed, but that’s just how my body was built, I have more power in my legs that helps me move faster than the others- Mikey, he’s got his upper body strength, that’s why he’s the perfect defensemen,” I said and she nodded her head.

“What about your weaknesses?”

“Well, like I told you before, I’m not really good with faceoffs, but I also have a hard time staying in the middle of the ice, I like to be against the boards, and that’s the problem- As you saw against the Flyers, when you have players like that, stuff like me getting flipped over can happen. Even NHLers have weaknesses that we need to work on every day.”

“What about Mikey?” she asked and I smirked.

“Well, he has his strength, but he’s not all that fast, he can’t do a breakaway because usually defencemen work on their upper body strength because they’re there to protect us, not to outrun the others,” I said and she nodded her head, “Here, pass me the puck,” I said and she did, I did a one timer and she smiled at the sight of how hard I hit the net, “Mikey’s good at those from all the upper strength-“

“Well, well, well!” I heard and turned my head, hearing blades on the ice.

“Are those-“

“Yup,” I said and then smirked and shook my eyes at the sight of a smirking Seguin and Marchand coming onto the ice, “Hi guys.”