Chances Risked

“Maggie!!!” I heard and looked up, my hat shadowing my face as I stood in the airport. I smiled as I saw my cousin making her way towards me, a bright smile on her face, “I’m so excited to be here!”

“I’m happy to have you!” I smiled and pulled her in for a hug.

“Why are you all dressed up?” Dana asked and I pulled her along.

“Because we need to go to the rink after this, I have a game,” I said and she nodded her head and we made our way to baggage claim. Dana grabbed her large duffle bag that probably had her gear in it, I grabbed her suit case and then there was a large skinny box that probably had her sticks, “Ready?”

“Yup,” she said and we headed out of the airport and headed for my Escalade, “Nice ride.”

“Thanks,” I smiled and she plopped into the passenger seat and smiled towards me.

“I’m so happy to be here,” she said and I giggled and nodded my head as I brought my car to life. I looked over towards my cousin, she was in jeans, sneakers, high school t-shirt under her black Northface jacket and a Penguins baseball hat on her head.

“I’m happy for you to be here, it’s your first time here, right?” I asked and she nodded her head.

I drove out of the airport and headed towards the city, it took us about twenty minutes to get to the arena. I knew I was going to be the last to show up; Coach liked it when we were at the rink about an hour before game time. I told him that I was going to be late showing up, because Dana’s flight landed about forty five minutes before I needed to be at the rink.

We got to the rink about a half hour late; Dana followed me as we quickly made it to the locker room. Coach saw me in the hall and I introduced him to my cousin, she was really excited to be here. I walked into the locker room and saw that there was no one in here.

“Where’s everyone?” Dana asked as she came up behind me.

“Either kickin’ the ball around or on the bike,” I said and she nodded her head and followed me over towards my stall and watched as I changed into my spandex shorts and sports bra. I looked over towards Dana as I plopped down on the bench, she was texting someone, I grabbed one of my sticks in my stall and then my pink tape and started to tape my stick.

“I use cheetah tape,” Dana said and I looked towards her and giggled.

“I like pink,” I said and she nodded her head, “Sometimes I use purple.”

“How many sticks do you have?” she asked and then grabbed one from my stall and looked at it.

“I like to have about five or six per game, I never know if I’m going to break one,” I said and looked towards her to see her running her thumb over my name and number engraved into the professionally made stick.

“Cool,” she said and I smiled.

“Maybe one day, your number will be on a stick like that,” I said and she smiled towards me, “And you can have a cheetah tape on your NHL team.”

“Definitely!” she said and I giggled and pulled her in for a side hug, “Thanks Maggie, I appreciate you letting me come out here.”

“No problem, Dana, we’re family,” I said and she smiled and then placed my stick into the stall and we heard the door open.

“There’s my girl!” I smiled when Mike walked into the room and Dana shot up and ran over towards him and he pulled her into a hug.

I giggled when Mike pulled her into a headlock and started to rub her head, “Mikey!” she yelled and the door opened and more players walked in and chuckled at the sight.

“Mikey, that’s not how you treat a lady!” Max said as he slapped Mike’s back and Mike winced

I introduced my cousin to everyone and she sat with us as we all started to put our gear on before we headed out onto for warm ups. Just as I was finishing my side braid, the locker room door opened and Emma walked in with Nick behind her.

“Hey, you made it!” I smiled towards Nick and he nodded his head and then walked over towards Dana and pulled her in for a hug, “Keep an eye on her, we got you tickets behind the penalty box.”

“Awesome!” Dana said and I smiled.

“Yeah, some of the guys are there now,” Nick said and I smiled and nodded his head, Mike and I bought tickets for the whole University of Pittsburgh hockey team, who were also Nick’s friends.

“How many of us are going to be sitting together?” Dana asked.

“Um, about thirty,” Nick said and she smiled, “Thanks again Mags!”

“No problem, you better get going,” I said and Nick wrapped his arm around Dana’s shoulder and they headed out of the locker room with Emma behind them.

Tonight we were playing against the Coyotes; we had just gotten back to Pittsburgh yesterday, having an away game against Colorado, the same game that I had to leave my enjoyable break in Chicago to attend. The guys kept on busting me because during practice the day before the game, the same day I reached Colorado, I was so tired and I was slow on the ice. However, when I came time for the game, I had plenty of rest and energy and managed to get a goal to help win our five to one score.

It was time to head out onto the ice to warm up. I was skating with the team, I felt a stick tap my leg and turned my head to see James coming up behind me, “You sure know how to turn someone into a grouch,” he said and I looked at him confused and he looked towards Kris to see that he had a miserable look on his face, the same look that he’s had on for a few days now.

“Don’t care,” I said and James and I took a shot towards Marc, who was in the net.

“Told me that the girl is getting the craving-“

“Nealer,” I said and looked at him, “I don’t care.”

“Still won’t talk to him?” he asked and I shot him a look, “Hey, I give ya credit, a lot of people would have ran.”

“I’m not a lot of people,” I said and he chuckled.

“No you’re not,” he said and I looked at him and rolled my eyes.

“Go fix your hair or something- Quit bothering me,” I teased and he smirked and wrapped his arm around my neck.

“Aw, you love it and you know it!” he said and I giggled and we leaned against the boards and I moved quickly when I saw Max coming at me.

“Jerk!” I yelled and playfully shoved him because he was trying to hit me, but ended up hitting the glass.

After warm ups, we went back towards the locker room and got ourselves ready for the game. As I was finishing up taping the rest of my sticks, I felt eyes on my and picked my head up to see Kris looking at me. I had my headphones in and Pitbull blasting, I was drowning out the noise around me, but feeling his eyes on me knocked off my concentration. I just looked down and then back up; he was still looking, giving me sad eyes.

‘…Stop looking at me…’ I thought, wanting to scream, but I just looked back down and tried to ignore him. I was really happy when Coach came in, gave us some tips about the team, announced the starting line and then told us we could head out onto the ice. Sidney, Kunitz, Pascal, Mike and Kris were the starting line, I was on the bench and listened to the national anthem, and then watched as the game began.

-Kane-
We were in St. Louis at the time; we had a game against the Blues the next night. The guys and I were currently out at some bar eating, drinking a little and watching the Penguins-Coyotes game, it was late in the third period and the score was tied one to one. Maggie managed to assist Neal’s first goal, but that’s all she had done, other than four shots on goal; Smith was making some pretty damn good saves from the Penguins.

Jon was sitting next to me, we were both looking at the screen while some others just talked or were watching something else. I took a sip of my beer and felt Jon lean in and put his arm on my shoulder, “That girl at the bar’s been watching you like all night.”

I looked over towards the bar and saw the girl in jeans and low cut top, she was smirking at me and I looked back over towards Jon, “I guess that means I’ve still got it.”

“You’re not gunna by her a drink?” Brandon Saad asked from next to Jon.

“Why?” I asked and he snickered.

“Don’t tell me Marshall’s got you whipped?!” he chirped and I rolled my eyes and saw Jon smirking at me.

“I’m not whipped,” I said and Brandon scoffed.

“Then by her a drink, go talk to her!” he said and I rolled my eyes.

“Man, why don’t you go buy her a drink then,” I said and Jon snickered and patted my shoulder and I went back to looking at the TV to see that the score had changed, Penguins were up by one and the game was going to be over in less than a minute.

“When’s the next time we play them?” Sharp asked from the other side of me, obviously watching the game.

“We don’t,” I sighed.

“When’s the next time you’re gunna see her?” he asked and I shrugged my shoulders.

“We’ll been doing pretty well at surprising each other, but, March we’re pretty crammed with games,” I said and he nodded his head.

“You’ve got all summer,” he said and I smirked, “Any big plans?”

“Not yet, but doesn’t mean that we won’t have any,” I said and Sharp chuckled and patted my back.

“Good for you, Kaner.”