‹ Prequel: Chances Risked
Sequel: Life's Chances

The Three C's

Chapter Eighteen

Waiting for the boys to come to Sochi was exhausting, I kept myself busy by attending some of the events; though, mostly I spent time with my new friend Shaun White. I watched his snowboarding events and then would go out with him and his friends.

I would video chat, call and text all my friends and family, I was so happy for the international plan that I signed up for when I got my phone. Today was Tuesday, our games started on Thursday and the boys had gotten into town yesterday morning. Pat was still sleeping when I left this morning to watch Shaun perform in the finals. I thought for sure that he was going to win gold, but for whatever reason, he was off his game and ended up leaving in fourth place.

I apologized to him and told him that he did well, but he didn’t want to hear it. I felt bad because I needed to leave to head to practice, Shaun followed, him and some of the people on his team that also didn’t do well, wanted to watch us, to get their minds off of their loss. I walked into the locker room and saw some of the guys there, they looked at me and I saw my name plate on a stall in-between Brooks and Max Pacioretty.

“How were the snowboarding finals?” TJ Oshie asked and I sighed.

“Not well, White got fourth and the others did worse,” I said and they nodded their heads and I started to get into my gear, happy that I was putting on Team USA gear.

I looked over towards Pat and he gave me a small smile, at first when I told him that I was hanging out with Shaun White, he got angry. Took my forever to calm that jealousy down, but we’re fine now, and I felt bad for whoever had their hotel rooms on either side of our room.

Practice was amazing, I was so happy to be skating on the ice; it was larger than the NHL ice and there definitely were more rules to remember, but I was so happy to be here. When practice was over and everyone was off the ice but me, I skated to the center and looked around, imagining what this place would look like in two days with packed seats. My stick held loosely in my hand, my other glove tucked under the arm and my fingers holding the golden cross that used to be worn by Mike, I thought about my brother, ‘…I made it here, Mikey- To the Olympic- On the men’s team…’ I closed my eyes and sniffled a little, ‘…I miss you, Mikey. I wish you were here with me- We’d dominate the ice!...’

“Maggie,” I heard and turned to see Phil Kessel and TJ Oshie coming out onto the ice.

“You all right, kid?” Phil asked and I nodded my head.

“Just thinking about Mikey,” I said and he nodded his head and threw his arm around my shoulder.

“Your brother would be proud of you, Boomer,” he said and I smiled and nodded my head.

“Everything will be all right, Mags,” TJ said and I took a deep breath and looked around.

“Yeah, it will be,” I breathed and then headed off of the ice with the two, showered and changed into the Team USA sweats and zip up. We all walked out together to find the bikes that we were supposed to ride back to the hotel, “I hate bikes,” I muttered and some of the guys close by chuckled.

“Is that why I never see you on a work out bike?” Paul asked and I nodded my head.

“I always fall off of them! I need training wheels,” I whined and the guys laughed.

“Mags, the work out bikes- How are you going to fall off?” Team USA Captain, Zach Parise asked and I looked at him.

“I don’t know, but with me- I’ll figure out how!” I said and just shook my head.

“Come on, Mags, how did you get here?” Ryan Kessler asked.

“Walked,” I said and they just looked at me.

“It’s three miles-“

“Oh, no, I was at the slopes,” I said and they nodded their heads.

“How did you get to the slopes?” Blake Wheeler asked.

“I rode on the back of Shaun’s bike,” I said and the guys laughed and shook their heads.

“Just ride on the back of mine,” Pat said and I rolled my eyes.

“Hey are you guys going to the game?” Phil asked and I looked at him, I knew his sister Amanda was on the women’s team and she was playing Canada in the preliminary round in about two hours.

“I wasn’t planning on it, but I will,” I said and he nodded his head and I looked at Pat, “You wanna go?”

“Sure,” he said and I nodded my head.

The women’s hockey started a few days ago, while the men’s actually started tonight, but USA’s first game wasn’t until tomorrow afternoon against Slovakia. My parents and Nick would be flying in tonight, and I couldn’t wait to see them, they were going to be with me for the whole Olympics.

-Kane-
Maggie and I, along with some of our other teammates, watched the women’s hockey game between USA and Canada and were sad that we fell to Canada, the final score being three to two. I was thankful that it was only a preliminary round, but still, USA always lost to Canada.

“We gotta make sure that that’s not us,” Maggie said and I looked at her, she was staring at the ice of the disappointed face from the USA team. I knew that she was thinking back to 2010 when both the men and the women’s team fell to Canada and ended up winning silver.

“We won’t be, not this year,” Zach Parise said on the other side of Maggie and we all sighed and stood up, deciding that it was time to head back to the hotel to get some food.

Some of the guys were still laughing when they saw Maggie holding onto my shoulders, standing on the pegs of the bike while I peddled the three miles to the hotel. When we finally got there, we made it to the dining area where the staff already had the buffet already set up, some players from other countries were already there and eating, Canada being one of those countries.

The guys and I made it over to a few empty tables and claimed them as our own, leaning the chairs against the table showing people that they were taken as we walked up to get some food. Maggie and I sat at the table with Paul Martin, Brooks Orpik, Dustin Brown and Jonathan Quick.

“So Quickie, do you know if you’re going to be starting tomorrow?” Maggie asked and Jonathan looked up towards her.

“Um, not sure, I think Coach did say that he was gunna put me in and have Miller as a backup,” Quick said and we nodded our heads.

“So we play Slovenia after Russia,” Martin said and I nodded my head, “Do we know anything about them?”

“The only thing I know about them is that Kopitar is the only one on there from the NHL,” Brown said and I leaned back in my chair.

“Also,” Maggie said and we looked at her, “They haven’t had a hockey team in the Olympics for a while, so it’ll be interesting to see what they’re going to produce.”

“Yeah, Kopitar said that his dad is actual the head Coach for the team,” Quick said and I looked at Maggie, she was picking at her food, not looking like she ate any of it.

“You all right?” I asked and she looked at me.

“Yeah, just a little nervous for tomorrow,” she said and I gave her a small smile.

“Don’t be, it’ll be all right,” I said and she nodded her head.

“Hey, hey, there’s the star right there!” we heard and turned our heads and I groaned.

“Sparky!”

“Great,” I muttered, smirking and shaking my head, it was my teammates.

Three Blackhawks representing Team Canada walked over and hugged Maggie, Duncan, Jon and Sharp all hugged Maggie tight and then ruffled my hair.

“Saw you at the game today,” Jon said and I looked at him, he was talking about the women’s game today. I just nodded my head and he smirked, “So, it looks like that’s what the finals will look like.”

“Fuck you,” I said and he chuckled and patted my shoulder, “We’ll see you in the finals.”

One by one friends of Maggie’s came over and hugged her, congratulated her for making it on the men’s team and that they couldn’t wait to play against her.

Maggie kept checking her watch and I knew that she was waiting for a specific time that her family was flying in to watch the games, “When do they get here?”

“She looked at me and smiled, “They should be here soon, within a half hour- I’m waiting for them to call from the hotel phone.”

“Gotchya,” I said and she nodded her head, “You gunna eat?”

“Maybe later-“

“Maggie,” I whined and she sighed and looked down at her grilled chicken and started to eat and I was happy.

I waited for her to finish and soon she and I, along with some others, were heading to the exit to go to our rooms to relax. We were almost at the door when I heard Maggie’s name being called and turned around to see the big Russian Penguin, making his way over, Ovechkin and some other Russian’s behind him.

“Maggie!” I heard and the heard her squeal and watched as Evgeni Malkin grabbed Maggie hugged her, “I no see you when I come- You see schedule? We play you on Saturday!”

“You lose to us on Saturday,” Maggie teased and Malkin scoffed.

“No, no, you lose to us,” Malkin said and Maggie giggled and looked at her fellow Penguin and his Russian teammates.

“Well you boys better stuff those snicker bars in your mouth if you wanna win it for Mother Russia,” Maggie said and some of the guys were laughing, while some of the Russians were confused by her choice of words.

‘…That’s my girl…’