The Three C's

We had managed to beat Nashville in Game six, they put up one hell of a fight, but in the end fell to Chicago. Next was Vancouver, and no one knew how that was going to play out because they were brutal towards the LA Kings.

By the end of the first round, in the Eastern conference; Carolina played against Montreal and won; New Jersey played against Philadelphia and lost; Boston played Buffalo and won; Pittsburgh played Ottawa and managed to pull a win in overtime in the sixth game. In the Western Conference; of course Chicago won against Nashville; Detroit won against Arizona; Vancouver won against LA; and Colorado fell to San Jose.

We were all given three days to relax and prepare for the next round. Coach had us on the ice, but not as bad as he had us before. We were still practicing drills and plays, and he was still coming up with new plays for the new team that we faced, the new series that we faced.

The day before the game, the team and I were jumping on the plane and heading to Vancouver to start the series there. It was the playoffs, the nerves were high and were only going to get worse the deeper we went. It was bad in the first series, when we lost a game, Pat and I didn’t talk to each other, just went to our rooms and went to bed, I couldn’t imagine what it’ll be like the deeper we went.

I sat on the plane with Corey, Pat and Jon were sitting next to each other in front of me, talking about some possibly plays for when we face Vancouver. I sighed and sat up, leaning on the two seats and saw what the two had come up with, not really a lot.

“What if we pass the put to Smith, he could get the puck to-“

“Only problem is that Bieksa and Elder are quick on their feet and will most likely get to the puck before Smith has a chance to pass it to anyone,” Jon said and Pat sighed, “This is so far the chart for the playoffs, we all know that San Jose is going to beat Detroit, they have the power for it this season- So far, they’re the team to beat on the West, and if we beat Vancouver, that’s who we’re playing.”

“Don’t forget about the twins,” I said and the two looked up at me, “Henrik and Daniel, don’t forget about them- And then Ryan Miller is most likely going to be in the net.”

“Miller’s pretty good at leaving his five hole opened-“

“No, he’s been working on it, I saw it all last series when they played LA, he was really good about not letting the puck through. When he’s in the net he’s been doing well at guarding all entry points to the net- But I noticed when you get close enough, he leaves the sides open,” I said and the two look at me, “You just have to get close enough.”

“What line would you figure could do that?” Jon asked.

“Well, you get the D team,” I giggled, “Seabrook and Keith, and then you, Pat and either Sharpie or Hossa. That could be one, another could be adding more offence than defense.”

“What?” Pat asked confused.

“If Miller’s in the net, he tends to favor his right side more than left, so you’ll need to add more left wingers. If you put Tazer, me, Saad, Smith and Oduya on-“

“Hold up,” Corey asked confused, “One D?”

“Yeah, Oduya can handle it, I’ve been watching him, he’ll be fine- Tazer wins the face off, pass it to Saad, to Smith, somehow get it to me or Saad and well make the puck hit the back of the net,” I said and Jon sighed.

“That’s a big risk, we don’t know if it’ll work,” he said and I nodded my head, “You’re right that he favors his right, I’ve seen it too, but do you think if two lefters are on there, it’ll work?”

“No, can’t know until we try it- And why not try it in Game one, where if it doesn’t work, we’ll try something else,” I said and Jon sighed and nodded his head, “And besides, if it’s true and we play San Jose, they have big boys, and a play like that won’t work. For them, we’ll need all the defense we can get, they’re pretty good on staying on our side- It’s hard for us to get the puck down to their net.”

“Let’s just focus on Vancouver now, we’ll worry about San Jose after,” Sharpie said from in front of Jon and we sighed and nodded our heads, “All of you need to relax right now, stop planning shit, just wait until we get there- You’re making my nerves go nuts.”

I giggled and then sighed and leaned back against my seat, I looked at Corey and saw him looking out the window. I felt a poke on my shoulder and turned around to see Smith looking at me, he was one back and across from me, “You really want me to take the puck?”

“If you can handle it, then yeah,” I said and he smiled and nodded his head.

The rest of the flight was pretty quiet, the guys were either talking among themselves, listening to music, playing video games, reading, or just napping. By the time we got to Vancouver, we were ready to get a plan started for tomorrow night’s game.

When we got to the hotel, we went to our rooms, got situated and then headed out for some food, it was close to dinner and we were hungry. At the closest steakhouse, we took up the private room and of course talked about hockey, we wanted to come up with something to try and win this series.

-Kane-
It was Game three and we were back in Chicago, having loss the first two games. Maggie tried to explain to Coach the plays she came up with, but he wouldn’t listen and we used some plays we’ve used in the past, Vancouver saw right through them and crushed us.

Right now it’s the middle of the second period and the score was two to zero, Vancouver. Miller was good about blocking the pucks, in the last two games, we’ve only had two make it to the back of the net. Coach called a time out and we all crowded around the boards.

“You guys are too slow out there, you need to pick it-“

“I need help out here, Coach,” Jon said and we looked at him, “We’re getting crushed and we’re not going to make it to the next series if we don’t start working together- That includes you too, Coach. Maggie’s given us a play, we’ve worked on it, and it might work- I think we should try it.”
Coach bit his lip and then looked at Maggie, at me and then at the team, “What was the play?”

“Me, Toews, Smith, Saad and Oduya- We know what to do,” Maggie said and Coach sighed and nodded his head.

I jumped over the boards and took a seat on the bench as the five skated onto the ice. I saw Maggie pound fists with Jon and they smiled, ‘…I hope this works…’

“This better work,” Coach growled.

Toews faced off against the one Sedin and lost, but was quickly able to pick up the puck and pass it to Oduya, who sent it to Saad and then quickly pushed the one Vancouver defenseman out of the way, when he went to steal the puck. Maggie had the puck and was skating towards Miller, she went around the net, coming out on the left side, passed it to Smith who shot it in on the right side.

We all jumped up and cheered for our teammates, Maggie’s plan had worked and they were now congratulating Smith for his goal.

-Maggie-
My teammates were on the ice cheering at the fact that we had beaten Vancouver and were going to move onto the next round. We beat them in Game six and were now looking forward to going into round three.

The boys and I were celebrating on the flight back to Chicago, when we got back, we all went home. Pat and I; however, were still awake and just stayed up to watch the highlights on the past series. On the East Coast; Philadelphia had beaten Boston and were moving on; and then Carolina had beaten Pittsburgh and were going to face Philly in the Conference Finals. And then on the West, just like we predicted, it was going to be Chicago against San Jose.

The NHL network was going over the Pittsburgh and Carolina games and I was smiling brightly when they were showing Dana. She was playing awesome and they were saying that with her teamwork with the Staals', they might have a chance for the Stanley.

“Hmm,” Pat smirked and I looked at him, “Marshall verses Marshall for the Stanley.”

“Neither of us have one, it will definitely be a battle,” I said and sighed, “You think Carolina will beat Philadelphia?”

“I don’t know, guess we’ll have to see,” Pat said and I looked down, “Hey,” he called and placed his fingers under my chin and made me look at him, “If we play Philly, are you going to be all right? You’re never all right when we do in regular season.”

“I’ll be fine,” I said and then sighed.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to play against Carolina for the Cup, see you and Dana cat fight for Stanley,” he chuckled and I scoffed, “It’s pretty awesome to wear that ring.”

“You shut up, you don’t get to say anything, you have two!”

He chuckled and then kissed my head, “We’re going to try and get you one this year.”

“We’re going to give it our all.”

“Damn right we are,” Pat said and I giggled and pressed my lips against his.

“Bath with me?”

“When have I ever turned down a bath with you?” he asked as I stood up and giggled towards him. I held out my hands and he took them and then pulled me towards him and pressed his lips against mine, “Win or lose, Maggie, I still love you.”

“I know, I’m wearing the ring- Remember?” I giggled and Pat smiled brightly.