The Three C's

“There are my babies!” my mom smiled brightly as she walked over towards Pat and I and hugged us tight.

“Honey, let them go, they have a game to play tonight,” my dad said as he walked up behind his wife and smiled towards me.

“Daddy,” I smiled and hugged my father, happy that he was here, I needed him here tonight.

It was Game six of the Stanley Cup Finals, we were in Philadelphia with the chance to leave with the Cup. We’ve won three games in the series, they’ve won two, if they win tonight, we risk going to Game seven, we win tonight, it’s all over. My game had been improving, Coach told me himself, and I was happy to make him happy.

I managed to get a goal in Game four and assisted in many goals this series. It was an hour before the game, my parents were here as well as Nick and Dana, Pat’s parents and sisters were here as well as many teammates’ wives, girlfriends and family members.

“Maggie,” I looked up, my dad was looking at me, he placed his hand on my shoulder and pulled me away a few steps as Nick and Dana talked to Pat, “This is is, baby,” he said and I smiled and nodded my head, “You can win your very own Cup tonight,” he said and I laughed and nodded my head, “How do you feel?”

“Nervous as fuck,” I said and he laughed and patted my shoulder.

“Well it’s supposed to feel that good,” he said and I looked up at him, “I was always nervous too.”

“Really?”

“We all were,” he said and I took a deep breath, “I’m going to tell you something that I hope will help you win this game,” I nodded my head, “You are a Marshall and I am fuckin’ damn proud of you- Whether or not you win this game, Maggie,” I looked at my father and felt the tears forming in my eyes, I hugged him tight and he chuckled, “And I know that Mikey is watching out for you, even playing along side of you, Mags,” my dad kissed my head, “You play your heart out because either way, you’re a winner.”

I pulled away from my father, he kissed my head and then walked me back towards Pat. He looked at me and saw me wipe a tear away, “You ok?”

“Never better,” I smiled and Pat smirked and nodded his head, “Ready?”

“Yea,” he said and held out his hand.

“Kick ass, guy! Beat those Flyers!” Dana cheered and we laughed and nodded our heads.

Pat and I walked into the arena and headed towards the locker room, “You sure you’re all right?”

I stopped walking and Pat stopped and looked at me, I looked up at him and took a deep breath, I smiled and nodded my head, “I’ve got this- We’ve got this.”

Pat smiled and then stepped forward and pressed his lips against mine, “That’s my girl-“

“Come on lovebirds! We’ve got a Cup to win!” Sharpie yelled from the locker room doorway and we laughed and headed for the locker room.

As we were in the locker room, putting our gear on or getting our sticks ready, we put ourselves in the mood for the game. Everyone sat in their stalls, quiet and concentrating, Coach came in when it was time for the warm up and just looked at us, smiled and nodded his head.

Three words came from his lips before he left the room, “It’s our year.”

When he left we all stood up, looked at each other and nodded our heads, Jon lead the team out of the locker room and towards the ice for warm ups. Flyer fans booed us, but we didn’t care, we weren’t going to listen to them, we were so ready for this game. I was so ready to hold that Cup over my head, to kiss it and thank my teammates for an awesome season.

Warm ups came and went, we were in the locker room mentally preparing ourselves, I was shaking out of nerves and excitement. I was holding my brother’s necklace, right here and now was going to be the test to really know if I could play without my brother. I thought it was the moment that USA won gold in the Olympics, but I was wrong, it was right here and now.

It was time to head out onto the ice, Seven Nation Army from The White Stripes was bursting throughout the speakers and Jon, Sharpie, Hossa, Oduya and Keith were on the line, the rest of us were at the bench. The song died down and the national anthem was sung, before we knew it, Game six of the Stanley Cup Finals began and the fight to win had begun.

-Kane-
“I really, really don’t like that asshole!” Maggie growled, talking about Flyers Chris Pronger, he’s been going after her the whole series and it was really annoying all of us.

Maggie, Shaw, Saad, Seabrook and Keith were on the ice, Shaw faced off against Brayden Scheen and won, Saad got the puck and headed down the ice, passing it back and forth between Maggie and Shaw, when Pronger came up, grabbed the puck, headed down the ice towards Crawford.

I watched from the bench, next to Jon as Maggie kicked into the ice and skated her ass off to catch up to him. Pronger shot the puck, Corey caught it, but Pronger then decided to skid to a stop and ice Corey. Crawford was blinded and Pronger tried to steal the puck but Maggie got there and shoved him out of the way. I stood up, ready to jump over the bench because there looked to be a fight, but both Jon and Coach grabbed my shoulders and shoved me back down on the bench.

There was a little shoving match in front of the net, the refs got involved and broke it all up. I breathed a sigh of relief when Maggie started to skate back towards the bench with Corey next to her. His helmet was off and he was rubbing his eyes. Jon stood up and threw Maggie a towel, she caught it and handed it to Corey, he wiped his face and then his helmet.

“You good, son?” Coach asked and Corey nodded his head, “All right,” he said and sighed, “Marshall, good job on getting there quick.”

Maggie smirked and nodded her head, Corey patted her back and then headed back to the net. Coach called another line, Maggie jumped over the boards and plopped down next to me. I looked at her and she just nodded her head, telling me she was all right.

A few minutes later it was the end of the second period and the score was tied at two. We headed back to the locker room and tried to come up with a new strategy to win this game. When the break came and went, we were back on the ice for the third period.

Maggie, Jon and I were on the ice, Jon facing off against Giroux, he won and passed the puck to me, I passed it to Maggie and she headed down the ice, it wasn’t a moment later that the ref blew the whistle and I looked to see Maggie on the ground and Pronger being sent to the box from what looked to called for slashing.

I skated over towards Maggie as she got up, took her gloves off and rubbed her one wrist. Jon came over and looked at her, she was flexing her hand. I looked at her worriedly, she was just looking at her wrist.

“Maggie, are you all right?” Jon asked and she nodded her head, “You sure?”

“Yeah,” she said, still not looking up.

‘…She’s lying…’ I thought, I knew this girl, she was never able to look a person in the eye when she lied.

“Are we all good?” the ref asked, coming over, Maggie looked up and nodded her head, but didn’t look at him.

“We’re fine,” Jon said and the ref nodded his head and skated away, Jon skated towards the bench and I was alone with Maggie.

“Where does it hurt?” I asked and she looked at me, “I know you’re lying.”

“My wrist, he whacked it and then I think I landed on it wrong,” she said and I sighed, “Pat don’t say anything, it’s honestly not bad- Just a sting.”

“Mags-“

“Please Pat, we can win this- I can’t miss it!” she begged and I nodded my head.

“Don’t push it, Mags,” I said and we headed for the bench.

The rest of the third period went by and the scores were tied at three. Doc ended up wrapping Maggie’s wrist, but told Coach she could play. When the timer hit zero, we were going into sudden death, it was anyone’s game now.

Jon, Hossa, Sharpie, Hjalmarsson, and Oduya were on the ice, we thought, thirty seconds into overtime, that Jon had scored the winning goal, the buzzard went off and everything. Everyone was on our bench cheering, ready to jump over the boards and congratulate our team for winning the cup. But then the ref had to go and call a no goal and we were back to square one.

Shaw, Maggie and I were on the ice with Seabrook and Keith, we won the puck in the face off and fought back and forth for the puck. Going back and forth on the ice, the refs blew the whistle and called an offside on the Flyers. We faced off again and Shaw passed the puck to Maggie, she headed down the ice, I was right behind her, but so was Pronger and Timonen.

I saw it before I could do anything, my body reacted on it’s own. Pronger tripped Maggie, she quickly passed the puck to me and I shot it towards the net. Maggie slammed into the boards but jumped up and started to throw her gear off when the buzzard lit up. I was attacked with hugs and we were screaming and cheering, the Chicago Blackhawks' had won the 2015 Stanley Cup.