I could see it through his face shield from across the rink. He pointed his stick in my direction before skating over to a pile of pucks and poking one off the top. He started his warmups, taking shot after shot on the net to help get the goalie ready for the game. When the clock was down to only a couple of minutes, he skated a few quick laps around our side of the ice before sending a bunch of pucks to in front of the bench. Right before the buzzer sounded, he skated over and took a knee to listen to his coach before it was time to line up for the puck drop.
When the ref blew his whistle, Corby skated to the middle of the red line to face off against the other team’s center. I perched on the edge of my seat, my legs bouncing with nervous energy while I nibbled on the snacks Emily and Sarah had bought for me. About halfway through the game, neither team had scored, and I muttered, “This team is a lot better than anyone else they’ve gone up against this season.”
“Yeah, they’re definitely going to make the Cougars fight hard for the championship,” Sarah agreed.
“C’mon, you can do it,” I chanted when Corby hopped off the bench for another shift on the ice. He’d come close to scoring a few times so far, but it was feeling as though a force field in front of the nets stopped the puck from going in.
About a minute later, one of the defenders sent the puck flying up the center of the ice. It was a little to the left of the other team’s goalie, and I figured they’d get called for icing—which I didn’t confuse for frosting anymore. But Corby took off to chase after it, skating faster than I’d ever seen him move before. Right before the puck reached the red line at the other end of the rink, he stretched his stick out and pulled it back. Then with a quick flick of his wrist, he sent the puck flying toward the goalie. I held my breath while I watched the small black object rotate through the air, jumping from my seat when it sailed over the goalie’s shoulder and into the net. “Yes!”
I almost cried with happiness when Corby turned to look up in the stands and pointed at me before he bumped fists with his teammates. Sarah, Emily, and I continued to cheer for him until he was seated on the bench and the ref was getting ready to drop the puck. Corby’s goal seemed to break the seal for the Cougars, and Dean scored the next time he was on the ice. They were up two to zero going into the third period, but the other team scored a quick goal thirty seconds in. The game was closer than any other time I’d been in the stands watching, and I could barely sit still. Each time Corby was on the ice, I prayed he’d score another goal to give the Cougars some breathing room and impress the recruiters who were watching. With four minutes left in the game, he gave me and the rest of the Cougar fans what we’d been waiting for.
One of the other team’s defenders went to pass the puck up to their offense, but Corby got there first. Sending the puck up ahead of him, he powered past the other players until it was just him and the goalie. Then he did some fancy move that tricked the goalie into thinking he was going to shoot to the left when he went to the right instead. The other player didn’t get the chance to correct his mistake before the puck crashed into the back of the net. I jumped up to cheer again, hugging my best friends while I cried. Not much time was left in the game, and we were up by two goals. Corby was playing great, and I didn’t see how the other team could possibly beat him now that the momentum was in our favor.
I blew Corby a kiss this time when he pointed at me and giggled when he pretended to catch it and pressed his hand to his chest. “You hit the motherlode when you found him,” Emily sighed.
“Yeah, I can’t help but wonder why I never signed up to be an office assistant. Then maybe I could’ve met all the new guys who needed tours