The energy for a day game was so different.
It also didn’t help that I gave up a third goal.
I turned and faced the net.
I couldn’t even face my own teammates at that point.
I was playing like shit.
My head was not in the game.
My head…
I took a drink of water and told myselfno more.
We were down three to nothing in the first.
We could come back from that.
I readied myself and the puck was dropped again.
TheInci Warriorsjust had more energy than we did.
They came right back down the ice.
Abel forced Luc to dump the puck behind the net.
I hugged the right side of the net, looking back, waiting to see what Abel’s next move would be.
Luc hit Abel with a little bit of a crosscheck.
The refs didn’t call it.
Luc got the puck and turned, throwing it out front in front of me.
That’s where Nesh was waiting.
Reid made a move.
But Nesh got his shot off.
Any other game I would have floated to the other side of the net.
Today it was like my right skate was glued to the right post.
The puck went right by me.
The arena erupted with cheers.
I looked right at Coach and he pointed at me.
I was getting pulled from the game.
Rightfully so too.
I had nothing to say for myself.
As I skated off the ice, my teammates were there for me. The opposing fans cheered and waved goodbye.
I walked right down the hallway to the locker room.
I should have been pissed off.
Instead, I came up with an idea.
A crazy idea.
Maybe those four goals were meant to be. Maybe I gave up those four goals on purpose.
Because if I moved fast enough, I could fly back to Madison right now.