Fire & Ice - Chapter 29: Chapter 29

The first half of the spring semester has been controlled chaos. I've worked really hard to stick to my schedule and not stray too far from it and it has worked. It has been a long stretch and it is almost over now. In just two more weeks we will be on spring break and I'm excited to bring Cassie home with me.
Sticking to my schedule this semester has really been the key to my success my school grades, hockey performance and my relationship with Cassie. Even with all the extra practice time, both on the ice and in the weight room, Cassie and I have managed to have plenty of date nights together. We been to the movies, skating together, and just spending time together cuddled on the couch. One of my favorite dates we went on was to the winter wonderland festival that our campus holds every year. It was the in the second week of February and the campus was covered in a few feet of snow. The football stadium was turned into an ice rink for students to skate on while in other parts of campus had little shops and sleigh rides through the large quad. Even though by the time the night ended we could barely feel our bodies, it was such a fun moment in the middle of schools madness.
Speaking of home, Mom and Alyssa have been officially living with each other since January and everything seems to be going really well. Mom and I try to talk regularly on the phone to be involved with what's going on in each others lives, but its been hard to get some solid time to talk. But last week we finally had a a night together and facetimed. We ended up talking for about three hours just catching up. Mom finally got to tell me all about the new house. Her and Alyssa put a down payment on a three-bedroom house that's about 15 minutes away from where we used to live.
I was really excited when they walked me through the new place. The main living space when you first walk into the house is an open floor plan with two out of the three bedrooms on the second floor. The backyard had a nice deck already built attached to the house, kind of like how our old house had but bigger that led out to a medium sized yard. Mom and Alyssa have been working hard packing everything up to move while trying to sell our old house. From what mom told me someone was interested in buying the house and put in an offer for lower then what she was hoping. The house has been on the market for a month and they were the only interested party. So mom sold our house for lower then she wanted so we could move into the new house.
The closing happened earlier this week and Mom and Alyssa have to turn over the keys to the old house at the end of March. But they already got the keys to the new house so they have slowly started to move things in. The previous owners bought a home down south and didn't need to wait to move in so once the papers were signed they gave the keys over and left. Mom and Alyssa have movers coming next week to move most of our stuff into the new place. When I get home at the end of the month we are going to finish moving everything into the new house. I also get my pick of the other two bedrooms on the second floor when I get home. The room that doesn't become my bedroom they are most likely going to turn into an office.
But back to the present. It was only a four-hour bus ride up north to Minneapolis so we got to leave on Friday afternoon. I'm rooming with Stacey for the trip and we didn't have a hard time finding our room in the hotel. I was just happy to find out that on game nights, Becca and Stacey stay in their respective hotel rooms. After we all got settled in, we got to go over to the arena and had a night skate session to get to test out the ice. Our game was up first on Saturday as we drew the 1pm slot.
The skate session was worth it as well got to experience what the ice conditions will be like for the game tomorrow. Whoever cut the ice for this arena does a really great job. There weren't any major divots in the ice as practice wore on and the ice continued to hold up as the team kept going over it.
After our skate session, the team had dinner together and did film prep for our opponents tomorrow, Minnesota Duluth. We have played them a few times during the course of the regular season and didn't have any trouble winning against them. I'm fairly confident in our teams ability to win. We watched film together for about two hours throughout and after dinner and after we were done, coach released us to our rooms. All of us went right up to our rooms without much push back.
Becca followed us to our room and hung out with Stacey for a while. The girls relaxing together in bed while watching the movie playing on the TV while I called Cassie. I let her know how my day was and Cassie told me that she just back to her dorm after getting dinner with Chad. The guys team lost in the first round of their own WCHA tournament and that was the end to their season. The guys team hit a rough patch in the second half of their season, losing a couple sets of weekends in a row. Winning in this tournament was their only way to get a bid into the NCAA tournament.
It was sad to watch their season end. When the team made it back to campus they were a bit deflated. They are going to try and rebuild the team for next season as they are going to be losing almost 6 seniors. I know it's going to be hard for them next year as well but I know they are going to try and push to get back into the tournament.
Cassie told me all about how the guys team is having a house party to watch our games in their hockey house while we are away. When Cassie asked me if I wanted her to come out for these games I turned her down. I much rather her be able to come out to the Frozen Four if we win this weekend. So that's what we planned. Cassie and Travis are going to make the trip to Pennsylvania if we win this weekend to watch us go for it all.
I tried not to be on the phone for too long because I wanted to get some good sleep for tomorrow. So after a few more minutes I wish Cassie a goodnight and told her I would try and call her some time tomorrow after the game if I had time. After I hung up the phone, Becca got up off the bed and said one final goodnight to Stacey before going back to her own room for the night. It didn't take long after Becca left before Stacey and I feel asleep.
The next morning I stuck to my pre-game routine, waking up, quick phone call with mom, shower then breakfast. Once that was all done, Stacey and I went down for breakfast. We each had our own preferences when it came to pregame meals and picked what we wanted before taking a seat at the table with Toni and Becca already sitting at it. Stacey's defensive partner Lilly came and joined us when she got her own breakfast and Toni led us in some new plays her and Megan drew up last night. They went on the back burner for now and only to be pulled out if we needed a shot of offense later in the game.
After we all finished breakfast, we stuck around the ballroom for a little while for coach to have his pregame meeting before we all went upstairs to get dressed to go to the arena for the game. We all dressed up for this weekend. As a team, we all liked getting dressed up before big games to show we mean business when we walk into the rink. It's like we are putting on our armor before we go into battle.
When we got into the arena, we went right into the locker room and started to get changed. Ever since the game against Ohio State, I've been wearing extra padding around my ribs. After my injury healed up, I wanted to take it off again but Marissa told me to keep it attached. If I take another hard shot to the ribs, they could easily break and I rather not be out for the rest of the season. So it stayed in place and I just learned to work around the extra protection.
Once I was dressed I stood in front of the mirror and I ran my eye black over my cheeks. After checking a few times to make sure I applied it evenly, I grabbed my helmet and got in line with the rest of the team to get out onto the ice for practice. We heard coach yell and the line started to move onto the ice. I dug my skate blades into the ice and pushed my legs hard around our side of the ice a few times to warm up before I got back behind the blue line to stretch out with Toni and Becca. We took a few minutes to stretch out the muscles in our legs before we rejoined the rest of the team.
It felt like warm ups breezed by and soon enough we were all back in the locker room for our final touch ups before the game. We returned to the ice and that's when the noise of the crowd started to filter into my ears. I did a good job at pushing it all away during practice but as I sat on the bench for a second, I could really hear the roar of the crowd. I tried to push it out of my mind again as I heard coach call out our line to take the opening faceoff. I jumped off the bench and skated towards Becca and Toni.
"Who wants to take it?" I asked them.
"Why are you asking, you're taking it Bertinelli." Toni said and skated to her spot on my right. Becca only smirked as she went off to my left.
I skated right into the center face off circle and took a breath before looking over at my opponent. The other girl had a big bright yellow C on her shoulder.
"Alright ladies, lets have a good clean game, sticks down." The referee said and we both got into position.
The referee dropped the puck and I was able to sweep it away from the Duluths' captain and Toni came over to get it. The first period of the game moved fast. A lot of up and down the ice. But we got onto the score sheet first from a slap shot that was tipped by Megan. Our goalie Nicole was able to handle a lot of the shots that were thrown her way even when the defensive almost tipped a puck into our own net. Duluth smelt blood in the water after that play and we were really lucky the period ended before they could put anything in the back of the net.
When we went out for the second period coach started Megan's line and I got to sit and watch the game for a moment. Duluth came out pressing again right from the start. When coach saw that, he sent out our fourth line and they were able to break up the momentum with a few hard hits and they got the puck out of the zone.
As they came off the ice we were up. Toni called out a play and I knew where I needed to go. But right away as I started to get close to the outside dot I was covered by a player. So instead of trying to get the puck I pulled another defender towards me to free up Becca. Toni saw my move right away and shot the puck over to Becca instead. Becca was able to move her stick in time to receive the puck and once it hit the heal of her stick, she pushed it right back out towards the goal and I watched as the puck sailed right into the net. I came right over to jumped on my girls before following after them to great the rest of the team at the bench.
Duluth wasn't backing down though, even after we scored the second goal. They started to increase their pressure and our defense couldn't handle it all and they scored with five minutes left in the second period. Duluth backed off a bit after their goal. It felt like we are locked in a chest match right now. Now that they scored they are going back to the drawing board to watch us some more.
But even though they backed off their offensive push, we didn't back down from ours. Our third line was out on the ice in the offensive zone when someone sent a puck towards the net. On a lucky tip the puck hit the back of the net and we went into the end of the second period up 3-1. Anyone who plays hockey knows that is the most dangerous score to go into the end of a period with.
We spent our break in the locker room going over some more defense. We needed to hold them now, play four corners with the puck if we have too. As we went back out for the third we knew it was now or never. Coach Decker sent our line out for the opening face off. In a move very unlike myself, I lost the opening faceoff and Duluths' captain past the puck her teammate behind her while checking me in the process.
I pushed her off of me and got back in line with my teammates to cover the captain. I knew she is looking for a goal. Her two assistant captains were involved with their only other goal so I knew she wants in on the action as well. As her team started to run a play I thought it looked familiar to what we watch in the film review the last night. I followed the puck for one more pass before pushing myself in front of the captain and intercepted the pass from her teammate.
With the puck on my stick I pushed myself fast up the ice. I knew the captain is going to be quick on my trail so I didn't have a lot of time. As I looked up, I saw the goalie take in my incoming form. She got out to the top of her crease and I knew I didn't have a shot from this angle going this fast. I didn't have anyone coming up close enough behind me to pass it so I'm going to have to try and pick the only shot I have right now. Just as I was about to pull my stick back to wind up, I felt my legs get taking out from underneath me and I went sliding head-first onto the ice. I had just enough time to move my body around so my back would crash into the boards and not the crown of my head.
Once I caught my breath I got up from the ice and the referee was standing next to me. She asked if I was bleeding but I was all good, just out of breath from that sprint up the ice. The captain went off to the bench and I was awarded a penally shot. The referee gave me a few seconds to catch my breath and placed puck at center ice. I took a few seconds and looked at the goalie again before taking the puck on my stick and skate towards the goal. As I got closer the goalie was out at the top of her crease again so I went for a shot I hardly ever go for. I went five-hole on her and watched as the puck sailed right between her legs and into the back of the net.
My bench went wild as I came back around and gave everyone fist taps. I took a seat on the bench and caught my breath again. That's when the roar of the crowd filtered back into my head and I smiled. They are cheering for us, for me. It made me smile as I watched the game from the bench for a few minutes. My smiled faded fast though because two shifts later Duluth scored making the score 4-2.
Coach put our line back out again to try and get some control out there. I lined up against the captain and she gave me a smirk as she got into position across from me.
"We aren't going down without a fight, number one recruit." The captain said.
"I'm not expecting you too." I answer and won the face off against her. I passed the puck off to Toni and she brought it into the zone right away. We need to get this period in our control otherwise the game can slip away. Toni played keep away from the other team with Becca while I tried to draw a few defenders away from them.
Duluth made a hard late game push. They pulled out every trick in their playbook to try and put them ahead. But my team worked harder. We all played defense for the last 8 minutes of the game and were able to keep the puck away from our goalie. The few shots that weren't blocked by us, our goalie was able to stop. As the time was running out on the clock Duluth pulled their goalie and our whole dynamic changed. Everyone on the ice wanted a shot at the empty net.
The moment came when our fourth line was on the ice. One of our defensemen shot the puck from right behind our net and nobody was able to stop the puck from sailing right into Duluth's net. That was the moment when I knew we were going to win. We still had another minute to kill on the clock but that empty netter just took all the wind out of the sails of other team. After the clock hit zero and the horn sounded we all celebrated the win before shaking hands with the other team.
It didn't take long for all of us to get our stuff together for the bus ride back to the hotel. When we got back all of us got cleaned up and went down to the ballroom for dinner and to watch to see who will be our opponent for tomorrows game. It was clear from the start that we would end up playing against Minnesota. They went up a goal early in the first period and never looked back.
As that game continued along, coach pulled up another screen in the ballroom and we started to go over some tape of their other games. We learned who their big-name stars are and their playmakers along with some of their rising stars to look out for. The team used this time to try and memorize everything we needed to know about the other team so we could have a little bit of a heads up on them for our game tomorrow.
When coach was done going over everything he thought we should know for tomorrow, we all packed in it for the night. After we made our way up to our rooms I pulled out my phone and fired off a few messages to Cassie and my mom before taking another shower and heading off to bed.
The next morning we all got to sleep in a little bit later then the day before as the game starts at 2 in the afternoon. It nice to be able to sleep in on a game day and not have to rush through everything. Stacey and I took our time in the morning after we got up and just relaxed in our room in the quiet. Both of us wanted to try not to think about how big the outcome of this game actually is for us as a team. Last year the team went all the way to the finals and won. With how well we have done this year, there are big expectations for us to win it all and that has added a lot of pressure to this tournament. With those heavy thoughts floating through our minds Stacey and I took a few minutes before getting some breakfast to mediate.
After our mediation, we got up and got moving, getting dressed and everything we needed for the game before heading out the door to our hotel room. Most of the team was already in the ballroom eating when we walked in. Both of us got our breakfast and found Becca already sitting at a table with Toni. We took our seats at the table and quietly ate with them. Half way through our breakfast coach came into the room and we went into a little bit more film study before we all headed out to the arena.
We had the opportunity to get a morning skate today and I think we all wanted to capitalize on that. The skate session helped settled some of my nerves as we all got off the ice to hit the locker room to start getting dressed for the game. We had about an hour of down time before we were able get back out on the ice for pregame warmups, so most of us just relaxed in our lockers for that time.
But all too soon, it was game time, and I found myself standing in line with the rest of my team to take the ice. Warmups went by fast. The roar of the crowd was too hard to block out as we all skated around the ice before the game. As we went back into the locker room after warm ups I took a deep breath. Just as I sat down in my locker I saw Toni and Megan stand on two chairs.
"Gather up ladies!" Megan yelled into the locker room.
"Last year we made it to the dance. This year wont be any different. Most of this team is made up of seniors and we aren't leaving this team without winning a second NCAA division one title. But we can't climb that mountain until we put away this game. So lets go out there today and come out with a win and get back into the dance!" Megan said, her voice raising as she continued.
"We aren't going home without the birth, so lets go out there and kick their ass!" Toni yelled. We all yelled in response and all huddled around them and put our hands in.
"Win on three, one, two, three." Megan said.
"WIN!" The team yelled back.
After the speech we were all hyped up and ready to go. We only had a few minutes before the start of the game as I finished off my eye black. When I turned around Toni was standing right behind me looking at the eye black in my hand. She didn't even need to say anything as I head her chin in my hand and applied the eye black. When I was done Toni grabbed her helmet and Becca took her place, smirk planted firmly on her face.
"You know the whole team is going to be lined up behind our line right?" Becca asked as she took the eye black from me and applied it herself. While she had it in her hand I noticed everyone was in line behind her. I rolled my eyes and grabbed my helmet from the bench.
"Just pass it back when you're done." I said and slipped my helmet on my head and got into line behind Toni. It didn't take the team long to get in line behind all of us and before I knew it, Megan lead us out of the tunnel and onto the ice. The crowd was so loud as we got onto the ice. We all took a few laps around before the rest of the team got off the ice and our line stayed out.
I got into the face off circle and stood in front of the other teams captain. She looked like she was ready to run me over. The captain had a few inches on me and that says a lot as I'm already pretty tall for my team. This is going to be a big battle.
"Alright ladies, this game is for a birth to the NCAA frozen four tournament, may the best team win, sticks down." The referee said and we got into position to take the face off.
Once we got down the referee didn't waste any time before dropping the puck. The captain for the other team pushed her shoulder into my chest hard, sending me off balance and down onto the ice as she easily won the first faceoff of the game. This is going to be a harder win then I thought it would be.
The first period was a hard back and forth game. Neither side wanted to give up much of anything to the other. A lot of players were holding onto the puck for too long, waiting for the perfect shot. I was also not having a good night so far in the faceoff circle. Every time there was a faceoff and I was the one to take it, Minnesota's captain stood in front of me. She won pretty much everyone we had against each other and I was getting frustrated. Her size is going to be a problem going in for the rest of the game.
Just when the period was coming to a close, Minnesota scored. It was a wrister from the top of the right circle and it just sailed in between all of our defensemen. I yelled out a few choice words as my line stayed out on the ice to take the final faceoff the first quarter.
"Not so big and tough now are you, number one." Minnesota's captain said as we got into our stance for the face off. Just as the referee dropped the puck I barreled hard into the captain who I caught off guard and sent her tumbling backwards down on the ice. In the background I could hear the horn ending the first period as I felt someone pull me off of the captain. It just so happened to be the referee.
"I'm only giving you one warning 23, keep it clean next period otherwise you will be given a penalty." The referee said and skated me away from the captain and towards the locker room. I was the first of my team to go down the tunnel for the locker room and I could feel the heat from coach already on my shoulders as I unsnapped my helmet and took it off for the intermission.
Coach waiting until everyone was sitting in their locker before he came into the middle of the locker room, commanding the attention without saying a word.
"We are only down by one goal. We are going to make that up in the second half, I have no doubt in that. But what we can't afford is to take sloppy penalties. As much as you want to rail the other team you have to pull it back. If they get a power play it's going to be like sharks in bloody water. They are too good on the power play. I know you hate it but you need to be on the captain McKenna. You are the only one size wise for the match up and I know you can keep a level enough head to not let her antics get to you. Try to bate her into making a penalty instead of getting one yourself." Coach offered up. I was surprised he didn't start yelling at us. I thought this intermission would have been a lot worse.
The team had some time to freshen up before we got back into line and went down the tunnel for period two. Coach didn't even have to say anything when we got back to the bench. I knew he would want us to take the opening face off. I got lined up against the captain and her smirk is firmly in place. She knows she got the better of me in the first period. I can't let her do the same in the second. I bent down to take the faceoff and waited. I could see the referee flick her wrist and I jumped. The puck hit the ice and I managed to sweep it back to my team fast then the captain could.
Our line moved fast right out of the gate, wanting to equalize this game immediately. I knew it would be hard for me to score so I skated around the middle of the ice and took up enough room in front of the net to block the eyes of their goalie just as Becca sent a hard slap shot towards the goal. I planted my feet and kept the captain from moving me into the line of fire and watched as the puck sail right into the back of the net.
I got to breath a sigh of relief and skated over to Becca and gave her a hug before following the line down in front of our bench for fist bumps. The rest of the second period went by quickly as both of our teams were pushing to score. Towards the end of the second our team got trapped in the defense zone and I knew Minnesota was about to capitalize. Our defense was out for 2 minutes and our forwards were already pushing a minute and a half. Just when we thought the puck was going to get out of our zone, it didn't. Minnesota shot the puck from a little bit inside the blue line and we all watched as it sailed through the air and was tipped into the upper part of the goal.
We all went back into the locker room feeling annoyed once again. Coach didn't say anything for the first few minutes after we got back into the locker room. I think he wanted us all to sweat it out.
"Is this how you want the season to end?" He asked rhetorically. "This is it. The rest of the season is on the line here, these next twenty minutes will determine whether the season is over or we get to play for the NCAA championship. You need to push through whatever is going on in your mind right now and finish off this game like I know you can!" Coach said.
We all held his words with us as we skated back out onto the ice for the start of the third period. I knew we needed another goal right out of the gate in order to have a good chance at actually winning the game. I lined up against the captain once again and sighed, really over playing up against her. The referee dropped the puck and I let the captain win it. As she dropped the puck back to a teammate, I rushed forward and managed to create enough chaos that the defender tried to pass the puck off to their line mate but whiffed on the pass. I skated hard and managed to get the puck and skate up ice with it. I didn't have much time with both of their defenders on my back and I knew if I tried to send a trailer to someone behind me it would be picked off. So I just pushed myself even harder down the ice and looked up to their goalie. The goalie was at the top of her crease and I only had a few milliseconds to decide where I was going to shoot the puck. So I picked my spot and watched as the goalie started to move to my right and at the last second I pulled back and was able to sneak the puck in between her legs. Tie game.
My bench went nuts. As I turned around I saw Toni and Becca at the last second before they jumped onto me to celebrate. We needed one more to go to the tournament. I led the line for fist bumps and coach pulled our line off the ice and let Megan take the face off. We went over a few plays with him before he sent my line back on the ice. Once I got into place I knew the captain would be hunting for my head. I needed to draw as much attention from them so I could free up the rest of my line to try and let them make a play.
All of our plays didn't work though. We tried to bate them into all following me but they knew the others on my line would be able to score if they got freed up. So with that the case, coach thought it might be a good idea to split the line up and send us out with different lines to shake things up a bit.
He tried it for two lines but it actually back fired on us getting stuck in our own end both times. We are so used to working with our lines and our lines only that getting thrown together with another pushed us to far out of our comfort zone for a playoff game. We went right back to our normal lines and coach sent out Megan and her crew with just less the five minutes left to play in the third period.
Minnesota was trying to get off for a change but our team trapped them in their own zone and we went to work. Megan and her line mates worked the puck all around the zone and took a few shots on net, the last one producing a large rebound where Megan herself was planted. It took her one swipe of her stick to score the goal and we all started jumping up and down in excitement.
Coach put my line out their to take the face off after the goal and I knew I needed to win this one more then any other of the game tonight. With only four minutes left to go in the game we needed to gain control fast and hold it. Once I got to the faceoff circle I could see the captains lips moving, but I just blocked it all out. I needed this faceoff win. The referee dropped the puck and I pushed into the captain and knocked the puck back to Toni for control before detangling from her and skating away.
We skated into the offensive zone and continued to pass the puck around to each other. We played one big game of keep away until we had to make a change. Slowly, each one of our players got off the ice and we managed to keep successful pressure in the offensive zone throughout the change. This was something we worked on during practice but haven't used often. But it paid off right now as we were able to keep continued pressure on Minnesota. But finally, our good luck ran out. With a minute and a half to go, their team finally popped the puck out of the zone and got a change.
With the change, they brought out their captain and I knew I was going to be sent out onto the ice for the final time remaining. Just as a few of our players were able to get to the bench for a change, Minnesota's goalie rushed to the bench so they can get another offensive player onto the ice. I took my spot right on top of the captain and tried to lock up her stick as much as I can. I looked up to the clock and saw we have less then a minute now. So close. Minnesota had no more plays to run and was just firing pucks towards our net but nothing was getting through. The captain tried to shake me off of her but I wouldn't budge.
Then the horn sounded and all I heard was screaming. I looked up and saw that the clock hit zero and we won. We actually won. I met my teammates coming off my bench in a group pile up and we all ended up flat on the ice somehow. It took us a few minutes to peal off of each other and we all shook off our gloves and helmets and handed them over to our equipment guys. Once everything was handed off we all got into a line and skated down the center of the ice to give Minnesota handshakes for a game well played.
I stayed towards the end of the line, ready for this part of the day to be over and get on to celebrating the win. But as I finally got to the other team the first person in line was their captain. She gave me a smile and shook my hand.
"You really deserved that number one ranking, don't let anybody tell you otherwise. I know in a year or two, you'll have a C on chest McKenna. Just try to not let anybody's words get to you. Good luck in the finals." The captain said.
"Thank you, you played a great game." I said still a little taken back by her kind words.
We managed to get through the rest of the line without much other fanfare. After we got to the end, the officials for the NCAA tournament were on the ice and gave Toni and Megan a large copy of a ticket with the frozen four written on it. They brought it over to the team and we all celebrated on the ice for our hard work on this win today. Now the more important question is, where are we celebrating the win once we get off the ice.