Page 75 of Conner

She looked at her key packet that said 404.

He sighed with resignation. “We’re on the same floor at least. Do you want to stay with me anyway?”

She shook her head. “I have to at least try and be professional.”

“Okay,” he said with a sigh. “Let's go unpack, but then we’re getting dinner together. Room service or the restaurant here.”

“Let's go,” she said as they made their way to the elevator with their suitcases rolling behind them.

The team had a quiet night in the hotel, just some final game reviews and an early bedtime. Conner had made sure Sasha was locked safely in her room before he would go to his room. This level control would be infuriating but she let it slide because of the current predicament. Hillary was also texting and checking in.

The following day Sasha went with the team for some ice time before they headed back to the hotel to relax.

That night they had lost. The team was low because this now put them down a game in the series, but they weren't out yet. They made it back to the hotel and Conner once again made sure Sasha was good in her room before going to his own.

She was busy getting ready for bed when she got a text from Evie.

Evie – you’re on ESPN

Sasha - What?

She grabbed the remote and turned on the tv. Sure enough, there she was at the game. They were doing a segment on the changes in popularity of hockey, and they were talking about all the changes she had made in the Magic's organization. It was amazing. They were giving her credit for things she had worked really hard on. She was a mess of emotion. She was proud, but she was also terrified, this is not what she needed.

Evie - I mean you're kicking ass, awesome! But I thought you might like to know.

Sasha - thanks for letting me know.

Evie – no problem!

Damn it. Sasha tried to talk herself down. What were the odds that he saw it? And if he did...well, she wouldn't think about it. She just hoped Conner didn't see it.

The next day they were having a quiet day at the hotel. The team was on strict orders to relax and try and save energy for the game tomorrow. They had a meeting and reviewed the game footage, but after that they were free. Conner stayed down with the team for a team movie night. She was glad, he needed to be with the team. She had been worried that she would be distracted but he still was focused on the game.

Sasha was more than happy to stay in her room, catch up on some work, and make some phone calls. She hadn't talked to her family much since she had been staying at Conner’s, so she did that.

40

Conner

Conner was sitting on the bench sucking in air after another hard shift on the ice. It seemed like Florida had their number since game two of this series. Game one they had eked out a win, but after that Florida seemed to be one step ahead of them. They kept getting the puck stripped from them in the neutral zone, pushed to the sides in the offensive zone, they just couldn’t get it together.

As he squirted some water in his mouth, the whistle was blown. Taylor had been tripped and they were on power play. Four minutes left in the second period and down by two. This was their shot to get in. Conner jumped back on the ice with the rest of the first power play unit.

He was in the zone, passing to Sven just like they had been practicing. Only they couldn’t seem to get it right. One of Florida’s defensemen hit the puck out of the zone. They tried for another zone entry, and it was sloppy, but they made it. Conner took a shot, but the goalie got a glove on it. He skated in for a faceoff.

“Not so easy without your golden boy?” said the center he was facing off against.

“I’d worry more about you losing your fucking goon, we’re good,” Conner gritted through his teeth.

Conner knew with Wes on the ice it would be a different story, but at least Blake Kelly was gone. The only silver lining of the last quarter of their season.

He won the face off, which felt good, but they made it through another scoreless power play. They hadn’t scored with their power play this whole series. Conner skated back to the bench and hit his stick against the wall. He hated losing, of course he did, but losing to Florida was the fucking worst.

Another scoreless period, another failed power play, had their time in Florida coming to an end. The team made it back to the locker room feeling the loss as well of the weight of being down 3-1 in the series.

“Hey, I know that sucked,” Conner said to the team as they all made their way to the showers. “But now we have them back on our ice. We aren’t out of this yet. We’ll go back to the hotel and leave this fucking place first thing in the morning. Once we have them back home, on our ice, we are going to put an end to this.”

They all gave a nod, headed into the showers, and back to the bus to lick their wounds and get ready for the next game. Conner saw Murphy sitting by his cubby with a dejected look on his face. He remembered the pressure of a rookie year, but during his rookie year the team wasn’t as good as it was now. He didn’t have a playoff run until his third year, but he could imagine the pressure the young rookie felt.

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