Page 66 of Netting the Goalie

Luckily, the ref dropped the puck.

And I sucked in a breath and held it.

Shane

Second period.

2-1 game.

The Redtails were up by one but we’d been losing at the end of the first period.

The defense had scrambled after a broken play in the other end and Pittsburgh Spikes’ Greg Bruecker had shot off on a breakaway and scored the first goal of the game.

It’d been a beautiful shot and I would’ve been able to admire it—if it hadn’t been against me.

As it was, I allowed myself to be pissed off for five seconds and then I shut it out and reset.

Between periods, the defensemen had apologized before the coach ripped our asses for getting dominated that first period.

And the Redtails had come out flying at the beginning of the second period.

CJ had scored the first goal, which had lit a fire under the crowd’s ass.And then our top goal scorer, Tyler Richardson, had scored a short-hander after a questionable penalty on Lad.

And just that fast, the ice tilted back in the Redtails favor.

I watched the play at the opposite end, never taking my eye off the puck.So I saw Riley whiff on a one-timer from the top of the left circle and watched the Spikes’ first line break away toward me with speed.The Redtails defensemen scrambled to catch up and, as ten players raced toward me, I had a split second to set.

Skating out to meet the onrushing players, I kept my eye on the puck as the right winger passed to the left winger setting up on my right.

I lost sight of the right winger but saw the way my guys were moving and knew that winger now had to be behind me.

Which meant I was blindsided by the crash.

All I felt was the rush of bodies crashing into me at high speed.

I went down, my head hit the ice and bodies fell on top of me.

Everything went black for a second and I had the terrifying thought that I’d blacked out.

Then I realized someone’s arm had covered my mask.But my fight response had already kicked in and I was trying to toss players off me as my ears began to ring.

Fuck.

As I struggled to my knees, lungs working to replace the air that’d gotten knocked out of me, I saw my guys ripping opposing players away from me.Saw the linesmen jump in to separate bodies.

But it was all a little blurry.

Fuck.Fuck.Fuck.

Shaking my head, I tried to bring everything into focus.And that was when I heard Lad shout for the trainer.

I wanted to wave him off, wanted to get off my damn knees and get my skates under me.

But I wasn’t sure I could do it without falling over.

So I stayed down and waited for the trainer.

And hoped like hell that I could finish the game.

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