Page 106 of Scoring Position

Nico’s teammates must know what he could do too, because they tied up Canada’s forwards so that Nico went through them like so much tissue paper. He crossed the center line with an honor guard just behind him and the puck on the toe of his stick.

The remaining defenseman tried a stick check, but Nico might as well have been made of mercury. He slipped away, untouchable, blistering past the blue line.

Ryan could barely track the movement of his stick—feinting left, right, right again—

Clink.Bar down. Absolutely gorgeous goal.

“Oh my God,” he said weakly. Holyshit, coast to coast!

Next to him on the bench, Grange patted his knee. “I got some smelling salts if you want ’em.”

“Fuck off.”

“Shit,Imight need ’em.”

Nico skated by the German bench for his congratulations, but he looked over at Ryan afterward, flushed with pleasure.

It was very difficult, but Ryan refrained from mouthingthat was hot.

“Save it for after the tournament,” Grange advised.

Ryan laughed incredulously. “Easy for you to say.”

But as out-of-this-world as Nico played, it wasn’t enough. Canada scored again in the second, and Grange finished off a hat trick in the third to put the final score at 5–2.

That was it. Ryan was playing for gold.

And Nico—

Nico would take home bronze. Ryan knew it.

The handshake line felt a hundred miles long. Ryan had a lot of respect for the German team. They’d come into the tournament as underdogs. No one had expected them to get to the quarterfinals. They’d played their hearts out. He meant it every time he saidgood game.

“Hey, sick goal in the first,” he said to the defenseman he recognized as having opened the scoring. “Good game.”

As the captain, Nico was all the way down at the end. He was putting on a good front, but Ryan could see the disappointment in his eyes and the set of his mouth as he approached. And then they were face to face, and all the things he wanted to say were right there under the surface, bursting to be free.

But he couldn’t taint them with the sting of loss. When Nico shook his hand, Ryan reached out with his left and pulled Nico’s head down until their helmets touched. “You were fucking amazing.”

Nico grabbed the small of his back. So this was definitely going on the internet. “Ryan….”

“I’m so fucking proud of you. Holy shit.”

Nico snorted weakly. “Hey. I wanted to say that.”

Ryan kept his smile from his face for Nico’s sake. He wasn’t going to rub Nico’s nose in his victory. “I still want that date.”

Nico knocked their helmets together. “Go win the gold, then.”

Ryan would.

Germany Defeats Russia 3–1 for Bronze

Eric Doyle

June 22

In a surprise upset, Germany edged out Russia for bronze at the IIHF World Championship Sunday afternoon, successfully rebounding from a tough loss to Canada in the semifinal.

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