Page 91 of Playoff
We lost those road games. Games we couldn’t afford to lose. The only silver lining was that everyone else competing for the last couple of playoff spots was also screwing the pooch. We returned to Toronto still in playoff contention, but only by the skin of our teeth. As a team we were dragging, but there was still determination there. These guys had made it so close to the Cup, and they were hungry.
I was pulled out for questions at the airport, but Agent Miller was brief.
“Any more letters?”
I pulled one out of my jacket. “This is the only one delivered to the condo since our last trip.”
He nodded. “The news you dropped, about having lost money yourself? It’s been getting play on certain websites. I think you’ll find fewer problems. If you’re a victim, you’re less likely to be part of the scheme.”
“People don’t run on logic. They’ll believe what they want to.”
“Some of them, yeah. But most are moving on.”
Not all of them. But I thanked him and left to join Fitch for the drive home.
Returning home also meant returning to the place I’d been with Jess. My room was filled with memories of her. Hell, the hallway and kitchen reminded me of her, and we hadn’t even had sex there. Having her come to my place was stupid, but I’d been doing a lot of that lately.
I needed another focus. I got Fitch to help me move my furniture around, changing up the look of the room and trying to banish some ghosts. When thoughts of Jess intruded, as they often did, I shoved them aside and focused on hockey. Fitch and I spent our free time watching tape, of the teams we were playing and of the games we’d just lost, trying to figure out the magic that would bring success.
This team was going to make the playoffs. I’d cost them JJ and seriously harmed their chances of a Cup win this year, so I would make up for that. I lived and breathed hockey, reviewing video and pushing my body as far as I could. Instead of watching my goal and assist numbers, I made sure we had our best chance to win our remaining games. My previous coaches wouldn’t have recognized me.
Jess and JJ were still in BC. I picked that up from team gossip, so there was nothing to distract me. I didn’t hold my breath when the elevator doors opened or check for someone near the storage lockers. But the focus paid off. We didn’t win every game, but we won enough to keep in contention. It all came down to the last game of the season, and it was do-or-die time. We won this, we were in the playoffs. We lost, and we might have a chance, depending on how other teams did.
In the locker room before we hit the ice for that last game, Cooper stood up. “Most of you were here when we played Minnesota last fall and decided we were putting it all on the line for that game. Like it was our playoffs. And I’m damned proud of how well everyone has played then, and since. Ducky got us through that?—”
There was applause, and Ducky, who’d come down to cheer us on, blushed.
“Then he was injured and it looked like we were done for the season. But we got Alek, and he’s kept our dreams alive.”
This time I was the one who felt my cheeks heat up.
“The last week and a half”—since the confrontation with JJ—“Alek has worked his ass off. So tonight, let’s go out and support him. Let’s win the fucking game and show the world what this team can do. We’re going to earn our playoff spot, not sneak in while someone else is shutting the door.”
Massive cheers from the guys in the locker room, including Ducky, and even me.
The cheers faded as someone else entered the locker room. JJ stood just inside, like he wasn’t sure he deserved to be here. Ducky pulled him in, hugging him and offering his condolences.
I dropped on the bench in front of my locker, my breathing tight. Was Jess back as well? No, I had to push those thoughts aside. I was here to play. To win.
“Just came to wish you all luck,” JJ said. “And to apologize for leaving you short a guy. And Alek—” I looked up, everyone watching us. “I’m sorry. I was completely out of line.”
I blinked, then nodded. “No problem. I get it.”
“Drinks at the Top Shelf after are on me,” JJ said, and then left the room.
“Fuck yeah!” Oppy said.
Everyone laughed. The mood in the room was upbeat as we filed out to play.
This last game was against Montreal. They had already clinched their playoff spot, but they had a chance to be the top seed in the division if they won tonight and Boston lost. This wasn’t going to be an easy game.
It wasn’t. As the Canadian anthem echoed through the arena, the expressions on the Montreal players were focused and set. It was a hard-hitting, close game from the moment the puck dropped. The refs didn’t call many penalties, letting us work it out on our own.
The score was tied, late in the third, when a Montreal player was called for an egregious high stick. Coach put Deek, Oppy, Cooper, Crash and me on. We needed to get a goal on this power play.
Montreal gave no quarter. Twice they managed to clear the puck down to our end of the ice, forcing us to reform and come back into their zone. With two minutes on the clock, and twenty seconds left on the power play, it was now or never.
Deek carried the puck over the blue line, with Oppy and me crossing almost simultaneously. He passed to me, but I was quickly swarmed and slid it back to Crash.
