Page 86 of Puck You Very Much
After the Pitt game, the locker room turned as rowdy as I’d ever seen it. We dumped champagne bottles over each other’s heads. We sang victory songs. The guys pulled each other’s pants right down to their ankles. You know, the usual.
Ryan Detenbeck, as our longest-tenured player, gave a speech. He reminded us that he was one of the only playersleft from the first championship team and was qualified to tell us everything we needed to know. He recognized that we were hungry to enjoy the same glory he’d already experienced.
“We’re gonna enjoy this tonight,” he said. “But tomorrow, it’s gonna be back to work. We’ve got a golden opportunity right in front of us. No way can we ever waste it. And it doesn’t matter who our opponent is. We’ve got the talent and the will to win. Most of all, we’ve got themomentum. Now, let’s go show the world what the Larkin Lions are made of!”
The room erupted in cheers. This was the best I’d felt since… well, since telling Zane I loved him. Yeah, that sounds really mushy, but it’s the truth. Still, I couldn’t think about by boyfriend right now.
Focus, remember?
Detenbeck kept talking, and the team continued cheering, but I tuned him out. I’d gotten all caught up in the moment and I felt like I could walk on air.
Then our equipment manager approached the goalie. Detenbeck leaned over so the man could whisper something into his ear. Detenbeck’s eyes lit up like he couldn’t believe what he’d just been told.
“Uh oh!” Detenbeck said. “This just in: We now know who our opponent in the championship game is going to be.”
He paused as if awaiting a drum roll.
“Let’s fucking hear it!” Levi said, sucking back a Budweiser.
“Our opponent in the championship game will be none other than the Remington Riptides!”
The room erupted again, this time with a mix of cheers, but also mumbling and grumbling. In a weird way, they amounted to the same. They were excited while never losing sight of the long-held hate and animosity. Our team couldn’t be happier to take on the Remington Riptides when it really mattered. It was a chance to inflict the most suffering possible on a sworn enemy.For guys like Ryan Detenbeck and Levi Dunn, this was a dream scenario.
For me, it was a nightmare.
My heart sank, I felt cold all over, and my appetite went straight into the toilet.
I’d received texts from Zane while in Boston, but nothing about the Riptides having won or advanced to the finals. That came as no surprise. We weren’t talking to each other about hockey, remember?
And I hadn’t said anything about our win either.
Maybe he’d wanted to wait until we were alone to break the news. I honestly wouldn’t have known what to tell him. The whole thing felt way too heavy.
I slumped onto a bench as the room started to filter out. Levi Dunn sat beside me because everyone needs a meathead around at exactly the wrong time.
“Why the long face, bro?” he asked. “We’re going to the title game. Shouldn’t you be happier than pigs in shit like the rest of us?”
“If only it were that easy.”
“Wait, you’re not gonna tell me that you really aren’t enjoying this, are you?”
I didn’t know what to tell the meathead. It honestly felt like everything I said or did was destined to fail.
“I dunno. Maybe I’ve just got the jitters. Like, I’ve never been to the championship game for anything before, not even in high school.”
That wasn’t true. We won the championship every year in high school. I hated lying to Levi but felt like I had no other choice.
“I know what you’re saying,” he said.
“You do?”
“Of course. Remember, I wasn’t a starter and definitely not the team’s enforcer for the first title win.”
“You were a bench warmer.”
“Way to make it sound like a bad thing, bro.”
Levi clapped my back way too hard but not out of anger. No, he did it because he was a complete and utter meathead.
