Built for Speed by Declan Rhodes

Author:Declan Rhodes [Rhodes, Declan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-01-17T16:00:00+00:00

13

James

We won the conference championship by a score of 2-0. I didn’t score either goal, but Coach Collins gave me a significant amount of credit for keeping the puck on our opponents’ side of the rink for most of the game. We needed to protect our lead, and the best way to do that was keeping the puck far away from our goal.

I was part of a massive celebratory pile-up of our team members on the ice after we qualified for the national championships. It was my second time reaching the playoffs. The team qualified in my freshman year, and I went mostly as a bench player. I was the Jordi of that team. We were eliminated in the quarterfinals, but it was exciting to be a part of all of the hoopla.

Jordi and I became good friends after my speed skating experience. I went with him to the track two more times and then decided to put it all on hold until fall. I was curious about a trip to Milwaukee, and I wanted to save up some of my own cash to make it a comfortable experience. Jordi said he would come with me, and we agreed not to mention it to Eric. Jordi said, “He will be there anyway, but he’ll be too busy to tell us stories when we’re at the ice center.”

Jordi lay right on top of me in the on-ice pile-up. I wrenched myself to the right, and he went tumbling sideways along with at least three other players. The coaches skated out toward us, and Coach Collins said, “C’mon and get up. We don’t need any injuries from overzealous celebrations.”

Jordi was laughing his head off by the time he stood up. He looked at me and asked, “Are you okay? You were almost on the bottom.”

I winked at Jordi and said, “Maybe that’s where I like to be.”

He rolled his eyes. “I don’t think I need to hear about that.” Then he spontaneously hugged me and nearly knocked me down again. He said, “Fuck, James! We’re going to the championships! You’re going to play there. That’s amazing!”

I said, “You might get a chance, too. I suspect Coach will try and squeeze you in at some point just to get the experience of playing in a big game.”

Jordi reached down and straightened out his pads before gliding off the ice at my side. He said, “That’s awesome. I can’t believe this is happening.”

When we entered the locker room, the whole team was still celebrating. In place of champagne, a few of the guys were spraying sparkling grape juice all over the place. Before one of the seniors got the chance to say the janitors were going to kill them, I heard a comment that they agreed to clean up the mess.

I took off my pads and began pulling my street clothes out of the locker. I thought about taking a shower first, but then I decided I would do that when I got back home.

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