Power Play by K.R. Collins

Author:K.R. Collins [Collins, KR]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: LGBTQIA+, contemporary, sports, ice hockey, international tournament, injury, demisexual, questioning, bisexual, asexual
Publisher: NineStar Press, LLC
Published: 2021-06-21T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

Their first game after the break is against Indianapolis. While it may be a new year, Concord is the same team, and they fall behind 0-3 in the first period.

Lack of mental toughness, she hears in Coach Butler’s voice as she heads down to the locker room. We need focus, and we need leadership. The team needs to be better, but it begins with her. She sits between Merlin and Elsa as Coach Butler waves his clipboard and shouts at them as if that’s the spark they need. He rips apart Spitz’s defense and tears down what confidence Bechs has, and Sophie tunes out the rest of the speech.

This isn’t what her team needs. They need to believe. She stands up with the rest of her team but, unlike them, she doesn’t hang her head or glare at Coach’s back as he leads them out of the dressing room. She knows exactly what she has to do.

Indianapolis is already on the ice, and Kensington smirks when he catches Sophie’s gaze. He glances at the scoreboard. Three goals won’t be enough, she thinks.

Lexie, Kensington, and Steele start the second period which means Sophie’s on the bench for the opening faceoff. Peets wins it but Steele intercepts his pass to Merlin. Indy carries the puck into the zone and Teddy fights off one shot and then another before Merlin manages to break the puck out. Golly’s too eager, and he jumps into the zone before Merlin and puts them offside.

Coach Butler barks from his end of the bench, and Sophie takes her line over the boards. She wins the faceoff against Dennison and drives into the offensive zone. She pulls up just enough so Elsa can take the puck across first. She dodges Turner and skates around a d-man before she taps her stick for a pass. Two Renegades collapse down on her, freeing Bechs up for Elsa’s pass. He rifles off a shot that Hyde barely gets a piece of.

They don’t score but it’s a good first shift. Sophie draws her linemates to her on the bench and talks up what they did well. They need another shift like that. Then another, every shift until the game is over.

*

When Sophie plays her best, she can anticipate her teammates as plays unfold in her mind before they happen on the ice. She can put the puck where they’re going to be so they catch it in stride and stay a step or two ahead of the other people. But in games like this, when they aren’t on the same page, she has to pass to where they are. It feels as though she’s fighting the game rather than playing it. But with each successful pass, with each legal zone entry, her team wakes up.

She slings the puck up to Bechs who catches it on the tape of his blade. He shuffles the puck to Elsa who shoots. Sophie crashes the crease. When Hyde bobbles the puck, unable to secure it or knock it away, she jabs at it with her stick.

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