I arrived at the rink two hours early, standard for me on game day. Being a goalie, it is expected for us to have strange game day rituals and habits that we must follow to a T in order to feel prepared for the game. I began to put my gear in the dressing room we were assigned by the opposing team’s rink managers, and notice my good friend and teammate Hayden sitting in the room already.
“What are you doing here so early?” I asked him, a little confused.
“Honestly man, I thought our game was at 6:30 not 7:30.” He replied, which I found hilarious. After getting changed into my warm-up clothes and grabbing my foam-roller and lacrosse ball, I went upstairs to the seating area of the arena, looking for a good warm-up spot. I noticed an ideal spot in the far corner of the rink - perfect I thought to myself. I did some stretching, both static and dynamic; rolled out my legs and warmed up my eyes by throwing the lacrosse ball off the wall and catching it, before returning to the dressing room to get changed into my equipment for the game ahead. Once I was fully ready, it was time for the on-ice warm-up. It lasted 17 minutes with the zamboni coming on afterwards to give us a fresh sheet of ice to play on. I felt confident in the net, tracking the puck all the way in and off my body, and the team looked really good too; there was an electric energy in the air, as if the whole team was buzzing in unison. As I stepped out onto the ice after warm-up, I took a long look in the crowd in sheer awe. I had never played in front of a crowd that big; the jumbotron in the center of the ice had a display that showed just under 1000 people were in attendance for the game. Despite the nerves and excitement, very little action occurred in the first period, and the score was 2-0 for my team (the Mounties) after the first 20 minutes.
During the second period, things started to pick up a little bit. Odd-man rush after odd-man rush; a few powerplay chances for the Vets (opposing team); a few cross-crease backdoor attempts, all failed. We survived the flurry of action and even managed to score a shorthanded goal, putting us up 3-0 after 40 minutes. Ultimately in the third period, the final assault came. They were on us like flies on honey, beating us to every puck, winning every battle. It seemed as if they realized they were down 3-0 in their own building, and decided it was do or die. After a fantastic powerplay goal drawn up by our coach, the score was now 4-0, and the Vets realized they had nothing to lose. They took shots from all angles, throwing pucks on net to hope for a lucky bounce or deflection in their favour - and they got it. With little over 10 minutes left in the game, a centering pass from behind the net deflected off of a skate in front of me and went right between my legs, ending the shutout. Just as quickly as it happened, it was over. I skated out of my net and went to the corner before turning around and returning to my crease. This is ritual for me whenever there are long pauses between shots or whenever there is a goal scored. I did my best not to let it bug me, and my teammates reassured me that it was a fluke goal; subsequently promising that we would get the next one. They did not disappoint. In the dying moments of the third period, a shot from the top of the circle by our captain Alex, found its way through the various screens in front of the net, and was accurately placed in the top right corner of the net. Sidney Crosby would’ve been proud. Final score: 5-1 Mounties victory.
Following the game, there were many exchanges of “Great game!” or “Dude remember when…” as we got undressed and showered up. My cheeks were sore the next morning from all the smiling I did that night, not only because of the fun memories and the victory, because that is the story of how I won my first Junior Hockey game.
Written by Jack Fowler
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