I heard Kanye West's Mercy as I headed down the tunnel toward the ice, turning the corner and holding up each leg in turn for the equipment managers to take my skate guards.

I stepped up to the open door leading to the ice, and took a step onto the ice. I felt my skate blades dig into the ice as I moved slightly.

"Hey Jakie!" I nodded at Mike, as he went zipping past on a lap around the ice.

I skated slowly toward the bench, one glove under the other arm, as I wiped my visor clean with the sleeve of my practice jersey.

I looked into the stands, and saw the Butlers behind the bench. Avia waved at me, and I tapped the glass in front of her face with my stick blade. Shay was holding a camera up, and I knocked over the puck tower on our bench.

"Here! Here!" Dustin was bursting across the ice, and I hit him with a perfect pass.

I turned back to the butlers, stickhandling a puck around. I balanced the puck on the tip of my blade, and flipped it over the glass to Avia. She smiled, and I tapped the glass in front of her face again, causing her to flinch and duck.

"Hey Mikey! Hit me!" I called across the ice, skating away from the bench.

Mike shot a puck directly onto my tape, and I was off, dodging my way through obstacles, toward the net.

"Yeah, yeah!" Dustin came up beside me, and I fed him with a backhand pass.

He potted the puck top right corner, and I fist bumped with him.

Coach came onto the ice, and blew the whistle. I skated toward center ice, and stood there, waiting, leaning on my stick.