The Hockey Life

PART SIXTY-FOUR: BRONZE AND GOLD
The next day was the game against Russia. Personally, I was excited about it. Patrick was too. I met up with Tess for the game, since Team Canada didn’t have any games that day. She was with Jonathan, of course.
“Nice job so far, Canada,” I told him. There was some sort of tension between us since he wasn’t on the team that I was rooting for. I couldn’t imagine how weird it was for Tess.
“The U.S. had a pretty good start, too,” Johnny admitted, looking at the players that were warming up on the ice.
“I think I’m going to grab a drink. You want one, Lean?” Tess wondered.
“Sure, I’ll come with,” I answered. We left our seats and Jonathan, the Canadian in a sea of American jerseys and shirts. “So, is it weird to cheer for Team Canada?” I asked, once we were away from him.
“A little. I mean, I would cheer for them normally, as long as they weren’t playing the U.S., but it’ll be awkward when the U.S. and Canada go at it,” she admitted. “I’ll cheer for him and be happy for him whenever he wins, of course, but he knows my team is Team U.S.A.”
“That’s why you should have picked an American. It makes the Olympics much easier,” I joked.
“Well, I’m stuck with him now. Maybe I can convert him?” she laughed. We got our drinks and headed back to our seats, where the Kane family had joined Jonathan, still leaving our seats empty. I hugged Donna and Patrick Senior and talked to Erica, Jessica, and Jacqueline before the game began. It turned out to be a great game. Russia and the U.S. were tied at two at the end of the third period, so the game went to overtime and then a shootout, which was won by T.J. Oshie. He seemed to become the hero of Team USA.
The next day was Slovakia against the United States, and the U.S. won 5-1. So far I was really enjoying watching Olympic hockey. Many games were high-scoring, and it was cool to see players from so many different NHL teams playing together as one team. To make it even better, Team USA was moving on up. They went to the quarterfinals against the Czech Republic, and they won that game 5-2. Women’s hockey was going well for the US as well, so the gold medal game was the day after the quarterfinal for the men’s team. Patrick and I attended it, as well as Johnny and Tess and even Dylan, since it turned out to be the US versus Canada. It was yet another great game, but Canada just barely beat the US. 3-2. After that game I was really hopeful that the men’s U.S. team could beat Canada to make up for what the women’s team couldn’t do.
Finally, Patrick and Jonathan got to play each other in the semifinals. It was the game I was most looking forward to, and I could say the same thing for Tess. We sat at the edge of our seats for almost the whole game, never missing a beat. Unfortunately, we waited and waited and waited for someone to score on our team. I really wanted it to be Patrick at first, but then I got desperate and just hoped that anyone in red white and blue would get the puck across the blue goal line. Nobody did on Team USA, and Canada was victorious, 1-0. I watched Patrick and Jonathan shake hands at the end of the game and I saw the sadness on Pat’s face.
“I didn’t even score. I had plenty of games and tons of opportunities, and I never once scored a goal,” he sighed, pacing in his room in the Olympic Village.
“It’s okay, Patrick. It’s not a big deal,” I told him, because it wasn’t.
“Everyone was expecting a lot from me, and all I gave them was a few assists. I was the only Blackhawk on Team USA and I gave them practically nothing,” he continued, clearly disagreeing with my opinion.
“Maybe people expected too much, then. You’ve gone through a whole lot these past few weeks, and the Olympics are stressful too. If they expected you to be the most amazing player in the world and score in every game and do a bunch of crazy shit on the ice, then they weren’t being realistic at all. Don’t worry about what anyone else says or thinks, babe,” I told him. He seemed to take every word to heart, and he even smiled a little.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right. I still could have done better, though.”
Despite the sad end to the great run for the United States hockey teams, the Olympic experience didn’t end on a negative note for anyone. Patrick and I still had a little bit of time left in Sochi, and we were going to spend it cheering on other teams and letting a few special people that they were in our wedding party.
For every bridesmaid, I put together little makeup bags that had the word Bridesmaid printed on them, and inside were cute little necessities for the day of the wedding like lip gloss, band-aids, gum, nail glue, deodorant, etc. The maid of honor one obviously was different, and a little better than the rest. As anyone could have guessed, it went to Tess, who was surprised at the way I asked her but not surprised at all that I wanted her to be the MOH. As for the rest, three more of the bridesmaid makeup bags went to the Kane sisters, who had basically become my sisters. They seemed pleasantly surprised, and I was glad to find out that they felt very honored that I wanted them to be a part of the wedding. Personally, I couldn’t believe they would ever think that they wouldn’t be a part of it. It was their brother’s wedding after all. The last makeup bag couldn’t be given to the final bridesmaid, since she wasn’t in Sochi with me. I didn’t want to wait to announce the big news to her, so I Skyped with her and held up the bag to let her know that I wanted her in the bridal party. Carly, the captain of my former college hockey team, was thrilled, and she couldn’t wait to hug me in person, or so she said.
Patrick’s choice for best man was probably as predictable as my choice for maid of honor, and asking him if he was okay with being in the wedding was slightly awkward after the results of the men’s hockey games. However, by the time Canada had won gold and Patrick had settled for his bronze medal, they were able to joke with each other about it, and Pat was glad to tell Johnny he wanted him as a best man.
Patrick was able to talk to some of the guys he wanted as groomsmen - others weren’t in Sochi. Toews was already taken care of, and Sharpy was asked to be a groomsman as well. He agreed to it, of course, and promised that he would make our wedding a night to remember as part of the wedding party. The other three choices that Pat had made were Shawzer, Saader, and my brother, Brian. We were able to Skype with Brian and ask him together while we showed him what it was like in Russia. He expected it and was excited. I had no worries about Shaw or Saad saying no, so Patrick decided to wait until he could see them in person to ask them.
Going back home to Chicago was bittersweet. I met a ton of amazing, talented people and the Olympics was such a cool experience. At the same time, though, Chicago was my home, and I missed it. I missed the rest of the Blackhawks players that hadn’t come to Sochi and the United Center and good old NHL hockey. I was sure that someday I would wish that I could go back and experience the two Olympic weeks all over again, but when I got into my bed in my apartment after a long plane ride, I didn’t care about anything at all except for sleep.

Notes