The Hockey Life

PART SEVENTY-ONE: ELIMINATION
After Patrick and I had kissed and made up (quite literally), things got better again. Still busy as hell, but better. Playoffs continued, and the Hawks moved on to the second round of the series, during which they needed to beat the Minnesota Wild. In the middle of all that, Patrick stepped up with the wedding planning. We did a cake tasting together, and we agreed on red velvet. We found time to get a tux picked out for him and he reserved hotel rooms for guests that would be traveling to get to the wedding. We were right on schedule with almost everything, so I felt a lot better about it. I was finally able to just focus on my job for a little bit, and it was the same for Patrick.
It only took six games out of the possible seven for the Hawks to tame the Wild. I knew they could do it, so it honestly wasn’t surprising. It was exciting though - playoff hockey always was. We had to wait impatiently to find out who Pat and his team would be facing next. It was between the Anaheim Ducks and the L.A. Kings, we just had to wait for the series to end to find out who. In the end, the Kings won, and I honestly was happy about that. We had defeated the Kings in the Western Conference final a year before, so I really felt like we could do it again.
Game one was a blast. It was at the United Center, so of course it was a lot of fun. Even though I now worked at every game and I couldn’t just sit back and watch with the rest of the fans, I still enjoyed it all. I got to go to every game and be right there with the team, so I couldn’t complain, especially when it came to the playoffs. Every round I swear things got crazier, louder, rowdier, and more intense. The Western Conference was the most insane round yet. However, it was only game one.
Game two was a different story. Things were going great until the Hawks couldn’t manage to score any more and the Kings couldn’t manage to stop scoring. The final score was 6-2 at the United Center, and a lot of fans left early, unable to watch the Kings beat us by any more than they already had. It was a disappointing game, but I encouraged everyone on the team. The series was tied 1-1. It was early, and we still had a lot of time. We could grab the lead on the road, no problem. Or so I thought.
Game three and four were away games, and this time the Hawks couldn’t find a way to beat the Kings. We weren’t doing so good, and the whole team was frustrated. The series was 1-3 Kings at that point, and every player knew they needed to step it up. The Kings needed only one more win to advance and kick us out of the race for the Cup. We needed two more wins in a row to even have a chance to dethrone them. Fortunately for us, we were back at home for game five. Home ice was always an advantage. It gave the Hawks a huge chance to win, and they didn’t want to let that chance slip through their fingertips.
They didn’t let it get away. They won 5-4, and the United Center truly lived up to its nickname of the Madhouse on Madison. We headed back to the Staples Center for game six, but the fact that it was an away game just made the Hawks more serious. They got another win, 4-3 this time, and I was so psyched for game seven. The series was feeling like the Stanley Cup Final, and I took it that seriously. So did the Blackhawks. They got really pumped up for the final home game of the series, and it was clear that the fans were equally ready.
The game was intense and close pretty much the whole time, it really was. I was on the edge of my seat towards the end, and it went to overtime, of course. Heart attack hockey was the way the Western Conference Final had to end. Each team had a million chances and I almost thought the puck went in both nets about a thousand times. And then Martinez of the Kings took a shot. I could practically feel my heart breaking inside my body as I watched the puck go in the back of the net. The Hawks had lost the series. They could have advanced to the Final and won the Cup two years in a row, but they didn’t make it that far.
When I saw the looks on the Hawks’ faces, I wanted to cry. They were so upset and disappointed. They had wanted this so bad, and they fought long and hard for it. They did everything they could, but it just wasn’t enough. That was devastating to them. Even so, they shook the hands of everyone on the Kings. Despite the fact that they lost, the goal horns went off so they could lift their sticks in the air one last time, like they usually did after victories. They accepted that it was over.
Talks with the media usually happened almost immediately after games, it seemed, but this time I did my best to delay that. I got to the locker room first, and I made comments to every player as they walked in, fist bumping them all. I told them that they fought hard and had a great season, because they did. I didn’t want them to dwell on the negative. It was hard not to, but they couldn’t, and neither could I.
Patrick was the last one to walk in and I didn’t let him get past me. He looked physically upset still, so I pulled him into a bone-crushing hug. “I’m proud of you. I’m so, so proud of all of you. It was an amazing season, and you fought down to the last minute. You could have let the series end at 1-4, but you battled to change that, and you did. You have to realize that you were great out there,” I rambled. It all came from the heart, though. I meant every single bit of what I said, and Pat knew it. He believed it. When I let him go and he joined his team in speaking to the media, he let them know that even though it was a sad end, it wasn’t a really terrible loss. He hoped that the fans were proud of the season they had, like I was. The bandwagon fans would move on, but I knew that once the pain was gone, everyone else would be okay. They would celebrate their team and count down the days until the next season started. They would get over it.
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With the hockey season coming to a close for the Blackhawks, a lot of things changed. There suddenly was a lot more time to get things done plus actually get out and have some fun. The first thing that Patrick did was shave and get his hair cut. He considered keeping the beard, but changed his mind. I honestly wasn’t complaining about that at all. It actually seemed better this year than it usually was, but after a long run of playoff hockey, it was nice to see him clean-shaven again. Other than that, we tried to stay on schedule with wedding planning and preparation. We were actually ahead, except for engagement pictures.
Since we already had photos taken during the proposal, we hesitated to get any engagement pictures done. When we got the proposal pictures, some of them were so perfect. I told Pat that I would be okay with just the photos we already had, but he knew that deep down, I’d love to have more. He secretly contacted his photographer friend and set up a date for us to get more pictures taken, so I was surprised by him after the playoffs had been over for the Hawks for almost a week.
“Good morning,” he said when my eyes opened one morning in June. I was barely awake, and I yawned before I could even answer him.
“Good morning,” I echoed him.
“Your hair is looking pretty good,” he chuckled softly, and I reached up and ran my fingers through it. I couldn’t imagine what kind of bed head I must have had.
“Is it crazy or something?” I asked as I blindly attempted to fix it.
“A little bit,” Patrick admitted. “You might want to fix it before we go to the United Center today.”
“The United Center? What for?” I wondered as I racked my brain. The Blackhawks‘ season was over, so why on earth would we have to go?
“Remember how you told me you didn’t want any engagement pictures taken but I knew you were lying?”
“Yes.” I grinned guiltily.
“I talked to my friend who took our proposal pictures and he said he’d take some for us. I may or may not have also talked to Tess and found out that you would have liked to get them done at the UC.” I smiled at this, a little more awake now.
“You didn’t have to do that, Pat. You’ve already been doing a lot,” I told him.
“I know I didn’t have to, but I wanted to. We’re supposed to be at the United Center at eleven, and it’s nine-thirty now,” he explained.
“We better get up, then. I have to shower and fix my ridiculous hair,” I laughed.
“Yeah, I need to fix mine too,” Patrick decided.
“Yes, because you have so much of it right now,” I rolled my eyes. His post playoffs haircuts were bittersweet. Everything looked nice and clean and I usually liked his hair short, but at the same time, I missed his curls.
Patrick and I had yogurt for a quick breakfast and got ready. We picked out a couple different outfits. We would take some pictures with clean and simple outfits and then, since there was a hockey theme, we’d take jersey pictures as well. We headed to the UC and got there right on time. We met up with the photographer, who was excited to work with us a little less secretively this time.
The photo shoot ended up being a huge success. We had a bunch of great shots that we would have to choose from, and I actually dreaded having to narrow it down to only a few when it came time to order them. Even though they all were great, I definitely had favorites. My top picks were the one taken of the back of us while we were both holding hands and skating in our jerseys and the one where I was in my trainer jacket sitting on the ledge by the bench and he was standing in full uniform, kissing me. He liked those two a lot as well.
After the photo shoot was over with, we met up with Jonathan and Tess for lunch. We ended up going shopping together afterwards, just because. We hadn’t gone on a double date in a long time, and even though this one was pretty casual, it was a lot of fun. Just because the Hawks had been eliminated, that didn’t mean we couldn’t still have a fantastic summer. We would find a way to make it just as good as the last one if it was the last thing we did.

Notes