I pushed through the glass doors of the Barrie Molson Center, and handed my ticket to the man at the door. He stamped it, and I walked into the arena. The ice surface was huge, and I was thrilled to see a young man on the ice. He was wearing number 8 for the Barrie Colts, and he was lining up at the blueline.

"It's Jake!" I said to my friend Ashley, pointing at the player.

On the back of his jersey, was the name BELANGER in bold lettering.

Ashley nodded, and dragged me to our seats.

Jake was our friend. We were in some of the same classes in school, and we knew him quite well. We had always known that he was good at hockey, but we had only recently started hearing his name buzzing around, with the NHL draft coming up in June.

I sat down, as the ref dropped the puck, and a centerman won the faceoff back to Jake. Jake took a hard slapshot, and the puck was caught by the Sarnia goalie. I clapped for Jake's attempt to score, as the ref lined the players up for the faceoff again.

"We already scored a goal, and we only missed the first 5 minutes of the game!" Ashley complained to me, gesturing at the scoreboard.

The puck was dropped, and the Sarnia centerman won the draw. He passed the puck back into the corner, and Jake saw an opportunity. He charged into the corner, stick extended to grab the puck. At the same time, an opposing defenseman was going for the puck. The Sarnia defenseman saw Jake going for the puck, so he slowed, dodging around Jake's shoulder to line up a hit.

"No!" I called.

The play folded out in slow motion, with Jake grabbing the puck, and trying to turn with it, while the opposing player followed through with the hit. He hit Jake's shoulder, and Jake lost his balance, careening into the boards. There was a massive crash, followed by silence. The ref blew the whistle, and skated over to Jake.

"No." I shivered. "This can't be happening."

Jake didn't move, and as I watched, a pool of blood formed on the ice around his head. His helmet had stayed on during the hit, but a trainer who had run across the ice was taking it off.

"No!" I screamed. "Not Jake!"

The trainer removed the helmet, and tossed it back toward the bench. Jake's head was soaked in sweat, and I couldn't see where the blood was coming from. The back of his head looked fine, but there was a dangerous amount of blood on the ice.

The trainer stood up, and put his arm up straight in the air, making a fist. The players looked worried, and a security guard ran to the Automated External Defibrillator on the wall. An alarm sounded in the arena, and one of the players skated the Defibrillator over to the trainer.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, the game will be postponed as a result of the unfortunate incident that has occurred." The PA announcer informed the crowd. "Please evacuate the arena as fast as possible, as we may need emergency workers to find a quick route to the ice."

I ignored the announcement and stayed in my seat. A team of doctors brought a stretcher out onto the ice, rolling Jake over onto his back. There was blood all over the front of the jersey, and coming out of his mouth. I gasped in horror, and looked away, only to turn and look again a few seconds later.

"How?" I whispered, praying for Jake.

He was loaded onto the stretcher and taken out of the arena, leaving a nervous vibe in the air as the arena was cleared of people.