U.S.A.
Going For Gold
February 20, 2014
When I stepped into the locker room I didn’t look up and walked over to my stall where my team USA jersey was hanging proudly. I took the sleeve of my jersey and ran my thumb over the patch that said “don’t drink and drive” then the date of Kristoff’s death. A tear rolled down my cheek and I felt someone put their hand on my shoulder and it was my roomy Amy.
“We’re all wearing the patches Anna.”
I looked at all of my teammates who had the same patch on all of their jerseys and tears just rushed down my face. I felt Amy’s and a few other girls group hug me as I let it out. When we heard coach came in we separated and sat down at our stalls. The locker room was dead silent as we all pulled on our jerseys and prepared ourselves for the biggest game in our lives. I stepped up next to my coach and he gave me a nod so I could give a speech.
“Great moments... are born from great opportunity. And that's what you have here, tonight, girls. That's what you've earned here tonight. One game. If we played 'em ten times, they might win nine. But not this game. Not tonight. Tonight, we skate with them. Tonight, we stay with them. And we shut them down because we can! Tonight, WE are the greatest hockey team in the world. You were born to be hockey players. Every one of you. And you were meant to be here tonight. This is your time. Their time is done. It's over. I'm sick and tired of hearing about what a great hockey team the Canadiens have. Screw 'em. This is your time. Now go out there and take it.”
I got a few laughs from some of the girls but everyone stood up and was cheering getting pumped from the game. I smiled and at the top of my lungs I yelled,
“WHAT TEAM!?”
All of the girls responded,
“USA!”
As we headed out to the tunnel I got a sick feeling in my stomach as I realized this would be my first Olympic Championship game that Kristoff wouldn’t be watching from the crowd with that old goofy grin he always had when I did good. I remembered him always telling the person next to him “that’s my girl right there” with a huge grin. I few tears rolled down my face but I didn’t dare let anyone see.
When I stepped on the ice everything seemed too good to be true. I looked at the crowd as I skated and right by Team USA’s bench I saw Patrick sitting there watching me. I felt myself go a bit red as I skated. When I looked over at Team Canada I saw Elsa and laughed. We hardly ever played against each other, except last Olympics.
Right before the puck dropped I skated over to the face off area where Elsa was waiting with her normal “I’m going to beat you” grin on her face. As hard as I tried I couldn’t smile, the pain of losing Kristoff just had to be reopened right before this game. I bent down to get ready for the puck drop and I could feel Elsa’s eyes on me so I looked up. She looked concerned and I could see her thinking how to get me out of this slump even though I wasn’t her teammate. The whole place was dead silent.
“Anna…. I THOUGHT YOU WERE RUSSIAN!”
That did it for me I almost busted out laughing and so did Elsa. It took us about 30 seconds to get our focus back and we both couldn’t look at each other. As the puck dropped I got automatic control by getting it away from Elsa, who was Team Canada’s best player and dangerous when she had the puck.
At about 12 minutes into the first period I got called for some shit penalty. I was so mad that I took my stick and slammed it against the ice making it break in multiple places and dropped my gloves while doing that. I skated to the box in a very ticked off mood. Like the mood where if you just looked at me wrong I would sock you in the face. I saw Elsa pick up my gloves and get a new stick for me from my bench and made her way over to the box. I could tell everyone was confused as hell.
“I think you may need these.”
“Thanks Elsa.”
“That was a shit call.”
“Yeah I know.”
I could tell she was trying to make me feel better, but it wasn’t working. I needed to be out on the ice.
“Hey Anna I need to tell you something.”
“What is it Elsa?”
She looked over her shoulder and leaned in and whispered,
“Penis.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. Elsa knew how to make me laugh even when I was in the worst moods. I watched the game in silence as I waited out my time in the box. I was practically out of the box when they let me out. I skated as fast as I could to our area and tried to stop Elsa since she had the puck. I tried to get in the way of the shot but I was a little off and the puck went in. I turned to Betty angry.
“You’re killin me Smalls!!!”
“Sorry Anna I… I tried…”
“It’s fine. Don’t let it go to your head. Play hard.”
I skated off to her side for the face off upset. If we wanted to win the Gold Medal we were going to have to play way harder than we were. When the horn sounded ending the first the score was 1-0 for Canada even though the shots were 30-20 in the USA’s favor.
I was the last one to get in the the locker room and everyone didn’t dare to make eye contact with me. Coach gave us all a long speech. Through out it I clenched my jaw trying not to bad mouth anyone on the team, at least while coach was talking.
“You all need to get your heads out of your asses if you want to win this damn game!”
“Amen to that coach.”
Everyone looked at me when I spoke up. I got up and stood next to coach with my arms crost my chest and tried to hold my anger back,
“We cannot be playing like this is some fucking throw away game in the States. This is the fucking Olympics. We can’t play like little whimps against Canada. We are playing a team that pretty much no one thinks we can beat. Well… we gotta show them that they are dead wrong. AM I RIGHT!?”
All the girls responded with “YEAH” and smiles on their faces. I could tell that they were ready to go out there and score. I got a eye roll from coach and he pulled me aside to talk.
“I knew I made you Captain for some reason.”
I laughed and made my way out to the tunnel with the girls.
As the second period progressed a lot of shit went down and Canada kept drawing penalties. All the chances kept frustrating me that we couldn’t get the puck in the net. Then it happened I saw Amy with the puck and I raced down the ice to keep up with her. When she noticed me she passed it to me and I knew for a fact I couldn’t get it passed the goalie when I was in the position I was in so I passed it back to Amy and it hit the bar and went in making it a tied game with only 1 minute left in the second. Amy and I both were shocked it went in, but we were thankful it did.
As hard as both teams tried neither of us could get it in the net and the buzzer to end the period sounded. When Elsa skated over by where I was I saw a grin on her face.
“See you in the third.”
“Oh you will see me.”
“Planning to be out more than normal?”
“Oh you know it Ice Queen.”
“Good luck with that Dagger.”
I laughed as I made it back to the USA dressing room. Elsa had always been known as the “Ice Queen” due to her playing hockey and how cold she could be off the ice. I was known as “Dagger” mainly because of a game Elsa and I played together and it was in OT and our defense was doing terrible but I had got the puck and shot it in and the goalie had said “jeez that was like a dagger going past me” so it kinda stuck.
The talk between periods was pretty much identical to the second period one except the fact that I wasn’t as pissed as I had been before the second. We all knew we had to score and not let Canada to win the game and that’s what we were going for.
When I stepped out on the ice in the third everything seemed odd. I was going against my best friend for the freaking Gold Medal. I took a breathe and skated. Everything that happened in that period would change me for the good and bad.
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I looked up at the clock with sweat pouring down my face. There was 5 minutes left in the third and the score was still tied. I went to the bench to get some rest so I could have a better chance at scoring. When I sat down my coach tapped my back.
“Good job Anna keep it up you’re doing great.”
I just nodded and watched the game. When I looked again there was 1:30 left in the third and I got back on the ice. I skated hard to where the puck was and stole it from someone on the Canadian team which I could tell made Elsa pissed. I was on a breakaway and I couldn’t believe the chance I had. I skated hard and when I got close to score I deked and then buried it up high on the right side top shelf making the score 2-1 for the USA. I skated to celly but the next thing I knew my head slammed against the boards since someone checked me from behind. There was a bad throbbing in my head so I took off my helmet while I was on the ice and held it in my hands. I looked over my shoulder to see who had hit me and all I could see was Elsa bitching at one of her teammates then grabbing them by their mask and slamming them on the ice. I tried my best but I just couldn’t get up.
When the pain in my head wasn’t as intense I started feeling pain in my right ankle. I tried my best to get up but once I put any weight on my right pain shot through me and I fell again. Tears were rushing down my face by the time people were helping me off the ice, one of those people being Elsa. I told everyone I’d get checked out once the game finished since there was only 30 seconds left.
The final buzzer went off and it was final, the USA had won the Gold Medal in the Olympics for Women’s hockey. I had help getting out on the ice so I could shake hands with the other team. The one person that helped me skate was Elsa, which got a lot of weird looks from the crowd but I didn’t care. The game announcer finally said, “What are these two captains? Best friends?” Elsa and I both laughed as I shook hands with Team Canada. When we got through the line every Team USA girl shook Elsa’s hand and said something nice from “good job out there” to “thanks for standing up or our captain”.
When I got back to the locker room all the girls were celebrating and laughing but I had to go to the med room and get checked. They concluded that I had a mild concussion and a broken ankle. I felt part of myself die, but at least I was able to get another gold. I had to stay in the room to get my ankle wrapped and a temporary boot on. I made my way back out so I could get my medal.
When I stepped out on the ice everyone in the crowd went crazy and were cheering so loud you couldn’t hear yourself think. When the medal was put around my neck the crowd went crazy again and everyone was chanting “USA! USA!” as loud as possible. I felt happy tears roll down my face as I waved to Patrick who was in the crowd and he gave me a thumbs up.
I got all my stuff together while I was in the locker room with some help from the girls since the crutches that I had made everything difficult. As I put my skates in my bag I heard someone come in and saw Patrick with a goofy grin on his face.
“Good job Anna. You played hard.”
“I think I played a little too hard don’t you think?”
I said looking down at my booted ankle with a little bit of a grimace on my face.
“I think you played hard enough. Now you have another gold medal and you were the reason the team got it, you had the winning goal.”
I smiled at Patrick who was trying to make me feel better.
“Wanna go patry?”
“Even with that on your leg?”
“It won’t stop me from celebrating a Olympic Gold Medal.”
Patrick smiled as he grabbed my bag for me and we headed out. I never knew I could feel this free with someone like Patrick, but something about him just made me want to let go and have a good time.
When I stepped into the locker room I didn’t look up and walked over to my stall where my team USA jersey was hanging proudly. I took the sleeve of my jersey and ran my thumb over the patch that said “don’t drink and drive” then the date of Kristoff’s death. A tear rolled down my cheek and I felt someone put their hand on my shoulder and it was my roomy Amy.
“We’re all wearing the patches Anna.”
I looked at all of my teammates who had the same patch on all of their jerseys and tears just rushed down my face. I felt Amy’s and a few other girls group hug me as I let it out. When we heard coach came in we separated and sat down at our stalls. The locker room was dead silent as we all pulled on our jerseys and prepared ourselves for the biggest game in our lives. I stepped up next to my coach and he gave me a nod so I could give a speech.
“Great moments... are born from great opportunity. And that's what you have here, tonight, girls. That's what you've earned here tonight. One game. If we played 'em ten times, they might win nine. But not this game. Not tonight. Tonight, we skate with them. Tonight, we stay with them. And we shut them down because we can! Tonight, WE are the greatest hockey team in the world. You were born to be hockey players. Every one of you. And you were meant to be here tonight. This is your time. Their time is done. It's over. I'm sick and tired of hearing about what a great hockey team the Canadiens have. Screw 'em. This is your time. Now go out there and take it.”
I got a few laughs from some of the girls but everyone stood up and was cheering getting pumped from the game. I smiled and at the top of my lungs I yelled,
“WHAT TEAM!?”
All of the girls responded,
“USA!”
As we headed out to the tunnel I got a sick feeling in my stomach as I realized this would be my first Olympic Championship game that Kristoff wouldn’t be watching from the crowd with that old goofy grin he always had when I did good. I remembered him always telling the person next to him “that’s my girl right there” with a huge grin. I few tears rolled down my face but I didn’t dare let anyone see.
When I stepped on the ice everything seemed too good to be true. I looked at the crowd as I skated and right by Team USA’s bench I saw Patrick sitting there watching me. I felt myself go a bit red as I skated. When I looked over at Team Canada I saw Elsa and laughed. We hardly ever played against each other, except last Olympics.
Right before the puck dropped I skated over to the face off area where Elsa was waiting with her normal “I’m going to beat you” grin on her face. As hard as I tried I couldn’t smile, the pain of losing Kristoff just had to be reopened right before this game. I bent down to get ready for the puck drop and I could feel Elsa’s eyes on me so I looked up. She looked concerned and I could see her thinking how to get me out of this slump even though I wasn’t her teammate. The whole place was dead silent.
“Anna…. I THOUGHT YOU WERE RUSSIAN!”
That did it for me I almost busted out laughing and so did Elsa. It took us about 30 seconds to get our focus back and we both couldn’t look at each other. As the puck dropped I got automatic control by getting it away from Elsa, who was Team Canada’s best player and dangerous when she had the puck.
At about 12 minutes into the first period I got called for some shit penalty. I was so mad that I took my stick and slammed it against the ice making it break in multiple places and dropped my gloves while doing that. I skated to the box in a very ticked off mood. Like the mood where if you just looked at me wrong I would sock you in the face. I saw Elsa pick up my gloves and get a new stick for me from my bench and made her way over to the box. I could tell everyone was confused as hell.
“I think you may need these.”
“Thanks Elsa.”
“That was a shit call.”
“Yeah I know.”
I could tell she was trying to make me feel better, but it wasn’t working. I needed to be out on the ice.
“Hey Anna I need to tell you something.”
“What is it Elsa?”
She looked over her shoulder and leaned in and whispered,
“Penis.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. Elsa knew how to make me laugh even when I was in the worst moods. I watched the game in silence as I waited out my time in the box. I was practically out of the box when they let me out. I skated as fast as I could to our area and tried to stop Elsa since she had the puck. I tried to get in the way of the shot but I was a little off and the puck went in. I turned to Betty angry.
“You’re killin me Smalls!!!”
“Sorry Anna I… I tried…”
“It’s fine. Don’t let it go to your head. Play hard.”
I skated off to her side for the face off upset. If we wanted to win the Gold Medal we were going to have to play way harder than we were. When the horn sounded ending the first the score was 1-0 for Canada even though the shots were 30-20 in the USA’s favor.
I was the last one to get in the the locker room and everyone didn’t dare to make eye contact with me. Coach gave us all a long speech. Through out it I clenched my jaw trying not to bad mouth anyone on the team, at least while coach was talking.
“You all need to get your heads out of your asses if you want to win this damn game!”
“Amen to that coach.”
Everyone looked at me when I spoke up. I got up and stood next to coach with my arms crost my chest and tried to hold my anger back,
“We cannot be playing like this is some fucking throw away game in the States. This is the fucking Olympics. We can’t play like little whimps against Canada. We are playing a team that pretty much no one thinks we can beat. Well… we gotta show them that they are dead wrong. AM I RIGHT!?”
All the girls responded with “YEAH” and smiles on their faces. I could tell that they were ready to go out there and score. I got a eye roll from coach and he pulled me aside to talk.
“I knew I made you Captain for some reason.”
I laughed and made my way out to the tunnel with the girls.
As the second period progressed a lot of shit went down and Canada kept drawing penalties. All the chances kept frustrating me that we couldn’t get the puck in the net. Then it happened I saw Amy with the puck and I raced down the ice to keep up with her. When she noticed me she passed it to me and I knew for a fact I couldn’t get it passed the goalie when I was in the position I was in so I passed it back to Amy and it hit the bar and went in making it a tied game with only 1 minute left in the second. Amy and I both were shocked it went in, but we were thankful it did.
As hard as both teams tried neither of us could get it in the net and the buzzer to end the period sounded. When Elsa skated over by where I was I saw a grin on her face.
“See you in the third.”
“Oh you will see me.”
“Planning to be out more than normal?”
“Oh you know it Ice Queen.”
“Good luck with that Dagger.”
I laughed as I made it back to the USA dressing room. Elsa had always been known as the “Ice Queen” due to her playing hockey and how cold she could be off the ice. I was known as “Dagger” mainly because of a game Elsa and I played together and it was in OT and our defense was doing terrible but I had got the puck and shot it in and the goalie had said “jeez that was like a dagger going past me” so it kinda stuck.
The talk between periods was pretty much identical to the second period one except the fact that I wasn’t as pissed as I had been before the second. We all knew we had to score and not let Canada to win the game and that’s what we were going for.
When I stepped out on the ice in the third everything seemed odd. I was going against my best friend for the freaking Gold Medal. I took a breathe and skated. Everything that happened in that period would change me for the good and bad.
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I looked up at the clock with sweat pouring down my face. There was 5 minutes left in the third and the score was still tied. I went to the bench to get some rest so I could have a better chance at scoring. When I sat down my coach tapped my back.
“Good job Anna keep it up you’re doing great.”
I just nodded and watched the game. When I looked again there was 1:30 left in the third and I got back on the ice. I skated hard to where the puck was and stole it from someone on the Canadian team which I could tell made Elsa pissed. I was on a breakaway and I couldn’t believe the chance I had. I skated hard and when I got close to score I deked and then buried it up high on the right side top shelf making the score 2-1 for the USA. I skated to celly but the next thing I knew my head slammed against the boards since someone checked me from behind. There was a bad throbbing in my head so I took off my helmet while I was on the ice and held it in my hands. I looked over my shoulder to see who had hit me and all I could see was Elsa bitching at one of her teammates then grabbing them by their mask and slamming them on the ice. I tried my best but I just couldn’t get up.
When the pain in my head wasn’t as intense I started feeling pain in my right ankle. I tried my best to get up but once I put any weight on my right pain shot through me and I fell again. Tears were rushing down my face by the time people were helping me off the ice, one of those people being Elsa. I told everyone I’d get checked out once the game finished since there was only 30 seconds left.
The final buzzer went off and it was final, the USA had won the Gold Medal in the Olympics for Women’s hockey. I had help getting out on the ice so I could shake hands with the other team. The one person that helped me skate was Elsa, which got a lot of weird looks from the crowd but I didn’t care. The game announcer finally said, “What are these two captains? Best friends?” Elsa and I both laughed as I shook hands with Team Canada. When we got through the line every Team USA girl shook Elsa’s hand and said something nice from “good job out there” to “thanks for standing up or our captain”.
When I got back to the locker room all the girls were celebrating and laughing but I had to go to the med room and get checked. They concluded that I had a mild concussion and a broken ankle. I felt part of myself die, but at least I was able to get another gold. I had to stay in the room to get my ankle wrapped and a temporary boot on. I made my way back out so I could get my medal.
When I stepped out on the ice everyone in the crowd went crazy and were cheering so loud you couldn’t hear yourself think. When the medal was put around my neck the crowd went crazy again and everyone was chanting “USA! USA!” as loud as possible. I felt happy tears roll down my face as I waved to Patrick who was in the crowd and he gave me a thumbs up.
I got all my stuff together while I was in the locker room with some help from the girls since the crutches that I had made everything difficult. As I put my skates in my bag I heard someone come in and saw Patrick with a goofy grin on his face.
“Good job Anna. You played hard.”
“I think I played a little too hard don’t you think?”
I said looking down at my booted ankle with a little bit of a grimace on my face.
“I think you played hard enough. Now you have another gold medal and you were the reason the team got it, you had the winning goal.”
I smiled at Patrick who was trying to make me feel better.
“Wanna go patry?”
“Even with that on your leg?”
“It won’t stop me from celebrating a Olympic Gold Medal.”
Patrick smiled as he grabbed my bag for me and we headed out. I never knew I could feel this free with someone like Patrick, but something about him just made me want to let go and have a good time.
great chapter
2/4/14