It’s eight o’clock when I wake up the next morning. Before I get up, I say two “Hail Mary’s”, an “Our Father” and two “Glory Be (s)”. Then, I shower. The warm shower feels good. I get out, put on my robe, and dry my hair. When all that is done, I open my closet to pick out an outfit for the day. I go with jeans, my NY city t-shirt, and my Rangers sweatshirt. I can smell mom’s pancakes. I run down the stairs, where Bobbie, Mom and Carl are waiting.

“Morning, sleepyhead”, Carl says. I smile. “Good morning, Carl”, I reply as I hug him. Bobbie turns in his chair. “That game tired you out yesterday, didn’t it”? “Yes. That and trying to keep little Crosby quiet”, I say, rubbing my eyes. Mom puts my plate down. “When she came over in the parking lot last night, what did she say”, she asks. I tell them everything that was said between us last night. When I’m done, no one says anything for about a minute. Carl shakes his head. “She’s doing what her brother was doing to me last game: teasing and making fun of siblings”, he says. “What she is doing is bad enough. If you were boys, or played in a tougher league, she might have done something to you during the game”, Bobbie states. I eat one of my pancakes before replying. “I’m not worried about her talk. She does that against every team that she plays against. I’m just worried about her scoring during a game”, I say.

“Go ahead and get it”, Carl says to me. He has just gotten home from practice, so its 10:30. I smile and get one of my favorite Michigan disks, Carl’s first game with Michigan with his first goal in collage. I put it in and sit on Carl’s lap. He wraps his arms around me and holds me tight. “I can’t believe you have this on disk”, Mom exclaims. Carl and I both turn and smile at her. “Of course they have it on disk. It’s Carl’s first game. Lizzy loves to watch it”, Bobbie says, winking at me. I smirk at him. Carl nudges me in the side. “Are you going to go back in time for this”, he asks. Mom and Bobbie both stare at him. “Yes, Carl. I always go back in time for this”, I reply, punching his arm.


Mom and Bobbie have confused looks on their faces. “Sometimes, when we watch a game from my Michigan days, Lizzy goes back, in a daydream, to that particular moment we’re watching. She did that three times while we were watching the Senior Night game”, Carl explains. Mom and Bobbie nod. “I get it. It’s like her memories from that game or moment are showing up in her mind, so she goes back”, Mom says. Carl nods. I look at the TV. Ten minutes have passed in the first period. I look Carl in the eye. “I’m going back”, I say. Our seats are behind the bench. This was Carl’s first game…



I point Carl out to Bobbie. “There he is, Bobbie! Number 12”, I say. Bobbie wraps his arms around my shoulders and whispers something Swedish into my ear. I smile and reply in Swedish. He looks back at the ice. He holds up twelve fingers, then points back at Carl. I know what he’s telling me: “Carl is wearing 12”. I smile and nod. I look to my left. My mom and dad are sitting down, their eyes moving fast. I tap them on the shoulders. When I have their attention, I hold up twelve fingers, then point at the ice. “Carl. Twelve”, I say. Mom says something in Swedish. I reply to her in Swedish. Dad looks over. I show him my twelve fingers. “Carl”, I say as I point to my brother. At that moment, Carl looks up at me. I give him a warm smile and hold up one finger. “Number one”, I yell as I point at his jersey. He smiles and waves, the special wave that he does just for me… I watch as Carl gets the puck from his teammate and sprints down the center of the ice. “Go, Carl”, I yell as I stand up. I watch as he does a move and shoots. GOAL! I jump and down like a little kid. I turn to Bobbie and hug him, tears coming down my cheeks. Out of the corner of my eye, I see mom and dad hugging and pointing at the ice. I turn my head and watch Carl skate back to the bench. Mom and Dad yell at him in Swedish. He turns to look at them. I watch mom blow him kisses and dad air high-five him. Carl smiles and waves at them and Bobbie. Then, he turns his head in my direction. Tears are filling my eyes. Carl taps the twelve on his jersey, then holds up one finger. I know what he is telling me: “#12 is #1”. I smile and tap my shirt. There is a picture of Carl and me on it, and underneath the picture it says “Brother and Sister forever”. He smiles at that.



I feel someone shaking me back to reality. I blink my eyes and shake my head. Carl is pointing at the screen. I turn to a sight that makes me smile. It’s Carl celebrating his goal. “I remember. It’s one of my favorite moments from your Michigan days”, I say, hugging my brother. Mom comes back with beers for her, Carl, and Bobbie, and iced tea for me. I sip my tea and feel it run down my throat. I turn to mom. “Do you remember the shirt I had on during this game? It had a picture of Carl and me on it and underneath it says “Brother and Sister Forever””, I ask. “Yes. I remember having it made large so that you could grow into it”, she says. I smile. “I still have the shirt. It fits me fine now”, I exclaim.






Putting my tea down, I race up to my room to get the shirt. I visit Carl’s room also to get the puck that he’d used to score that goal. He has it in a special case, so I bring the case with the puck in it down. I hand mom both the shirt and the case. She takes them and looks them over. She turns to Carl. “I can’t believe that after four years, you still have the puck”, she says. Carl takes the case from her with a smile. “Mom, I’ll always have it. It’s a special puck. I’ve other pucks in cases too”, he says. I sit on Bobbie’s lap and listen. “What other pucks do you have”, Bobbie asks. Carl thinks for a minute. “The puck that I used to score the two goals on Senior night. The puck from the big chill. My first NHL goal puck. The puck from my last goal at Michigan. There is another thing that I have hanging up in my room. (He winks at me as he says this). It’s the Swedish flag that I received on Senior Night”, he replies. I smile and run into his lap. “I remember you getting that flag. I’m going to have a flashback to that”, I say, looking up at Carl. The game was over; the seniors had their flags and were skating around the ice…

“This is special night for Carl, isn’t it”, Bobbie whispers into my ear. I smile as I watch my brother and the other seniors skate around the ice. “Not just for Carl. The other seniors, this is their night, too”, I reply. I look over the group on the ice. “There’s Chad”, I say to Bobbie, pointing at one of our senior defensemen. Chad Langlais was one of the toughest defensemen in the CCHA. I’m not talking about in terms of being able to hit. In his four years here, he has barley missed any games. I liked to call him “U of M’s Nick Lidstrom”. He always smiled when I said that. That’s because he knew it was true. He was proud of barley missing games, but he didn’t brag about it. Now, as I watched him skate with his flag held high, I was glad he hardly missed games. He didn’t score every night, but he was a good puck mover. A nudge from Bobbie broke my train of thought. I looked over at where the seniors were. I watch something happen that made me want to cry and smile at the same time. The fans passed a Swedish flag over the glass to Carl. That little action made my eyes water. I knew that the fans here appreciated him, and that he was a special player, but seeing him get the Swedish flag made me realize just how much he was loved here. “He’s special. The fans are sure letting him know that he is loved”, Mom says.

I sigh and rest my head against the couch. Carl looks over at me. “Do you remember what I told you when we were driving home that night”, I ask. Mom and Bobbie look at Carl, waiting for him to answer. “Yes. You said: ‘You’re a special player, Carl. The fans at Yost are never going to forget you. The impact that you’ve made on this team and on this school is big. Being the first Swede to graduate from that school is not only special, it’s an honor. I’ve known and been with you my whole life, and yet, whenever I look at you, I see someone special. These fans are the same way. They see something special, and they’re never going to forget it. The opening for Swedes has just gotten bigger, and it is all because of you. You’re special… and you’re my brother’”.



Mom stares at Carl. “That is a very motivational speech”, she says. I reposition myself in Bobbie’s lap. “I wanted it to be. Not only is it motivation, it’s true”, I say. Carl’s eyes fill with tears. “Are you sure it’s true”, he asks. I smile. “Carl, you should know the answer to that question. You know for a fact I wouldn’t have said it if it wasn’t true. Even now, as a NHL player, whenever I look at you, I see someone special”, I tell him. I can see Carl biting his lip. I walk over to him and give him a hug.

I hear my phone ringing up in my room. I race up to answer it. When I see whose number it is, I smile. “Hi, Chad”, I say into the phone. “Hey! I was wondering where you were. You haven’t called me in a while, miss I’ll-call-often”. “I was busy”, I retort. I hear Chad snort into the phone. “Sure, you were busy sweet-talking A.J”, he says. I roll my eyes. “Quit teasing me! How’s your team doing”, I ask. “Fine. We’re doing better than we were earlier in the year”. I smile. “You guys should be doing well. U-of-M did well when they had a good puck-moving defender”, I say, teasing. I hear Chad laughing. “I’m surprised Carl hasn’t called me yet”, he says. “Then, you haven’t heard what happened between him and Crosby last game”, I reply. I hear him suck in his breath. “What happened?” I tell him about Crosby going after Carl and smack-talking him. I also tell him what went on between me and Crosby’s younger sister. There is silence on the other end when I am done. “Tell Carl to be careful the next time the Rangers play them. Crosby could cause trouble. As for you, watch out for Crosby’s sister. I’m afraid she could cause big trouble for you”, he finally says. I swallow. “Thanks for the advice, Chad. What do you mean ‘big trouble’”, I ask. “Well, she could find your facebook or twitter and pretend to be you. She could write stuff on there that could make you lose your friends, or your friends could lose their trust in you”, he replies. I’m finding it hard to hold back my tears. “Could Crosby do the same thing to Carl”, I ask. “Yes, he could. But, I think he would try to take Carl out of the game”, Chad replies. I gasp and swallow hard. “He wouldn’t do that! The Rangers need Carl out there! They need his speed”, I say. “Easy, girl, easy. I didn’t mean to make you mad. But, I’m just saying that Crosby could be mean enough to do something like that. It might not, and I’m hoping, it won’t happen. But, still…” “You never know what could happen in hockey”, I finish for him. We say good-bye and hang up. I sit on my bed for a minute, then I go back downstairs.

I tap Carl on the shoulder. “Can I talk to you for a minute? In private”, I ask. I lead him into the kitchen. I tell him what Chad said. He nervously looks at me. “Crosby might knock me out? Why”, he asks. “Maybe because he knows they rely on your speed. Just be careful, okay”, I reply. “I’ll be careful. I’m more worried about what little Crosby is going to do to you”, he says, placing both hands on my shoulders. “I know. I’ll be careful”, I reply. He wraps me in a hug. “You’d better go check twitter and facebook. She might’ve put something out already”, he says. I run to the computer and fire it up. I check twitter first. I see little Crosby’s post: “Like brother, like sister. Both Carl Hagelin and his sister have speed, but they can’t score”. I bite back a scream as I reply to her post. “We can score. I’m second on my team in scoring. We just don’t score as much as you and Sidney do”. I run to where Carl and the rest of my family are sitting. I fill Bobbie and Mom in on my conversation with Chad, then tell Carl about the post little Crosby put up. “That’s all she said? Well, that’s good. I mean, we can score. We just…” “Don’t score as much as they do”, I finish.
Next, I check facebook. I breathe a sigh of relief when I don’t see a post. I check a post from A.J. It’s a picture of me standing in front of the Empire State Building. Underneath the picture it says: “While my girlfriends decks out in the Big Apple, I’m stuck in a classroom at college”. I smirk and laugh as I type a comment. Carl comes over and reads A.J’s post and my comment. He laughs. “Well, A.J better get his butt over here if he wants to deck out in New York”. Just then, the ring for text messages goes off on my phone. It’s from A.J: “Hey, girl! Didn’t tell you this, but my plane lands in New York at two. Can’t wait to see you!” I turn to face my brother. “You planned this”, I say. “No. I had nothing to do with this.” I run to where mom and Bobbie are. I tell them about the text from A.J, then frown. Mom looks at me. “What are you frowning about? I thought you liked it when A.J comes to visit”. I chew on my lip. “I do. It’s just… not at the same time as you guys are here. He planned to come at a bad time. I don’t want to hurt his feelings by not hanging out with him, but family is more important”, I say. “How about this: Carl was planning on taking mom and I around the city. You’ve already seen it. A.J’s plane lands at two, right? (I nod in reply.) We’re going to be looking for a while. So, during the time we’re out, you can hang out here with A.J. Then, when we come back, the four of us can do something together”, Bobbie says. “I know A.J has a couple of cousins living here. I bet he’s going to want to hang out with them”, Carl says. I look over at him. “I’m going to go say the rosary. I’ll call him when I am done”, I say.

Saying the rosary makes me happy. I feel better and more willing to do things after I say it. After I finish, I dial A.J’s number. “Hi, beautiful”, he answers. I smile. “A.J, can we talk about your trip here? I love it when you visit, but…” I tell him about having a couple of my family members here. Then, I tell him Bobbie’s suggestion. “… And Carl says you have a few cousins living here. When you are done hanging out with me, you can visit them”. We discuss some things we can do while he is here. “Carl has a game tomorrow night. We can all go to that”, I say. A.J agrees, like I knew he would. We talk for a few more minutes, and then we hang up.