𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓

chapter 20

today was the day. we were about to verse team iceland. everyone was in the locker room getting ready. adam had suddenly walked in.

"i woke up, and the pain was gone." he slowly turned his stick back and forth. i was quite surprised to say the least. though i had remembered we filled his spot with russ.

"adam i'm sorry, but we already have a full roster," coach bombay told the tall blonde. russ was about to take off his jersey, but charlie stopped him.

"he can have my spot." everyone looked at the boy shockingly. charlie walked up to both adam and coach. "it's what i can do for the team. let me do it," he told them both.

"charlie, i need you on the bench, coaching right there with me." everyone cheered for charlie. that was the reason he was put as captain.

the next thing i knew, they opened the doors to let us out onto the ice. the whole crowd cheered wildly as we began our warm ups.

red, white, and blue was scattered everywhere. people held signs with team usa, all the way! i couldn't believe where i was standing.

we skated on our half of the rink; both forwards and backwards. then we began warming up both of our goalies with taking shots on them.

my gut had this ecstatic feeling in it that wouldn't go away. suddenly, there was a familiar whistle sound i had heard from behind me.

as i turned around, i nearly fell over from what i saw. jacob, jenny, davier, katie, ethan, and honesty all stood together. i waved over at them before turning my focus back to warm ups.

a wide smile was stuck on my face as we finished our warm ups. my own brother, sister, and best friends flew out here just to see my play. i couldn't believe it.

coach blew his whistle for us to gather around together. he looked at each of us with a bright smile on his face. "heads high! stand tall! fly straight! usa."

"all the way!" we all shouted together. the crowd erupted into cheers. clapping, yelling, and whistling filed my ears.

averman took face off and as soon as the puck was dropped, the iceland player shoved him down. i knew tonight iceland would be extra rough.

they slid the puck down to goldberg who quickly went behind the net to stop it. he held it for guy who came whizzing by to pick it up. 

though just as he was about to, he had a hard hit into the glass. though he quickly got back up and was skating towards iceland. connie was cheering him on as she sat next to me; how adorable.

the puck was down in our area. an iceland player took a slap shot to our net, but goldberg was quick to save it. everyone jumped up into cheer for him.

i guess iceland was mad he saved it as someone came behind him and tripped him, making the net wide open. just as goldberg was about to jump back, they made a wrap-around and shot the puck in.

i groaned out of frustration. "how does this stupid ref not call that. oh my gosh, you need to get your-"

though i was cut off when coach bombay rested his hand on my shoulder and had that look on his face. i sat back on the bench in a huff.

"line change!" coach called out to our team. "mymy, jessie, russ." i looked at jessie who sat next to me. a small smirk appeared on his face. he held out his fist in front of me.

"ready?" he asked me. i bumped my fist into his. "more than i'll ever be." the three of us hopped over the boards and went onto the ice.

i took the left wing and stood next to some guy who had blonde hair. as the puck dropped, i did my best at shoving him out of the way. 

two guys cornered russ as he was about to get ahold of the puck. he did his best to shove them off, but they slammed him into the boards easily. everyone booed at the icelander's actions. 

as russ got into position, i gave jessie the puck who then passed it to russ. just as he was about to do his famous knucklepuck, an icleander threw himself in front, making russ fall as well.

iceland was going back down to our zone once again. i skated as fast as i could, nearly tripping because of my speed. i shoved a guy into the boards while one of my other teammates tried stopping the guy with the puck.

though it slid to another icelander who was wide open. he passed it to his teammate and shot it in the back of the net since it was 2 versus 1.

there was another line change and i was back on the bench. my entire focus was on the game. i was trying to figure out iceland's way of playing.

we were all getting shoved down left and right. someone was slammed into the boards while another one was tripped. of course, the ref said nothing.

this would be a long game.