Goalie // Sidney Crosby

Eight

It didn't take long when they were out to eat for Emerson to forget about her worries. Since things between her and Gio were finally over she decided not to dwell on it anymore. She could breathe and now the best thing to do in this situation was to move on. And being surrounded by amazing teammates, funny guys that could crack joke after joke made that a lot easier. She was able to flip a switch to make her seem fine and she was grateful for that.

She sat with Olli, Jake and a few of the other younger guys at a Panera Bread. After the whole team met up in the lobby of the hotel, everyone split up depending on what they wanted. There was still time before they had to make their way to the arena.

"I say we prank one of the older guys.." Guentzel said as he was sipping on his drink, "We could so get Geno in on it too."

"We gotta do Horny, that guy can get mad quick I think it'll be funny."

"Or Phil.."

"What do you think Ems?"

"If we're gonna do something, I am not taking the fall like last time!" she sent the table all glares, "and let's do it at the hotel rather than practice."

"Good idea. Maybe take some bags, switch some gear..." everyone could probably see the wheels turning in Olli's head. Why he enjoyed random moments of this type of stuff was beyond them. Everyone had their times like this, Emerson guessed.

"This'll be interesting."

***

Emerson sat in the lockeroom at the end of practice shocked. Everyone was busy getting ready to head back to the hotel when she could barely function thinking about today's announcement.

"Rousseau you're starting tomorrow."

Right away her teammates clapped her on the back with excitement. Flower gave her an encouraging smile and a shoulder squeeze. Emerson could hardly believe tomorrow would finally be the day.

Flower of course already gave her the full pep talk, telling her she'd be fine. Trying not to over think things would be key and the moment she stepped out on the ice she'd be okay. Emerson knew he was right, that's how it had been for years- yet this felt very different. This time thousands of people would be watching her, thousands more than college games. And this would be on national television that people actually watched. Loyal sports fan that gave everything to their teams, and she didn't want her first game to be a loss.

"You will kill it tomorrow kid." the large Russian of the team gave her a sweet smile as he was leaving the room to head to the bus. Geno was a laid back guy that knew how to cheer people up or know when someone was down. Even with a slight language barrier he had great communication skills.

"Thanks Geno." Emerson said softly. Her hands were shaking slightly as she tried to lace them together to make them stop. She was no longer in any gear, sitting in only sweats and a tee, hair damp from a quick shower she took in the shower rooms.

"Everyone let's get going." Coach Sullivan only peaked his head in to call. There weren't too many people left lingering, Ems being one of them of course. She was still in shock.

Each step she took as she left filled her stomach with even more butterflies. The nerves starting to set in were hardly bad as of now, but she couldn't begin to imagine what tomorrow would feel like. For the first time in awhile Emerson felt small and insignificant compared to everything around her, knowing all the pressure she'd be force to face. What if she was the reason they lost?