Antagonym

Chapter 32

The roar of the crowd was unlike any other. It was a mass that consumed everyone in the vicinity, freezing in the air like the sweat of my forehead. It was paralyzing in sheer volume; it was just a shame it wasn't for us.

St. Cloud was more than excited for this game and let's just say their school was pushing the patriotism very hard. Every seat was filled but that was understandable; this was supposed to be one of the best games of the year. Playoffs were in two months and it was looking more than likely that it would be Quinnipiac versus St. Cloud all over again. We were 16-2 while St. Cloud was 15-3 and it was getting tense. For the past four years it had been our two teams in the championship game. The first year St. Cloud won with their rookie center, Beckett Sampson, and the other two we won. I was just hoping to bring it home for the third time in a row.

In all honesty, I couldn't tell if Beck was the most liked player from Quinnipiac or the most hated right now. A lot of Beck's old friends went here and were on this team, surely they were still on good terms. Right? Then again, Beck was checking and getting checked a lot more then usual. That didn't say much though, because Axel already got in one fist fight that got him ejected for a game. I guess it would be fair to say that tensions were high right now.

We were only halfway through the game but we were losing by a point. Though I knew it wouldn't be that way for long as soon as I saw Zeke and Jonah on the left past the half, fighting with two St. Cloud players for the puck. On the right Beck broke away from his defender, skating past the half and towards the goal. Jonah snatched the puck as Zeke collided with another player, passing backwards to Sebastian.

That's when I got nervous. With Axel in the penalty box we were short one forward so Zeke, our left defender, was acting like a forward even if he couldn't pass the blue restraining line. His position high up on the court left Sebastian to cover two forwards in our zone. Passing the puck backwards to our one defender leaving me wide open was a huge ass risk, especially with Beck on the other side of the ice. He was the only player that could skate the whole rink, but since the puck was already on our side, he was practically useless in his current position.

But like the brilliant player he was, Seb passed the puck aggressively across the ice right in front of a defenders skate before it hit Beck's skate to stop the motion. Like lightning Beck took a shot on goal before anyone could react and the puck swished against the back of the net, flying past the goalies right hand where the blocker was on his wrist. It was so fast, he didn't even have time to remove that hand from the stick to deflect the flying puck.

There was a reason we were top in the country.

I couldn't help but smile behind my mask at the tie. Let's just say the crowd wasn't as pleased as I was.

At center ice Beck took the face off, stealing the puck from his former backup and going left, towards the side as he went up the rink. The puck got passed to Jonah but the St. Cloud defender checked him against the board, taking the puck up to the restraining line before Zeke cut him off, causing the attempted pass to skew left and land in front Seb's stick before getting launched back to Beck.

It was intercepted by Beck's successor, giving him the perfect shot to rip a shot on goal with no defenders due to our lack of players. My stick vibrated against my grip as the puck hit it with a loud click, bouncing off and out of the crease before I could snatch it.

The vulcanized rubber slid across the ice as Beck and one of the forwards rushed to get it, the right winger getting to the puck first only for Beck to check him. I got ready to block a rogue puck from the right as I saw the skate of the right winger go up by accident as he fell backwards. My vision wasn't slow motion, but I watched intently as Beck suddenly hunched over for a second, flexing his jaw as the player slammed into the ground and Beck's gloved hand went to his left abdomen.