Page 23 of Penalty Kill

They smirked and I almost hit them, but that would just make things worse and encourage the rumors that I was interested in her.

8

Sydney

The energy in the arena was more intense than I would have ever dreamed. It was like a buzz that started out dull when we first got there, and the boys said we needed to go down to the glass first. It had been thirty minutes before the start time, and there were only a few pockets of people. As the countdown got lower and lower and the seats filled, the buzz grew until I could feel it in my veins.

The moment the teams finished the pre-game stuff and the puck dropped, the energy in the arena went from a five to off the charts. There was music and screaming and the action on the ice was lightning fast. This was no baseball game.

I didn’t know where to look. The puck moved faster than I could track it, yet somehow the players were always exactly where they needed to be.

My awe grew when Hartman—Finn pointed out the captain at the very beginning— scored in the first three minutes. I had no idea it would be this exciting. I suddenly resented the years of watching baseball and football on TV, believing these were the ultimate sports to watch. Oh Dad. You are missing out.

I wanted to call him. I wanted to tell him all about it. I wanted him to know I understood him just a little bit more. If his sports made him feel even the tiniest bit of what I was feeling now, I got it.

“Look! Erik!” Milo shouted and pointed to the player racing across the ice with the puck. There was no one around him. The nearest opponent was several strides behind him. He swung his stick and hit the puck into the top of the net.

“Yes Erik!” Chloe screamed, and Madeline, who I just met, was smiling and crying. She rubbed her belly, and I couldn’t help but giggle. Pregnancy hormones seemed to be taking over.

It was adorable that the sisters-in-law were both pregnant at the same time. Emma joked that Erik and Chloe did everything together, so it was destined to happen. Madeline just shook her head and shrugged.

“He’s a good scorer,” Milo said with a definitive nod.

“That’s Noah. He’s defense.” Finn pointed at another padded giant. I read Malkin on his back and tried to commit that to memory. It was so confusing when the women called half the guys by their first name and the other half by their last. The boys seemed to call everyone by their first name, except Hartman. Actually, I didn’t hear anyone refer to the captain as anything but that. Maybe... unless I didn’t put it together.

“What’s Hartman’s first name?” I leaned over to ask Emma.

“Wyatt.” She answered. “Why?”

“The boys use first names, but everyone else seems to use a mix. I’m just trying to keep everyone straight.”

She laughed. “Yeah, sorry about that. The guys mostly use last names. We usually use first, like the boys.” She paused. “Then again, that’s not always true. I guess it depends on the guy. Only Coach calls Olli, my husband, Letang. Everyone else calls him Olli. Reese is fifty-fifty. For Erik,” she laughed again, “it depends on if he’s in trouble or not.”

“Great, that’s super helpful,” I said with a sigh.

She smiled and shook her head. “I know. Sorry we created such a mess. Just give it time. You’ll catch on. It’s not like someone will laugh at you for calling them by their first name. Or last.” She paused. “Really, either way, they’ll respond.”

I laughed. That made things even more confusing. I was going to have to take some time to memorize the roster. I picked up on Brandon talking about Rust and Romney and realized they were the coaches pretty quickly. At least I had them straight.

The women were another challenge. It was easy enough for them to learn my name, but it was overwhelming to take them all in, let alone pair them with their player. Not all of them were wearing jerseys, so I couldn’t even cheat and peek at the number or name.

Since the game started there wasn’t much of a chance to chat anyway. I was sitting with Chloe, Emma, and Madeline, who were with Reese, Olli, and Erik. That was all I needed to remember for right now.

“I have to pee,” Finn announced.

“Okay, let’s go up.” I stood and took his hand to lead him down the row. “Milo, do you need to go?”

He broke his concentration on the game long enough to think about it and jump out of his seat. “Yeah!”

“Excuse us.” I stepped past Madeline and Emma as fast as I could so I didn’t block their view. “Which way is the closest restroom?”

“Make a left,” they said at the same time.

“Come on, boys.” They ran up the stairs ahead of me, but waited at the portal entrance. “This way.” I directed them to the left, and luckily there was a women’s restroom just a few feet away. Was this why the Pride sat in this section? It had to have influenced their decision.

The boys each ran into their own stalls the moment we walked in. “Wait at the sinks if you finish before me.”

They didn’t reply, so I hurried before rushing out to wash my hands. They were both stretching to reach the soap so I gave them a boost before walking them over to dry off. This was our first public restroom experience, and it had gone smoother than I expected. I didn’t want to try to coordinate this when there was a massive line in here though. Hopefully, they wouldn’t need to go during the breaks between quarters. Periods? Halves? Oh boy. I didn’t even know the basics.