Grounded, p.8
Grounded, page 8
Two icings later, Sophie takes her line out against an exhausted group of Mammoths.
“Make them fight for everything,” Merlin says.
One of the Montreal players laughs. Elsa’s gaze snaps to him. She grabs a fistful of his jersey and yanks until she can see his nameplate. “Mikkelson? Who the fuck are you?”
He tries to smack her arm away, but she holds on tighter. Elsa pulls herself to her full height and looms over him. “You aren’t ready for the pros yet. Maybe in a few years.”
Cassady, the only forward Sophie recognizes for the Mammoths right now, skates over to break it up. The officials hover at the edges in case they’re needed. Elsa releases her grip on Mikkelson but shoves him away from her.
They settle enough for the officials to oversee the faceoff. Sophie looks up, and it isn’t Ducasse across from her this time. It’s a fresh-faced kid who’s probably on NAHL ice for the first time. Her smile is far from friendly. She has six years in the League and a Maple Cup under her belt. He has nothing on her.
She wins the faceoff.
Kevlar chips the puck into Montreal’s zone, and Merlin chases. Merlin ties up with a Mammoth defenseman down low as they battle for the puck. Sophie skates in, throws her shoulder into the Montreal player, and knocks him off balance. Elsa scoops up the puck and dances around Mikkelson.
Mikkelson swings his stick out, a desperation move. Elsa dodges him easily, spins, and flips the puck on net. LaJoie’s too slow with his glove.
It’s Elsa’s second goal of the game and a pretty one.
Sophie blows past Mikkelson to celebrate with Elsa.
★
The game ends 5-3 with two goals for Elsa and a late empty netter for Sophie. She grabs a quick shower and then settles into her stall for her media scrum. Elsa, predictably, slips into the shower once Sophie’s out. Sophie doesn’t count on seeing her again until the reporters clear out.
Ed Rickers from The Granite State Sports Network has tonight’s first question. “This felt like a statement game. Would you agree?”
Sophie turns it around on him. “What was the statement?”
“Hockey’s back in Concord,” Rickers answers.
Hell fucking yes. Sophie grins and gives a more sedate answer. “It sounds like you have yourself a headline.”
“If I could interrupt this lovefest?” Marty Owen is grumpy even though they had a good game tonight. If Sophie needed another sign hockey is back, it’s right here. “You played an experienced, established top line against players hoping to break into the NAHL. Don’t you think you’re getting ahead of yourself?”
“The preseason is about sharpening our team. Tonight, we were up against a young line for Montreal, but we were also up against the summer rust and a long stretch where our line didn’t play together. We’re ironing out the wrinkles so we’re prepared the next time Coach Elison plays us together.”
“There were some communication breakdowns on your defensive coverage tonight,” Danielle Rossetti says. “Two of those breakdowns led to goals. What will you do to address them?”
“Practice.” Sophie laughs as the reporters make faces. “This was our first preseason game. There is a lot of room for improvement in our team. Fortunately, we have a coach dedicated to seeing us at our best and a whole season to get there.”
“You sound happy.” Rickers acts as if this is headline material.
Maybe, after last year’s disastrous end of the season, it is. Sophie’s smile brightens, almost too genuine for the company she’s in. “You said it best, Ed. Hockey is back in Concord.”
★
Practice is light because they had a game last night and most of the team leaves tonight for tomorrow’s game against the Olympians. Sophie isn’t flying out because Elison, like Butler, intends to only play her in the home games during the preseason. She watches Elison as he tells Bechs and Zinger about shot optimization. Maybe she’ll be able to sneak some extra ice time in while Elison is in New Orleans.
“I don’t trust that smile,” Merlin says. He’s one spot behind her for their shootout drill.
Shootout drills aren’t new to Sophie, but Elison has introduced stakes. Before, they competed for bragging rights. Now, once a player scores, they’re out of the drill. The last player standing has to do something. Today’s loser prize is to pick up the pucks after practice. Merlin’s campaigning for a terrible haircut to be the next loser prize.
“I’m happy,” Sophie tells him, remembering what Rickers said last night.
“I don’t trust it.”
She laughs and pushes Merlin ahead of her to take the next attempt. “Soften Teddy up for me, eh?”
“Fuck you, I’m not soft!” Teddy calls from his crease.
“Does that mean you’re hard?” Jonny shouts back.
The team dissolve into laughter as if they’re all teenagers and not adults. Teddy responds by viciously shutting Merlin down. He snaps the puck out of the air and drops the offending piece of rubber at Merlin’s feet.
Sophie grins as she steps up for her attempt.
“You set me up for that,” Merlin accuses.
She doesn’t deny it. She takes a deep breath and shakes out her shoulders. She loses her laughter but keeps her relaxation. She gathers the puck on her stick and skates for the net. Teddy plays better when he’s angry, which means she faces him at his best.
He’s one of her closest friends, but she still wants to beat him. She slows up and telegraphs high corner. Teddy pushes off his post to compensate. It opens the five-hole for a fraction of a second. It’s enough for her to slip the puck between his legs.
Her grin returns as Teddy shakes his paddle at her. He kicks the puck out of his net as he mutters to himself. Sophie skates to the back of the line to pat Merlin’s shoulder. “Thank you.”
He flips her off, and she laughs as she joins Elsa on the bench.
★
One perk to staying at home while most of her teammates fly to New Orleans is Sophie can watch the Boston-Toronto game. Dima plays like a man denied hockey for too long. From the first faceoff, he fights for every loose puck and barks out a demand for every pass. He even laughs when Toronto finishes their checks on him, as if all he needs is to be on the ice.
Sophie relates.
“There’s a man who loves hockey,” Kyle Sorkin says. He’s a former Quebec Bobcat and current TNSN personality. He sits across a desk from Bobby Brindle. Even though their playing days are over, the Quebec-Montreal rivalry is still strong. The two of them are ratings gold, always up to fight each other whether it’s over predictions or scouting or what to order for lunch.
“He needs to stay focused and in control of his feelings,” Brindle lectures.
Sophie turns the volume down. When Dima scores, six minutes into the game, she laughs and points at her TV. “Take that, Brindle!”
Dima scores his second goal of the game a minute and a half after his first.
“Look at that!” Sorkin cries as Dima blows a kiss to the crowd. “He’s on fire!”
“He should save some of this for the regular season,” Brindle says.
By the end of the period, Dima has two goals and an assist.
“He’s leading all players in preseason points,” Brindle says at intermission. TNSN shows a player comparison on the screen behind him. “The assist at the end of the period puts him ahead of Concord’s Sophie Fournier.”
Sophie rolls her eyes as Brindle shifts seamlessly into praising Dima and his drive.
★
Sophie has a five-point night against Houston when she notches a goal and four assists. Yes, she faced Houston’s minor league goalie, but she didn’t have Elsa or Merlin on her line. She had Woodsy on one wing and Zinger on the other and proved it doesn’t matter who is on the ice with her, she can still put up a dominant performance.
Her five points bump her above Dima on the preseason points list. He calls her when she’s on her way out of the locker room. Some of her teammates are with her, and more than one looks over when she answers the call.
“Hey.” Sophie’s smiling so wide she’s sure Dima can hear it.
“Is that Elsa?” Theo tries to grab her phone. “Did she see my beauty of a goal?”
Sophie ducks away from his grabby hands. “It isn’t Elsa.” To Dima, she says, “Sorry. We’re still at the rink. Five-point night for me. You know what that means?” She can’t keep the smugness out of her tone, but Dima won’t judge her for it.
“I thought you didn’t keep track.” He echoes what she said to the reporters when they asked her about her and Dima’s back-and-forth in the preseason standings.
“You know me better than that.”
“I do. Let’s bet. I have more points this season, you wear my jersey and take a picture for Twitter. You have more points, I wear yours.”
“You’re on,” she says.
“Purple is a good color for you,” he croons.
“You’ll look better in red.” She smiles at Woodsy as he holds the door to the parking lot open for her.
“Worst at chirp. Have to go, need lots of sleep to be the best.”
“You’ll need it if you want to score six points tomorrow.”
Dima hangs up on her, but he’s laughing as he does it. She tucks her phone into her pocket. Her smile falters when she spots her team staring. Woodsy doesn’t know her so she gives him a pass, but Kevlar and Theo watch her curiously as well.
“Something wrong with a little friendly competition?” She’s riding the high of a good game, a good preseason, and she knows she’s going to carry this momentum into the regular season. After the unending slog that marked the end of last season, she feels light and free and ready to take on everyone and everything.
“Oh, is that what that was?” Kevlar smiles at her, warm and accepting. He drapes an arm over her shoulders and turns her toward her car. “Sounded like flirting to me.”
“Then you need to have your ears checked.” She pokes him in the stomach and ducks out from under his arm. “I’m focused on hockey. This season, I have a good feeling about it.”
Chapter Seven
They open the regular season against Cleveland. The two teams are in the same conference but different divisions. Despite Concord’s recent entry into the league, there is history between the two teams, which makes each matchup something worth watching.
It began at Sophie’s draft in 2011. Michael Hayes was Concord’s first-round pick. Sophie was the last. They were prep school rivals when Sophie played for Chilton Academy and Hayes played for The Weston School. She set the rivalry aside once they were teammates, but Hayes never could. When Concord bet on her future being brighter than his, he was shipped off to Cleveland, and the rivalry between the two teams took off.
In the final game of her rookie season, Concord faced Cleveland. Concord’s playoff hopes had long since been dashed, but a win for Cleveland meant they made the playoffs. They defeated the Presidents and kept them from the playoffs. In the next season, it was McGuire, a player for Cleveland, who took out Benoit Delacroix and almost ended his career. The next season, Concord went head-to-head with Cleveland in the playoffs. They beat them in seven games, backed by Teddy, the goalie Cleveland tossed away in the Hayes trade.
Sophie finds another gear every time she plays this team, and tonight is no different. This is her first real game since last year’s messy end. She has a team to captain, a fanbase to breathe new life into, and a slew of disbelievers to show how good she is at hockey.
She knows exactly how to do it.
With three assists tonight, she hits a major milestone. Every talking head will bring it up in tonight’s and tomorrow morning’s hockey shows. They’ll claim she’s seeing a resurgence as if she ever went anywhere.
The home crowd is deafening as she leads her team onto the ice for warmups. They’re as enthusiastic in their support of Concord as they are in their booing of Cleveland. Sophie is buoyed by the turnout, a full stadium despite last season’s disappointing end. She knows how quickly the faith can turn to doubt, but she doesn’t intend to let it happen.
★
Cleveland’s coach puts Hayes out for the opening faceoff and then looks across the benches as if daring Elison to send Sophie out in response. Sophie grins as Elison taps her for the opening faceoff. It’s their home opener. Of course, Sophie will take the faceoff. A bit of gamesmanship won’t throw off her coach.
Besides, being the best means she can match up against anyone. Cleveland wants to start their season with Hayes falling short against her? She won’t disappoint.
The entire stadium rises to their feet as she skates to center ice. They wave the red towels they were handed upon entering the rink. They chant Go, Condors, go!, united in their support for their team.
Sophie adjusts her grip on her stick and spares a glance at Hayes. He was with Concord until just before the All-Star weekend their rookie season. He’s never felt the crowd behind him like this. It’s Sophie they love. And why shouldn’t they? She’s Concord’s captain. She won the first Maple Cup in the franchise’s history. Hayes has done nothing but fall short against her throughout the course of their careers.
He does again on the faceoff.
Sophie lunges forward, knocks her shoulder into his, and holds him back as she sweeps the puck to Kevlar.
The crowd, somehow, grows even louder, a cacophony in the back of Sophie’s mind. It’s punctuated by the clack of the puck as her teammates pass and the thump of bodies slamming into the boards. Sophie’s orders and her teammates’ warnings cut through the noise. It’s loud and it’s chaotic, and Sophie beams as she slings a shot on net.
Hockey is back.
★
Sophie’s second shift is an on-the-fly change. Elsa hits the ice first. Sophie’s forced to wait, one leg slung over the boards, until Kansas is close enough for her to jump on. Bechs retreats with the puck, hounded by McGuire. The big forward slashes Bechs’s ankles to try to trip him up.
“Here, here!” Sophie shouts.
Bechs spins away from McGuire and earns himself enough space to pass to Sophie. McGuire redirects his attention to her. She has a stride and a half on him. He has no hope of catching her. She fakes out Olsson and then blows past the defender. It leaves Strindberg as the only player between her and the net.
This is the moment she’s waited for all summer. It’s her, the goalie, and her first opportunity to prove the Sophie Fournier era is far from over.
She pulls the puck back, switches to her backhand, and flips the puck over Strindberg’s shoulder. The crowd, loud before, finds another level as the goal light flashes.
Sophie roars in response and slams the glass. Dozens of people press against the barrier as if they can touch her and share in the moment. She pounds the glass one final time before she turns to embrace her teammates.
Elsa crashes into her from one side and Bechs from the other. Kuzy and Spitz join them, adding their voices to the cacophony around her. Sophie’s smile feels as though it’ll split her face. Goal one hundred ninety-one. With the mix of adrenaline and joy pumping through her veins, she feels as though she could score the other nine tonight.
She’s still buzzing as she skates through the fist bump line. She takes her seat next to Merlin who leans in to grumble. “You couldn’t have waited until I was on the ice?”
“Take it up with Bechs, not me. You can assist on my next goal.”
Merlin’s playful complaining gives way to a grin which matches hers. “That kind of night?”
She punches his shoulder in response.
★
With a little over two minutes left in the first period, Sophie has the puck, but she’s hounded by two Cleveland players. They cut off her direct passing lanes. She glances over her shoulder and fires the puck at the end boards. The puck careens off them and lands on Merlin’s stick.
He buries the puck before Strindberg realizes he has it.
Merlin drops to one knee. He pretends his stick is a guitar and strums along to their goal song. Theo hauls him to his feet as Kevlar and Elsa throw themselves at him in celebration. Merlin accepts their hugs and their praise and then he points at Sophie. “You promised me an assist.”
“Ingrate.” She laughs as she facewashes him and then they skate for the bench together.
★
Her assist on Merlin’s goal gives her three hundred ninety-eight for her career.
Three hundred ninety-nine comes after Kevlar rockets a shot from the point. She throws herself into her d-man’s arms and laughs as she slaps his helmet. She only had a secondary assist. She passed to Theo who set his partner up for the goal, but a secondary assist still counts.
She follows Kevlar to the bench and stares her coach down the whole way in. Does he believe in her now? Or does he need more proof Sophie Fournier is the real deal?
After the fist bump line, she takes her seat on the bench. Elsa sits next to her. Sophie leans in and has to shout to be heard over the crowd. “You next.” She wants her four hundredth assist to be off Elsa’s goal. Elsa wasn’t here for Sophie’s first two seasons, but she’s here now. Sophie wants her to be a part of every milestone she has for the rest of her career.
Elsa turns and taps their visors against each other. “Pass to me. I’ll get you there.”
★
The score is 3-0 when Farage, Cleveland’s captain, scores. He kicks his leg in the air and bellows. The crowd drowns him out with their boos. Bowen, the d-man who forced the turnover and set up the goal, is the first to crash into his captain. There’s only a handful of people in the rink on Cleveland’s side while Sophie has thousands on hers, but she knows how easily the rink can fall silent.
She takes her line over the boards and skates backward to give herself a few moments to talk to them. “No comeback for them. We stop their momentum now.” They can’t get Teddy a shutout, but they can win this game.
She catches Elsa’s gaze and holds it. You promised me a goal. I’m cashing in your promise this shift.
