The Canadian Dream

It was a cold day at the ice rink. I came out of the dressing room, about to play my final high school game, I was dreading this moment since the beginning of the season. I had on my dark red jersey that said "ROCKETS" diagonally across the chest, and "KENNEDY" and the number 9 on the back, I had always liked the number 9, some of the greatest players wore the number 9 (Gordie Howe, Maurice "Rocket" Richard.). I came in and started skating around my side of the ice and finally settled into the goalie crease, a crease that I knew all too well, it was my crease.

The crowd was cheering as the hockey game started. It was the finals of the Ontario province championships. I had been named the best goalie in the country and was recruited by the University of Northern Ontario to try out for their team that summer and go to their school on a full ride scholarship. The game went by so fast I barley noticed. Shot after shot, save and save, period after period, it was making me sad as the game went on.

When the game was over I noticed that I had gotten a shut out. I really didn't notice things like that anymore… I don't know whether it's my ego, or just because it was getting boring. That was my 20th shut out that season. After the final buzzer had sound I ran out to center ice and celebrated with my team, we had finally won the Ontario championship, it was the greatest feeling that I would ever feel, or so I thought.

When I got back into the locker room, the whole team was still celebrating.

"Nick! We finally won!" My friend Joe shouted as he ran up to me and gave me a celebratory hug.

"I know." I replied. I was so excited that we had won, but there was an emptiness that was building up inside of me already. It was the end of an era for me. I was going to a college with only 500 freshmen, a college that was like a town. I don't know what made me go to this college, I think it was the money that they were offering, maybe it was how far away from home it was, I never did figure that out.
Everybody was shouting for a party after the game, of course I was going, even though I'm not the partier, I still enjoy being in the company.
That night at the party, I watched as all my friends drank, and drank… and drank…. and drank. I had to be the only sober one at the party. I didn't mind the jokes they made, I'd just laugh at them as they fell out the door. At the party, I would notice many attractive girls, I just always thought, "They wouldn't be interested in me." Or "I'm graduating in two months, nothing would last." So, that's how I lived my life, no girls would be interested in me, so why even bother. It got me this far right? Seeing as there was nothing for me to do at parties I never stayed long.
I would get home and my mom would be sitting right in the front room waiting for me to walk through the door. As much as I told her that I don't drink and I don't smoke, or do drugs, every time I walked through the door she would want to smell my breath and my clothes. It got quite embarrassing. That was one thing I wasn't going to miss once I left for college. I knew she was just being a mother but I mean, she could at least trust me a little bit.

The rest of my senior year went by pretty fast, seeing as there was only 2 months left. My friends and I talked about plans after high school, where we were going, if we were going to remain friends. I never realized that there was only so much time left in high school and that I would have to actually get a life, nothing that I had ever thought about before.
Graduation came and went. Graduation parties, hanging out with my friends as much as possible, just to get that one last minute in with them. But it was only 1 week after graduation that I packed up and left for Northern Ontario.
All my friends came to the bus station with me to wish me good luck on my trip and college life. I never thought that this moment would actually come. My mom was crying, some of my friends were crying, even I shed a tear, my dad only gave me a hug and a handshake as I caught the bus going towards Northern Ontario.

The ride up there was a long one. It wasn't pleasant either. The seats were ripped, and the most uncomfortable things you'll ever sit on, not suited for a five hour drive to Northern Ontario. The entire way up, all I could think about were my friends and family. I knew I would see them again, but how long would it be before I did. When we got to the college, we continued driving… I did not know what was going on. Eventually we stopped at what looked like a subdivision.
I asked the driver what was going on and he told me "This is where you will be staying along with the other 500 new freshmen, and others trying out for the hockey team."
When I got out of the bus, I saw the town that I was going to be staying in. As I walked in, the first thing I noticed was the ice rink in the middle of the town. It was a pond. The pond was painted with lines, two blue lines and three red lines. I didn't understand why they would have hockey tryouts on a pond, but that's when I noticed that it was a man made ice rink that was outdoors, I didn't care, it didn't matter to me where I was going to play.
Now, I bet you're thinking "How can you play hockey, outside, in July?" But you have to remember… we are in northern Canada, its cold year round.

As I got into my home for the next few months, I noticed that I had 2 roommates. One was named Kyle Cooley, he was from a little town on Prince Edward Island. He was a big nerd, but then again so was I. He was into things like comics, Star Wars, video games, things like that… I was the same only didn't like comics as much.

The other was named Todd Barturm, he was also trying out for the hockey team. He seemed to know a lot about hockey, and he collected things like autographed sticks and other things. I began talking to them, trying to create a friendship because I knew I had to in order to survive the next few months.

"What's up?" I said, trying to engage in conversation.

"Not much, just trying to get everything organized." Kyle said. He seemed to be a neat freak, wanting everything in a nice order.

"Just getting situated." Todd said dropping his bag by his bed. "Now, if you guys would excuse me, I'm gonna go see what my girlfriends up to."

Todd was lucky like that, I guess. Not only did he have a girlfriend, but she went to the same college as him. Her name was Heather, Heather Sikes. Todd seemed to care about her pretty much, trying to see her every chance that he got.







It was three days later and time to start the tryouts. Todd and I got our gear and went down to the rink to begin. When we got there, we noticed that we were late, the last people to show up.

"Glad you guys could come." The coach said. "Now, I have here teams, teams of 10 players each and 1 goalie. There are 15 teams. Starting today, teams will face each other in 10 minute games. I want each player on the team to play 5 minutes. At the end of the month, I will be eliminating 7 teams worth of players… That's 70 players and 7 goalies. Starting next month, a player will be able to challenge another player to eliminate them from the team. A player can challenge another player or a goalie, it doesn't matter. I will make the final decision on whether or not the losing player leaves. Got it? Now I will post the list and on the ice, right now to play, I want team 1 and team 14."

As I went up there, I saw that I was on the last team… team 15. I didn't let this bother me, it just encouraged me to play better and show who I am and what I really can do.

As I watched the first game, I saw some of the biggest hockey players I have ever seen. Some of them had to be 6'5", 6'6"… With me only being 5'10", I was getting pretty scared.



After the first day I had already played three games. I was tired, so I decided not to go to the opening day party. I sat on my front porch watching the people walk by, with ice packs on my knees. Kyle decided to come out and sit with me, seeing as he wasn't going to the party either. Todd on the other hand was ready and willing to go to the party. He seemed to be like that, a party animal.

As I sat there, I saw people walking by, barley noticing any faces. One girl caught my attention though. She was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. She was a bit shorter then me, a tad thin, with dark blonde hair, and the most beautiful blue eyes I had ever seen. I looked away but did a double take to make sure I wasn't dreaming. I was the shy type… never believing that a girl that beautiful would ever be interested in me. So I let it go. After every day of tryouts, there was another party, and I still didn't go to any of the parties, but everyday I would see the girl.

On Wednesday, I finally decided to go to one of the parties. So that night, I got ready, and Todd and I left the house, with Kyle still not wanting to go to a party. As we left the house, behind us was the girl and one of her friends. I could hear them whispering something, but I really couldn't make it out. I talked to Todd on the way there about the girl.

"Dude, she is the most gorgeous girl I have ever seen." I said walking towards the party.

"Have you talked to her?" Todd replied.

"No, I haven't."

"Then grow a set and go talk to her at the party." Todd said as we entered the house.

As I went into the house, I looked for the first seat available, which was a couch in the living room. I didn't like parties, but I wanted a chance to meet this girl. Throughout the night I saw people dancing, drinking, smoking, having a good time, but then I saw something that I didn't think I would see… there was the girl, sitting alone on a couch on the other side of the room. I decided that now was as good a time as any. I went over there to go meet her, when I got to the couch, I sat on the far side away from her, but I decided to say hello.

"Hi." I said extending my hand. "My name is Nick… Nick Kennedy, I'm here trying out for hockey."

"I know," she said shaking my hand. "I've seen you out on the ice, you're pretty good. My name is Sam… Sam Wilson." She continued.

For the rest of the night we just talked, about high school, college, our futures, things just seemed to just click.

For the rest of the week, I went to the parties just to get a chance to talk to Sam. I felt as if I was in a whole different world when I was with her. On Sunday night after a party Todd left the same time that I did.

"So, how's it going with you and that girl that 'is the most gorgeous thing ever'" Todd said exaggerating the sentence.

"I think we really hit it off." I said as we walked to our home.

"You think that things might go somewhere?"

"Not in a million years would a girl like that, like a guy like me." I said being my usual pessimistic self.



With the first week of tryouts over, I was undefeated. Of course I hadn't faced the top 5 teams, but I was undefeated still. I started to notice that Sam was at every single game that I played. It was kind of nice having a fan, I thought nothing of it.

As the month continued on, I continued winning, but some of the top team players didn't like how good I was… it seemed as if they were scared of me. I would only go to parties once in a while now, but I would still sit on my porch, just to get a glimpse of Sam… it made my whole day. Sam and I became close friends, talking every chance that we got. On the days I wouldn't go to parties, she would actually skip that party just to talk to me. Over that month, I began to notice that she wasn't just beautiful looking, but she was the most the sweetest girl I had ever met, I wanted her to be mine but I still didn't think that anything would ever happen.



The first month ended and it was time for the cuts. The coach cut every single player and goalie from team 9 to team 14. That left 2 teams worth of players left, and I was worried I was on that cut list. He continued the cuts with the entire team 8. He turned to my team, team 15. He went down the line cutting everybody and stopped at Todd and I.

"You guys are staying." He said to us, and he cut 2 players from team 7. "Tomorrow will start the challenges. I will have the clipboard up for you to write who you are, who you want to challenge, and when you want to do it. Hopefully by the end of 2 weeks we will be down to about 30 people and from there I will make my own cuts."

With a sigh of relief, I went to the party that night. Of course, I went there to talk to Sam. For some reason, even after a month, I felt like I was in another world when I talked to her.

The first week, I continued to dominate, until I faced the number 1 team. They destroyed me. The final score was 8-4. That night I decided not to go to the party. But, as if it were required, Sam came and hung out with me. As we sat on the porch talking, one of the best players came up to me.

"I've set up a challenge for you against me. I don't like you and I want you out of this college. You can chicken out right now and just leave, or face me next Friday… the last day of the challenges. See you then." He said with a smirk.

For the rest of the 2 weeks I practiced and practiced. I did not let more then 10 goals in the rest of the try out. The Thursday before the challenge, I had another game against team 1, and this time I was prepared. They still beat me. They only beat me 1-0 this time, but it was still a loss. That night I decided to go to the party, thinking that it might be the last party I would ever go to.

At the party, I talked to Sam as always, but other things were on my mind and she could tell.

"Do you want to take a walk?" Sam offered.

"Of course." I said as we walked out.

We walked down the street in silence. The whole time I was looking at the ice rink, everything was racing through my mind, the challenge, the team, Sam most of all. She decided to break the silence.

"You don't have to do this." She said. "If you don't do it, you might still be on the team."

"I can't. I have a much bigger chance of staying on the team if I do it."

"But, what if you lose, I wouldn't get to see you again."

"Of course you will. I still might go to the school."

"Two months is too long for me to wait."

"Why?"

That's when the greatest moment of my life happened. I turned to face her and she kissed me… SHE kissed ME. Everything that I had said… that I had thought, was false.

She blushed and turned away from me, but I grabbed her hand, and turned her towards me and gave her a kiss.

"I wont leave you tomorrow, that's my promise." We walked down the street hand in hand, until we got to my house and we laid on the grass and stared at the stars together. I was hoping that this wasn't going to be the only moment that I had to be with her.



The next day, I was ready at 5 in the morning for my 6am challenge. I went down to the ice rink, there were people already in the stands waiting for the challenge. As I walked down to the ice, I saw Sam running towards me. She gave me a kiss.

"For good luck." She said as she found a seat in the stands.

I got down to the ice to warm up and my challenger was already there.

"This is it… you're last day. I'm tired of you thinking that you are the best… you aren't, I AM!." He said as I got done warming up."

"OK!" The coach shouted as he blew his whistle. "The rules are simple, the challenger will get five breakaway shots on the goalie. He must get 3 out of 5 to win the challenge. You may start anytime after I have set the puck down."

The coach set the puck down and he was off. He did a triple deke and put one past me, I couldn't believe it. He rushed back to get the second puck and came down and I saved this one. He got the third puck and came down and I saved that one as well. The fourth puck came down and did a swift "Jaromir Jagr" move putting his stick between his legs and shooting for a goal. For the fifth puck he waited. This was the end. I was ready for it but still nervous. The only thing I could think about was seeing Sam again, If I didn't stop this shot, I would never see her again. The moment of truth came and he grabbed the puck, he came down the ice, went wide right, then came around wide left, then down the center and shot the puck. The next thing I knew, the puck was in the back of the net, I had lost. I looked at Sam who had the look of as if she had seen a ghost, I couldn't believe it either. It was over for me. Everything that I had built up the past two months was over, that was it.

As I notice that the puck is in the net, I just fell to the ice. I laid there for several minutes in the crease, a crease that was my crease for the past two months. Thoughts racing through my head, Sam, Todd and Kyle, my parents, I could barley hear my own thoughts over the thunderous ovation that Leon Sylar, the one who had challenged me, was receiving for beating me in the challenge. I couldn't believe it.
It was over. Everything that I did was worthless now. My whole training, everything that I had accomplished in the past 2 months was useless. I wasn't going to see anyone from that place again, I didn't have the money to stay there, and without the scholarship I couldn't stay there.
The first thing that ran through my mind was Sam… what was I going to do? I thought that I had met the girl of my dreams and now I wouldn't see her again? I actually fall for a girl and look what happens. I knew it was too good to be true.
I went over to shake Leon's hand, to congratulate the man who was kicking me out of college, but his ego was so big that he refused. This infuriated me to the boiling point, everything that was making me mad, not seeing Sam, Todd or Kyle, and the reaction that my parents would give me, came out and I dropped my glove, stick, and blocker and jumped on top of Leon and started beating on him. Every player came out to pull me off, but when we both got up, I jumped right back onto him and continued beating him. I had nothing to lose so why not, right? The rest of the players pulled me off again and one of Leon's teammate came up and tackled me to the ice. We brawled until Todd came and pulled Justin, Leon's friend, off of me. Once I got up, I tackled Justin and started punching him. While we were hitting each other, Leon came out of nowhere and hit Todd from behind. Finally, after what seemed like an hour, the coach came down and separated everyone.
"Enough! The coach yelled over the commotion. "The challenge is over, everyone back to their houses, and Nick, I want to see you in 3 hours in my office."
"You're lucky you're leaving, I would kill you with my fists… just like I killed you on the ice." Leon said with a smile. "Now go pack up, I won't be seeing you on the ice tomorrow."
I went to lunge at him for another brawl, but Todd was right behind me and held me back. I gave Todd a look to let me go, but he wouldn't, I knew he was doing it for my own good.
I climbed the steps of the stands, and Sam was still there, waiting for me. I saw her but just kept on walking. I didn't want to talk to anyone. Sam didn't seem to notice though, she wanted to talk to me.
"Why are you following me?" I said.
"I just want to talk to you, to see how you're doing." Sam said, I heard the greatest worry in her voice, I haven't heard that kind of worry since I left my mom at the bus station.
"I'm doing just fine." I snapped back at her, sarcasm deep in my voice. "I don't want to talk to anyone right now. Not even you."
"What do you mean, 'Not even me'? Sam said, tears almost coming out. "You and I have talked almost everyday for the past two months, and all of a sudden you don't want to talk to me? I thought that you actually cared. Last night I showed you that I cared strong about you, something that I don't do often, and you showed me that you cared, or was that just fake?" Tears finally started streaming down her face. "I thought you were different." She said as she ran out the door. I lowered my head, ashamed. Kyle and Todd came into the room. "What was that about?" Kyle said.
"I think that I just made the worst mistake of my life. I can't take it back now, it doesn't matter anyways, I'm out of her life, and I'm going to be out of your guys' life." With that I started to pack my things. I had to be the worst mad alive. You don't treat the girl of your dreams like that right? Hindsights 20/20 I guess.
"Well dude, its been fun." Todd said with his hand outstretched.
"Yes it has. I'll see you in the NHL, Todd." I said shaking his hand. With that I grabbed my things and walked out the door.
Once again everything was running through my head. How could I have done that to Sam, she didn't deserve it, no one deserves that. I just ruined probably the only chance that I had with the girl of my dreams. It didn't matter, I wasn't going to see her again. On my way down the street, there he was, Leon standing outside his house.
"Well, this is it. I just showed you that I was the best. You will never be as good as I am." Leon said.
"I don't have to be." I said. And with that, I punched him in the face. "A going away present." I chuckled at my own joke. I continued walking and saw the gate and the bus heading back towards Toronto.
"Hey!" I heard a voice, it was off to the left, it was the coach. "Hey, come in here. You and I have to talk." I didn't know why he wanted to talk to me… I was leaving anyways.

I walked into the coach's office, he probably just wants to say goodbye and good luck.

"Sit down." He said, pointing to a chair.

"What is this about? I have a bus to catch." I said with anger in my voice.

"No you don't."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, I'm giving you another chance. You are one of the best goaltenders that I have ever seen come through this college, I don't want to lose you to some stupid challenge. I will say this, I don't mind if you brawl with someone you don't like, heck I encourage it, but if it gets out of hand like it did today, you will be thrown out. Also, you lose another challenge and I will kick you out, is that clear?" He said extending his hand.

"Crystal." I said excitedly. "I will not let you down."

"I hope you don't." The coach said as I walked out of his office.



Well here I was, with another chance at life. Once again the only thing on my mind was Sam. I basically told her that she was worthless, something that was far from the truth. Now what am I going to do. I walked back home to drop all my stuff off and tell Kyle and Todd about what happened.

"Really? Kyle said after I told him the news.

"You are so lucky." Todd said.

"I know, I have one more chance, and this time, I'm going to beat him." I said with a confident voice.

"You really aren't thinking of challenging him again are you?" Kyle said.

"You can't afford this right now. Don't do it." Todd said.

"Ok, ok I won't challenge him." I said with a laugh. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have some unfinished business to take care of." I said as I ran out the door.



I ran down the street, head towards Sam's house. As I was running, I passed Leon and Justin's house.

"Why are you still here?" Leon said, as he started moving towards me.

"I got saved. You can't get rid of me, I'm always going to be here." I said as I got right up to him, face to face.

"Why you little…." Leon sentence was cut off as Justin, and another freshmen start to pull him back, he fights out of their grasp. "It is not over between us, you got that? It's far from it." He said. After he got pulled back, I started walking away, continuing on to Sam's house.



I continued to run down the street until I finally reached Sam's house. I heard crying coming from inside the house. When I got up to the door, I knocked, hoping to God that she would answer. A friend of hers, Charlotte was her name, ended up answering the door.

"Oh, it's you." Charlotte said with disgust, "What do you want?

"Please, I have to talk to Sam." I said with urgency.

"Well, she doesn't want to talk to you." She said with such sarcasm, that I actually wanted to punch a woman in the face.

"Please. I made a huge mistake, and I really need to fix it, let me talk to her please." My urgency was still there.

"That's right, you did make a huge mistake." Charlotte said as she slammed the door in my face.



I walked off her porch, and back onto the street. My head was slumped down in defeat. On my way home, I had to pass my Leon's house. Something, for some reason, I was actually looking forward to.

"What's the matter, Nick?" Leon said with a mocking voice. "Girlfriend break up with you? Ah, she was a whore anyways." Leon turned around.

Once again, I had taken every hit I could from Leon, and now that he was insulting Sam I couldn't take it anymore, it was time to strike back.

"Hey, Leon!" I shouted over to him. He turned around, and a split-second later I had taken him down to the grass. I started punching his face as he blocked every shot I threw. Justin and his other friend pulled me off. They held me there for a free shot for Leon.

"You ever touch me again, I'll kill you." Leon said as he punched me hard in the gut. After that they threw me out onto the street. I laid there for several minutes before I tried to walk again. I got up pretty easily and made my way back to my own house.



I got back to the house. I got through the door and found a seat in the living room.

"I'm going to make the challenge tomorrow." I said with a monotone voice.

"How are you going to make the challenge? Your challenge was the last one." Kyle said.

"I'll find a way." I replied. "There's nothing for me here anyways."



That night of course there was a party, this time I decided not to go. Instead, I did what I always would, I sat on my porch and watch everyone go by. With the parade of people, I saw Sam's roommates Charlotte and Claire walking down to the party… without Sam. I saw this as an opportunity to go talk to Sam. I started walking off my porch when I heard "Don't even think about it." It was Charlotte.

"I told you before and I'll tell you again, she doesn't want to see you or speak to you. Don't make this worse for her then it already is."

I lowered my head in defeat. I walked back up to the porch and sat down and watched the rest of the people walk by.



The next morning at practice the coach started making his cuts. 40 people were to be cut, I was glad that I had a bubble and was safe, I just worried about Todd making it. The coach moved up and down the ice, cutting 20 then 30 people. He finally got to the last cut of the session and stopped at Todd.

"I think you have a lot of potential. You can stay." The coach said as he continued on with cuts. "Ok, we are down to 30 players now, and only 20 are going to make it on my team. I am reinstating the challenges for the next week, I hope everyone remembers the rules to the challenges. Now on the ice I want team 1 and team 2 on the ice for a 5 minute game.

I was on team 2 with Todd, and Justin and Leon were on team 1, I was excited for this game.

The game went on like usual, but it was fast paced. There was no time to actually set up an offense or defense, so they just went down the ice and tried to score. Midway through the game Todd, playing right wing, got checked into the boards by Leon, he fell, but didn't get back up. He had to be laying there for at least 2 minute before he said anything. After he said something, he got up with ease and skated to the bench. The game continued on with only 1 minute left to go. The game was tied at 0, this was when I decided to take action. I skated up to center ice where Leon was standing, taking off my glove, blocker and my helmet. This was it, the big showdown. I grabbed his jersey and started punching his face, and dodging his punches. I heard Justin start to skate to save Leon, but the coach stopped him. I continued punching him, all of my anger coming through those punches until I finally took him down. The coach came by to pull me off of him, and I easily obliged.

"This isn't over." I said.

The game continued on and we won, 1-0 in overtime. That day I put in my bid to challenge Leon one more time at the end of the week. It passed and it was done.



That week went by so quickly. I continued my winning ways going undefeated that week. People were losing challenges left and right. Todd thankfully was alright after that cheap shot from Leon. Justin challenged Todd, and Todd won, the all but sealed his spot on the team. Me, on the other hand, I still had to prove myself one more time. By Thursday there were 22 players left. If I won, Leon would be cut along with another goalie, and if Leon won, I would be cut along with another player. Once again everything was riding on one day, one chance, one shot. Throughout the week, I still never got a chance to talk to Sam, she wouldn't take my phone calls and her friends would stop me every time I got near her. I had almost given up hope on it.



Thursday night's party came and I decided to go to it, it would be the last pre college party and I was going to savor it. That night at the party, I did what I usually do, just sit on a couch somewhere and observe. As I was looking around the room, I saw her, sitting on the same couch that we had met each other. I decided to go for one more chance to talk to her.

"My name is Nick… Nick Kennedy, I'm here trying out for hockey." I said extending my hand.

"I know," she said shaking my hand. "I've seen you out on the ice, you're pretty good. My name is Sam… Sam Wilson." She chuckled. "Do you want to take a walk?"

"Of course." I said as I followed her out of the house.

Once we got outside she decided to be blunt about it."So what, now it's convenient for you talk to me?" She said with anger.

"I deserved that, but…"

"Do you know how much of a wreck I've been?" She interrupted.

"Please, let me talk. That day I was the most horrible man on the face of the earth. I have tried to apologize to you all week, but no one would let me talk to you. Last week, I was angry, and I'm sorry I took it out on you, I should have never have done that. Please accept my apology."

"You know you don't have to do this challenge thing." She said. "Once again you're risking not seeing me again."

"Why do you care?" I said with a smile. She did exactly as I was expecting, she kissed me.

"I do care. I care about you." She said wrapping her arms around my neck and putting her head on my chest, I followed the embrace. Once again I was happy, and that is all I needed as motivation.



This was it, my last chance. Everything depended on this one challenge, again. That night, I couldn't sleep, too much on my mind, so I decided to take a walk. I walked out of the house and down the street. I passed Leon and Justin's house. Beer cans were scattered all over the front lawn. I continued walking, passing the entrance and the coaches office. I was starting to come up on Sam's house, when I saw something, somebody was sitting her porch, it was Sam! What a luck that I had, right? I walked over to her house, but before I got there she went inside. I decided to walk back to my own house. When I got back to my house, I didn't go inside right away. I moved to the edge of the stairs leading to the ice rink. The ice looked amazing, there was snow covering it, there were no skate marks or any imperfections, it was mesmerizing. I realized that it was almost 2 in the morning, so I decided to go inside and to bed.

I woke up at 5:30, the challenge was at six again. I hurried and got all my gear on, and ran down to the ice. I got there with five minutes to spare, ready to play.

"Alright, I hope everyone knows the rules. Leon, you are to begin at the sound of my whistle." With that he set the puck down, backed away, and blew the whistle.

Leon skated with fury, "wheelin' and dealin'" as a sportscaster would say. He came in past the faceoff circles and scored on his first shot. He skated back up to center ice, and started with his second puck, he shot this one from the blue line, which caught me off guard and he scored. I had to get the next three saves, or I was done. Leon grabbed the third puck and skated hard, this time he tried his 'Jaromir Jagr' move, but this time, I saved it. He grabbed the fourth puck and skated down the ice, going left, then right, and back to the middle, the shot that beat me last time, didn't beat me this time, I deflected it away with my right pad. This was it, the last puck. He grabbed it with his stick, skates fast down the ice, gets to the faceoff circles, does a spin move and shots, it was my turn to do a famous move, I did a "Martin Gerber" move from the 2006 Olympics, grabbing the puck with my glove right before it passed the line. I had won the challenge.

The crowd erupted with cheers. I got up and started jumping around in celebration. Todd, Kyle, and Sam came down to congratulate me. I had made the team.



You're probably saying what happens next. What happens to me after this? What challenges will I have to face after this? Well it's the greatest challenge of all…. The NHL.