Tuesday, March 24, 2020

Clear as Ice - #HockeyFiction Prompt Five

Prompt Five is forward.  
Previous prompts are here: Prompt one, prompt two, prompt three, prompt four.  

Sienna made it back to her seat in time to see Piranhas players hugging.  Checking the score it was now 3-1 in favor of the Piranhas and that was clearly not good.  She had a direct view of Al in front of the goal.  She wondered if he could see her, or if all the fans, and the glass made it hard to identify folks.  Just in case, she blew a kiss when he turned her way.  It wasn't just Jay's reminder that she'd be dubbed a sports jinx forever.  She could live with that. 

The game resumed and she watched.  She grabbed her phone, catching up on her mentions.  She had found an account called All Things Must Pass that was run by four women who talked hockey in a way that was helpful and not mansplainy.  One of them was live tweeting the game, so she checked that to sort of get a better understanding of what was going on. 

After a bit she put the phone back down.  It was information overload, and it was more fun to watch the players move across the ice.  See where they bunched up, and split apart.  Most of the action kept moving in the direction of the Piranhas goal, which was good, but meant she was at an odd angle to see it. 

The period ended with no more goals.  Al turned in her direction and she gave him a thumbs up.  She still had no idea if he could see her, but half the fun of watching sports was pretending the things you did as a fan mattered. 

They brought out what looked like an obstacle course of sorts for the period break entertainment. 

When the game resumed Al was back on the other side of the ice from her.  The shots on goal number displayed ticked up, but the score stayed firmly at 3-1.  Until suddenly, Sienna could feel the fans collectively hold their breath.  One of the Dome players had broken away from the pack and speeding with the puck towards the Piranhas.  The stadium started cheering, but Sienna held her breath watching as he shifted his stick to flick the puck towards the goal.  The siren sounded and the screens all shouted, "Gooooooaaaal!" 

Now Sienna cheered.  It was Kunyk, the same player who had scored earlier.  The roster list on her phone told her he was a forward, along with a bunch of other numbers and letters. 

The fans chanted, "We are the Dome!" and Sienna joined in.  It was such a weird chant, although she supposed when your team was named after buildings, your options were limited.  She reached down for the water bottle Daisy had given her.  Had to keep the vocal chords ready to cheer. 

The players moved to back near the Piranhas goal again, with two players - a Dome player and a Piranha player in the space between the bask side of the goal and the boards.  There were scrabbling and banging sounds as they both went after the puck with their sticks, pushing and shoving each other. The Dome player whacked the puck toward the front of the goal where another hovering Dome player managed to elbow a Piranha player while flicking the puck with his stick.  The sirens sound another goal again. 

Sienna jumped to her feet and cheered.  Now the game was tied.  Oh gosh, this really was nerve wracking.  As the time remaining on the period ticked down, she checked rules for ties. More play and a possible shootout.  Sienna had forgotten how stressful it was to watch sports. 

With one minute left, a Dome player flung the puck across the ice in the direction of the Piranha goal. Sienna could see one of the refs raise his arm in the air but the players raced towards the puck as it bounced off the back boards, wide of the goal.  The Dome player flicked it towards the goal, and the Piranha goalie dropped to his knees and popped the puck back out onto the ice, where another Dome player smacked it back towards the goal.

Sienna was on her feet cheering as the siren sounded for the goal. 

That was the last goal of the game and Daisy came to collect Sienna as they were announcing the stars of the game.  "Pretty good game, huh?" Daisy asked. 

"It was amazing," Sienna said.