Page 114 of Goalie Interference

“Yeah,” Brandon says. “Can everyone quit chatting so I can go score one on my brother?”

“Not a chance,” Gavin says.

Brandon glares at him, but it’s not very convincing as I also see him gulp.

Finally, they all get themselves organized around the dot. The ref drops the puck, and as I requested, Ryan wins the faceoff.

Brandon skates away with it, but Gavin is right on his heels, chasing him. He better pass that puck soon if he doesn’t want to end up as roadkill.

I hold my breath.

Wisely, he passes it between his legs to O’Shea, who then passes it back to Ryan. The three of them are on a rush towards the Blizzards net. Just like I had with Connor’s shot, Ander is about to get his first test of the game.

Ryan skates right toward him, luring him out of the net. Then, at the last second, he passes the puck to Brandon who swings his stick to take a shot.

Ander didn’t fall for their deception. He extends his right leg and stops the puck with his shin pad before it crosses into the crease. The rebound bounces right back to Brandon who tries to shoot it on again. But Ander scrambles and is able to stop it, gloving it down to stop play.

The tone has been set. This game is going to be a true battle. A push to see who can score first.

Ander

First period. No goals. But I’m not going to be a fool and assume the second period will go the same. The energy here in St. Louis is palpable. The entire arena is on the edge of their seats waiting for someone to break the seal and slip in a goal. They’d love for it to be their team.

It won’t be. Not when Connor is circling their offensive zone on a power play. I know Brandon is currently cursing himself out in the penalty box for that trip. I saw the replay. It wasn’t intentional. He just got caught with his stick in a bad place.

That bad place being underneath Connor’s skate.

So now Brandon and I are doing the same thing. Watching Connor slip through the Mules’ four defenders trying to stop him.

Not a chance.

Connor teases Ivanov towards the front of his crease. Challenging him to come further out before he passes the puck to Tavish, forcing Ivanov to take his attention towards the right circle. But by the time he gets centered, Tavish has already passed the puck back to Connor. He hammers one home.

Sorry, my love. But someone was going to have to score the first goal. I’m glad it was my team instead of yours.

Nikolai

Honestly, things could be worse. While I would have preferred for us to score the first goal, at least someone finally scored one.

This arena has been a pressure cooker since the start of the game. A goal like that has released some of the tension in the air.

Yes, it has made our job harder now as we have to play catch up, but having one go in tends to be followed up by others. The trick now is to make sure we are the ones who score the others.

“I’m gonna make it up to you, right now,” Brandon says. As soon as he was let out of the penalty box he came right over.

But really, he has nothing to make up for. It was an unfortunate penalty that wasn’t entirely his fault. Besides, a team’s best penalty killer must be their goalie. So Kennedy’s goal was more my fault than anybody else’s.

“Is fine,” I say. “Plenty of game left.”

The left corner of his lips quirk up. “Alright. If not for you, then I’ll do it for me. I’d love to wipe that smile off my brother’s face.”

“He is looking too comfortable down there.” I push Brandon away from me. Everyone else is already taking their positions at center ice.

Ryan wins the faceoff again. Then, O’Shea gets leveled by Gavin, causing him to lose control of the puck. But Brandon scoops it onto the blade of his stick and skates off at full speed.

It’s one on one. The Bouchard brothers going head-to-head before anyone else on the Blizzards can catch up to Brandon to intercept his shot.

He fakes left, moves right, then heads back to the left and chips it in.