Shea stood up, smacking him in the shin with his stick. “No worries, it will work out, let’s win this game first.”

“I agree,” Jakob said, doing the same thing Shea did before he skated off with him, passing the puck back and forth. Phillip stood up, reaching for his toes before putting his stick behind his back with his arms draped over it to stretch his back. When he glanced to where Claire was sitting, he smiled. She was stuffing her face with popcorn, watching the guys warming up. Or really, she was watching Patty. Phillip still saw red when he looked at their rookie, something about finding him in bed with Claire made him instantly hate the guy, despite the fact that he was a really good kid.

Looking towards the goal, Phillip rushed it, grabbing a puck and playing with it as he continued to warm up. As much as he wanted to get ready for the game, pump himself up, his mind kept drifting to her. He wondered where she was, what she was doing, if she was with someone, if she was thinking about him. When he saw her today, looking as rough as he felt, he wanted to rush past Claire and take a hold of her, tell her that there was no reason to do this to them, that they could be together and be happy, but he had already done that. The puck was in her zone; it was time for her to decide what she wanted. He would give her the time she needed; he had for so long… what was a little longer?

When he was good and warm, he skated off, rushing down the hall to the locker room. Taking his spot beside Karson and Erik, he handed his gloves off to the attendant for him to dry them and stretched out his legs. Everyone was doing the same thing, all waiting and mentally preparing themselves for the game. When Coach Baxter walked in, he held a clipboard in one hand and his trusty coffee mug in the other. He looked out at them and then slowly nodded. Coach Baxter was a man of a lot of words. Mostly he yelled them but, before the game, he spoke them in a low, demanding voice. It usually pumped the guys up and got them ready to fight for sixty minutes on the ice against their opponent. Sitting on the edge of his seat, Phillip looked up at his coach and waited for the words of wisdom that were going to help them win this game, this series, and then ultimately the cup.

“Aristotle said that ‘we are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit.’” He looked around the room slowly and all eyes were on him. “We have fought, we have bled, we have suffered injury, but we have prevailed. We have overcome it all and made a new record for our franchise. We are everything that the term excellence is defined as. We are a team of winners, and we will win the sixteen games needed to bring that cup home. I believe in every single one of you. Your captain believes in you, and our owner believes in you. We can do this. Now go out there and fight for the chance to hoist that cup above your head.”

The locker room erupted as they all stood, tapping gloves and tapping helmets before lining up in the hall. Like always, Elli stood at the end of the hall, a smile on her face and the picture of beauty in an Adler jersey, tight jeans, and sky-high sparkly purple heels. Once everyone was lined up, ready to head out, she walked down the line, tapping each guy’s glove and wishing him a great game. When she came to Phillip, she gave him a wink and wished him luck before going down the line, ending at her husband. Shea smiled, leaning down and kissing her loudly on the lips just as the music started in the arena. Rocking back and forth on his skates, he waited and then it was time to hit the ice. When Phillip’s name was called and the spotlight came on him, the crowd erupted and he knew that they were going to win. No question about it. They had this.

Skating to the bench, he went to send a grin to Claire, like he always did, but when he looked up and saw Reese staring back at him, it stunned him. He blinked twice and she just sat there, staring at him with the saddest brown eyes ever. She was wearing makeup this time, had even done her hair, and was wearing his jersey. She looked beautiful, like always, and it left him in a daze that he didn’t need to be in right now. Mentally smacking himself, he took in a quick breath and looked away, because if he kept staring at her, he was going to climb over that glass, pull her into his arms, and never let go. He couldn’t do that. He had a game to win. But as he skated to the middle for the puck drop, he couldn’t help but glance back at where she was sitting. She was still watching him, and he didn’t know what to think of that. Was she there to fix things?

When the puck dropped and he completely missed it, losing it to the Wings, he decided that he had to push her out of his mind or he was going to lose this game. Getting his head on straight, he chased after the puck but thankfully, Shea was there, stopping the Wing player and sending the puck up to Erik. Phillip turned, rushing with him to the goal, Karson on the other side. Erik passed the puck back, and Shea sent it up to Phillip. He then deked around a player and might have had the goal but, to be sure, he sent it to Karson and he sent it to the back of the goal with ease. It was a gorgeous play but the high of scoring was short-lived because the Wings came back, hard, scoring two goals back to back.

Not letting their confidence falter, the Assassins pushed back with Patty scoring another goal and tying it up at the end of the first. The second period was hard hitting, with a lot of chances, but no one scored. When the third period came, Phillip was sitting on the bench, hoping like hell they could pull out the win. The Wings were playing a tough game, out shooting them by six shots on goal, but Phillip believed in his team. Watching as Lucas, Matty, and JT skated fast down the ice to the goal, he held his breath as JT shot, hitting the goalie’s blocker pad but receiving one hell of a rebound, which Lucas was able to get and he sent the puck sailing to the back of the net with only two minutes left in the period.