ng to our position that we played. Our coach told us that all the defense and goalies should sit together and all the forwards should sit close. The second the team opened up their bags the raunchy stench of body odor filled the room. I set the stereo up and started playing the Rocky song that we would always listen to before every big game. The players were all dressed in our uniforms when the coach told us that he had a surprise for us. He yanked a box form the hallway and pulled out our new jerseys that he ordered for the great accomplishment. This reward reminded everyone of our unbelievable journey to the state game. Coach handed the jerseys out telling us the pride we should feel as we slip the sweater on. We had twenty minutes until the challenge when our coach ordered everyone to be quiet for his pre-game speech. He started out telling us how proud he was to be our coach and whatever happens in the next two hours he commends us. The rest of the speech was the strategy he wanted to use if we encounter any problems. In his final words the horn rang telling both the teams that it was time to take the ice.Walking toward the rink we could here the loud roar of the opposing crowds, chanting back and forth at each other. The arena was extremely cold, which made our muscles tighten up like a retracting rubberband. Each one of us lined up according to our numbers, which of course put me second, after the goalie. Being second to step out on the ice not only made me nervous, I had to stand next to the goalie, Ryan, whose equipment smelled the worse out of everyone on the whole team and was whining about how he was because he has a body like the State-Puff Marshmallow Man. It is a tradition of the league to announce all the players and coaches before the huge crowd. As I stepped out onto the rock hard ice, the announcer called my name and a sudden jolt of energy came firing through my body. When the announcer was done, both ...
