Yea, We Are Going to Win This! ....Oh...No....We Are Not....

[Ozzy Batty 293]

We started with such high hopes. We were selected to play for the Royals in the World Junior Hockey Championships. The team came together and we hit the ice. We practiced extra hours. We did everything we could to come together as a team. We ate too much pizza, played video games too much, we came together and was ready for whatever we faced. 

 

We started off strong. We got to 5-1. Man, this felt so good. The team was excited. The Head Coach was putting us in the best position to win that he could. He told us that we needed to continue to work hard. No matter the results of the games, we needed to do our best. So yes, we did that. We did that work. He did his part. It all was coming together and we were going to win this for sure. 

 

But then we hit a bump in the road. We started losing. Not by a large margin, but we were still losing. The great thing is the mood and attitude of the locker room did not change. We were still positive and working towards victory. We had that one goal in mind, to win the Championship! We were even fortunate in that we were able to even add a new player. The focus was there from the beginning from all of us. 

When the qualifying rounds were over, we were in the playoffs! We did not even have to win a playoff series for a Wild Card spot. We were sitting there and watching to see the final game of the Wild Card series to see what the format would be. To be honest, we did not care who won that series because we knew we would win the championship. It would not matter who we played, we were going to win.

 

Our opponent was the Warriors. They are a good team and we knew we were in for a fight. Game 1, we win, 4-2. A great start! We scored 3 goals in the 2nd period to make sure this one went into the Win column. Game 2 was a loss, we gave up 3 goals in the 3rd period to lose 5-3. So the series is tied, 1-1. Game 3 saw us lose again, 4-2, and once again, we gave up 3 goals in the 3rd period. So now we are behind, 1-2 in the series. Game 4, took 2 Overtimes, but we get the win! The series is tied 2-2. We knew it would be tough, but damn...yea...this is a good one.

 

Game 5, we flip the script and score 2 in the 3rd period to win this one 4-3. So we go ahead, 3-2. One more victory and we will move on! Game 6. We scored 2 goals in the 3rd period in that game to take it to Overtime. But we lost this one, so once again, the series is tied 3-3. Nothing else matters. The slate is clear. It is win, or go home. No pressure, right?

 

The final game of the series, we took the shots, we fought like hell. We went onto the ice as a team, we played as a team, and win or lose, we are a team. It was not meant to be. We lost 2-4. It might as well been 0-1 or even 99-100 because a loss is a loss, no matter what the score was. 

The locker room was quiet. Slowly we started clearing out our lockers. We looked at each other, but no words were spoken. No matter what, we left it all on the ice. No matter what we did the best we could and we can hold our heads high. 

 

Word Count: 623

Week Claimed: 11 June 2023