Hit the Ice

His entire life had led up to this moment. All that blood, sweat and tears shed from pee-wee to high school to college had all led up to this. The consistent, heavy and excited heartbeat pumped in his chest. He closed his eyes and tried to relax for a moment. But he had a red Indian head sweater on. It's hard to relax when you've grown up cheering for this team and find yourself playing for them.

"Alright boys, let's go!" He heard the call. He stood up from his locker and followed his teammates out of the locker room and down the tunnel. He grabbed his stick and waited for the cue to go out. He could hear the music and roaring of the crowd muffled by his location. he waited for a moment until his teammates started walking out. A couple guys were patting them on the back while they stepped out.

Then he heard the loud horn. Now he knew it was real. The music had changed and he stepped out of the tunnel, high-fiving fans who were sitting on both sides of the tunnel. He maneuvered through the benches and then took a small but giant step.

As soon as his skate hit the ice, he felt a rush of adrenaline and he skated out, taking warm-up laps on his team's end of the ice. He looked out at the sea of red, all making their noise for him. He could barely even hear the PA announcer, introducing the starting line-ups. But then... "Left wing, number 19, Scott... DOLAN!!!"

Unable to control himself, he smiled the widest smile he'd ever smiled. Charged up and full of energy, he skated over to the blue line and lined up for the national anthem.