Nicole and her friends watched the action in the Kraken zone, since their seats were near the half of the rink where feared Seattle goalie Kim Scowcroft would set up shop twice. She led the league in save percentage and was a contender for several postseason honors.
There wasn't much for Scowcroft to do. The Avs came out flat and only managed a handful of shots on goal in the game's first ten minutes. Slightly over halfway through the first period, Avs forward Nat Ogilvy tripped a Seattle player right in front of Nicole and the others. She yelled loud enough that Nicole and those lucky to be in the first few rows could hear.
"Girls? You're not GIRLS!" The other players shrugged off the attempted insult. Nicole, however, could not. Did the Avs change? she thought again to herself. No matter, the tripping call had earned the Kraken two minutes on the power play at the other end of the ice. Ogilvy shuffled off to the box in disgust, and the Kraken fans hoped their special teams unit could get the first goal of the game. With time winding down, Niki Petrova, one of the stars for the Kraken, fired a shot from the near point past the Avs netminder. The goal horn went off and the crowd erupted into cheers.
"Woo-hoo!" Nicole cheered.
"Petrova's having a good year. Watch, this team is gonna fire on all cylinders tonight," Shan predicted.
The power play goal fired up the crowd and evidently deflated the Avs. With time winding down in the first period, defensewoman Han Stone banked in a shot from forward Dani Proulx to make it a two-goal lead heading into the first intermission. Seattle was in the driver's seat to clinch a playoff berth tonight.
Jade sighed. Ash was distracted again. The hockey match was in full swing and her phone kept buzzing, notifying her of a goal that had just been scored. He had tried to get her to switch it off but Ash insisted on leaving it on. The game was too important, she had said.
Too important for what, exactly? Jade wondered, frowning. Spending time with a beautiful boy? Because that’s what she was doing. This date was not going the way that he had imagined.
“Ash,” Jade hissed, trying to get her attention. Ash looked up and saw the look on Jade’s face and gulped; she quickly put the phone down. Jade smiled weakly.
“So. You’ve met my family. Tell me about yours.” Ash shrugged.
“There’s not much to tell, really.” She said taking a bite of her food. “Mom works in banking. Dad’s a secretary.”
“Do you have any siblings?” Jade asked trying to give the conversation a push.
Ash nodded. “I have two little brothers.” An Intrigued Jade pushed for more. Maybe he could meet the little guys and they’d be friends.
“Well, the older one, Tophia, he's...actually a lot like me. You know, into girl stuff. He likes sports and often plays video games with me and Brianna.”
“Who’s Brianna?”
“Oh, just a friend. We’ve known each other since kindergarten.”
"And what about the other one?"
"You'd think they weren't brothers, really. They're total opposites. Sephina is about as much of a boy as you can get. It's amazing how much makeup you boys go through."
Jade giggled at the thought. "Tell me about it," he quipped.
Nicole watched as the Ice Boys and the Zamboni worked to clean up the ice that had taken its share of wear and tear in the first period.
"Those Ice Boys sure are cute," Nicole said. But they're not Jonatha, she quickly added to herself.
"And they put the sexiest outfits on them, too," Kam sighed with a sort of expression that showed how much she was sizing them up. "Most of them have to be 8s."
"That one's a 9 over there on the far boards," Chel added, pointing to another Ice Boy. Even though he seemed a bit uncertain about what to do, he certainly looked good while doing it.
"He's only a 7, really," Sam rebutted. Kam rolled her eyes in disagreement.
"Can we stop bickering about this? I'm excited for the final week of our basketball regular season," Sam piped in. "Can't wait for the state tournament!"
"You gals have been playing really well of late," Chel added. "You'll do well. Who do you face this week?"
"We have two games, at Mare Todd and then we host Shadow Hill," Shan replied. She knew the schedule like the back of her hand. "Mare Todd puts up a decent fight, but Shadow Hill's not the greatest. Perfect way to tune up for state, if you ask me."
"Yeah, Harborville's better at football and baseball than basketball," Chel opined. "They've sent a bunch of quarterbacks to major college teams and I think they have a few alumni in the major leagues, too."
The teams emerged from their dressing rooms to start the second period, and Shan noticed something. "Hey, aren't they another player short on Colorado?"
"I wonder if something happened or if that player who got the penalty just got angry again in the dressing room."
Nicole checked Twitter and found another tweet. Ogilvy not out to start the second for the Avs after causing a tripping penalty in the first period. Will let you know more when we get it.
"They haven't said," Nicole told her friends.
"Alright then," Sam replied. "Not like it'll matter the way the Kraken are playing."
