“This is it,” Matthew says. “Let’s make this a good season, yeah?”
Max just looks ahead, nodding, while Phil looks down, bouncing. They introduce Phil, leaving just Max and Matthew.
“You did good, squirt,” he says, winking at me, and the crowd starts to chant Mad Max. “Who the fuck started that nickname?” Matthew says and I don’t know what to say.
I don’t have to say anything because Max just gruffs out, “Your sister, who else?” He runs toward the ice and skates on.
Matthew shakes his head. “He’s such an asshole,” he says, and the crowd whistles and hollers when they start talking about Matthew, and then my brother is off, doing the same thing Max just did. When they are all out and the national anthem is being sung, I make my way to the lodge where I plan to sit the whole fucking game and eat a plate of nachos and pizza. I get to the lodge and see that the kids are not watching the game, too interested in their iPads.
“Sweetheart,” Cooper says as I walk in. “Hands down the best fucking opening day ever.” He grabs me sideways around the shoulders, kissing the side of my head.
“Thanks, Dad.” I grab him around the waist. “Now if you don’t mind, I want a drink and some nachos.” I head to the seats just out of the lodge where I sit beside Karrie, and my mother sits on my other side, holding my hand.
My family, my support system. They are everything. As I look around the arena, I try and find Denise. I finally see her and we make eye contact when I wave at her and she tells the kids, who all turn and wave at me. I smile, thinking about how she can be so nice and her brother is the polar opposite. I look back at the ice when I hear the whole arena gasp.
Max is shoving someone in the corner and I see Phil down on the ice. On his knees. I watch the replay on the screen showing the guy goes after Phil, cross checking him and his skates leaving the ice. Max is circling around with a referee, who is holding him back from hitting the culprit. I don’t know what they’re saying. All I can make out is “Fuck you.”
The referee leaves Max and goes to the guy, ushering him to the penalty box while Max spews, “Watch your back, pussy bitch.”
We all see Phil get up and shake his head while going to the bench. His wife is standing up and watching everything to make sure he is okay while she cuddles their three-year-old son on her hip.
The first period is a fight to see who is going to score first, but it ends with zero. The second is worse than the first, with penalties coming left and right but resulting in the same score as the first period. At the start of the third period, Cooper stands up.
“It’s going to be a blood bath.”
And I wish I didn’t feel the same way, but as soon as they drop the puck, you see the aggression from both sides. The same guy who knocked Phil out in the first period goes after Max, only to be taken down as Max bends over and he flies over him. Max turns back around and throws his gloves to the ground, whipping his helmet off. He pulls up his sleeves, ready to pounce, but the referee intercepts and kicks the kid off the ice before he really ends up dead. The hits keep coming, harder and harder, the boards echoing louder and louder. It’s really becoming uncontrollable. Cooper is bouncing on his feet with every chance they get and running his hand through his hair when they miss. And then the unthinkable happens when Max puts out his stick to poke check the puck, but it trips up the other player and they send him to the penalty box for two minutes. The whole box goes quiet looking at the time left. Two minutes nine seconds. Short-handed for the last two minutes. He goes to the penalty box with his head down and doesn’t watch. Instead, he sits there with his head bent the whole time. They get an offside, which has the whistle blowing for a face-off. There are ten seconds left in Max’s penalty. His helmet is back on as he stands up.
The other team wins the face-off and brings it back inside the zone with our four players making a box and not giving them a chance to take a shot. It passes from the left defenseman to the right, but Matthew puts out his stick, knocking the puck out of the zone but leaving it clear for Max, who just got out of the box. He gets the puck and goes on a break away with the defenseman right on him, but his legs move faster since they rested for two minutes. He crosses over to the right and moves his body left so the goalie goes down on the left side, but he quickly shoots from the right, having it go right over his pad. The puck lands right in the back of the net while Max kicks up his one leg and throws his hands in the air. It’s a beautiful shot. The arena is wild and everyone is on their feet. Matthew gets to him with a smile on his face, and then the others come where they celebrate and the whole arena chants Mad Max as he skates to the bench and high-fives everyone. The puck drops one more time before the buzzer ends and the game is over.