Devil’s Play

"Do you have everything?" Tara asked me as we stuffed all our crap back into our bags. We had just passed through security check.

"Yup I'm good" I told her while zipping my bag shut. The prudential center was packed with fans for tonight's game. The New Jersey Devil's were on a winning streak of nine games in a row. I'm guessing that everyone is eager to see if they can make it into double digits, including Tara and I. Usually we keep up with stats and games remotely since we never have the time to show up to the stadium itself because of work. However, we both agreed that we couldn't miss this game. Her boyfriend Max is here with us as well. He's also an NJD fan and we figured that we might as well enjoy the holiday together at this special game before going back to work Tuesday morning tomorrow.

"Do you guys want any snacks?" Max asked Tara and I as we walked past the food section.

"Yeah I could go for a pretzel" Tara said then turned to look at me. "What do you want YN?"

"A drink would be nice" I told her.

"Okay, go sit down and I'll surprise you with one" she told me with a smile. I laughed and started pulling out my wallet to give her a five dollar bill. She pushed my hands back down using hers and told me not to worry about.

"Aw thanks Tara" I told her and then left them in the line to navigate my way through the crowd to our seats. As I made my way closer and closer to the seating entrance, everything was getting louder. The announcers, the fans. I began walking down the row towards the front where I knew that our seats were. It was my first time ever being so close to the ice. I sat in one of our three seats available and watched through the glass as kids played a quick hockey game. I started laughing with everyone else when one of the kids shot the puck so hard toward the goal net that he fell over in the process. The laughter quickly erupted into applause as he actually made it into the net. Shortly after, the mascot came out and picked up the kid congratulating him, then helped escort them all off of the ice for the sweepers to clean it.

All eyes turned towards the jumbotron next as it began to give a run down of all the anticipated players to do especially well tonight. Alexander Holtz was the first person to appear on the screen, following Jesper Bratt, and then Nico Hischier. I couldn't help but smile when I saw his face there. He's come so far from when I knew him in college. As far as classes go, we only had gen eds together and worked on a couple group projects, but I'd see him mostly at the schools ice rink outside of class. I'd find myself spending most of my time ice skating with other students there while he and some of his friends would sit and wait on the bleachers for the skaters time to be done so they could play hockey.

I like to skate while listening to music in my headphones but somehow his heavy Switzerland accented voice would push past the song playing and let me know whenever he and his friends arrived to the rink. Also my queue to start wrapping up. There were only a few occasions where we'd say hey or joke around a little as the skaters were making the transition off of the ice for the hockey players, but sometimes I'd sit on the bleachers and stay awhile to watch the team play. He always stood out to me with the level of focus and determination he'd have with his team. Then somewhere along the lines three years after college, here he is signed to the NHL and captain of his team.

"Boo!"

I turned around to see Tara and Max standing behind me with all our snacks. Max had a hotdog and coke and Tara was holding a pretzel and root beer, along with a bag that had my stuff in it. I stood up so they could walk past me easier to their seats and then I sat back down.

"Here ya go" Tara said as she plopped the bag down into my lap. She got me an angry orchard and a box of chocolate covered raisins. I laughed and told her that she chose well.

About five minutes later, the lights dimmed and the jumbotron started playing the intro video. The crowd immediately started cheering since they all knew that the game was finally about to start. I dusted my black and red New Jersey devils sweater off from any chocolate crumbs I may of had on it and put the box back in the bag.

"AND HERE THEY ARE, YOUR NEW, JERSEY, DEVILSSSS!" the announcer blared. Max, Tara and I cheered with everyone else as they started to flood the rink. Jack and Luke Hughes came out together, Vitek skated up to the net, and everyone else piled through. I spotted Nico towards the end of the line speeding out, ready to take his position on the ice. There's that familiar game face I remember. Lets hope this game is one for the books.

~

The third quarter was almost over and both teams had three goals. Nico got one first period and then he and Dawson Mercer scored one each in the second period. Nico just needed to score one more goal for a hat trick. The last two minutes was on the clock before overtime would need to happen and everyone was getting anxious. A man shot up out of his seat close to mine and cupped his hands on the sides of his mouth to shout "Lets go Hughes!" The Hughes brothers were definitely doing their best at trying to set up goal opportunities. Jack was flying on the ice and if Luke got the puck, he knew exactly how to swerve through the opposing players towards their goal. Every time the puck was passed though, someone would block the shot and the set up would need to start all over again.

The players got ready for another face off. Nathan Bastian reached the puck first and shot it towards his teammates. Jesper Bratt quickly swept it up with his hockey stick and started racing towards the other teams net. He then made a move as if he was going to shoot it straight across the ice but shot it to his left instead, right where Nico was waiting. With only five seconds left on the clock, Nico didn't hesitate as he saw his opening and shot the puck straight into the goal.

Everyone stood up and started cheering to the top of their lungs as the truck horn blared for the winning devils goal of the night and their tenth straight win. The ice began to get littered with hats for Nico completing his hat trick. Tara and I laughed as Max flung a hat onto the ice as well.

"I'm so glad we came to see this game" I happily turned to tell Tara over the screaming fans.

"Me too" she excitedly said.

The Devils were hugging each other and knocking helmets with Vitek as they reveled in their big victory. Nico looked the happiest that I've ever seen him. I couldn't help but let out one last cheer of joy for the team. Simultaneously, Nico looked up in my direction and we held eye contact for a bit. I saw realization slowly grow on his face as he seemed to recognize me. I don't know why, but it made me feel a little self consciousness. I was happy nonetheless though and did a small wave to him. Before he could do anything, Mercer skated up to him and started patting and shaking his shoulder roughly from his performance tonight as they all started to head inside.

"Tara, I'm pretty sure Nico just recognized me from college."

"No way, really?!" she said.

"Yeah" I said with a laugh.

"Ooo" she teased while poking at me. I rolled my eyes.

"Lets welcome back our star players of the game!" said the announcer. Dawson Mercer was the first to come out as he skated around the ice for a bit, greeting fans through the glass with a smile, and then went back inside.

"And lets hear it for Nico Hischierrrr!"

Everyone applauded for Nico as he made his entrance onto the ice. A group of guys were waving a huge devils flag back and forth for him vigorously that made him laugh. In his hands was a silver sharpie pen and the puck. He looked towards my direction, skated up to where I was, and threw the puck over for me. Even though I was stunned, I still managed to catch it. He then skated away, signed his name with the silver sharpie pen on the camera, and exited the ice. All of the fans started to leave the arena as well.

I looked over at Tara and her mouth was still open.

"Oh em gee, you were right YN! He does recognize you." I blushed and looked down at the puck.

"What do I do with it?"

"I'll take it if you don't want it" Max said. Tara slapped his arm.

"It's a souvenir for everything that happened today. Get a cute little stand for it and put it somewhere in your townhouse" she said with a wink.

"Ok I'll find a spot" I told her with a laugh as we started leaving the stadium.

~

The time on Max's car screen read ten thirty. It took us fifteen minutes just to get out of the jammed parking lot. Tara played her music in the car to help pass the time. They were giving me a ride home. I still felt some butterflies in my gut from what happened at the game. It also didn't help that Tara was looking back at me with a smirk every five minutes. I couldn't not think about it even if I wanted to.

Around ten forty five, Max pulled into my driveway.

"Thanks for the ride guys, see you in the morning" I said while getting out of the car.

"See you YN" Max said.

"Byee" Tara waved as Max pulled off. I used my keys to unlock the front door and my Yorkie came running up to me, happy that I was home.

"Hi Coco baby, what'd you do huh?" I said as I picked her up. If her tail was wagging any faster, it would probably fall off. I set her down and then threw my keys into the key bowl, as well as my bag on top of the table. I then made my way to my electric kettle in the kitchen and turned it on since I had a taste for ramen. I'd eat it before hopping in the shower and then going to bed.

Sitting on the couch while the water boiled, I pulled the puck out from my pocket to admire it some more. Then, I furrowed my eyebrows together as I noticed something silver behind it. I flipped the puck over and saw that Nico had wrote something on the back of the puck. It simply said "Text" with a smiley face.

"Huh? What does..." I got cut off by my phone vibrating on the couch seat next to me. I picked it up and froze. Right on the center of my phone screen was a text message.

From Nico himself.