It was mid december, and Tim was mid hockey season. He was heading to an open ice to practice today. He was going at 8:00 pm. It was 6:30 now. In the basement, he gathered all of his hockey equipment: Skates, helmet, pads, water bottle. He liked to leave early so he had enough time to prepare for his skate. He opened his hockey bag, went through it to make sure he wouldn’t forget anything, and brought it upstairs.

His mom was waiting in the car for him. She tended to get impatient, so he hurried. Tim was only 15 so his mom still drove him to practices and games. He rented the ice for just himself to shoot and practice for his game later on. His parents had a lot of money, that's how he rented the ice just to himself. He played for the Amherst Knights. They haven't won a game and he wants to win. He was checking to make sure he had all his equipment and putting it all in his bag. He heard the faint beep of his mom’s car, so he hurried.

He ran out through the open garage door and slid on the icy floor. Tim regained his balance and walked to the back of the car. He glided to the trunk, grabbed the icy handle and cracked the frozen trunk open. He threw his bag in the trunk and hopped in the passenger seat.

The drive was quiet. Tim didn't talk much, they just listened to the radio.They passed all the familiar scenery. Tim goes to hockey two to three times a week so he's used to everything on the drive. He played at the NorthTown Center. The drive was only ten to fifteen minutes.

When they finally arrived, his mom pulled up to the front and let Tim out. He jumped out and got his bag and stick out of the trunk. He walked to the passenger window and said bye to his mom. Tim walked up to the automatic doors and pressed the button with his stick. In the NorthTown center there were four rinks: rink one, rink two, Olympic rink, and feature rink. He rented rink number one. He carried his heavy bag to the rink and took an empty locker room. The ice was already done by the zamboni. He went to the corner of the locker room, his favorite spot. He emptied his bag, then started putting his equipment on. First his skates, then the gloves and helmet. Everything else stayed in the bag, he decided he didn't need all of it to just shoot the puck.

He grabbed his stick on the way on the rink and got on the rink. He started skating laps. He felt cool air blow through his helmet. He skated over to the zamboni door, opened it, and grapes a net. He glid it over to the crease and set it up. He knew where the stash of pucks were. Behind the benches. He grabbed the bucket of pucks and set it down, knocked it over, and took a puck. He was shooting because he played defense and he's always had chances to shoot. His team could win if he could take a good slap shot. He's had so many opportunities. His team loses all the time. He hasn't even won a game. They don't lose by much, so if Tim could get good at slap shots, he believed he could win. He stayed on the ice until he felt he had a good shot, which ended up being around two hours. He was able to aim his shot, and it was a hard shot. He put everything back and skated off the ice. While getting his equipment off, he heard his phone buzz. Tim grabbed his phone and checked what it was. He was signed up for a text reminder with his hockey team. That's what it was. A text to remind him he had a game in an hour. Tim didn't remember having a game, or else he wouldn't of come to shoot. He decided to stay at the rink, the game was at the same rink. He texted his mom to tell her.

Game time. He was ready to put his skills to work. He was on the first shift. The game was against Notre dame. Everyone was lined up waiting for the puck to drop. Tim was at left defense. The referee dropped the puck and it was hit back to Tim. He caught it on his stick and skated backwards, giving him space to look for a pass. He saw the left wing open and beamed a pass right to his stick. The whole team moved forwards and advanced on Notre dame. The left wing brought it behind the back of the net. He had time to look for a pass. He saw Tim open and passed it. The pass went off track and glid through the middle of the ice. Tim wasn't ready for that, tried to turn around too fast and fell. A Notre dame player flew by him and took the puck. He was on a breakaway. Just him and the goalie. Tim, while getting up, hoped the goalie would save it. The ND player brought the puck to the left and quickly pulled it to the right, tricking the goalie, and he was left with an open net. He put it in the net no problem and the team celebrated.

Tim skated back to the bench with his head down. He sat on the bench and watched. The next face off started and ND got the puck. They lost the puck right away to a bad pass and Amherst took the puck. Brought it down the ice for a three on two. They passed it back and forth and finally shot. The goalie saved it and the referee blew the whistle. There was only seconds left in the period. The next face off started and no one really went for the puck, and the period ended with a loud buzzer. They all went to the benches to talk to the coach. “We're only down by one. We're playing good against them, we just have to score. The referee blew the whistle, letting us know we were out of time.

Everyone lined up for a face off, Tim was on the ice. The puck dropped. We lost it and their wing took the puck and brought it down the boards. Tim saw him coming and hit him into the boards. The player fell and dropped the puck. Tim took it and bombed it down the ice to a player wide open. It was him and the goalie. He shot and the goalie made a glove save. Still 1-0. The face off was towards their goalie now. The puck dropped and they center tipped it back to Tim. He was ready to shoot but had no good opportunity, and he knew the other defense didn't have a good shot, so he shot it into the corner. The wing went around and got the puck. The center slid to the front of the net and was wide open. The defense didn't notice him, and neither did the goalie. The wing passed it to him and he put it in the back of the net. 1-1. They celebrated and lined up again.

The next face off went to ND. They passed it around and eventually a bad pass landed on Alex's stick, Tims defense partner, and he passed it up. They had a good chance to score and they shot, but missed. It was recovered by ND and brought into Amherst’s zone.the defense took a slapshot from the blue line and the goalie saved it easily. The puck just went back and forth for the whole second period, and no one scored

Third period was about to start and Tim was thinking to himself. He needed to win. This was a problem to him. He always wants to win. He could tell his team did too. This was his last chance to win, because every other game after this was really good teams. It's only 1-1 and he knew he could win this. He heard the whistle and lined up.
Ten minutes later and still 1-1. Thirty seconds left. The face off was in their zone. Tim was on defence, right across from the net. The referee dropped the puck and it was flung back to Tim. It seemed like slow motion. It went right to the tape on his stick. No one was in front of him, and he knew it was time for him to use his slap shot he practiced. Tim winded his stick back and hit the puck. It flew across the ice going right for the goalie. The goalie dropped to the ground, but Tim shot it high. It went to the goalies rightpad, the one without the glove, and went in with fifteen seconds left. 2-1. The crowd cheered and Tim and the rest of the team celebrated on the ice. Now all they had to do was play good defence for fifteen seconds. Tim had to change lines and he sat on the bench and watched the last fifteen seconds. He was holding his breath the whole time. The puck dropped in the middle and it went to Notre Dame’s defence. ND passed it up to a wing and they brought it into our zone. Ten seconds left. The ND wing brought it behind our net, then passed it up the boards to the defence. Five seconds left. Tim saw the defence wind back a slap shot. He was scared. Tim was hoping the goalie would save it. The puck flew through the air. the goalie wasn’t ready and the puck was going for the top right corner, wide open. Tim saw the puck going for the open spot and lost all hope, he hung his head. But then he heard a loud bang and looked up. The puck hit the boards. He missed! The buzzer went off right after. They won! Tim’s team hopped the boards and hugged the goalie. Tim couldn’t believe he won. He was happy that he stayed determined and practiced that shot before the game.