Game three

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Played Game 3 tonight. Here's how it went down:

Game day minus 1 - Team Captain messages the group chat to say we're down skaters for the game. One guy asks about subs. Some joker reads subs and immediately agrees it's a good idea to bring sandwiches for post-game eats. Someone asks for a cold cut trio. Comedians are everywhere. And still no spares.
Driving to the game - Holy Mother of Sweet Baby Jesus it's hot! There's no way the ice will be any good tonight! Also, where the hell is this new arena?
Change room - everyone's griping. Team mates are sharing stories on who's experienced the worst heat EVER. It's a game of one-upmanship and there's some total BS flying around. Heads are bobbing enthusiastically as each story gets more dramatic. This one time, it was so hot...
1st Period - We take the ice. Before the first puck drop my defense partner skates over to me and says not to worry about tonight's game. Our goal isn't winning but to skate around fast enough to feel the cool air on our faces. Seems reasonable.
We go 1-1. Lots of back and forth and scoring opportunities…and then two guys crash into the boards to the right of our goalie. There's a scream and we see it's one of our guys. He landed on the other player's skate and sliced his back open. Thankfully we have a paramedic and nurse on the team who administer first aid. The ambulance comes and they wheel him away on a stretcher. The goofy grin on his face tells us he's enjoying his pain meds.
We resume the game. It feels different. The team is obviously rattled, but no one's saying anything. We need to wind this thing up and get some beers in the parking lot asap. We find out during beers that our team mate is okay, but will need some stitches and is likely out for a few weeks. He got his doctor to take a picture which he sent to the group chat. It looked pretty gnarly, but now everyone's joking again. It eases the tension. We send him wishes for a speedy recovery and breathe a sigh of relief it's not serious. We do this for fun and no one goes into a game thinking something bad will happen, but it can, and tonight was a reminder. The next game will be better.

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