Personal Narrative

It all started out great. It was a beautiful day, and we were up by two. We were facing the red team and they weren’t a challenge at all.

“We are pleased to have the Raymond Park Middle School Rangers at our home turf!” the announcer bellowed as my team ran onto the field as ready as we would ever be to play our opponents.

It had been a long season, many losses, but many learning moments, we were second to last in the league and only had about ten wins. The only thing we had going for us, the playoffs. We had tied the West Kent Hawks and beat two other teams 7-1 and 10-2 to make it here, and there I was. Sitting in the locker room with a blank stare and hands hanging from my chest guard, this is usually what happens before games. I was anxious to get on the ice, but neverous too, because this is how the little caesars playoffs work.

While I felt as if we would lose, I still wanted to try my hardest to change that outcome. I played my hardest at Shortstop and was able to get two of the three outs by a double play. Sadly that play had come at the expense of a run from their team. The last batter from their team was struck out and we headed back to get ready and bat. The crowd kept supporting us through the bad calls from the umpire and the strikeouts even to this point. The team was motivated and ready to take this game and head to finals with my morale boosted I got ready to cheer my team on

While I felt as if we would lose, I still wanted to try my hardest to change that outcome. I played my hardest at Shortstop and was able to get two of the three outs by a double play. Sadly that play had come at the expense of a run from their team. The last batter from their team was struck out and we headed back to get ready and bat. The crowd kept supporting us through the bad calls from the umpire and the strikeouts even to this point. The team was motivated and ready to take this game and head to finals with my morale boosted I got ready to cheer my team on

Walking out onto the opponent’s brightly lit turf field setting up for the kickoff of the second half just gave me the feeling that everybody knows, my hair starts to stand up, butterflies began to flutter in my stomach, and everything seems to slow down. Looking into the stands and seeing that our hometown fans had traveled four hours in order to outdo the home crowd gave me a sense of comfort. Looking into East Jefferson’s stands and seeing that our fans, despite having to travel all the way down south, outnumbered their fans by at least 70 people. I found myself thinking that this meant just as much to our town as it did to our school and team. This feeling would be just the motivation we needed in order to finish this game

The excitement and happiness are what we wanted to feel when hopefully lifting up a trophy. We needed to prove that not one person can talk down about us without there being a consequence. Every day for hours we pushed ourselves and each other. We became stronger individually and as a team. It was time for preseason, and this is where we must justify our position in our division. We played in one of the hardest group divisions in the whole country, which was exceptional because that left no room for failure, it just left room for us to

We were playing Fond du lac, and they were good. So our teams gets on the ice and we start playing. We score two goals right away in the beginning. They were starting to get mad. After we scored to make it 3-0 they started sending out kids that would hit our players. Our team then started to retaliate. So we were getting penalties and before you knew it the score was 2-3. We started to realize that it wasn’t worth retaliating. There was about two minutes left in the game, and we played shutdown defense. Nobody was getting a shot on our goalie. The game ended 3-2 us so we were on our way to

So we started off by skating above the circle and catching a pass from the deffensemen, then we take a shoot at the goalie to get him warmed up. As we were all finished from giving everybody a shoot we were all ready to start the game.

Our first game of the tournament was against Dallas Penguins. The game was tough, mean, and bloody, and they played better than us that game. Dallas beat us 5-2 our first game. The mood on the bus was very negative and quite. No one wants to lose their first game of the most important tournament. We did not know what to expect for the rest of the tournament. We were already lost. We all thought we were going to get sent home early. But we were determined and willing to never give up.

Onto the ice I step; skates tied, helmet placed on my head nice and snug. As I begin to make my way around the back of the net nearest me, I felt the crisp, refreshing air resisting my frozen red face. I glanced up at the scoreboard, it read “3:49”. Three minutes forty-nine seconds until the test of my life began. Game one in a best of three series to decide who would go to the Tier II National Championships, and the only thing standing in our way was the team across the ice: the Red Bank Generals. Again, I glanced up at the scoreboard “1:59”. I reflected on the season, all of our accomplishments; we deserved to be here. Yet, I could still feel my heart pounding against my chest, each beat sounding louder than the previous one. In the midst of my reflection, I came to the realization of the cause of my anxiety. Seven months before today, I had suffered a concussion- the most ruthless and emotional injury for a hockey player- to the team across the ice. During my recovery, I was like a child waiting

I cannot imagine my life without the whoosh of air flooding through the bars of my helmet as I glide across the ice. With each stride, I grow faster, stronger, and smarter. Hockey has occupied a crucial part of my personality for over two-thirds of my existence. I have grown up with my teammates, and we only improve as we continue playing together. A game during this year’s season defines how hockey has inspired me to become a leader. The score was one-to-one halfway through the third period. Hannah, our team’s newest member, flashed a nervous smile towards me as we skated over to our respective positions in our team’s end. I played right defence while she played right wing. We had to trust and support each other. During the faceoff, the centre

The Dee stadium, home of the Houghton Gremlins, was packed full of eager students and other spectators waiting to see these two teams, who have a strong rivalry that goes back many years ago, face off for the annual wing ding game. The atmosphere was electrifying, the noise filled my head with excitement and my body with so much energy and a small serving of nerves. I assume every other player out there was experiencing the same thing i was because of the importance of this game and everything that came with winning this game. As i skated the puck out from behind the net, so many things were going through my mind, Things like, “ don't lose the puck” and “ i need to find a guy open”. As i kept skating my window of opportunity was closing, i needed to find a person that was open fast or through in up and off the boards because if i don't i might get… then it

Head coach Graeme Orr said, “We found a way to win. It wasn’t pretty or our best soccer, but it just shows that even when we play bad we can still win. The determination to win was never a question; it was all about tactics and playing to our strengths in overtime.”

The team was ready, we had been working extremely hard for the past seven months for this. We were all in great shape and very rested. A few of the returning players were meeting me at my house to carpool to the final game of the state championship tournament. Everyone knew that the hard work had paid off when we won the semi-final game the preceding day.