Olympic Madness
Canadian Miracle on Ice
Olympic Madness
Canadian Miracle on Ice
Matthew was excited for the first hockey game that the men were playing. When he had first seen the group Canada was playing in, many, many weeks ago, he had laughed. He had won a lottery. He had what was probably the easiest group. His boys should sail right through it with ease. The only real challenge would be Finland.
Gilbert was just glad the games weren't at 7am.
"We're playing Norway today, this should be easy."
"I didn't even know Norway had a team."
"Yeah, they do. They're not very good." Matthew sounded a little smug and Gilbert thought it was endearing. It was a nice contrast from his panicked face, when he had seen the roster for his team.
However, once the game started, the smug look was gone.
"What the fuck are you guys doing?! This is Norway, for crying out loud. Norway. Come on!"
"What's up with your guys?"
"I don't know! Ugh, don't tell me this is the big ice curse."
"Big ice curse?" Matthew looked away from the television, almost embarrassed.
"We… we don't do well on the big ice. Let's put it this way; they've never won gold on big ice."
"Big ice?" Gilbert asked again.
"NHL ice is smaller. This is wider, the circles are placed differently, more space behind the net, and so on. More distances to cover, to get to the other net."
"Oh. And the NHL never thought about making it the same size?"
"Apparently not. But as the saying goes; all ice is home ice… hopefully."
Matthew had to admit that it wasn't the best game he had ever seen, and he hoped it was only due to the fact that the team was still getting used to playing together, but he wasn't feeling so smug anymore. At least they won.
Fortunately, the game against Austria went as everyone expected it to go. The Canadians dominated the Austrians and Matthew felt a lot more relaxed.
Matthew was glad Luongo was put in nets and that he got a shutout victory. He'd been having a rough season and he hoped this victory would boost his morale.
The most interesting thing that happened during the game was Gilbert's enthusiasm for the Canadian team. Matthew found it highly amusing and endearing, and when he asked his lover about it, Gilbert told him that he needed this to rub it in Roderich's face.
Matthew's stress returned, when they played Finland. They were both tied for points, but Finland had a bigger goal differential. It didn't mean much, but it could eventually come and bite him in the ass.
They needed to win, it was as simple as that.
Gilbert was confident in Matthew's team, but his boyfriend was not as convinced.
"Finland is a strong team."
"Yours is stronger."
"This is the big ice."
"And you have big boys."
"I'm not – I'm not – they're not tiny either."
"You'll do fine." Gilbert murmured, holding him close. Matthew leaned back and held his hand tightly.
He was a little relieved, when Canada scored, but Finland wasn't going out without a fight and tied it up. Matthew hoped his team would manage to score again, but the game went into overtime. Gilbert would have hated to take Matthew's pressure, at the moment.
Fortunately, for the both of them, Canada won the game.
Hopefully, that would work in their favour.
When Matthew found out his team would play Latvia, both he and Gilbert laughed at the absurdity this tournament had taken. It seemed some of these unknown teams were finding ways of getting by and they briefly joked about a situation where Latvia would win over Canada.
When they watched the game, they wondered if they hadn't jinxed it. They would have never expected the goalie from Latvia, who wasn't even the starting goalie, to be that good.
There were some lousy calls that were made and so far, this proved to be one of the most stressful games of the tournament, yet. It was the longest three minutes of their lives and when the buzzer finally signalled the end of the game, they were both relieved.
But not for long.
"Shit, we play Alfred next!"
Things were definitively going to get interesting.
Fortunately, for Matthew's sanity, Alfred couldn't make it for this game. It was a good thing. They had already seen each other, for the women's final, the last thing they needed was to watch this game together. No matter the outcome, there was going to be blood. Gilbert was glad as well. After yesterday's exciting women's final, he wasn't sure he would have been able to handle both brothers.
However, thanks to modern technology, they were still watching the game together, through Skype. Gilbert wasn't sure if he would have preferred them being together, or not. The results were pretty much the same; both brothers were yelling at each other.
Within the first minutes of the game, however Gilbert found that the men were finally playing decently. It showed that both teams knew each other and knew what they were up against.
It was a fast-paced game and both goalies were playing the game of their lives. There were many close calls, but time and time again, the goalies stopped the puck.
The first period remained scoreless and the three of them wondered what the outcome was going to be. With the way each team was playing, whoever managed to score would probably be the victor.
When finally Canada scored, it was mass pandemonium and hysterics all around.
"We can't fuck this up, we can't fuck this up, come on Price!"
"Let's go guys, we can pop one in, let's catch up!" However, how many times the Americans tried to tie up the game, Price made all the saves.
It was the most of games, for anything could still happen, but somehow or other, the game remained 1-0.
Team Canada lived to see another day.
"I hope you like the taste of bronze. If you can even get it."
"I hope Sweden rips you a new one."
"Mark my words, Alfred, we're going for a double gold; the Price is right."
Even though Team Canada as a whole hadn't done as well as projected, the last few days had been good and they had been able to catch up. Today was their last chance at gold and the men's hockey team was playing for all the marbles.
"You know, as much as this is a gold medal hockey game, I don't feel the hype, like four years ago." Gilbert said between two yawns. This was clearly a mark of his love, for Matthew, since there was no other reason he would get up at 7am, on a Sunday morning, for a hockey game.
"Well, four years ago, we were at the actual game and the arena was packed with both American and Canadian fans, since the game was so close to both countries. This game is in Russia; obviously not everyone could get tickets to the game."
Despite everything, it was still an interesting game and when Canada scored the first time, it only made it better.
The second goal came at the right time and Matthew was glad Crosby finally managed to score.
The third goal sealed the deal and as the clock ticked down the remaining time, Matthew was already celebrating his tenth gold medal. A shutout for Price, a victory for Canada, overall, it had been a good game. A victory was a victory, after all.
OWARI 14
TO BE CONCLUDED
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Started writing: February 26th 2014, 5:06pm
Finished writing: February 27th 2014, 4:22pm
Started typing: March 1st 2014, 11:08am
Finished typing: March 1st 2014, 11:47am