Given Time

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"Go, Tanner!" I shout as I watch him skate around the ice with the puck under his control.

He's moving at lightning speed across the ice, heading towards the goal with the opponents right on his tail.

"This is awesome!" Zara exclaims by my side.

"Definitely!"

It's the first time Ben and Zara have been to a hockey game, so I explain the rules and scoring system to them.

Our Berkeley team, the Golden Bears, are in yellow, while the team from Eastern Washington is in red. I keep my eye on Tanner's yellow jersey with the number fifteen written on his arm.

He edges closer to the goal and narrowly misses an opponent from stealing the puck from him. He lines up his stick and hits the puck hard, sending it flying into the goal.

"Yes!" I fist pump the air as Tanner scores another goal.

Everyone on our side of the arena, including myself, stands and cheers. I watch as Tanner does a victory lap around the arena and high-fives his team.

I see his eyes travel up to where I'm standing, and I blow him a kiss, which he catches.

The referee blows the whistle, and the boys get in formation as they prepare to continue playing the game. We sit back down, and I lean forward, eager to watch more. I never thought after the number of games I've been to in the past that I'd actually enjoy hockey, but I'm happily surprised. I get an adrenaline rush just from watching it, so I have no idea how it must feel for Tanner.

One of Tanner's teammates has the puck now and is skating across the ice, dodging his opponents while his teammate acts as a defense man. He's only a few feet away from the goal when out of nowhere, a guy from the Eastern Washington team slams into him, causing him to crash to the floor and lose the puck.

"Ouch! That had to hurt," Ben says on my left, biting his hand.

I peer at the guy in yellow on the floor as he slowly gets up into a standing potion. "I know. I hope he's okay."

The referee blows his whistle and waves his hands at the guy in red who delivered the blow before sending him to the box for time-out over his foul hit.

It's not the first time the ref has had to do this tonight. It seems the Eastern Washington team likes to play dirty, and I just pray that Tanner doesn't get hurt by them.

Another ten minutes pass by, and the game is tied, three apiece. There are less than four minutes left on the clock, and I bite my nails as I watch a guy in red with the number seven on his arm, hurtling towards their goal. I can see the ice kick up around his blades and can hear the sounds of the player's skates hitting the ice as our team chases after him.

Number seven attempts to score it in the net, but he's blocked by our home team, and the puck goes flying across the ice as it's hit away from him.

I spot Tanner skating towards the puck, keeping his sight firmly fixed on it. He expertly scoops it up in his stick and twists his body on the ice to start skating down to our goal. He doesn't know it, but there's two in red who are closing in on him. I stand up in a panic and watch as they get closer to him. All of a sudden, Tanner whips his head over his shoulder and spots them. He pulls the puck closer to him and halts on the ice, causing the two opponents to skate past him. Tanner then skates to the side of the ice away from them and lines up his shot before taking it.

"Oh my God!" I yell as the goalie dives in the wrong direction, and the puck slides into the back of the net.

Zara and Ben rise from their seats and jump up and down in exhilaration.