Miracles Do Happen By: Chris Grinde "Look out," I heard as a puck went sailing 2 inches above my head. "Cripes! Can you people control your shots?" I yelled. Thanks for the warning Bill!" "No problem." Replied Bill. " That was a close one." "Ya think," I smirked. "Who shot that anyway?" "Well I think that would have been Old Thomas over there. Boy does he have the shot. Even after all these years." Bill said. "You know it," I replied. "Man, I can still remember in that championship game in '16..." "Here we are folks. The 2016 NCAA championship game between the Minnesota Gophers and Colorado College Tigers. What a game this should be. Colorado is coming into this game at 14-0 in the regular season. These Minnesota Gophers, boy o boy, what a group of fine young athletes. They sure aren't the best team out here, but do they have the spirit or what!" The announcer was saying. The national anthem just finished. On the ice for the starting face off was me, a 19 year old freshmen at the University of Minnesota, starting in my first ever championship game. Boy was that team great. We had myself at center, Bill to my right at right wing, Tony to my left at left wing, Thomas, the best shot that you will ever see, at the right defense position, and Mark to Thomas' left. I swear it was the best team the Gopher's ever had. And by golly, we were going to win that championship if it was the last thing we did! "All right, line it up boys, lets get on with the game." Came the referee's voice over the screaming fans of both teams. "All right now, keep it clean and have some fun," the ref said just before he dropped the puck. I won the face off and the game was on. The puck went back to Thomas. "Tony, Tony!" I yelled. Thomas took one quick look and gave a hard pass right on the tape of Tony's stick. "Dump!" yelled Mark. Thomas shot the puck deep into the corner and Bill and I gave chase. "Slot!" I heard from what sounded like Tony, but when I passed out front one of their players intercepted it and started up the ice. It was a two on one until one of our defensemen fell and it turned into a two on o. Our goalie made one of the best saves I have ever seen there, one of the CC guys had it and took it a little wide, then he faked the pass to the other guy and ripped a slapshot that had to have been at least 90 mph. Our goalie went for the pass fake and when he shot the goalie just stuck his stick out and batted the puck right out of mid air. What a save it was. The game was pretty much back and fourth, just dumping and chasing for both teams for about 10 minutes. Then it happened. "Point!" I heard a CC player yell. The left wing for their team, one of the best players in college hockey I might add, he already had three professional team offers, passed it out to the left point for CC. "Shoot, shoot!" yelled a bunch of people. He let a shot and a half go. About took off Bill's head, he was sprawled out on the ice trying to block the shot. Then it got tipped in front by one of their forwards and beat our goalie up high. "All right guys, don't worry about that one, we'll get it back." The coach was yelling. We couldn't believe that CC had put that one in. I guess someone just wasn't covering who they were supposed to be covering. The period ended with the shots at 7 for us and 12 for CC. In the locker room it was a giant blame game until the coach showed up. "Shut up!" He yelled. " What was that? My grandma could have played a better period than that!" He said a bunch more stuff but I think the team pretty much stopped listening. The entire second period was just back and fourth with some good saves by both goalies. Nothing special except some hits that were like two trains hitting head on. I swear some people lost teeth in those. Anyway, we just finished the second period and everyone pretty much calmed down from the first period. "Much better." The coach said as he came into the locker room. "Why couldn't you people play like that the first period. Good job taking the body. Now this is all we have to do." He started to explain. I stopped listening and put my head between my hands and started thinking about what I had to do in the third. The coach left and it was silent for a minute, then I stood up. "All right guys. Who wants to win this game?" I asked. Of course everyone said that they wanted to. "Alright then, let's start playing like it. This is the last game of the season, and the last game some people in here will ever play. Now let's go out there and take it to them. If were going down, let's go down with a bang, what do ya say!" I said. "All right!" Someone yelled. "Let's kick some ***!" someone else yelled. The coach came in the locker room. "Let's go!" He yelled. "Yahhhhhhhh!" Came a giant roar as we went flying out the door, through the tunnel and onto the ice. We came into that third period moving like U-haul. I never knew some of the people on that team could skate that fast, pass that well, and shoot that hard. I also never knew some of the littlest guys on the team had the guts to go into a corner head first with guys twice their size. The period went back and fourth for about 15 of the 20 minutes. Then CC started to dominate us again. I couldn't believe this. "It's over." I heard people saying on the bench. "There isn't any way we are going to pull this one off." Others were saying. "What's wrong with you people!" I yelled. " We still have three and a half minutes to put this one away. Right as I said that, boom! Bill put home a sweet goal. "Now do you believe me?" I said with a smile on my face. "Line it up." Came the ref. The puck dropped and one of our guys got the face off. There was a whole bunch of whistles until 6 seconds left in the game. Then it happened. "Well folks, it looks like this game is going into overtime." Said the announcer. The face off was deep in the CC zone to the left of their goaltender. "Bill, Grinde, Tony, Thomas, Mark. Get out there and let's see what kind of magic you can pull of this time." The coach said as us 5 piled out of the bench. "Here we go, can Minnesota pull of a miracle and get a 6 second goal against the number 1 goaltender in college hockey?" Said the announcer right as the ref dropped the puck. I won the face off back to Tony. CC had two guys flying out to the point. One dropped to his knees and Tony stepped around him, wound up and let one fly. I broke as hard as I could to the net praying that the thing would beat the goalie. Ka-ping, ping I heard as the puck hit two pipes. The next thing I remember is closing my eyes, then hearing the crowd roar. We did it! We beat the number one team in college hockey. "Oh my God! That was one of the most incredible shots I have ever seen!" The announcer was yelling. "What a game. With a miracle ending, a double pipe that beat the goalie and some how got in. I have never seen something like that in my entire life, and I don't think I will ever see it again!" The announcer said. "What an ending to a storybook season by the 2016 Minnesota Gophers!" ..." I said to Billy. "I still can't believe that. Double pipe with 0.5 seconds left in the game. I swear that has to be the greatest shot ever." I finished telling Billy. "I know." Billy said. "I would give anything to see that game all over again." "Hey you two, Billy, Grinde. Get in line! Killers time." The coach yelled. "Crap." Said Billy as we skated to do killers. "Maybe we will have another shot...one of these days."