Chapter 136

Lucas POV

As distracting as Shana's kiss had been, I had to force myself to focus now.

The atmosphere in the locker room was charged with anticipation as my team huddled together. The championship game was just minutes away, and every player could feel the weight of what that meant.

I knew that all the training and practice had brought us here, but there was a part of me that felt as though it wasn't enough. My heart raced, and my palms were sweaty, the nervousness overtaking me.

While some of the other players were cracking jokes, I sat on one of the benches in the locker room with my head down. As I closed my eyes, I replayed all of our drills in my head.

I thought about who needed to be where and how we could best gain some kind of advantage.

We had a strong defense, which is why we had gotten so far. That was our biggest asset. I really needed to rely on our bigger guys to push the other team away from our goal.

If we all worked together, it should be fine. It should all be fine, Lucas. Just breathe. Breathe...

A large hand smacked my back, making me jump. I opened my eyes to see James looking down at me.

Of course, he would be the one to notice how in my head I was right now. He stepped closer and he took in the unease on my face. "You okay, bro? You're sitting here all by yourself."

I let out a heavy sigh, my breath trembling slightly. "I'm just nervous, James. This game means everything to me... It means everything to all of us."

"You always get like this," he said as he patted me on the back with a reassuring grin on his face. "I don't know why you're so stressed out. Our team is the best. That's why we're here, and it's all thanks to you."

"I can't take all the credit for everyone's hard work," I replied. "This has been months in the making."

"Exactly. Months in the making and now we're at the freaking championship game! We've got this. You've done a hell of a job leading us, and we've done a hell of a job trying to make you proud. I've never been wrong before, and I'm not starting now."

James, ever confident gave me a wink, cracking a chuckle out of me. "I guess you're right. I need to just trust the team."

"I told you, I'm never wrong." James shrugged with an exaggerated cockiness that lightened the mood. "And yes. Trust us like we trust you. It'll all turn out fine. Now, let's go out there and win this thing."

As we made our way onto the ice, I couldn't help but notice how packed the stadium was. Usually the crowds are full, but today there were people standing off to the sides because there weren't enough seats.

The crowds didn't bother me. I didn't mind all of the attention. I was more concerned with who we were playing against.

The Twisted Titans.

My first thought upon seeing them was being shocked by how massive the Titans were. They seemed to live up to their name and mascot, their sheer size was almost intimidating. I glanced at my teammates and saw the same unease in their eyes.

My team wasn't small by any means, but we had never played against another team that had the same size of players as ours. Our smallest player, Sam, was the only one of us who wasn't built physically.

Everyone else was a force to be reckoned with.

I thought that our bigger players would be our differentiating factor, but it looks like we were tied in terms of our defense.

But I wasn't about to let fear dictate our fate.

Just because they had some stronger players, didn't mean we didn't have a chance to still win.

Seeing some of the uncertainty on my players faced, I gathered everyone together to form a huddle on the ice.

"I know what you're all thinking," I stared, making sure I made direct eye-contact with each one of my players. "Because I've had the same thought myself."

"They're huge!" Sam said, pointing out the obvious.

"I know they are," I continued, "but so are a majority of our players. They only look more intimidating than they actually are. I'm sure they think the same thing about our team. Just look at us... look at where we're standing."

Everyone in the huddle started to nod their heads in agreement, and I was happy that pep talk was getting us somewhere.

My words seemed to resonate with the team, and I could see a glimmer of hope in their eyes. "This is it, guys. This is the championship game. The very reason we've been working so hard. We've trained for this moment, and we're ready. Remember, they may be big, but we're the Dragons. We're meant to dominate."

In unison, we put our hands in the center and chanted, "Dragons on three!"

The buzzer sounded, and the game was underway.

Just as I suspected, the Titans were a tough opponent, and in the first half, we found ourselves trailing behind.

Their size and strength posed a challenge we hadn't faced before. Still, we never lost sight of our goal.

Every time one of our players showed an ounce of struggle, I made sure to call them out on it and encourage them to keep pushing.

In the final half of the game, the Dragons pushed harder than ever. Our plays became more aggressive, and our shots grew more precise. But just as the tension was reaching its peak, the other team threw us a huge curveball.

One of the Titans' larger players checked Sam hard, sending him sprawling to the ice.

The once loud arena fell into a hushed silence as our teammate lay motionless. I skated over to him quickly, checking to see if he was alright.

"Sam?" I asked as I bent down next to him.

He shook his head and widened his eyes. "I'm fine," he said. "That just surprised me."

Even though Sam was fine, I could tell that anger surged through the rest of the players. The Titans were playing dirty by hurting our only small player.

I could sense their need to seek some kind of revenge. And what better revenge than winning the game?

With a fierce determination, we continued to battle the Titans on the ice, inching closer to having a higher score.

Every time we would score, the Titans would score, matching us.

But as the final seconds ticked away, a shot from the side from James found its mark, scoring the winning goal. The buzzer sounded, and the sound of the crowd cheering combined with the shouting from my teammates brought a smile to my face.

Exhausted, drenched in sweat, and emotionally spent, I skated over to my teammates who had thrown James up on their shoulders.

The sense of relief was overwhelming, but amid the celebration, the first face I searched for was Shana, and there she was, cheering the loudest from the stands.

We had done it, and as I looked up at her, I couldn't help but smile.