I sat where I always sat, right behind the glass by the home bench. About ten minutes before the puck dropped, I felt someone sit down two seats over. I didn’t have to look.
“Is this seat taken?” Greg asked.
“It’s taken now.”
He had on a Riverside Hawks hat. He’d bought it at the snack bar. The tag was still on it.
Sam didn’t score in that game. He had two assists, though, including the pass that set up the tying goal with four minutes left in the third period. When the puck went in, I jumped up and screamed, and Greg jumped up and screamed, and we turned to each other at the same moment and almost hugged, and didn’t, and laughed instead.
The Hawks lost in overtime. Sam came out of the locker room with his hair wet and his face disappointed, and then he saw both of us standing together by the doors, and his face changed.
