Chapter 24: Everyone Knew

On Saturday night the whole Wolves roster sat in section 104 of the women's arena, in team jackets, with a banner.

Lena saw it from the tunnel when she skated out for warmups.

The banner was white, with black block letters, hung over the rail.

SADLER 31.

Beck had held one end of it himself and refused to say who had paid for the paint.

Susanna sat beside him with a whistle on her lanyard, and the whistle was already in her mouth.

The seven young Wolves had brought their friends.

The older players had come too, the ones who had stood in the wall at the end.

They sat three rows from the front, in jeans, with their arms folded.

Lena lifted her glove.

The Wolves stood up, and then the rest of the section stood with them.

The building shook.

She skated to her crease, and she did not cry.

She had decided, in the truck, that she would save that for after.

The anthem ended.

In the first period she stopped nineteen shots.

In the second, the other team's best forward came in alone on a breakaway.

Lena came out of the crease to cut the angle, and the girl pulled left, and Lena was already there.

The puck hit her pad.

The crowd roared.

She heard Susanna's whistle, thin and shrill, through the whole building.

In the third period her team scored twice.

The score was two to one with four minutes left.

The other team pulled its goalie, and six skaters swarmed her end.

Lena crouched.

She heard her own pulse in her ears, and under it, from the stands, a low steady stomp.

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