Chapter 1

Hockey is one of the few things I love in life. My way of discovering hockey was a bit odd though. I had recently undergone knee surgery for a torn ACL. I play basketball for Pitt and while doing what seemed to be a normal move, my knee completely gave way beneath me; on the first day of practice; during the first drill. Needless to say my season was over right then and there. I was supposed to be the next big thing. The go-to girl. Not anymore. Since I could no longer run, jump, cut, pivot, anything, I turned to the next big thing in Pittsburgh; hockey. I fell in love with the physicality, the passion. It was a great escape. I could get way from the things I couldn’t do. I put myself in someone else’s world. That person just so happened to be Sidney Crosby, and this is my story.
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I had always planned to go to a Penguins game on my birthday, November 29th. My doctors advised me not to go if I would be standing for long periods of time, wakling on uneven ground, or going up and down stairs a lot. My untimely injury seemed like it was almost taunting me, “Nope. Just one more thing you can’t do.” I went anyway, bundling up and standing outside in the student rush line with all the other poor college students and my best friend, Melissa, in the freezing cold without an ACL in one knee. Melissa was gabbing away about her new boy toy Adam that she met in Psych class. She always had someone new in the works. Her motto? “Don’t date, be a skank!” She talked and talked about him as I daydreamed and realized I started to lose the feeling in my knee. “…and he just has the cutest smile and I absolutely love his laugh. Don’t you? You know that adorable laugh he does? How cute right?! And don’t get me started…” I tuned her out. She’ll eventually repeat it a few days later. I figured I’d hear it eventually. I sat in the grass to give my leg a rest. The line really didn’t seem to be moving so I figured I was safe for now. Melissa had switched topics now, and moved on to the cute guy’s butt a few people ahead of us. “Oh my God, check it out Jess, he’s got a flawlessly sculpted ass. Perfect?! I think yes! You know what you should do? You should go- hey what’s happening up there?” The ever curious Melissa was cut off mid-sentence as she noticed a crowd gathering up ahead in the line. I picked myself up off the ground and stretched my 5’11” frame to its extent, trying to see over the people. All I could make out was a large crowd gathering around what looked to be… an old dirty trucker’s hat? On whose head? Who did that hat belong to? I was curious now and stood on my tip-toes to see. I could make out some brown curly hair peeking out from beneath the hat and what looked to be, pizza? The massive crowd was moving towards me and I was beginning to get jostled towards it. Everyone else obviously knew something I didn’t. I was so worried my knee would give out, I wasn’t paying attention to where Melissa went or where I was going. I pushed right through people and into the center of the crowd and ended up face-to-face with none other than Sidney Crosby. Time stopped and my heart skipped a beat as I looked at his mesmerizing beautiful hazel-green eyes and the pizza he was holding. I took a step towards him and as I did so, my foot slipped and with a pop of my knee, I was on the ground in extreme pain. I forgot where I was and began rolling around cursing. My vision was coming in and out due to the horrible sensation that someone was stabbing me with an ice pick in my knee. I felt a strong hand on my arm, and someone was asking me what was wrong. I said my knee. They asked if I could walk. I bluntly shook my head with a grimace as another wave of pain broke over my knee. Whoever was asking the questions picked me up. I was being carried into the Arena to God knows where, when I looked into the face of my rescuer. It was Sidney Crosby. My God, really?! I almost passed out right then and there from the shock of it, but all I could think of was, “Where the hell is Melissa?! She’d want to see this!”