The Last Game I Ever Played
below My brother (number 21) and I (number 27)
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Playing hockey for all of my life, and watching it, I have memories upon memories of games that stand out to me. There is one game, however, that I will never forget. It was the final game of my high school hockey career, the last time I would play competitive hockey but more importantly, the close to the the last year, the last game, I would play with my younger brother, Cole. Growing up just two years apart, Cole and I were always together, playing the same sports, watching the same shows and partaking in the usual brother activities. He and I were always just far enough apart in age where we would not be able to be on the same team together. Finally my junior year of high school, Cole’s freshman year, we were able to be on the same team because in high school it was about ability not age, and no matter what grade a person is in, as long as they’re good enough they can play varsity hockey. At home, the last tryout behind us, Cole and I reminisced about when we were younger when we would play street hockey we would add color commentary to our game and announce it play by play. “Chase Vallese coming down the left side, Cole matching stride for stride. Pass from Chase to Cole and he scores!,” we would always scream at the top of our lungs. We knew that this first year of us playing together had to be a good start to the next year and final year that we would have.
Cole and I have always worked well together, and it was no different on the rink. Our passes would float over the ice and land right on the tape of our sticks and we were able to find each other anywhere on the ice in a second. Our lines were paired up with him on offense and me on defense and it was our communication on the ice that made our line unstoppable. My junior year and Cole’s sophomore year we had the honor of being picked for the First Team All Met award. This was a single line of six players: three offensemen, two defensemen, and one goalie.The team was chosen by coaches from high schools up and down the east coast. Receiving that award and taking our pictures for the newspaper are times I will never forget. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/recruiting-insider/wp/2018/03/21/2018-winter-all-met-ice-hockey-first-team-second-team-honorable-mentions/?utm_term=.d7505507b38e
The day of the game, all Cole and I could think about was the championship game that night. There was a news piece done on our team and two reporters came to my house that morning to document “the Vallese brother’s morning routine” and our ride in. They fitted us with microphones and put GoPro’s all over my car to get a genuine feel for the game day mornings. They asked us questions about how we think the game is going to go, what we can do to win, and if there were any after party plans. It felt as if I was in the NHL getting interviewed post game. All we talked about the whole forty-five minute drive to school was how we think the game will go and what we can do to ensure our team comes out on top. We discussed how we think our power play should go, what players to look out for on the other team, and where to shoot on the goalie. While I was bringing up ways to stop the other team and keep the puck out of our net, my brother was talking about how he was going to “go bar down on the goalie.” If someone were to sit in the car with Cole and I on the way to a game day they would think we sound crazy. Talking about going “bar Mexico” and “dangling through kids” sounds like normal language to us, but to people who do not play hockey it sounds like gibberish. When we got to school it was no different, nothing mattered but the game. Three of my friends, who were also on the team, in my first period class shared how I felt that day, nothing was more important than the game. We weren’t our usual selves. We were actually quiet in class, focused on what would happen later that night. By lunchtime things had loosened up a little. We were lively at the lunch table, laughing and making fun of each other like we usually do. We had an early dismissal which allowed us to miss eighth period and this is when we were back into game mode.
I remember arriving at the rink an hour prior to the game and everyone was already sitting the the locker room just focused on the game. Eyes were closed, headphones were in, and voices were silent. When we went out for warm ups I realized we had to loosen up a little bit, we were all just too stiff. Heading back to the locker room I knew we were ready for this game. Everyone was getting dressed with the music blasting and things felt perfect. It was something about the looks on everyone’s faces that I knew we would come out on top. Like always, Cole was sitting right next to me.. It’s funny we always seem to get dressed at the same pace. As soon as I laced up my skates and put my helmet on, he was ready to go. Our coach came in to give us our final pregame speech and it felt like it was ripped right out of the movie Miracle. He told us that this was it, this was the game to leave it all on the ice. He knew it was all out of his hands, this was our game and we knew were going to win. It sounds arrogant but the energy in the room said it all. After we knelt down to pray as a team, the screams that erupted in the locker room rang throughout the rink. We all lined up eagerly waiting to get on the ice and get our blood flowing. When that buzzer sounded we skated out for warm ups, all twenty-two of us ready to go.
Getting on that ice felt amazing. The ice was cut perfectly and the puck just glided across, almost as if it was in a rush to get where it was going. Both student sections erupted in degrading chants trying to get each team off their game. Being in that rink you could feel the roar of the crowd vibrate through your body. As my team circled back to the bench our coach began, what I thought was, his usual pregame speech, but it wasn’t the same old speech. It was much simpler than that. All my coach said was, “This is it boys, leave it all on the ice.” And with that in mind we started the first period on fire. Everything was going according to plan. Our forwards were forechecking the other team so hard they could not get the puck out or get a line change. Our defense was able to linger at the blue line, stopping any pucks the other team tried to get out and shooting them back on net.
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The team waiting to go on the ice
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The second and third periods were the same thing. Whatever we did to prepare for the game just worked. We talked as a team and decided our pregame routine for that game would be the pregame routine for every game, just to ensure that we would win. In the second period we managed to put up two goals which put us ahead by two. It was almost like Cole and I were back playing street hockey, the rhythm familiar, the passes between us on point and even though it wasn’t verbatim, the announcer had the chance to say, “Pass from Cole to Chase, he scores!” The third period we focused on defense. We were all about keeping the puck down below their circles and not letting them get a line change. We would pass the puck around maintaining possession, just to kill time on the clock. Finally the clock was at 10, 9, 8 ,7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0 “Bzzzzzz”. The final buzzer sounded like music to my ears when I heard it ring out. We all skated as fast as we could to topple over our goalie in celebration.
There is a picture of me and my brother jumping and hugging in the air together that perfectly captures what it felt like to win that game. It felt like we had just won the Stanley Cup and would be champions forever. I will forever remember as my favorite hockey game because it was the game I imagined as a kid; a game I had worked and prepared for all my life; a win where I captained the team and the championship game with my brother by my side.