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DaftRaincloud · 10-08-2019, 08:54 AM

October 6th. The plane just touched down on the tarmac at the Edmonton International Airport. Jonas exited the plane with the rest of the team he had been slowly getting to know over the last few weeks. These chartered planes were far fancier than the coach flights that he had become accustomed to while in the SMJHL. Instead of sitting in a cramped airplane full of crying babies and sick passengers openly sneezing and polluting the air with their germs the Pride plane was suited with top-class accommodations. Each member of the team got a leather recliner seat and there was a wet bar at the rear of the cabin. The team had sent the same plane to pick Jonas up from Anchorage and take him to San Francisco for the first time after informing him he was joining the pro roster full time. Jonas remembered disembarking from that flight and being greeted by Joseph Lombardi at the gate, who was much shorter in person than Jonas was expecting. Now Jonas was disembarking with Lombardi as well as the rest of the team into the frigid Canadian air. A light flurry of snow filled the air and got caught in Jonas' eyelashes and on his nose.

The San Francisco Pride would be playing the cup champion Edmonton Blizzard tomorrow. Since his call up Jonas had played all eleven games on the left wing of the fourth line centered by Steven Moyer. While Jonas was expected to be more defensively responsible than anything else during his time on the ice he still had attempted two shots on goal so far, nearly scoring each time. His team mates had kept his spirits up and assured him that his first goal was coming, and he hoped it would be soon.

Game time. Jonas and the Pride took the ice to a barrage of boos from the Edmonton crowd. As he worked through the drills and flung pucks into the empty net before the start of the game Jonas looked up and looked at the championship banner hanging from the rafters above his head. He pictured what the Pride's banner would look like and himself skating under it in the home arena. He made his way to the bench as the teams got ready for puck drop.

San Francisco took the air out of the building early when Jack Tanner scored a power play goal about halfway through the first period. Six minutes later and Joseph Lombardi would deflect a puck past Tommy Tuck's left shoulder and into the back of the net to put the Pride up two to nothing. Jonas was still adjusting to the locker room politics of the team, but during the intermission captain Jack Tanner who had opened the scoring talked about the importance of maintaining the pressure and style of play that had given them the two goals.

The Pride came into the second period still on the tail end of a power play, and picked up right where they left off when Jeff Brogen grabbed a rebound shot by Charlie Schieck off of Tuck's pads and behind him to go up three goals to none. The Pride were buzzing as Brogen came off the ice for a line shift and knew that they had their foot on the Blizzard's throat. Or so they thought. Over the course of five minutes Edmonton would get three pucks past Chris Partridge, the last one coming after a lengthy offside review, to tie the game with more than ten minutes left in the second period. The Pride had taken their foot off the gas pedal and with the momentum of the game quickly shifting out of their favor and the Edmonton town getting more excited and loud than ever, they were in trouble.

Thankfully the Pride were able to escape the remainder of the third period without allowing any more goals, even though they had spent almost the entire eleven minutes hemmed in their own end as the Blizzard attempted shot after shot. There was an air of dejection starting to come over some of the players in the locker room, but Lombardi and Tanner quickly tried to squash those attitudes.
"It's tied at three. What's the difference between that and zero? Play the third period like the first. Ignore everything that has happened and treat it like a new game. We can win this. We will win this. One-two-three PRIDE!"
"PRIDE!" the rest of the players parroted before the team made their way from the locker room to the tunnel and then down the tunnel to the ice.

Isak Odegard came out fired up and committed a hooking penalty within the first thirty seconds of the third period. This was a potential turning point in the game, and the strong San Francisco defensive core stood to the challenge and kept the puck out of their zone for the entirety of the penalty kill. Seven minutes into the period and Teddy Cuddles would get sent to the box for the second time that evening after intentionally grabbing Steven Moyer's stick and preventing him from passing the puck. A minute later and Brogen would rocket an absolute screamer of a shot from the slot off of an Odegard assist into the net to put the Pride up a goal with just over half the period remaining.

The Edmonton Blizzard showed the grit that lead them to the cup win by tying the game back up a minute and a half later. Knute Knurtsson had tried a stretch pass for what looked like a quick goal, but it had been picked off in the passing lane by Boruvka Banananak who slid it along to Tony Pepperoni. Tony was now in a two on one situation alongside Tor Tuck. Tony passed it to Tuck as they got within striking range of Chris Partridge. Partridge bit on a shot fake by Tuck leaving the right side of the net yawning and Tuck fed the puck across to Tony Pepperoni who buried it.

Two minutes later and Odegard hopped over the boards after dumping the puck into the Edmonton zone. Jonas scrambled onto the ice, but the rest of Odegard's line hadn't been able to switch off because they had been too busy retrieving the puck along the boards. Steven Moyer won the puck from the Edmonton defenseman and flung it out to Charlie Schieck who was stationary at the point. Jonas skated behind the left side of the net and came out along the right side tapping his stick on the ice. Charlie rocketed the puck past the outstretched stick of two Edmonton players and right onto Jonas' tape for the one timer that went top shelf with only seven minutes left. Jonas had scored his first SHL goal and his teammates skated full speed from across the ice to come and embrace Jonas as he threw his arms in the air in joy. Charlie made sure to retrieve the puck from the net and fling it to the trainer behind the bench to give to Jonas after the game. Nine games into the season, playing roughly five minutes a night, and Jonas had scored his first goal on his third shot attempt. The monkey was off his back and all the inner doubts he had about whether or not he truly belonged playing in the big leagues had been quieted. Perhaps he had truly arrived.

As happy as the team was for Jonas, there was still a game to be played and they had to maintain their composure. Everyone wanted Jonas' first goal to be the game winner and the defensive play of every player went up a notch. It was not meant to be however and the Blizzard tied the game up in the waning minutes of the game when Marc Hagan launched the puck in for the goal after the face-off. Richard Metcalf would go on to win the game for the Pride in the overtime period, ensuring that Jonas' first goal puck wouldn't come with the attached asterisk that it happened during a loss.

The media congregated in the locker room and made sure to take many pictures of Jonas holding the puck, wrapped in tape, with writing on the tape stating "Jonas Larsen - First SHL goal - October 7th."