Going into Saturday night’s hockey game, Denver vs Western Michigan, I was nervously excited. I had no idea if it was going to be the last home game at Magness Arena for the Pioneers, but I had a glimmer of hope that it wouldn’t be. Emphasis on glimmer.
This year, all rounds of the NCHC playoffs (finally) moved to campus sites. Assuming my #2 seed Denver beat #3 seed Western Michigan, #4 seed Minnesota-Duluth would have to beat #1 seed North Dakota, in North Dakota, to give my Pioneers home ice advantage for the NCHC championship game. After sweeping Miami the weekend before, I hoped DU had all the momentum they needed.
When I’m not watching hockey, I’m writing. Most of my focus lately has been funneled into preparing a novel for the querying process. The novel stands alone, but it is the first of a series. There’s time travel, friendships, family, hijinks, and of course, hockey. After a speedy rewrite and tidy in January, I gave myself more time to polish the novel before I seek an agent and publication.
There are times in the polishing phase where progress is difficult to appreciate. I’m no longer trying to build up my word count; I’m ensuring that each word counts.
When drafting, I make a spreadsheet where I track my daily and overall word count goals, my actual progress, and other factors that help me gauge how I’m doing. Seeing how I’m meeting (or preferably exceeding) my goals over time is gratifying and often motivating to me. When I’m editing, at best, I can track which chapters I address each day. The “progress points” available seem dependent on the number of chapters I have. Sometimes, it can seem like so much more progress to record a 3,000-word writing day than to have cleaned up 3 chapters in a day.
I might be biased, but from puck drop on Saturday, momentum was on DU’s side. Even though the Pioneers and Broncos were scoreless through two full periods, the home crowd was loud. There were chances for both teams to score, but the goaltenders were putting on a clinic. Then, just over 13 minutes into the third period, Western Michigan scored.
During this polishing phase, I’ve encountered resistance. Sometimes, I struggle with the work itself, questioning it, or wrestling with one chapter much longer than I planned. Other times, I struggle with distractions and doubt. Some days, I only work on one chapter, and my decrease in productivity disappoints me.
After a long scoreless deadlock in a hockey game, when it seems like the home team has the edge, but the visitors score first, it’s not unusual for the home crowd to hush. On top of that, Saturday’s officiating crew seemed to have a very different idea of fair play than the fans. A significant morale dip can be hard to overcome—but that’s not what happened on Saturday night.
There was still plenty of time left in the third period when WMU scored, and, less than two minutes after that, a Bronco was finally put in the box. The Pioneers had their chance to get the equalizer. In what felt like a risky gamble in the moment, Coach Carle pulled DU’s goaltender, Johnny “Bricks” Hicks, giving the Pioneers a 6-on-4 man advantage. With less than thirty seconds remaining in the Power Play, Boston Buckberger’s slapshot from high in the zone flew past the WMU goaltender, Hampus Slukynsky, and into the net. The crowd roared! The score: 1-1. With that goal, the Pioneers forced overtime.
After what felt like a long intermission, the players returned for the first sudden-death overtime. It was anyone’s guess who would score, or how long it would take. Two games between these teams last playoff season ended in the second overtime. As it turned out, the crowd didn’t have to wait very long this time. Less than 6 minutes into the first overtime, Pioneer Samu Salminen (with assists from Rieger Lorenz and James Reeder) called game.
I’ve had the privilege of being in Magness Arena for some big moments. This may have been one of the loudest yet, and I’m looking forward to more moments like this.
The hockey game was scoreless for a long time, and the visitors scored first, but the work the home team put in eventually paid off and propelled the Pioneers to the conference championship for a third consecutive season. Although there are times when the work I’m putting in may not be obvious on the scoresheet of my Excel spreadsheet, the work still matters. I’ll keep you posted, and as always, LET’S GO PIOS!
