I didn't start my life playing ice hockey. My dad played ice hockey and so did my older brother. I loved watching their games cuddled in blankets and sipping on hot chocolate in the 50 degrees Fahrenheit rink. Watching males get thrown against the glass or slammed on the ice. The thunderous sound of a slap-shot being missed and hurdled against the wall. That smell of the crisp, cold air that filled your lungs with an icy blast. However, I didn't start my life playing ice hockey.

I started ice skating when I was around five, "Sooner the better," my father liked to put it.

I had ice skated for a few years and the thought of playing ice hockey never occurred to me. I always thought only boys could play the sport, but one day something inside of me just clicked, I saw a girl playing on my brother's team! I wanted to play ice hockey just like that girl and my father. So, my dad signed me up and next thing I knew I was learning to play ice hockey. Every Saturday morning we would go to our local ice rink and take free skating lessons on how to handle the stick and how to skate. After a few months of picking up on the game, my father had finally signed me up to join a female ice hockey team, the "Lady Patriots."

My first year playing was an interesting year. I was only a sophomore in high school and I was put with all these girls I did not know. My teammates had such large personalities I felt minuscule compared to them. The whole first half of the season, I wouldn't open my mouth unless spoken to. I hated going to practice and I hated playing this sport because I thought I would never fit in. These girls had years of experience on me, I could barely keep up with them. How could I ever fit in on this team?

I decided to keep playing, keep improving. The older girls took me under their wing and helped me gain my voice. I began to finally feel comfortable with all these "strangers." My first year playing ice hockey, I already had a second family.

The next two years playing ice hockey was amazing, new players came and old players left. Now, I had already knew a bunch of the girls on the team, I wasn't this shy girl who had no voice. I now was one of the loudest players on the ice! I had become good friends with all my teammates, I mean I kinda had to considering I saw them three to four times a week, but I really couldn't call any of them my "best friend." That was until I met Alyssa and Issy.

All three of us hadn't really become good friends until my last year playing ice hockey. I don't remember how we became friends, it just happened. We all had such similar personalities, we just clicked!

That last year of playing hockey was my most memorable one. Alyssa and I would pretend we were Captain and Co-Captain of the team, although we were the least experienced of the bunch. We would all yell "YEET" if someone had just sent the puck up the ice. We were inseparable on the ice and off. We would go to each others' prom pictures, birthdays, graduation parties, and even on vacations!

These girls made my experience playing ice hockey into something I will never forget. I have gained life-long best friends. I don't know what I would do without these girls, they mean the world to me. And this is all because of that little girl who wanted to play a sport just like her father.