Table of Contents

Fiction Story .......... p.3

Non-Fiction ......... p.20

Poetry ......... p.26

Fiction Story

It was cold and Kaylee was wearing a brand new long sleeve shirt that her dad had bought her. He was sitting next to her, in the blue stadium seats wearing his old Panthers jersey and a huge smile. Kaylee looked up at her dad and then back at the ice, thinking, this is what I want to do.   

Earlier in the day when she got home from school, her dad was there sitting at the kitchen table. Confused because her dad was never home before dinner time, she thought something might be wrong. Kaylee’s dad called her into the kitchen and held out two small rectangular pieces of paper. “I have an early birthday present for you” he said, and continued “I am going to take you to a Panther’s ice hockey game!”. Elated to be finally doing this with her dad, she began to smile from ear to ear, she had never seen a real professional hockey game, except for on television.    

She wondered what it would be like, and if she would love it as much as her dad does. While Kaylee was daydreaming about what she would experience at the game her dad tossed her a shirt, “think fast!” he said, and she caught the it in her hands from across the table. It was a Florida panther’s shirt, that looked almost like the jersey her dad would always wear! “Wow dad! Thanks!” she exclaimed and she ran to her room to get ready for her birthday hockey game! 

Later that night, as Kaylee was brushing her hair her dad called from the family room, “time to go, hurry up” and she eagerly raced down the hall, almost tripping, and stumbling toward the door where her dad was waiting wearing his favorite Florida Panther’s jersey.    

In awe, she looked at her dad, she had seen it before, when he would watch the games on the couch at home or when he would go to the games with friends, he was always wearing the jersey. Kaylee was so excited to get going and eagerly got in the car so that they could get on their way. As they pulled off of the highway it was in plain sight, just beyond the dashboard of the car they could see the arena. A massive building was lit up by what looked like a million lights and there were so many cars lined up to park.    

As they got closer to the arena, Kaylee could hear music that was loud and exciting. Once the car was parked they got out and her dad gave her the tickets and told her that she could get them into the game. Excited, her heart was racing and she held on to the tickets so tightly that she had to remind herself that they were paper and that she could crush them.    

When they finally made it to the main entrance a women wearing all black took the tickets and scanned them in. A gust of cool wind hit Kaylee’s face and she was suddenly glad that she was wearing a long sleeve shirt and jeans in South Florida, where it was usually so hot. 

The entire stadium was booming as Kaylee and her dad got to their seats. They were sitting so close to the ice that she could wave to the players as they skated by, warming up for the game. “Look dad! Did you see that? He just waved at me!” she enthusiastically said. “wow, he must like you, maybe you will be good luck for him” her dad replied, and from that moment on, her favorite number was twenty-seven.    

The game began and the first puck drop made Kaylee hold her breath. Once the face off was underway, she eagerly watched every move her favorite player made and couldn’t keep her eyes of the ice. After the first period, she asked her dad, “why aren’t there any girls playing in this game?” and he answered “there aren’t any girls in the NHL”. This was not a satisfying answer, and so she thought to herself, I could do this, I could play this game!    

The rest of the game she contemplated how good of a hockey player she could be, and she wondered if her dad could someday watch her the way that he watched these professional players. As the game came to an end and the Panthers won, Kaylee became more and more excited to be a part of this game.    

As they were leaving the arena, she grew wide eyed and nervous and with a timid small voice she asked, “dad, can I play hockey at the ice rink like you do?”. Her dad looked at her and smiled replying, “you can do anything you put your mind to, we will look into it later this week”. 

Three days later, as promised in the pro-shop of the local hockey rink, they were trying on equipment, equipment that was made for boys. They didn’t have a single pink thing in the store for hockey players. Kaylee got all of the equipment that she needed, and it was a lot.    

Practice started the very next week and she played with all boys! She got better and better every day that she practiced and soon, she was faster than all of the boys and always outshot them   

It was a Friday and it was Kaylee’s first game, she dressed in her uniform and got ready for warm ups. Nerves seem to overcome her as she walked to the rink, but when her skates touched the ice she thought of her favorite player and did her warm up just like she had seen him do. When she looked into the stands she saw her dad in the front row, watching her with the same smile on his face that he had during the professional game they went to together. Proudly, she waved to her dad and he waved back as she skated to the bench for the pre-game talk with her coach. 

Kaylee was the first player out on the face off and just like the professional game, she held her breath until the puck finally dropped. Suddenly she was skating full speed, circles around all the boys with her pony tail dangling out of the back of her helmet. She skated with pride through all three periods of the game and anytime she got the chance, she looked up into the stands at her dad to see him smiling and remembered that she could do anything she put her mind to.    

The loud buzzer ended the game in a tie, and as she shook all the other players’ hands she remembered why she wanted to play the game. She wanted to show that she was as good, if not better than all of the boys playing, and she wanted to show everyone that she could do anything she put her mind to, just like her dad had told her. 

Informational Text

ICE HOCKEY

History

Rules

&

How to Get Involved

How to Get Involved

           Hockey is played by all ages started at five years old. There are instructional leagues from five years old on to U18 (Under 18 years old). To get involved a person should learn the basics of ice skating and then look into local programs. Once a potential player has found a local ice rink they can find programs that are geared toward their level of instruction. Beginners can take introduction classes to skating, stick handling, and rules of the game. If spectating seems more exciting, then it is easy to find a place to watch the game! Almost every state has a local National hockey team for example in Florida there are two. The Florida Panthers play in South Florida and the Tampa Bay Lightning play in Tampa. Both teams play all of the other 29 NHL teams and games can be attended by anyone who has a ticket. If there is a local college nearby they may have a hockey team that viewers can purchase tickets to watch!