I had the greatest game of NHL in my entire life today. It was a true battle. My buddy and I decided to play each other for the first time just for fun, and it turned into the most competitive game I have ever experienced. I honestly thought I was going to win easily…I underestimated my opponent.

Here’s the play-by-play:

In the first thirty seconds I score a dumb goal that just barely trickles past the goalie’s foot. At that moment I thought, “This is gonna be a piece of cake.”

A couple minutes go by and I score again. This one was more impressive, and I was feeling good. My buddy screamed in disbelief while I was on the opposite side of the room laughing.

After a few more minutes of close calls and a few curse words my buddy scored and I realized right there that I may be in trouble after all.

Then it happens again… it’s 2-2. The game was not over though. This was only about halfway through the second period so I still had plenty of time to win this thing.

I scored again. I was on top of the world. At this point my buddy pauses the game for a drink of water. I have never seen someone need water so badly in my twenty-one years of living. Exact quote, “Wait, T-out I NEED some water right now!”

After the unnecessary water break we get back to business. My buddy’s first comment when we start playing again was, “Don’t you love that we can play hockey without actually having to skate? We don’t have to do anything or get all sweaty. It’s great!”

Within a minute. My buddy scores again to make it 3-3. My anger and disbelief consumed me with the power of a thousand suns. I was absolutely blown away that I was not able to pull away in this game.

It gets to the third period and I score again. It is 4-3 now. I was feeling good, but at this point I was hesitant because I felt like I was going to get scored on every time the puck anywhere near my goal.

My buddy scored again with about three minutes left in the third period… I wanted to cry. WHY COULD I NOT STOP THESE GOALS!?!

We played to the end of the third and it was still 4-4.

We went into overtime.

I was absolutely flabbergasted at this point. I found myself wondering how I got to this point in my life. What decisions led me here. Could I have changed this? Was there still time? Yeah, I’m over-dramatizing, but this is my story so I can do what I want.

So we start overtime. I had so many “almost goals." It was the most infuriating thing I have ever experienced.

We got through overtime with no goals.

The shootout was next.

We both missed our first two shots.

I started skating toward the goal for my third shot. I went left, right, left, right, and left again. I shot it and it went in. I just about fell out of my chair I was so overjoyed.

My buddy goes for the third shot. Right, left, “f**k!” My buddy fired off an extremely premature shot that was easily blocked.

I won.

I WON.

You might be wondering why I constantly described my opponent as “my buddy”. I bet the majority of people who read this will picture a couple of guys getting way too into a video game. All of those people would be wrong. My buddy’s name is Amanda. She almost beat me in NHL. I want to emphasize ALMOST. Nonetheless she played well and we had a blast. Anybody who thinks all girls cannot or do not want to play video games is dead wrong and needs to rethink some things.