"Yale hockey bled stress."
Eli missed the pass. Again.
Carter had fed it perfectly, right to his tape, an easy setup for a one-timer that should have been automatic. Instead Eli's stick was half a second late and the puck skittered into the corner.
"Rivers!" Coach Morrison's voice echoed across Ingram Rink. "Where's your head?"
Not here. Definitely not here.
Eli skated to retrieve the puck, ignoring the looks from his teammates. This was the third time he'd blown an easy play in the last twenty minutes. The third time Coach had called him out. The third time Carter had shot him a concerned look that Eli pretended not to see.
Yale hockey bled stress this week. The NCAA tournament was two weeks away. Scouts were showing up to every practice. The pressure to perform was suffocating.
And Eli couldn't focus on any of it.
