snow started to swirl down gracefully from the clouds. Carter exhaled deeply before taking his first step on the ice.

Team Canada did their few laps as Team USA made their grand entrance. As Carter stretched in the crease of his net, he couldn't help but gaze up at the thousands of fans in the stands. He wondered if the beautiful girl was up there, somewhere in the sea of fans.

Taking another over exaggerated breath, Carter tried to keep himself calm, warm and collected. He was failing so far.

He was freezing his ass off, despite what some people may assume. Just because this is a big moment, just because Carter will never participate in this ever again, does not mean he can forget about the snow. It was cold. Beyond cold — it was fucking freezing.

The national anthems were sung and the snowflakes began to pound down harder and harder. The fans roared happily, the players on both benches pounded their sticks into the boards as the ref signalled the start of the game.

Before the puck hit the ice, Carter glanced around the stadium one last time, hoping for some sort of miraculous miracle. Maybe the clouds would break and out will come the sun, casting light right over the spot the beautiful girl and her father are in. Maybe then Carter would finally be able to focus on the game. Maybe then he wouldn't need to constantly wonder if the girl was there, watching him with the same infatuated expression he had watched her with.

After the game against the Slovaks ended, Canada defeating them 6-0, Carter had bounded over the boards and celebrated halfheartedly with his teammates. He made his way back to the dressing room silently, his head down, his face plastered with a forced excited expression.

He was confused. He couldn't get the beautiful girl out of his mind and that pissed him off. He didn't need a distraction but there she was, constantly on his mind, without even meaning to be. Carter envied her. She was probably just happy he had given her a puck. She probably didn't think anything of it. Carter wished he had seen her as just another anxious Canada fan, wanting with all her heart for Canada to walk away with a gold medal this year. But he couldn't. He couldn't look at the gorgeous girl and just see her as another fan. She was too beautiful to be just another fan.

Carter shook his head to clear his thoughts when the screeches from the coaches on the benches rang throughout his ears. Team USA was breaking down the ice towards Carter, on a three on two.

Zeroing in, Carter focused on the puck, trying to anticipate what Tkachuk was going to do with it. Was he going to shoot it? Pass it? Deke? Dangle? Carter couldn't tell.

Lucky for him, Tkachuk attempted to pass the puck across to Casey Mittelstadt, however it was intercepted when Timmins flopped down on the ice and the puck bounced off him straight into the corner.

Jake Bean was the other defenceman back and was able to beat everyone to the corner. From there, he started to break out, chipping the puck up over everyones head, the puck landing perfectly on the stick of Robert Thomas.

The game continued on, the pass Robert received resulted in a goal for Cale Makar, and then Dube was able to put another one in on the power play. Carter didn't need to make any miraculous saves as the puck mostly stayed in USA's end, Canada with most of the momentum.

The snowflakes that had fallen so gracefully at the start of the game, began to come down harder, more rapidly. With five minutes left in the first period, the ice condition got worse. Multiple times, players from both teams had fallen over the same patch of ice, down in USA's corner. This resulted in a few men in fleece lined jackets to skate around on the ice, scraping at the rough surface to try to fix it.

Carter took this time to lift his helmet, prop his arm up on his goalie stick, and take a sip of water. Kale Clague had came down, keeping the goalie company as they discussed a few habits they picked up from watching the Americans play.

When there was a break in the conversation, Carter glanced up at the jumbotron which was flipping through the crowd. Some sat on their phones, not noticing they were being watched by thousands, well others jumped and cheered with joy when they noticed themselves on the screen.

Carter couldn't help but smile as he stared at the people of all ages, clearly having a great time despite the weather. However there was one thing that made Carter's eyes widen, a grin replaced the tiny smile on his face.

Kale had let out a small laugh as he watched the jumbotron pan to a beautiful girl who was in the middle of eating a hotdog.

Holy shit, Carter thought. It was the girl.

She was mid bite when the screen panned to her, the hotdog almost in her mouth before her eyes met the screen and she froze. Her beautiful blue - almost grey eyes widening in sheer shock, confusion and pure terror.

laughter filled the stadium and Carter wasn't surprised when he glanced at the benches that most of the players were either laughing at the screen as well or nodding, whispering things to their teammates, Carter could only imagine.

This made his spine prickle with anticipation, he didn't want any other players trying to make a move on her, or even glancing in her direction. Carter wanted the beautiful girl. And there was no way he was going to get her if there were players from both team Canada and America, trying to make their move.

The girl ducked her head slightly as her cheeks became a brilliant shade of red. Her red Canada hat hid most of her face, though you could still see her wide, embarrassed smile. The girl's shoulders tensed, making her black parka bunch up, the hood of her red hoodie peaking out from beneath the heavy winter jacket. Her father was hysterically laughing, tucking his phone back in his pocket well he threw his head back in laughter.

When the girl glanced up and saw herself still there, the camera slowly zooming in on her face, she couldn't hold it in anymore. Holding the hotdog in one hand, she shook her head in disbelief well laughing, like she couldn't understand why something like that would happen to her. But Carter knew. He knew exactly why the camera panned to her, and wouldn't shift to someone else. It was because she was most beautiful girl in the whole damn stadium.

The beautiful girl was the last person to be seen on the jumbotron before the period started back up again. As the ice crew made their way off the ice, Kale turned to look at Carter who's head was still tilted up at the screen that was now focussed on the players on America's bench.

"You need a girlfriend," Kale turned to him, then gesturing up to the jumbotron with his shoulder. "She's cute."

Damn right she is, but she's also much more than that. Carter knew he was in trouble. Yes, she was cute, beautiful, gorgeous, everything. But the part that screwed Carter up so much, was the fact that she was truly,

unforgettable.