Elaine Smith

College Essay

September 24, 2020

The Fire in Ice

The calm serenity of the ice ruptures as the skates cut it like a knife. The small

charcoal puck glides as though it were riding on wings. The array of onlooker’s war cries

sound like the New York City lion brandishing its claws. Time feels frozen and reality

seems altered to perfection as jubilation and triumph rise, pride rolling over the stadium,

the puck launching itself into the back of the mesh in the final minutes. The pure

emotion caused by such a game is enough to make anyone feel gratified.

Ice Hockey is the foundation of my contentment. It creates a fire in my eyes that

could not go out even if Posiedon set forth all his power on doing so. Nothing compares

to the upsurge of excitement that grows in my chest as the competitors rush out onto

the glassy surface. I become someone else. The atmosphere allows me to be free and

to feel such genuine happiness that real life can not always provide. Hockey isn’t just a

game to me, it’s security in its purest, rawest form.

It was my first time stepping into an arena, all around me the cold air fostering

itself into a comforting blanket of liberation. I can’t remember the date or time,

everything was clouded and my only focus was simply on the sleek sheet of glass with

the “Norfolk Admirals” logo front and center. I was intoxicated with an indescribable

feeling as I walked down the steps to my seat, each step feeling like another cloud lifting

me higher and higher to my utopia. The second I sat down I could feel invisible hands
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grab my body and force me down, gluing me to my seat. It was my mind unconsciously

holding me back from jumping up with excitement and anxiety.

The wait for puck drop felt like hours ticking by in my head. Each tick drove me

closer to insanity. My body twitched with anxiety and eagerness, my palms sweaty as

my body tried to find a solution to the feeling. However, once that puck hit the ice, my

heart only raced faster. Watching those men skate back and forth as though an angel

hand was guiding them made my brain do flips. My heart beat could probably be seen

through my shirt and heard a mile away. The crowd was small, but boy was the passion

triple the amount of spectators. The lady two rows ahead wanted to win like her life

depended on it. I’ve never witnessed a sport with viewers as bowled over by the game

than I’ve seen with hockey.

There was always a long feeling of yearning in my heart that lasted a lifetime, but

the second that final buzz rang through the building, it was gone. I had found the

missing puzzle piece to me. I’m not sure what the score was, but I do know we lost. It

was a temporary feeling of anger that diminished as soon as the realization hit that I just

experienced a life changing moment. I’m not sure those players will ever know how

much that one mid season game impacted me, but if I could let them know, I would

simply say thank you.