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Yuna scowls as the referee sends Savard to the box, jeers echoing through the room. The penalty was undeserved and anyone with eyes could see.
"I want to do that," Yvonne whispers.
"What?" Yuna asks just as quiet, tearing her eyes away from the tv to look at her friend. "Be a ref?"
Yvonne shakes her head, a lock of blonde hair falling her face. "I want to play in the NHL."
"They don't let woman play hockey," Yuna says. Even if it isn't exactly true—Yvonne's father has been letting her play on her brothers' team as a goalie since she was nine. "They'd never let you in."
"Where else would I go?" Yvonne asks voice bitter. "There is no league for girls, but the men could use goalies and I am very good."
Yuna feels a lump build in her throat. She was always jealous that Yvonne got to play hockey while she was stuck playing ringette instead of slamming people into the boards a shooting puts in the net. It took her too long to realize there was a reason her Mr. Rhéaume put her hamlet on outside the rink. To hear the horrible things men would say about her.
Yuna links her hand through Yvonne's, intertwining their fingers. "If you think you can, I believe you," she says, the lie tasting bitter on her tongue.
"Thank you," she whispers. On the screen a Montreal player scores a goal make the Rhéaume living room explode in cheers.