The Last Hurrah of Winter Break

I just got home from the University School vs. St. Ignatius hockey game. I never thought that a hockey game would remind me of AP English, but of course it did somehow. After the first two periods, the US preppers were loosing by 3 goals, and from the looks of it, St. Ignatius was completely dominating this game. I am a pretty pessimistic person when it comes to sports teams making a comeback because I never want to get my hopes up and disappoint myself. I was almost positive US would lose. However, I decided to stay at the game to watch the last period and be a good girlfriend anyway. I am very glad I stayed because in the 3rd period, US looked like a completely new team, as they were refreshed and ready to play hard. They had two minutes to tie up the game and get out of their 2 goal deficit. I couldn't watch. However, they remained calm, kept their composure and did what they had set out to do: take this game into overtime. The energy of the stands was electrifying and as the puck dropped for the sudden death, it dawned on me. This is exactly how I feel when I do timed writings in English class. The pressure builds up inside of me and looking around, the faces of my peers tense up and their feet begin tapping when Ms. Serensky says, "5 minutes left!!" For a second, I felt as if I was having to write my third paragraph and conclusion in the 5 minutes, like usual. Then, I snapped out of it. "THIS IS NOT A TIME TO BE THINKING ABOUT ENGLISH", I muttered to myself. I looked at the people surrounding me, and they, too, had tense-looking faces and were stomping instead of tapping their feet in frustration and nervousness. US WON THE GAME! Everybody was screaming and jumping for joy. I smiled and thought to myself, "never in a million years did I expect this to happen".
Looking back on that moment, which only happened an hour or so ago, I realize that I should be more optimistic in pressure situations, whether it be during a hockey game or an in-class writing. It is too much of a waste of energy to psych ones self out when the outcome is still unknown!