The best way to attract questions is to act weird. I don’t want questions. I want Lo, and for right now, I have him in some capacity. Even if it's temporary and we’ll never see each other, for this moment in time, he’s mine.
CHAPTER 20
LO
My skate slipsand I slam into the ice. My momentum keeps me sliding straight into the net, hard into Horny’s legs and causing him to fall on me. He’s laughing as we try to untangle, made all the more difficult because of the pads.
“If you wanted a hug, all you had to do was ask,” Horny teases. “I’m down for bro hugs.”
I snort. “Get off me, you big log.”
“I do have a big log. Thanks for noticing through my cup.” He gives a nudge with his hips, which is in the middle of my back as he tries to crawl over and off me.
Laughing, I shove at him. Lund Hornbrook, whom we call Horny, is a massive goalie. He and Felton Badcock are currently the biggest in the league. He’s massive. Exceptionally built to be a goaltender.
I always wonder if these big guys built for goalies chose their position and somehow grew into it. Like, was there a premonition as a kid that he’s going to grow into a polar bear and is built for the crease? Maybe the hockey gods saw he would basically take up the entire net and gifted him mass, making him the chosen one in hockey. It’s always baffled me.
Eventually we get back to our feet.
“I’m not sure that’s how the competition goes,” Etna comments as he glides to a stop at my side.
“Speed and accuracy,” I say, straightening myself out again. “But like, I’ve been trying to find a way to get the goalies involved.”
It occurred to me on my way home that a lot of the events of the skills competition can be used for skills training. Sprints with speed. The little disks to help with puck handling. Those stupid tiny nets on the other side of a two-inch divide to home in on some shot skills. Then there’s the passing challenge with the blocks.
All of these are definitely to improve accuracy, stick handling, and puck control. There are several that tie in agility too. But there wasn’t much for the goalies to take part in, which bothered me. Yes, they’re meant to be brick walls, but there are plenty of things they could compete in.
The obvious is stopping a puck. But their reflexes too. More than anything, the goalies have to adapt to each play, each new team. They can’t just one and done their skills.
Hilt and Keno bring over a handful of bottled waters and we sink to the ice in a little four-person circle, the ends of our skates touching. While we drink, we pass the puck between us with bare hands.
The first thing I did when I got home was drop a message into our group chat, telling them that the first chance we got some down time on the ice, I wanted to duplicate some of these events for fun, but also to see if the exercises can help us.
I’m not surprised that all four agreed. Keno Edgewood is one of our newest defensemen, pulled up from Arizona’s farm team. He’s always eager to improve and prove himself.
Hilt Callahan is our veteran defenseman. He’s been playing professionally for eighteen years.
Etna Yreka was drafted the same year I was, though he bounced between the AHL and NHL for three seasons with Seattle before Arizona traded for him. Best decision in Etna’s career. He’s blossomed since coming to Arizona.
“You haven’t told us about the games,” Hilt says.
“You’ve been to plenty.” The puck passes between us rapidly. Even now, we’re working on reflexes as we slide the puck away to a random person as soon as it touches our hands. “You tell me.”
Hilt snorts. “They change every year. Yes, we watched you and you kicked some ass, but how was it being there?”
I shrug. “It was pretty awesome,” I admit, grinning. “Such a humbling experience to be with guys who are the best of the best.”
“You’re one of them,” Keno says, flashing me a toothy smile. “Best of the best.”
I shrug. Honestly, I’m not sure that’s true. Each team selects one player to go to the All-Star Games. Then the fans vote on twelve players. None of the spots are truly based on stats of who the top forty-four players in the league are. Maybe I’m one of the best on my team, but I don’t know that it puts me in the top of the league.
“It was great,” I reiterate. “I had a lot of fun, talked to a lot of amazing players, and played hard.” I shrug.
“We saw Latham’s interview and then you following,” Etna says. “The arrogant audacity of some people to think they can say whatever they want as long as they’re smiling and speaking with a friendly tone.” He shakes his head.
“Yep,” I agree. We haven’t seen any backlash on Max yet, and I really hope there isn’t any. There are social media circuses, because obviously. But not even the Florida governor’s office has made a statement. What could they say? As fucked as America is, there is still freedom of speech for good or bad. Besides, what hesaid is tame compared to what the politicians say about and to each other during election cycles.
“It gets played over and over,” Etna says. “I’m totally here for it. Some of the edits that people are posting with it are… emotional.”
