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*roastpuff* · 02-10-2020, 04:04 PM

2771 words - Rookie Bonus Media 1 - Ready for Grading

“Farväl, älskling!”

Embrace Mama as she weeps. Tell her you’ll see her again soon, and she promises to try and come to the first game that you play for the Detroit Falcons. You know that is going to be a tall task – she has a restaurant to run, and old Markus can’t keep up in the kitchen by himself. Papa stands stoically by her side, and you give him a hug. He hugs you back. He doesn’t say anything but you can see in his eyes the pride that you’ve made it this far.

Get on the plane. First flight is a short one, to London Heathrow. Small plane, not that many people on board. Try and get comfortable – it’s a little cramped in the window seat and you wished you got an aisle seat so that you could at least stretch your legs. The older lady beside you in the aisle is busy knitting something, with red and yellow yarn. You think about your new team colours – red, yellow and black. It’s a far cry from the green and white of Modo. Land in London – a bit bumpy but no worse than other flights you’ve had. It’s a massive airport, much larger than Stockholm. You try and navigate the terminal transfer system and hope that your bags made it too; it would suck to have to break in a new pair of skates and gloves. The next plane is much larger. Smells new, too – nice to have a newer plane. They give you a small portion of food, barely enough to sate your hunger. You wish you had some nice home cooking at this moment. You land in Detroit. The airport is much louder than you expected, noisy and cramped and very unlike the calm of European airports in general. There is someone to greet you at the baggage pick up, and you are glad. You’re not used to navigating American cities just yet.

The driver brings you to a hotel – nothing too fancy, but you appreciate the luxury of having a room that, if not private, is only shared with one other person. Turns out, that person is Toki Wartooth. You met him during the prospect showcase and training camp. Seems like a nice guy, pretty quiet. Big though. He doesn’t quite fit on the bed. You hope that he opens up more, it would be nice to make friends. There’s a schedule left on the table – gear checks tomorrow with the trainers, then afternoon practice. You’re looking forward to it.

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Turns out, you do have to break in new skates, gloves, and pads. These are nice. Much nicer than what you’re used to. Some of that contract money went towards an unlimited supply of these, it seems. You get some new sticks as well. You try to get a feel for these – they’re CCM RBZ Speedburners. They’re lighter than anything you’ve ever used, with excellent balance. You can’t wait to get on the ice and try the stick out. First though, there’s lunch. You step into the locker room and you see some familiar faces. The British duo, Wanesly and Williams. You give them fist bumps. Zoltan Topalo, who gives you that “Z” greeting of his. You try and return it awkwardly. You introduce yourself to some of the older guys, and they greet you warmly. They had been looking forward to this draft class; it’s the largest class Detroit has ever had at once and it’s loaded with talent. You feel the pressure to perform, as a first round draft pick. 2nd overall. It’s a weight on your shoulders that you can feel physically, even though it’s not a tangible thing. Lunch is chicken breast, vegetables, brown rice or quinoa. Healthy, but not very tasty.

Practice is eye-opening. The new skates, pads and gloves are nice. The stick though, is throwing you off. You can’t make the passes you’re used to. They either go over, or they’re too hard to handle. You have to learn to back off the power. Joakim Ohlund is your new defence partner, and you are on the 2nd pairing with him. He’s been in the league for a couple of seasons, and he gives you some tips and tricks during breaks in practice. It’s highly appreciated that you were paired with another Swedish defenceman, as he can explain things to you in Swedish so you understand more. So far, so good.

First game of the season. This is when it really counts. It’s an away game against the St. Louis Scarecrows – the older guys had been muttering dark things under their breath about the straw men – stick men? Apparently there was some history between these two teams. You set up in the visitors’ dressing room. It’s pretty barebones. You sit in your stall, and start the ritual before every game. Deep breath, count to ten, exhale. Crack your neck to the left, crack your neck to the right, then your back to the left, and then your back to the right. Using your hockey stick, tap your right skate then left skate, then left shin then right shin. Whack your helmet once, and you’re good to go.
You go out of the tunnel following Jobin, the goalie, and your fellow rookies behind you. You look back and realize that the veterans stayed behind, letting the rookies have their own lap before joining you guys; it doesn’t seem so bad, there’s 12 of you rookies there. Topalo takes a pratfall on a puck, and you help him up, the fans chanting “SKREEEEEE.” You get on the bench as the game starts, and you try to contain your jitters. Ohlund looks at you knowingly and gives you a pat on the shoulder. He’s been there. He knows how it feels, playing your first game.
The game starts. A few shots for either side later, Cal Labovitch dumps the puck into the Scarecrows zone and the coach taps you on the shoulder. As soon as Guy O’Shea and Khabib Nurmagomedov head to the bench, you and Ohlund jump over and start skating hard. Williams’ line is out for the forwards, and they force an icing from the Scarecrows.

It was a short shift – coach wants the third line and the third pair out for this offensive zone draw. Not long after, another dump-in occurs, and you go back out there. This time, Ohlund ices the puck. On the ensuing faceoff, he draws a roughing penalty as he was battling with Alex Reyer from the Scarecrows. You go back on the bench as the penalty kill gets to work. You haven’t touched the puck once. The Scarecrows score on the powerplay. The whole bench groans in frustration, and Ohlund skates across with a few choice words for the ref. Coach tells you to get out there with Ohlund again. You line up, the puck drops, and you intercept a pass from a Scarecrows player. You feel good about it – and then your own pass gets intercepted. Your heart sinks.

The game eventually ends in a shootout that lasts five rounds, with the Scarecrows winning. You end the night a -1, with one shot block. You feel like that could’ve gone better. The next game is in two days. You tell yourself that you can make more of a difference next game, that you’ll learn from this game. Checking your phone, you notice a text message from Mama – “Tough loss, sweetie! I’m coming to Detroit to see your first home game! Papa is coming as well! We decided the restaurant can take a break for a few days, and the whole town sends their best wishes!”

Your heart leaps. You can’t wait to see her again, and to have the restaurant closed for a few days is almost unheard of. You go tell your GM, and he promises to have tickets held for her and Papa. You text her back that you’re excited to see them, and that they have tickets waiting for them. You get home pretty late that night from St. Louis, and you go to practice the next day, focusing on your passing. You didn’t want any more passes picked off by other players. You take an Uber to the airport, and you meet Papa and Mama there. You bring them back to the hotel; the team has graciously given them a room. You tell them that you’ll start looking for a place soon, and they cluck over you and ask where the nearest IKEA is located so they can start buying you stuff. It’s so nice to have them over.

This next game is against Halifax. They’re a tough opponent, and they had wanted to draft you as well. You sit in your stall and start the ritual once again. This time, in your own locker room. It’s a lot nicer, with the motto emblazoned on the wall right across from you. Deep breath, count to ten, exhale. Crack your neck to the left, crack your neck to the right, then your back to the left, and then your back to the right. Using your hockey stick, tap your right skate then left skate, then left shin then right shin. Whack your helmet once, and you’re good to go.

No rookie skate this time. You go out of the tunnel to the cheers of the fans. Some of them are holding posters up and you squint at one. What does it say? “Magnus? More like Magnum am I right?” You look at the beautiful young woman holding it and she gives you a long look. You blush and she smiles at you. You hope Mama doesn’t see that.

You start the game off okay. Not giving up a lot of chances, but not getting a lot of chances either. Then, on a defensive zone draw, Sutherland loses. The Raiders get the puck to the blue line, their d-man sends a shot and you try to tip it with your stick. You miss, and Jobin is out of position for the shot. It goes in. Your shoulders slump. Jobin gives you a tap on the shins with his stick, he knows you tried. Coach shakes his head when you go off for a change, tells you stay out there and that it’s okay. Sutherland is out again as well. Guess it’s learning time for the rookies. The Raiders win the draw in the neutral zone, but Ohlund jars the puck loose as he hits the forward carrying it. Wanesly intercepts the pass, and passes the puck to Ohlund, who moves into the Raiders zone. You follow him after and take a drop pass. You give it to Wanesly, who passes it back to you, so you tip it to Ohlund, who takes a shot and misses. Activating and retrieving the puck, you pass it to Burlok. His pass is intercepted, so you hustle back and make sure you’re in position. The Raiders dump the puck and start a line change. Your first pass is intercepted – again! You return the favor and intercept the Raiders’ pass, and you pass it D-to-D to Ohlund this time, who gets it out. Go to the bench and change.

The Raiders and the Falcons trade goals through three periods, and it’s looking desperate now as the game clock winds down. You’re down by one, and the coach taps you to get on. You take a pass away from a Raiders forward but you feel a stick in your arms and fight it off. The refs blow the whistle, and you look around.
Lucas Hellquist from the Raiders takes a penalty for hooking with a little more than two minutes on the clock. The Falcons powerplay gets set up. Pass, shot, pass, shot – the shots are either getting blocked, or turned away. You start feeling the pressure to equalize this game, to bring it to overtime.

Line change. The second unit goes out. Coach tells you to go in. You get on the ice, and get set up. A shot gets blocked, and you seal off the boards so that it doesn’t get past the blue line. But it takes a weird bounce, and it goes all the way back. Jobin passes the puck to Kekkonen, who passes to McMaster, and then Labovitch. He drops the puck off with you and you bring it in, only to get whistled for an off-side. Someone had their other skate in too early. Coach switches up the powerplay. Gets the first unit in, and pulls Jobin out of the net. You can only watch from the bench as the Raiders hold off your teammates to secure the win. You go in the locker room feeling dejected.

Coach tells the team that they played well, but gave up too many penalties, and had a few defensive breakdowns. You feel bad at that, because the first breakdown was on you and Ohlund. He dismisses you and tells you that they’ll go over the lessons learned at practice tomorrow.

You shower, and when you come out, to your surprise there were a bunch of reporters waiting for you. One of them asks you a question about the game and how it went.

“I wasn't very effective in the first two games, having gone -1 in both for a total of -2, and only throwing a few hits here and there,” you tell them. “I feel like it was a slow start for me, as I slowly got to grips with the small ice over here in North America, and I am disappointed that I have failed my team as we lost the first two games by only a goal each. Coach seemed to notice as well, as he played me on the 2nd pairing with Joakim Ohlund, who is a much more experienced defenceman. Hopefully, with more ice time, I will become better and gain the trust of the coach more and more. My goal for the next few games is to improve, and to make sure that the team wins the game.”

The reporter seems satisfied, and he goes off to bother Cal Labovitch.

When you head out the door, you’re surprised to see so many people lining up for autographs, and you sign some hats, jerseys, and game programs that are thrust in front of you. A bit different than when the town knows you since you were a little tyke who couldn’t stay on his own two feet, never mind skates. The young woman who you saw with the poster is there. She smiles at you and you blush. She has you sign a jersey – with your name on the back of it! – and she gives you a slip of paper with a phone number on it and mouths call me before winking and leaving. The other guys give you a knowing grin and a few elbow nudges. Mama and Papa are there at the back, and you give them hugs as you finally run out of things to sign. They tell you that you played well, but you know that you didn’t. Nevertheless, it was nice having them at your first home game. Papa knows you too well, and gives you a look, before giving you advice to just relax and play your game, that chances will come your way and that you’ll get used to the new team, new ice and new league. You nod. Papa doesn’t say much but when he does it’s usually worth listening. You have a late dinner with them, and you’re sad knowing that they’ll be leaving the next day.

You see them off at the airport the next morning, and head to the rink. Once you get to your stall, you ask the trainers for a small whiteboard and you write down the goals you have for the playoffs – defense, skating, passing, and puckhandling. You put the whiteboard where you’ll see it each time you get your gear on, and you’ll be reminded on what you want to focus on. Ohlund claps you on the back as he enters, and asks if you met with what’s-her-name from last night. You blush and tell him that your parents were in town, and you didn’t have a chance. He gives you a grin and tells you to not take it so seriously, that this year the Falcons were going to do better, and these two games were already better than what they managed last year. And he also tells you, to take the chance and make some personal connections, if you knew what he meant.

You blush.