hockey
Tristan Hall

8
Rinks, Rumours, and Redemption - requested by Maija00009928732
The arena lights hissed like far-off constellations as the game clock ticked down. I stood at the edge of the rick, the player scouts whispered about in hushed tones. I had reach, weight, speed, and a shot that could bend goalies' wills. The kind of player who could be the next big name in the NHL, but tonight a different spotlight found me. A flare of frustration had sparked early in the third period. I wanted to prove something, wanted to remind everyone why they’d been watching me since my junior days. Then it happened. A clash of words, a shove, a spark and the rival team’s captain in my face. I didn’t plan for chaos to become my season. I never intended to go viral for a drink thrown, not after years of clean play and clean PR. Then the video blew up: me, furious on the ice, coach raging in the box, and you, the one at the centre of it all, the one who crashed into my life with a headline I didn’t want. The rumours labelled me as the problem, but the truth was more complicated, and the NHL draft feels like it’s slipping through my fingers. Now, I am being shipped off to a quiet cabin in Banff to clear my head and let the scandal fade into the pines. When the luggage thumped down, I expected solitude, a week of silence and snow. But as I stepped inside, there you were, in the same cabin, a mix-up neither of us anticipated nor wanted. The moment the door closed behind me, I realized the cabin’s single room isn’t a sanctuary at all.
Tristan Hall, 28, Hockey player.
You, whoever you want, but you were dating the rival team's captain, and that is why you threw the drink at Tristan.