#I just...have a lot of hockey feelings

[sea-dukes-assistant]

EXCUSE ME BUT MY HOMETOWN ECHL TEAM IS MAKING A RUN AND I AM NOT NORMAL ABOUT IT AT ALL.

Canadian daddy loves us and wants to be happy. Carolina just said "meh fuck them kids."

STARTED FROM THE BOTTOM NOW WE HERE!

[heartorbit]

figure skating set right now please. thanks

[carpisuns]

gaining a new interest/joining a new fandom is always kind of intimidating it feels like there’s so much you’ve missed out on by not enjoying this thing before so you’re like GRAHHHH got to catch up so I can have peak enjoyment like all the Enjoying This Thing experts around here! which is so silly bc if you enjoy a thing you’re already there but. yknow

[hugheses]

whenever i pull stuff from my archives for a fun little post and then ppl get on twitter and act weird about it, it reminds me why i don’t share all the stuff i have saved.

[rattkachuk]

u know its bad when ur mom clocks how sad about hockey you are

[drysaladandketchup]

Stumbled into the 'rude Leon Draisaitl' discourse and had to laugh so hard. As a german, everytime I see Leon I have the immediate feeling of 'oh I know that guy' bc he really is very german. People say Germans don't have a sense of humour and I say part of our humour is that sometimes people don't realise some things we say not meant seriously.

Also there are several interviews from german soccer players (notably Per Mertesacker and Toni Kroos) who were interviewed after big games and literally out right told reporters they are asking stupid questions.... and were celebrated for it! People loved their honesty! Toni said 'you had 90 minutes to think of a question and this is what you ask?' in the face of the reporter people sided with him immediately. Cultural differences are a real thing.

Real talk though like Leon isn't even really any better or worse in terms of his humour or attitude than most other players. It's just the way he talks that gets people. Sometimes he's more blunt, and a lot of his sense of humour seems to be primarily sarcasm. And like obviously those things aren't exclusively German, but from what I've been told from my resident German friends, it is very commonly German.

Even as someone who isn't German myself, I don't think I've ever heard him make a comment or a joke and thought 'oh wow he's so rude/he said something inappropriate' (maybe because my sense of humour is very similar lol). I just think he's funny and a little awkward sometimes and occasionally goes unfiltered with his thoughts and feelings. That's one of the reasons why I like him so much! (and for what it's worth, he doesn't even do it all that often; he gives a lot of the same generic 'scripted' answers in interviews as basically everyone else. we just get some funny soundbites here and there)

Like bro is just German. Yes he's definitely adopted some Canadian-isms, but he is still so very German. And even so, 'German' does not equal 'rude'. Which is where this whole stupid discourse always comes back to: people saying he's rude when he's not, then other people going, 'well yeah of course he's rude and/or detached, he's German' which like... now you're just stereotyping and insulting an entire country of people.

Cultural differences are definitely a thing! But honestly, there's plenty of North American media and audiences that love off-beat humour, snappy responses, and honest commentary. Authenticity from guests/stars/whomever is well received. The problem is it depends on the media outlet and their target audience more than anything else, which most public figures find out the longer they're in the spotlight. You figure out what you can say to who. And like, for all we complain about a lot of sports media (rightly so), aside from a few fuck-ass reports who have nothing better to do, most of the articles or interviews I've seen with or about Leon have been positive. He usually gets laughs from the Edmonton media. He seems well liked by staff and reporters and fans, and of course friends and family and the team. From what I've seen, at least. In my (admittedly quite limited) online experience, the people complaining about Leon being 'rude' or 'unprofessional' are usually randoms online who already don't like him for one reason or another. Which is fine they don't have to like him, but like... just don't speak on it then. Why waste your energy?

[crossbackpoke-check]

Substance, Shadow, and Spirit [remixed, abridged] by Tao Yuanming

[sea-dukes-assistant]

Do not touch me I am in a greatcoat nest of emotion.

[antrea]

[24.04.01] vs. new york islanders

[muirneach]

beautiful hockey night ahead of me tonighttttt yayy. pwhl toronto vs minnesota AND bruins vs panthers to flip between right now and then afterwards canucks vs oilers

[exopelagic]

honk shoo.

[freebooter4ever]

The tech guys are hanging out in my office again and chatting about $10,000 week long vacations like this is normal.

[thed0ct0risc0ming]

Thinking about the hockey au...

Wally trying to get better and better, spending all his time at the downtown skating rink trying in vain to improve (he's already the best, he tells himself... Barnaby is just slightly better).

Barnaby wondering why his best friend is pulling away, no longer spending time with the team (Did Barnaby do something? He doesn't know, and the thought hurts more than he's willing to admit.. Wally is his best friend, after all).

Just... thinking about the hockey au

[letstrywritingmaybe]

3. Sports AU- Hockey edition

(Re part two of my list of fics ideas I’ll never get to)

As a massive Penguins fan, the influence they hold over this fic is so typical. It pains me because I love one man and he is the captain of my team, while I loathe Shinichi some days. But for the purposes of this fic I have to pretend he’s close to being as amazing as my man.

Have I lost you yet? Probably, let me try and bring it back cause this is an enemies to lovers fic, but also forbidden romance (I assume typical in hockey rpfs? Idk I’m not in that fandom). Because you see in this verse, he’s a hockey player and Shiho, my queen, is a referee (we’ll get to her background later and how she ends up here)

• Shinichi’s been in the league for a while and he’s the captain of the team, also the face of the franchise and is a really good player/teammate. Center man because of my own biases, and of course line mates would have to be Heiji and Kaito (the core/trio for like ever. This is my fic so they’re gonna be wingers, but can also play center I suppose. Point is forwards cause I don’t wanna completely copy my team plus I think they would be better as forwards well maybe Kaito… okay stop)

• being a star player and too good at his job, penalties are not always called… which may also be because refs are the worst (not my queen though but I’m biased)

• my girl has it rough cause listen major sports are still predominantly run by men, so of course every call she makes will be criticized (even if she’s right, and god forbid she misses something. It’s her fault and not her colleagues cause men suck)

• Shinichi doesn’t care that she’s a girl, but they get into it a few times when he thinks she hasn’t been calling things in favor of his team (he’s biased, she didn’t call them cause she saw what was going on and isn’t going to play into favoritism as he’s the golden child. Technically being that good just means he won’t get calls cause the league sucks anyway but still)

• anyways they start off on the wrong foot. After the game Shinichi realizes he may have been too harsh and tries to apologize, which Shiho does accept but it happens again cause there are games at stake here people!

• she isn’t assigned to all of his games of course, so they do get time to admire each other at their job when they have time off. Cause no way he isn’t watching hockey just cause he isn’t playing, and as for Shiho she used to play (we’ll get back to this later)

• during one of the games she refs with him playing, a goon on the other team is an asshole and Shinichi stands up for her. A fight occurs which leads to penalties on both sides, but she does thank him after for trying to diffuse the situation. Unfortunately some guys are assholes and shouldn’t be allowed to play in the league!!

• they slowly become more friendly with each other, and end up kinda cool with each other as time goes on. (This is meant to sorta be a slow burn, but we all know I suck at that which is why I say sorta)

• one night his team plays at home and she’s on a break after being on the job for so long. The last game she refs is that game he was in. She decides to chill and go to the bar where the boys all end up celebrating at. She doesn’t go up to them, choosing to unwind by herself while they’re all being fawned over and getting drunk. Cause they clinched play offs! Yay! He spots her anyway and offers to buy her a drink (he’s not drunk but he has been drinking), she turns him down cause it could cause trouble later on if people find out. He tells her it’s not that big of a deal, besides everyone is drunk and no one is paying attention. She still says no.

• he leaves her be, but two seconds later the bartender gives her a drink courtesy of an anonymous stranger. She naturally guesses it to be Shinichi, who winks at her but stays away for now. She decides to accept it since he’s staying away.

• he of course comes by and teases her about it, to which she rolls her eyes but she finds that he’s not terrible company.

• if it’s not obvious where this is going, then this bullet point says it all. They leave together for a drunken one night stand, in which she totally panics cause this is definitely not okay. Meanwhile he’s also like yeah this is bad but also… they can totally be professional about this.

• they are professionals about it. They don’t let what happened affect their jobs. Just one slight problem, they also can’t quite quit fooling around with each other. (Because guess what? He scores a hat trick after spending the night with her and hello superstition! So of course he’s like we gotta do it again and she’s like are you insane???)

• but they do and while he doesn’t score a hat trick again, he does still score a goal. Leading him to believe this should continue while she’s like absolutely not. It continues cause of course it does. Even though they get eliminated before making it to the cup, which gives her grounds to be like okay we can stop.

• doesn’t happen. They actually get closer during off season where they can just be them without worrying about the hockey world. Basically they fall in love for real.

• this lasts at least two seasons, hockey seasons meaning at least two years (could be longer but idk yet) Which means it’s no longer just hooking up cause they’ve both caught feelings. They even stayed together during off season in a different country where they could actually be a normal couple.

• it isn’t long until they’re basically in a secret relationship. Which is messy enough already, but wait! There’s more! To keep up with his image, Shinichi unofficially has a girlfriend. Unofficial because he’s very much not attached to anyone, but he does have a childhood best friend who thinks otherwise. Which is totally his fault for basically leading her on, cause he never flat out told her he’s not interested. Instead because he’s a softie, he tells her he’s not going to commit to anything because hockey is his life and that’s all he cares about. So she decides to wait for him, thinking when he retires then they can be together.

• now at this point Heiji and Kaito both definitely know something’s going on, but like the good bros they are, they don’t say shit. In fact they help cover it up, cause yeah their captain sleeping with a ref is not a good look when they’re trying to win another championship.

• shinshi become serious, because of course they’re in love (it’s my fic hello). He’s ready to lock it down, but he can’t cause of their jobs. Meanwhile Shiho still feels guilty and keeps thinking they should end it, but can’t get herself to actually end it.

• she basically lives at his place, her stuff is here and she spends most nights here. Ran (I swear I don’t hate her, but she fits the role better okay) notes how distant Shinichi has been, but thinking it’s normal especially during playoffs, just lets him be. But she gets a bad feeling and decides to check up on him, where she finds out about shinshi. She feels betrayed and heartbroken (as she should).

• Shinichi is surprised to see her at his home, an argument ensues. She threatens to expose his relationship unless… he chooses her instead then she will forgive him and pretend everything is fine. (To mirror my Pens, he’s nearing the end of his career and of course he would want to go out with a bang. Another cup with the boys!)

• basically choose hockey or Shiho. It’s a no brainer because I’m writing this fic, he chooses my queen. Which is so shitty for Ran, she leaves. Shiho was asleep already, but woke up when she heard their argument and she hears the ultimatum. She’s stunned when he chooses her, she decides she can’t let him ruin his career for her.

• she goes back to bed and pretends to be sleeping when he comes back in, he calls her out on faking and they have a talk. She tells him she’s not worth it, he says otherwise. Cue confession finally, and crying cause she’s happy they’re in love and it’s not just one sided on her part, but also she knows how much hockey means to him. This would ruin him. Just like how it ruined her.

• finally we get to my queen’s back story! She was a really good hockey player herself! Part of the Olympic team and won gold in the finals! For the next Olympics she was set to also compete, but a jealous team mate made up false accusations and tarnished her reputation. She was shunned by the community, until recently when it came out that she was the victim and never harmed anyone. Which is how she managed to kinda get back into the game and become a ref. Since it had been a while, no one really brought up her past or at least talked about it in depth especially since she was wronged.

• point is, she knows what it’s like to have her career ripped away from her when she wasn’t ready to let it go, so she can’t let the same thing happen to him. She leaves him and quits her job. During playoffs knowing he cannot follow her if the cup and his team are on the line. But she also secretly hopes he goes to her since the place she runs off to, is where they vacationed during the off season when their relationship first began. A small town where people knew who he was, but they let him be and they were away from cameras and stuff so they could be a normal couple.

• now this is not a norm for my fics, but I think realistically this could happen so why not. Guess what? To make things even more dramatic, she’s pregnant. When she finds out, she immediately wants to take everything back. She wants to be with him, but she pushed him away and there’s no way she can drop all this on him during the final series!

• back to the boys, Heiji and Kaito finally confront Shinichi and let him know that they knew all along. To which he’s like how?? And they’re like it was obvious plus we’re besties and also you guys suck at being secretive! You couldn’t wait to go home one time, and really? In the locker room??? But they support him cause they’ve never seen him this happy. Yes hockey is all of their lives, but they have the chance to start a family and share it with them while Shinichi has been all hockey focused. He’s finally met someone who he’s willing to break his rule of nothing serious until the end of his career.

• Shinichi apologizes cause he knows he should be focused on only the game right now, but he can’t stop thinking about her. Being on the ice is fine, but as soon as he’s away he’s thinking about her and how she left him. Then there’s also the drama with Ran

• speaking of, because she’s always known he doesn’t love her, she decides to keep his relationship with Shiho a secret. She won’t tell anyone. Which solves one problem.

• now back to quintessential lots of love things, which means there are only happily ever afters in my book (and clichés) So of course they rally and the team wins another cup! With the help of Heiji and Kaito, Shinichi is able to sneak away and get on the next flight to where he hopes/knows Shiho is.

• he was right, he finds her just as she was missing him and wondering if she should even tell him the news of her pregnancy. She’s stunned to see him, but so happy. They obviously get back together and everything turns out well. No one finds out about the inappropriateness of their relationship, since everyone in the league thinks it happened after Shiho quit.

• an epilogue of sorts. Shinshi is married and their baby boy is healthy. Shinichi is at home watching over their son, because Shiho is back on the ice again. It’s been a long time coming, but she’s finally able to make a comeback. If their son doesn’t end up playing hockey too it would be a shame given how it’s in both his parents’ blood.

The end. That’s my basic outline of this fic that I dreamed up immediately after realizing I could totally write this verse. I have the American football and baseball one sorta planned out too. But with it being hockey season, and this was the one I had a complete vision of, I decided to bullet point it out here first. Which hopefully means I won’t actually have to write the fic now that I’ve just rambled about it here.

[crossbackpoke-check]

what are ur thoughts on the winners room trope?

ooooo okay surface level analysis: i like winner’s room fics :)

etwas tieferes: i think it’s cool that it’s (afaik) unique to hockey fandom and i enjoy the way it integrates a lot of unspoken rules in hockey with desire/makes them a physical/tangible reality… also the narrative potentials/world-building it opens up can be fun because there’s not really a set of rules for the “winner’s room” trope. are there in-universe rules? who gets chosen? who’s exempt? who gets to pick? where’s it going down? is it the entire room or one guy? what if your (ex)boyfriend is on another team? does somebody need to be taught a lesson or do you need to remind someone who got traded you still love them? also, most important, winner’s room gives you the chance to put two random-ass guys you saw interact for 0.002 seconds and went “hmmm. interesting” about into a Situation and i love that

[notveryshrugemoji]

I called out of work today and UGH it was a good decision I am back in bed. I might go to the gym later hahahaah