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its-time-to-write · 1 year ago

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how about a Jamie x reader fic when they go away to Amsterdam they sit together on bus and they wake up cuddling and then there’s an issue w hotel booking and there’s a one bed trope and they end up waking up cuddled together and then they admit feelings and reader goes to game with a tartt jersey on <3

I’ve been thinking about this forever, and I’m terribly sorry it took so long!! I do enjoy being an adult, but I’m at a point in life where I don’t have much free time and if I do, I use it to sleep😂

I really miss the days when Ted Lasso was still airing and the x reader tags had new content every day. I feel like that one meme of Thanos when he’s like “Fine. I’ll do it myself.” Shoutout to all y’all who are still here and reading my stuff! Love you!!

smile at me

It’s straight-up fucked. It really, really is. But also maybe it’s good, as Keeley pointed out, because not having a boyfriend anymore means you can focus on yourself?

Or something.

Of course he had to break up with you right before leaving for Amsterdam. Hell, he broke up with you because you were leaving for Amsterdam.

“I don’t want you going to another country with a bunch of other guys,” he had said. “It’s them or me.”

“It’s literally my job,” you told him.

Apparently, that didn’t matter.

But what-fucking-ever, you’re at Keeley’s waiting for a car to take you to the airport, and she’s promised to make sure you don’t think about your stupid ex even once.

It’s times like these you wish Ted were still here with a spot-on pun and some dad-type advice. All you ever get from Beard is a weird anecdote and a vaguely threatening look.

Keeley chatters on for the entirety of the ride to the airport, through customs, and all the way to the lounge.

“You’re gonna get loads of great content for the socials, babe. Candids, action shots, behind-the-scenes. Friendlies are fucking amazing!”

Last time Richmond were in Amsterdam, they had lost horribly. They’re hoping to make up for it this time around.

The plane is full of Greyhounds, both footballers and coaches alike, with Rebecca at the very front. Keeley plops done in the seat next to her as Dani waves at you from the middle.

“I saved you a seat!” he calls. You smile as Sam takes your bag to put it in the overhead. “Thanks, Dani. You excited?”

Dani grins. “I think this time I am ready to see a whole field of tulips!”

You laugh as the lads roll their eyes. Jamie leans across the aisle toward you and says, “Oi, what’s the twat doing while you’re away?”

You press your lips into a thin line. “Not a clue.”

He raises an eyebrow and says, “You break up with him?”

“He broke up with me.”

Jamie twists his face into a scoff. “And you wonder why I call him the fucking twat. Prick. Bet it was so he could finally fuck his coworker.”

You shrug. Jamie’s never liked your boyfriend. It’s not like you were together long, only a few months. And sure, he was a little bit of a twat, but sue you. You had a special place in your heart for pricks with a heart of gold, only he didn’t even have a heart at all.

“You should date someone better,” Jamie continues.

You glare at him and retort, “Oh yeah, because it’s just that easy. You got some one in mind?”

Jamie gives you his most angelic look and says, “What about me?” which makes half the plane dissolve into laughter, yourself included.

“Cheers, Jamie,” you say as you wipe your eyes. “I needed that.”

A strange look crosses his face, but it’s quickly replaced by his usual cocky expression. “Anytime, love,” he replies as you turn to start a conversation with Dani.

As much as you’d like that, Jamie would never date you. His joke stings a little but you brush it off. Maybe you’ll find another twat in Amsterdam to distract yourself from the fact that you’re half in love with Jamie Tartt.

—

“I’m sorry, we don’t have a booking under you name,” the hotel concierge says.

You tap your nails to your wrist. “Are you positive? I’m with AFC Richmond, they should’ve had one.”

The concierge taps on his computer for a moment before shaking his head. “No, I’m afraid we don’t have anything. And all of our rooms are booked this weekend. Might I recommend the hotel down the road?”

Damn it. There’s no way this is happening. Everyone else has gotten to their rooms without a hitch and here you are, alone in the lobby as you pull out your phone to call Keeley. There’s no way this is fucking happening.

“Everything alright?” asks a voice behind you, and you jump.

“They don’t have a room for me, and they’re fully booked,” you explain.

Jamie looks at the concierge, who shrugs apologetically, then back to you. He asks, “Why don’t you share with me?” and you frown.

“I thought you were rooming with Declan,” you say.

Jamie lifts a shoulder. “Yeah, but he switched with Richard because O’Brien fucking snores and he don’t give a shit.”

You say, “So you’re with Richard, then,” and he shakes his head.

“Nah, Richard’s with Jan.”

“I thought Dani was with Jan,” you say. These fucking footballers. What’s the point in having set rooms if they’re just going to switch it all up.

“Dani is with Jan,” Jamie says patiently, as if this all the most obvious thing in the world. “But Dani’s a cuddler, so he’s probably going to fucking end up with, I don’t know, Isaac or someone. Which means I get a room all to meself.”

“Right,” you say slowly. “Alright, I can do that. As long as you don’t mind.”

Jamie winks. “Sharing a room with a pretty girl for four days? Ain’t a problem, love.”

You laugh and follow him to the elevator.

—

It feels a bit like playing with fire, agreeing to room with Jamie. Especially since you’re freshly single and definitely open to a rebound. But there will be two beds and a lot of space and anyway, you’ll be busy with the match and social media, respectively.

Except as soon as you walk through the door, you realize there’s a tiny little hitch.

“There’s one bed,” you blurt out, so surprised you’re unable to filter your words. Jamie blushes a little bit as he says, “Yeah, um, Cockburn and I hate sleeping alone, so we asked for one. He grew up sharing a bed with his brothers and I just fucking hate being alone. I can sleep on the couch if you want.”

“No,” you say firmly, “you need good rest. It’s not a problem.”

It’s not a problem.

Or at least it wouldn’t have been if Isaac had been a shittier captain.

But as it is he’s great, so he’s got the whole team going out to dinner at a pre-determined location complete with a dress code of no t-shirts and apparently you count as part of the team, so you have to go too. You’re in your massive bathroom trying to curl your disgusting travel hair when Jamie walks in wearing one of those white hotel bathrobes.

He asks, “You mind if I’m in here?” so you shake your head, struck temporarily mute by his bare clavicle. Fucking hell, you feel like a repressed Victorian woman.

Jamie says, “Mint,” and goes about his alarmingly detailed skincare routine. You’re pretty sure you’re done with your hair so you crane your neck in an attempt to check the back.

“Missed a spot,” Jamie says. “Want me to get it for you?”

You shoot him a dubious look but hand him the curler. He runs a hand through your hair, picking up the offending strand and it’s all you can do not to shiver.

“Mum taught me,” he explains and you nod ever so slightly, not wanting him to accidentally burn your neck. Jamie says, “All good,” and runs his whole hand through your hair this time, making the curls bounce.

You choke out, “Thanks,” and hurriedly put away your things, desperate to leave before Jamie can pick up on the fact that you can barely handle being in the same room as him, and that you have great concerns about what the night will bring.

—

“You look fucking hot,” is the first thing Rebecca says when you meet her in the lobby. Keeley looks mildly offended that Rebecca took the words out of her mouth, but she just laughs and taps your arm.

“Gonna break a few hearts tonight, yeah?” she grins.

You’re not sure about that, especially since dinner turns out to be a very domestic affair. It’s loud, sure, but it’s definitely toned down since it’s a pre-match celebration instead of a post-match one. You’re with Sam, Keeley, and Roy with Jamie far, far away. You push all thoughts of him from your brain only for memories of your ex to surface. You frown.

“The fuck’s wrong with you?” Roy says and for a moment, you think he’s talking to you. But he’s actually talking to Jamie who has moved from his place across the restaurant to right behind your chair.

“Fuck off grandad,” Jamie says good-naturedly. “Wanted to tell this one that some of the lads are going out dancing after this. Not too late,” he hastily adds at Roy’s burning scowl, “just for two hours and we’re only allowed one drink.”

You’re pretty sure that’s a bit more liberal than Roy likes, but he nods his head slightly so he must be in a good mood.

“So, you coming?” Jamie asks and before you can reply Sam and Keeley chorus, “Yes she is.”

You give Keeley a Look before turning back to Jamie. “Guess I am,” you reply.

The smile Jamie gives you does more to make your head spin than any amount of alcohol you’ve had in your lifetime.

—

Jamie has taken it upon himself to wipe that frown off your face. He might have been watching you over dinner and that might have been why he chose that exact moment to invite you out, but he’ll never fucking admit it to anyone except Sam. And Keeley. And maybe Cockburn when it was the off-season and they were a little tipsy. (But not drunk, never drunk.)

So yeah, sue him if he’s spinning you around on the crowded dance floor just because it makes you laugh. It’s not his fault that he’s been wildly in love with you since the day Higgins hired you. It’s not his fault that you’re easy to be around and have the most beautiful smile he’s seen in his life.

And fuck, it certainly isn’t his fault you can’t see in yourself what others do. Why you settled for a piece of shit like your ex, he’ll never know. But he’ll be damned if he doesn’t do his best to show you how special you are. He knows you’ll never feel the same about him, but maybe he can help you level up your standards. Maybe if you’re with someone good, it’ll hurt less that it’s not him.

So he lets you hold his hand for the entirety of the two hours that the team is out and doesn’t say a word when you don’t let go in the cab back to the hotel.

You’ve gotten that closed-off look in your eyes again, the one that means you’re thinking about your ex, so Jamie knocks his shoulder into yours and asks why he can’t have the password to the team’s Instagram account, which is a sure fire way to get you to lecture him on irresponsibility and aesthetics and the best way to get your eyes to come back to life.

—

Honestly, it’s easier to fall asleep than you might have expected. It’s a big bed and you’re fucking tired.

You just didn’t expect to wake up in the middle of the night crying, but it’s always fucking like this when you go through a breakup. You go to sleep fine and wake up sad, so you do your best not to wake up Jamie except you’ve both ended up entangled in each other’s arms, so he can feel you shaking.

“Hey,” Jamie says in a soft voice, “You’re okay, love.”

You half expect him to push you away once he realizes you’re so close, but he only pulls you closer and presses a kiss to your forehead. Maybe it’s because you’re both half-asleep, but it feels like the most natural thing in the world.

You sigh and settle into him, drifting off in a matter of moments.

—

You wake up to a pair of blue eyes watching you.

“How you feeling?” Jamie asks, voice gravelly with sleep.

You just blink at him. It’s hard to form coherent sentences within the first ten seconds of waking up, and even harder with the memory of Jamie’s arms around you last night.

Wait. Not just the memory. The present reality because neither of you have moved.

Jamie misinterprets your silence and begins to extricate his arms.

“Sorry,” he says, “I’m not to trying to like, cross and fucking boundary or something. Should’ve left you alone.”

You’re still not awake enough to talk so you grab him to stop him from moving away. He gives you a questioning look so you say, “I wouldn’t have agreed to share a bed if I thought you were a creep.”

Jamie grins. “So like, if Jan had offered to share a room you’d’ve said no.”

You wrinkle your nose as you say, “Jan’s not a creep.”

“He’s the fucking worst,” Jamie grumbles, “And anyway, can we not talk about Jan fucking Maas this early in the morning?”

“Sure,” you say, “let’s talk about something else.”

Despite your comment, you both lapse into silence. You’re enraptured by Jamie’s blue eyes. You’ve never been able to study them this close before, and you want to take this opportunity to memorize every fleck of green.

Jamie seems to have a similar thought, except his gaze flicks to your lips.

“I have morning breath,” you tell him and he says, “Real men don’t give a shit, babe,” before leaning forward.

It’s softer than you’d expected, sweeter.

It’s also strange to think that you’re making out with Jamie in bed, and that he’s the one who initiated it.

The thought is so absurd that you giggle, mid-kiss. Jamie breaks away and says, “Oi, there’s no way that was a shit kiss.”

“No,” you say between giggles, “it’s just weird that we’re doing this. Like, how are we supposed to look each other in the eye after?”

Jamie moves so he can look at you better, and you roll from your side to your back. “What do you mean?” he asks.

“Oh come on, we share a room and a bed, we kiss because I have all these sad feelings and you’re feeling a lot of emotions about the match, and then we have to work together after. It’s silly.”

Jamie cocks his head. “That’s what you think is happening?”

“Yes?” you say. None of this is going how it’s supposed to. “What do you think is happening?”

“I like you,” he says, and there is absolutely no mistaking his meaning.

“Oh,” you reply in a small voice. “Since when?”

“Since before you started dating the twat. When Higgins introduced ya to the team.”

“That’s a fucking long time ago!” you exclaim. “Were you ever going to tell me?”

Jamie rubs his face. “Yeah, ‘cept you showed up to work tellin’ everyone how you started dating the twat. And I ain’t a home wrecker.”

You groan. “Fuuuck. I literally only dated him to try to get over you.”

Jamie shoots up. “What?!”

“Yeah,” you say, “I’ve been like a little bit in love with you ever since you winked at me during that first promo I did.”

Jamie blows out a breath. “Okay. Think that’s enough talking. C’mere. We’re making out proper, like, then we’re going to breakfast.”

You grin as you climb onto his lap.

#jamie tartt x reader #jamie tartt fanfiction #jamie tartt imagine #jamie tartt x y/n #jamie tartt x you #jamie tartt #ted lasso

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sturnzyolo · 4 months ago

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#𝟏 𝐁𝐈𝐆𝐆𝐄𝐒𝐓 𝐅𝐀𝐍

HOCKEY MATT & READER GF HCS

Warnings: all fluff, affectionate, slight(?) angst, slightly suggestive?, poc reader friendly other than the pics on the top (sorry!)

Summary: Hockey player Matt and his heavily supporting gf headcannons

☆ Since Matt plays for the Boston Bruins, you're always wearing any merchandise you can find for an outfit to support your favorite player #4

☆ You always go to every game to watch Matt that you've come to be quite close to the whole team and staff in the arena, they'll always greet you and show you right towards Matt

☆ After every single game win or lose, you will always take Matt out to whatever restaurant he wants for a date

☆ Matt's fanbase knows you and of your relationship quite well. They'll even take pictures with you once you're spotted and gladly have a conversation or ask for a signature, although you're not as famous as your boyfriend, the support from fans is usually lighthearted for you aswell

☆ Some games Matt will give you free merchandise to hand out to any fans you want, mainly the very cheerful and diehard ones that scream from the top of their lungs for Matt and the Bruins

☆ Matt and you have a signal together to say I love you whenever he's in game. He will do this signal whenever he is able to during a match although it happens rarely since he's always very focused. the slight gesture is something you always catch when it's done

☆ Along with that, Matt always has you telling him where you're going to sit just so he can look back at his favorite fan during a match or run to you straight after

☆ Everytime Matt wins he cheers on the rink, hugs his teammates then skates off the ice to immediately go over to find you, racing over just to hug or kiss you

☆ Whenever Matt loses at match he's usually pretty hard on himself, complaining to you about everything he could've done better and that he wasn't doing good enough. You follow up with praises for him to tell him how good of a player he is and not to let one bad match get the best of him

☆ Just like Matt, you have some of your own meaningful tattoos, one being a 4 on the inside of your index finger to represent his jersey number

☆ Matt has many fangirls, some love flirting with him when he's saying hi before or after a game to his fans. Whenever you seem jealous of the attention he was getting from other girls, which was rare since normally you're just happy everyone's supportive even if it's for your boyfriends looks, he reminds you that your his "favorite girl" and that those girls couldn't even compare to you. Especially because half of them are 15...

☆ Everytime Matt has to go away for a game, since you're so close to the coach, team, and staff they allow you to come with, always sharing a bunk on the bus with Matt as his team gets hyped up for a new game and city

☆ Before every game you always give Matt a pep talk, but once he's in the locker room, you send him a small paragraph of how proud you are of him and that he's going to do great, not to worry, and to just try his best.

☆ Whenever Matt is upset about a lose, you'll do whatever he wants or asks for, no matter the request.

☆ Your hair is always style for a game, you put it in something new each time, even using bows or gold cuff rings to put in your braids (pick whichever depending on your hairtype I tried to add both) which Matt always finds adorable and will shower you in compliments

☆ Matt and you both are given bracelets from fans which you proudly wear every game or add to your collection right beside all of the fans gifts for Matt

☆ Matt and you throw parties for the teams after each season, going to the house you have together in Boston - along with Chris and Nick who refuse to live away from Matt which you never minded - to celebrate a season win or lose for the hardwork everyone puts in

☆ For most games, if Chris and Nick decided to come (wake up), you would drive them to Matt's game with you, they'll usually be sat exactly next to you for the game, gossiping about the other team or how good Matt is doing

☆ You're close to both Chris and Nick of course, they'll always text you to ask how Matt is doing during games and if you wanted them to come and join whenever their free (which you gladly accept)

☆ Matt will always be wearing your hairtie around his wrist or your necklace around his neck, tucked into his uniform.

☆ After each season Matt and you go on a trip, bringing Nick and Chris along, to enjoy the time away from hockey til the start of the next season

☆ In-between seasons, Nick, Chris, and you will always help Matt train. Giving him drills to practice while Chris and Nick play against him on an empty ice rink. You also always make sure Matt is staying fit, always working out with him when he has to

☆ Matt is always thankful for you, he will spoil you more than anything, giving you gifts all the time after a week of constant matches or practices. He loves giving you princess treatment especially after you're always so supportive to his career.

☆ You both have said you'd love to raise your kids to play hockey one day, obviously down the line since you both are young and busy, already enjoying life whenever you have the time

☆ Matt loves nature and going to cabins, so if there is any free weekend on his schedule, which is rare, you will plan a trip to go with Nate, Chris, and Nick down to a cabin right by a lake to celebrate how well Matt is doing in hockey, by going and spending time with him in his favorite area

☆ Matt will sometimes be angry after a game that didn't go quite well. Whenever he has an attitude and takes it out on you, which you understand. He will cool down and shower you with affection to apologize, giving you millions of kisses and cuddles

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annievrse · 1 year ago

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[college] basketball!eren

—ᡣ𐭩 headcanons a/n: guys i’m back in the waiting room (& it’s fkn hot today)……… let’s write some headcanons!!

a few points i've made in my bf!eren headcanons:

in basketball games against certain colleges, bf!eren gets so fired up and aggressive and lippy. he talks so much shit on the court (he's known for it), and isn't afraid to take shit either (which pisses off the other team, and the whole cycle starts again). but, it's a bonus for you when he gets off the court because he's looking extra hot..... and he knows it...... asshole

you wear bf!eren's spare jersey to his basketball games

bf!eren with a chain under his basketball jersey, his hair tied back and a thin headband, tape on his dodgy shoulder......... oh lordy

bf!eren's post-game meal is 3 big macs and 2 mcchickens AND a kids nugget meal (he wants to give you the toy that comes with it because he’s cute) but don’t forget dessert!! he sips his *diet* coke as a palate cleanser and then inhales an apple pie

bf!eren gets a job coaching a kids' basketball team, and that is a canon event

now i will elaborate....

basketball!eren wears nba jerseys in everyday life with sweat shorts & dunks/vans/birkenstocks (with socks) he is an effortlessly stylish college athlete ok he can pull off anything

basketball!eren has a piece of sports tape around his wrist with your name written in marker <3 (points to it whenever he scores if you aren’t there (e.g. games on the other side of the country), otherwise his finger is on you in the crowd)

whenever his favourite team is playing (call him basic, call him a bandwagon, but my man is in love with steph curry, so you know he supports golden state) & he can’t watch at home on the tv, basketball!eren sits and watches it on his phone (warning: he will speak to the phone like the team can hear him so keep an eye on him in public, especially at the library because he will yell)

basketball!eren got mvp in sophomore year (jean was like 2 points behind him) and he holds it over jean’s head because he is cheeky and a dick

basketball!eren wears a suit to and from his games (specifically a navy one with a white shirt, no tie, and its just so rahhhhhh) with his headphones on and a large cup of black coffee

now, i don't want to expose basketball!eren here, but in his headphones, only on game days, he plays taylor swift & rihanna

basketball!eren texts you nonstop when he's on the bus/plane to games (because connie is his seatmate (he loves him to death) but connie knocks the fuck out on these trips so eren gets very bored)

basketball!eren wears his hair in 2 styles when he plays: completely tied back with a thin headband or fully out with a thin headband (frothing over here sorry don't look at me: heavy emphasis on the 2nd style though)

basketball!eren has like a couple hundred thousand followers on instagram because he's a college basketball player and he's good and hot as fuck

basketball!eren posts photo dumps once a fortnight as a wrap-up for that time period because his life is so crazy hectic that he always has content for a new dump (i wish he was real guys)

basketball!eren loves loves showing you off (private but not secret on social media) & buying you gifts (instagram stories of your wrist with the new bracelet he gifted you for your birthday)

basketball!eren gets drafted in his senior year of college :') (chooses to graduate first and then go to the nba - he wasn't studying biomedical science for nothing!!! (not that he needs it anymore.......))

basketball!eren gets rookie of the year in his first season (crying)

#eren jaeger #attack on titan x reader #eren jaeger x reader #eren jeager imagines #eren jeager x reader #eren yaeger imagine #eren yaeger x reader #attack on titan imagine #eren jaeger imagine #eren yeager x reader #boyfriend!eren #basketball!eren #— ann writes!

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toasttt11 · 10 months ago

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secrets out

Jan 5, 2024

Carter rested her head against the plane wall with her headphones on excited for this weekend. The plane landed and the team all started grabbing their extra big bags as this was the second game of their seven game road trip meaning being away from home for almost two weeks.

The players all loaded their suitcases and duffle bags on the bus storage before getting onto the bus, Carter leaned against the window watching the city of New Jersey as they drove the the Devils Arena having a practice scheduled right after their flight.

The Canucks team all walked through the Devils halls helping the equipment mangers bring the equipment to the locker room, the team all got on the practice equipment heading out to the ice where the last few remaining Blackhawks players were getting off after their practice, Carter smiled seeing Connor standing near the end of a hallway and gesturing his head, she looked around her before quickly walking to Connor and around the corner at the end of a hallway where no was.

Carter quickly wrapped her arms around Connor relaxing against him, Connor smiled holding his girl in his arms again, “Hello my love.” Connor pressed multiple soft kisses to her side of her head.

“Con.” Carter whispered out in relief enjoying the few moments she has with her boyfriend and best friend.

“I’ve got to go but i’ll see you more tonight i promise.” Carter cupped his face pressing a gently kiss to his lips before reluctantly pulling away and kissing his cheek.

“Are you coming to the game tonight?” Connor softly asked, knowing Carter wanted to come but he didn’t know if she got tickets.

“Yeah, Quinn and I are going. I love you.” Carter pressed another kiss to his cheek before reluctantly pulling herself out of his arms.

“I love you too Roo.” Connor fondly smiled as he watched her jog away down the hallway towards the ice.

Carter quickly got on the ice elbowing her smirking brother as she skated by and joined the practice for the next hour.

The team all headed back to the hotel after the practice, Cole and Carter were sharing a room like always and Cole knew Carter had to leave so he let her shower first, Carter quickly showered and got out. She did some very light make up and scrunched some curl cream into her hair to keep her curls intake not having time to make them perfect with her curl routine. She slipped on a pair of blue jeans, a white long sleeve shirt and slipped her black leather jacket over it and put on her red converses. She slid her phone, wallet and her lip products into her jacket pocket before heading out of the bathroom.

“Thank you!” Carter grinned at her best friend.

Cole just smiled shrugging, “Go watch your boy!” He smirked as Carter threw a pillow after him.

“Dick!” Carter called after him hearing Cole’s laugh through the bathroom door.

Carter headed out of room heading down to the hotel lobby seeing Quinn sitting on one of the coaches on his phone, wearing back cargo pants, a white shirt with a black crew neck, and red converse.

Carter sat down next to him hitting his foot with hers, “Matching me?” Carter smirked at her big brother.

Quinn just chuckled knowing Carter always wears something red for Devils games for Jack and now also Luke, “Maybe.” He simply grinned standing up getting a text she was here.

Carter got up with him following him out of the hotel to the valet in the front of the hotel seeing Jack’s car and quickly hoped in, Carter stole the passnger seat and Quinn sat in the back seat.

Carter leaned over kissing her cheek, “Hi Mom.” Carter smiled at her.

“Hello my loves.” Ellen smiled at her two kids in the car. Ellen haven spent a few days with her two boys and Jack and Luke caught a ride with Nico so Ellen could pick up Carter and Quinn.

Carter and Quinn caught up with there mom even thought they really did just see her for Christmas a few weeks ago.

The pulled into the parking garage of the Devils Arena and headed inside, the three sat together in a Devils suite that Jack and Luke insisted they sit in.

They got into their seats a few minutes before the teams got on the ice for warmups.

The teams started coming onto the ice, Connor who Carter told where she was sitting looked around and found sent her a wave making her smile softly and wave back. Ellen raised an eyebrow at that having never seen that look on her daughter before but she hasn’t seen Connor and Carter together often maybe once or twice a few years ago.

Jack and Luke came onto the ice and both sent waves to their family before focusing on warming up.

Carter was sitting between her mom and Quinn during the game, She was trying not to cheeer for Connor as he skated down the ice with the puck when Brenda Smith hit Connor in the face, Carter inhaled sharply seeing Connor hold his face and immediately get led down to the tunnel.

Quinn eyes widen in worry for Connor, he felt Carter grip his arm tightly as she stared at the ice. Quinn brought his other hand holding her hand, “He’ll be okay Cart.” Quinn hoped that he was right.

Ellen frowned having a feeling Connor means more to Carter than she originally thought but she brought a hand to Carter’s back gently rubbing it seeing Carter super tense.

The first period continued and Carter was still sitting tensely trying to see if Connor would come out for the second period, She felt her stomach drop when she saw Connor not returning to the bench with the rest of the team.

A throat was cleared next to them and Quinn and Ellen looked up seeing a women who looks like she’s a Blackhawks worker, “Hi i’m part of the medical staff for the blackhawks and Connor is asking for Carter.” She smiled softly seeing Carters head snap towards her when she mentioned Connor.

Carter looked towards Quinn, Quinn nodded, “Go check on him.” Quinn smiled and Carter quickly got up following the worker.

“They’re not just friends are they?” Ellen realized looking at her son who just smiled and shrugged at her.

Carter felt like the walk to the Blackhawks medical room room took forever but when she got in there she saw the medical team and Connor laying on the bed with an ice pack on his jaw, Carter quickly walked into the room holding Connor’s hand grabbing his attention.

Connor eyes soften staring at his worried girlfriend, he squeezed her hand back.

“He can’t be talking yet, not untill we confirm for sure what is wrong with him.” One of the doctors explained to Carter, Carter nodded.

“And what is it that your think is injured.” Carter questioned not looking away from Connor.

“We’re hopping it’s not correct but it’s seems he broke something in his jaw and will most likely need to have it fixed by surgery.” The doctors explained. Carter took a deep breath and nodded.

“We’ve gave him some pain meds so he should be good, but we’ve just got another player we need to go look at.” The team of doctors excused themselves, leaving the room with Carter and Connor the only ones still in there.

Carter sat on the chair next to the bed with Connor’s eyes following her, she brought their connected hands to her lips pressing multiple kisses to his hand, “I’m sorry.” Carter knew how much it hurts and sucks to get injury ecspecially in your Rookie year.

Connor squeezed her hand back, Carter gently brushed her hand through his hair.

“Do you want me to text your mom?” Carter knew how much she must be worrying right now, Connor blinked slowly and Carter knew that was a yes, she kept her hand intertwined with Connor but used her other hand to pull out her phone and quickly texted Melanie to let her know Connor is okay, injured but okay.

Carter was about to slip her phone back in her pocket when Connor squeezed her hand and gestured to her phone, she handed it to watching Connor pull up notes, “You look very pretty :)” Connor typed it out and turned the screen more to her, Carter let out a breathless chuckle, “Connor Bedard only you would find a way to compliment me while injured.” Carter pressed a soft kiss to his forehead.

Connor wasn’t supposed to be moving his jaw at all, so he couldn’t smile which was incredibly difficult in the presence of his best friend and girlfriend, “What! I love you it’s easy.” Connor typed back.

Carter just smiled shaking her head fondly at her boyfriend.

“Do you need me to come with you?” Carter soflty asked because hockey wasn’t even close of importance when it came to Connor, she would miss as many games as she’s needed to be there for him.

“No, you’re not missing any games. Don’t worry i’ll be fine and bedsides you know my mom she will be on the first flight to Chicago, I’ll be okay.” Connor typed into the notes.

Carter slowly let out a breath nodding as she read the text, “Okay fine, i won’t miss any games but if you need me all you have to do is ask okay.”

“I know baby, I love you.” Connor typed on her phone once more. Carter smiled soflty, “I love you too Connie.”

Connor handed the phone back to her, Carter slipped it into her pocket and rested her chin on Connor’s stomach just taking the short time they have to together to look at him.

They heard the buzzer go off for the end of the game a few minutes and knew it was time to say their goodbyes, Carter stood up leaning over resting her forehead very light against Connor’s.

“I’ll see you soon.” Carter whispered feeling her throat tighten with emotion always hating saying goodbye to Connor. Connor squeezed her hand three more times before reluctantly letting her hand go.

Carter pressed one more kiss to his forehead before standing up and walking to the door with Connor watching her leave.

Carter shut the door behind her not in the best mood, she looked up seeing a worrier Ellen and Quinn by the Devils medical, she felt her heart drop again, she walked over quickly, “Who got hurt?”

Quinn and Ellen quickly looked over at Carter, “Jack, something with his upper body they don’t know yet.” Quinn answered, Carter frowned.

Jack seemed upset when he came out of the medical room, “I’m not playing tomorrow.”

“Oh Jack.” Ellen frowned pulling him into a gently hug being cautious of the sling and his injury.

Jack had a permanent frown on his face, Carter grabbed his hand gently squeezing it, “I’m sorry.” Carter frowned knowing how much Jack loves being able to play against Quinn and her.

Jack nodded soflty squeezing her hand back.

Luke and Nico walked over to the Medical hall seeing the four standing outside.

Luke quickly into walked over pulling Carter into a hug holding her tightly, “Hi.” He breathed out a sigh holding his baby sister.

“Hi Lu.” Carter mumbled back not realizing how much she needed this hug, Luke pulled back and quickly hugged Quinn, Quinn and Luke hugged each other tightly.

“Hey Nico.” Carter soflty smiled at him. Nico smiled at her pulling her into a gently hug, “Hello Carter.”

“You ready to go bud?” Nico looked towards Jack who nodded, they all walked out together to the parking garage saying their goodbyes before Nico, Jack and Luke got into one car and Ellen, Carter and Quinn got in the other.

Ellen dropped them off at the hotel saying her good nights before driving off, Quinn and Carter walked through the hotel to their hotel room.

Quinn pulled his sister into a hug knowing they both could use on, “How was he?” Quinn asked not being able to before.

“They think he broke his jaw.” Carter simply answered upset for Connor and Jack.

“Shit.” Quinn cursed knowing that’s not good, “Try to get some sleep please and my doors always open you know this.” Quinn pressed a kiss to her head as she nodded at him and turned walking into the hotel room seeing Cole fast asleep in his bed.

Carter quietly grabbed her pajamas and toiletries and headed to the bathroom, she did her skin care and changed into Connor’s grey sweatpants and black lululemon long sleeve, she headed out of the bathroom. She plugged her charger into the wall and plugged her phone in and slid into bed.

January 6, 2023

Carter tosssed and turned most the night to worried to get any good sleep. She stopped trying after four in the morning and spent a few hours on her phone before Cole woke up and they had to get breakfast with the team.

She heard Cole waking up and grabbing his phone, she got out of bed and headed to the bathroom and did her morning skincare, she threw her messy hair into a bun and headed back into the room.

“Morning.” Cole nodded at Carter who nodded in reply not offending Cole as he knows Carter isn’t a morning person or a talker until she had coffee.

Cole headed into the bathroom and quickly got ready as Carter put on her ugg slippers and scrolled on her phone until Cole was ready.

Cole came out of the bathroom and the two walked out of the room to the breakfast area, they saw most of their team all spread out across the large room but saw Quinn, Elias and Brock at one table with open seats.

Cole and Carter walked through the buffet grabbing their foods, Carter just grabbed a bowl of oatmeal and put a bunch of fruit on the top but what she really wanted was coffee, she grab the biggest mug they had and filled it to the top with black coffee to tired to even care to want a flavor or sweetness in it.

Cole and Carter walked over to Quinn, Elias and Brock. Carter slid into the booth next to a Quinn and Cole sliding in next to her. Carter immediately started drinking her coffee quickly making Brock laugh fondly use to Carter needing coffee.

Quinn frowned looking at his sister being to easily tell she didn’t get a goodnight sleep seeing the hunch in her posture and the dark enough eye bags you wouldn’t be able to see if you didn’t know her.

“Couldn’t sleep?” Quinn whispered to his sister, Carter looked over to Quinn shaking her head softly, “Why don’t we go take a nap before we have to leave and get you a few hours go sleep?”

Quinn knew Carter has always had a extremely hard time falling asleep and staying asleep, most times she can only sleep is when she’s around people she very comfortably, Connor and Carter has started face-timing when she moved to Vancouver and she ended up sleeping great with him over facetime. Carter also figured out she sleep well with her dog next to her.

Carter softly nodded starting to eat her oatmeal.

Carter was silent throughout the breakfast and silently walked with Quinn away from their teammates and heading to her hotel room.

Quinn walked in slipping his shoes off and lying in her bed, “Come on.” Carter slipped off her slippers putting her phone on the nightstand and slid into the spot next to her brother, she rested her head against his side and Quinn gently rubbing her back, she could feel herself slowly falling asleep and her eyes falling shut.

Carter slowly woke up to Quinn waking her, she grumbled burying her head into the bed, “Cmon Cart, it’s been a good few hours we are leaving in less than an hour.” Quinn slid out of the bed once he knew she was awake and headed out of her hotel room to his.

Carter rubbed her eyes to wake up and yawned, She got out of bed grabbing her outfit for the game. She headed to the bathroom seeing Cole chilling in his suit already sitting on the bed.

Carter washed her face and brushed her teeth to wake herself up, before taking her hair out of the even messier bun fixing it so it can be down for before the game.

She put on a pair of black trousers, while long sleeve thermal and green v neck sweater with black pointed toe heeled boots, she slipped off most of her jewelry expect her two necklaces that she still plays with them on.

Carter sat on the bed pulling out phone responding to Connor for a good while till she had to leave.

Carter grabbed her wired headphones and walked out of the room with Cole, they walked down to the lobby where there was a small Cafe and they could see a lot of their teammates getting something warm to drink.

Carter and Cole walked over to the line and waited in the line, Carter order a hot vanilla oat latte, she quickly grabbed her drink sighing when she took a sip, they walked back into the lobby seeing almost all of the team waiting there to get onto the bus.

They all headed onto the bus, Carter slid into a row slipping on her headphones and playing her playlist while drinking in her coffee, she felt someone sit next to her and looked over seeing Demko who flashed a smile, she smiled back before turning her head back to the window.

The bus pulled into the Devils Arena, and the team all started getting out of the bus, Carter walked out of the bus and down the hallways to the locker room. She threw her coffee into the trash, shutting off her music and shutting her phone off and putting it her stall.

Carter warmed up before the game and before she knew she was on the ice.

The Canucks won 6-4 againt the Devils, Carter having a goal and an assist as well as getting in a fight against Brenden Smith on the ice, Carter may have gave him a bloody nose and knocked him to the ground, she was a angry about the hit on Connor even if it was a clean hit.

Carter and Quinn talked to all their family and friends that came for the game for a good while before they had to go back to the hotel.

Carter slipped into her hotel room quickly changing and slipping into bed and texting Connor before slowly falling asleep.

January 7, 2024

The Canucks players had a free day, no practice and no game so they were free to do whatever they wanted for the day.

Carter woke up earlier knowing her parents were coming to pick up Quinn and her for the day. She slipped out of bed and got ready in the bathroom, deciding to keep on Connor’s grey sweatpants and throw on a creme quarter zip, and slipped a pair of socks on and then put her slippers on, she threw her hair into a messy bun and headed out of the bathroom.

She grabbed her phone and headed out of the room quietly seeing Cole still fast asleep, she headed down to the breakfasts and grabbed oatmeal again and a big mug of coffee, she started eating when Quinn sat down in front of her with his food.

“Morning Cart.” Quinn smiled soflty at his sister.

“Morning.” Carter grumbled drinking her coffee, Quinn just chuckled at her.

Quinn and Carter got rid of their dishes and headed out to the hotel lobby seeing Jack’s car outside, they quickly walked to the car feeling the cold falling snow on them. Quinn opened the door letting Carter in first before getting in behind her shutting the car.

“Hello Loves.” Ellen turned around in her seat to smile at her kids, missing the days she saw them everyday.

“Hi mom.” Carter and Quinn spoke in unison.

“Hi dad.” Carter smiled at her dad in the drivers seat getting a smile through the mirror. The drive was mostly comfortable silence as they drove to Jack and Luke’s apartment.

The four got out of the car and headed up to the apartment, they walked into the apartment seeing Jack and Luke talking to each other at the couch, they both looked up seeing their family walk in.

Carter slipped off her slippers and walked to the couch sitting next to Luke and sliding under his blanket, Luke just laughed putting an arm around his sister. Quinn walked over sitting between Carter and Jack.

Ellen and Jim sat at the other end of the couch next to each other. They ended up all just catching up on each other’s lives.

Carter looked at her family all talking to each other and knew she needed to tell them, she grabbed Quinn’s hand, “I’m seeing someone.” Carter blurted out to her family, the room went silent as they all turned to Carter who was fidgeting with Quinn’s hand.

“How long has this been going on.” Ellen soflty smiled at her youngest having a feeling she was right yesterday.

“She’s been in love with him for over four years.” Quinn chuckled at his sister, not realizing how guilty Jack and Luke felt hearing that.

“Quinn!” Carter hissed with a blushing face just making Quinn laugh knowing he always enjoys teasing his sister.

“We started dating officially almost a month ago.” Carter responded to her mom’s question.

“Do we know him?” Jim questioned not sure how to feel that his little girl isn’t so little anymore.

“Uh Yeah, Um Connor, Connor Bedard we played together at Regina.” Carter smiled softly at the question, making her parents share a look seeing how in love she looks just by talking about him.

“How come you never told us about him before?” Jack questioned, feeling terrible his sister has a crush for years and he never knew, he’s not saying she should tell him, he’s her brother he should figure this stuff out, like he’s sure Quinn did.

“Ah, honestly i’ve talked about him as my friend, but um i was trying to figure my feelings all out.” Carter truthfully spoke not trying to keep anything from her family but her feelings and the relationship with Connor before they got together was complicated and was painful she didn’t really want to talk about it a lot.

“When can we meet him as your boyfriend.” Luke squeezed her shoulder, going to try to pay more attention to her life feeling guilty he never knew.

“I was planning this weekend but he had to get back to Chicago early.” Carter spoke fiddling with Quinn’s fiddling with his hand still as she is still nervous about Connor upcoming surgery tomorrow.

“OH MY GOD!” Jack shouted, “That’s who you went to visit during the summer!” Jack has been trying to figure out what friend she was visiting in Chicago.

“Yes.” Carter softly nodded.

“Please why do you think she went to Seattle a few weeks ago.” Quinn smirked honestly enjoying this.

“You went to Seattle!” Ellen was surprised having not know her daughter went on a little trip.

“Just for two nights when uh the blackhawks we’re playing there.” Carter just shrugged nonchalantly.

“Eww, you slept in the same bed as a boy!” Jack dramatically groaned making his family chuckle at him.

“Do you also want to know that we use to be roommates for road trips?” Cater smirked mischievously at her brother making Luke and Quinn snicker.

“EW!” Jack groaned in disgust, not even wanting her to sleep in the same room as a boy. The family just shook their heads at his dramatics.

“Does he treat you alright?” Ellen soflty questioned kinda sad that she wasn’t there to see her daughter experiencing her first crush.

“Yeah, he’s treats me perfectly.” Carter smiled nodding.

“Perfectly is an understatement, Con is head over heels for Cart, he sends her flowers multiple times a week.” Quinn smirked, Quinn also the one of the two people that knows everything of Carter and Connor’s relationship.

“Wait! those flowers were from him?” Luke questioned remembering the flowers Carter had a few weeks ago when they played against each other in Vancouver.

“Yeah.” Carter nodded with a blush across her cheeks.

“Well as long as you’re happy, we’re happy.” Ellen smiled at her daughter. Carter let out a sigh of relief and smiled, “Now do you have any pictures?” Ellen grinned at her daughter and Carter smiled happily and got off the couch walking over plopping down next to her mom pulling out her phone to show her mother a lot of pictures.

Jim looked over at his eldest, “Does he treat her right?” Jim needed to make sure seeing how happy she was talking about him.

Quinn nodded, fondly smiling as Connor had became someone Quinn thinks of a younger sibling over the years, “Oh definitely. Connor treats Carter perfectly there would be no better for her.” Quinn reassured his father and brother.

“Good.” Jack nodded looking serious.

“Connor is exactly what Carter needs, it took awhile but they finally got together.” Quinn fondly rolled his eyes remembering all the time they were so obviously in love but not together.

Carter showed her mother many of the photos her and Connor have taken together and Ellen could see how much the two love each other in the photos it was obvious.

Carter was relived to tell her family about her relationship and they all took to well.

They spent the rest of the day all catching up and having a dinner before letting Quinn and Carter go back to their hotel and Jack, Luke, Ellen and Jim will see them tomorrow as the four are going to the Canucks game againt the Islanders to watch Carter and Quinn play.

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neonfretra · 8 days ago

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i love everyone whos taking an interest to the sharks no matter what forces compelled yall <3 but also can i interest you in some of our guys that are older than 19 because i think the sharks truly excels at being the funniest collection of . guys, i guess

head coachs emotional support 2nd liner

last year (with david quinn) we had luke kunin as a second line center (hes a depth winger in teams that have more than five forwards and a dream). this year (with ryan warsofsky) we have jan rutta in second dpair . problem: they arent. good . theuy are CLOTH MOTHER!!!

we already have barclay goodrow at home

this is a quote from a tweet comparing kunin and goodrow but i CANT FIND IT...

i dont think we shoulda got barclay goodrow ill be real gang. i dont know what mike was doing here. anyways luke kunin is also our barclay goodrow at home (a bit of a goon, a bit of a leg weight) & we have barclay goodrow & warso loves sticking them together. & naturally theres some center with these two guys. (its currently will smith hockey)

the two old guys so to speak hook up

quoting this call from drew remenda regularly (~0:42 seconds in)

o captain my captain logan couture who has not touched ice since last season (but he played 6 beautiful games in our flop 23-24 season) && marc edouard vlasic (cousin of alex vlasic if you saw everyone getting pavlovian dog reactions every time they mentioned smaller pickle) who we last saw on ice last season...! theyre both out on injuries from the wear and tear of hockey and i honestly doubt we will see them again but i am incredibly fond of them.

heres some important things to know about marc edouard vlasic (pickles)! ^_^

divorced

yeah thats all i got for you

genuine question i have had for a while: how many of yall have never seen these guys on ice LOL

HOTEL CALIFORNIA!!!

oh my god we have SO many retired sharks that just. came back to work for the sharks. just off the top of my head:

mike grier (gm)

ryane clowe (assistant gm)

known landlords joe thornton (who is here for. vibes??? DOES HE GET PAID???) and patrick marleau (player dev coach)

tommy wingels (player dev coach)

mike ricci (player dev coach)

evgeni nabokov (goaltending dev coach) (not to be confused with goaltending dev coach thomas speer, known goalie whisperer)

mark smith (casting)

scott hannan (casting)

alex stalock (casting)

jason demers (casting)

david quinn has connections in the furry community (national hockey league) that could end your career in minutes

ex head coach dq (hes an assistant coach for the pens!) was really good at collecting guys from his prior teams, he used to be a coach for team usa in the olympics and for boston university . he knew gmmg (general manager mike grier) from bu! he also i know a guy'd his way to the pens!

funniest to me is henry thrun . dq WAMTED this guy . back in the college days ! see the thing is henry thrun we call him mr harvard. the one that got away NO LONGER...

swear to god theres another guy who dq ? i think ? loved SO much from his time with the rangers that he just kinda. snatched them with him to the sharks. BUT MY MEMORY IS BAD. I SWEAR IT HAPPENED. <- spent god knows how long paging through the shrimer

the san jose-new jersey highway

we keep collecting notable guys from new jersey... they arent even necessarily super notable IN jersey. mackenzie blackwood and vitek vanecek dont LOOK super good. i think both of them had insane injury records too?? and then we put them behind the sharks defense LMAOOOO

this post is written AFTER vitek vaneceks career record 49 save game BTW

ty equillibrium

did you know we traded away one ty (ty emberson) and also traded for one ty (ty dellandrea) . this is completely unrelated to anything .

the swedish mafia power struggle

we currently have five swedes: fabian zetterlnd, william eklund, alexander wennberg, carl grundstrom, and timothy liljegren ^_^

last season, it was a capital t thing that willyek was self appointing as head of the mafia with getting swedish meatballs at the rink (see previous link) and fabian zetterlund getting him coffee for his exit interview

alex wennberg as his senior IS challenging willyeks seating

riveting stuff. shout out to san jose shark media!

#san jose sharks #this ramble has been a nightmare for me and my ability to recall where i saw specific articles & the like #crackin this one outta the drafts ^_^

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3416 · 2 years ago

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1634 primer (2015-2023)

since my brain refuses to let me think about anything BUT the toronto maple leafs these days, i've decided to compile info/links/photos/videos of the dynamic on the team i personally find most compelling, charming, heartwarming, hilarious: mitch marner and auston matthews (aka 1634 aka the heart and soul of this current leafs team in my humble opinion). this will cover the beginning of their nhl careers to the end of the 22-23 season. for anything from 2023 summer onwards, here’s part 2.

i will be citing my sources, but if any info needs corrected or there are things i've missed, don't be afraid to hmu. i've only been around for a couple months so 🫡 😘 ✌️ this is going to be long-winded (almost 4k kinds of long-winded...) let's DO IT:

2015-2017 (rookie era)

in june 2015, mitch marner is drafted to his hometown team, going 1st round 4th overall in more beginnings of an effort to rebuild the leafs franchise. here are photos from that day. here's an athletic article about why they picked him that makes me cry.

in april 2016, auston matthews is drafted 1st overall and is basically deemed the savior of the toronto maple leafs from the jump. here are pics from that. (please look at the one below of auston putting on a 16 leaf jersey on draft day and tell me that wasn't fate of SOME sort... i know it's the year but. THE VIBES. the what's-to-come of it all) (here’s a sportsnet documentary on auston/his journey to the nhl).

they played against each other at the 2016 world juniors (dec 2015-jan 2016). here they are on the cover of world hockey news before they had even met... as boys to watch in the hockey world

according to mitch, the first time they actually met was when he said hi to auston in an elevator at world juniors. then mitch says the night auston was drafted, he was at a concert and everyone started an auston matthews chant that he was 100000% in on and excited about. and it was pretty early on in development days that they became instant friends. here's the vid @ ~4:21 and here's a gifset

during their very first day of training camp, auston broke a pane of glass off of a pass from mitch when they were just messing around (again.... fate). here's the vid and here's an article about it

here's them fighting each other for the puck at camp... there's something about it that makes me emotional... their tenacity as rookies...

one of the first ever hangouts recorded on social media... they went to a fair or smth august 2016 (gifs)

at first, they didn't play together very much. in fact, through a lot of the coach mike babcock era (2015-2019), they weren't linemates at all, as auston usually had willy on his right wing. (here's an article justifying that decision from babcock)

that didn't stop them from developing a lot of habits and routines together though. this whole half of a morning skate interview with mitch... "hopefully we're together for a long time and can build up some great chemistry" "that's a big part of what me and matts try to do when we drive together, just keeping it light and have fun with each other" (gifs... it kills me)

"Not only are Matthews and Mitch Marner clicking on their respective forward lines, they are having a good time in the car driving to and from practice and games."

they used to come into the the arena in the same ways on game days (watch any leafs blueprint ep from this time... they’re always getting off the bus together or walking into scotiabank together attached at the hip), went out of their way to greet the doormen and staff, sometimes showed up in matching outfits as evidenced here, here, here, and honestly.. so many more times. it’s about the coordination... the texting each other their fits.

the famous copycat hat moment (gifs).... their goofy responses and getting chirped on twitter about it by everyone and stamkos) (auston’s smile)

they started making sure they were coming out onto the ice together for warmups, always in line toward the back (still the same to this very day). here (x, x, x, x) are just a couple shots of that... they have a handshake they do on their way out (still to this day also), and i think this is the one of the first times it was recorded.

and on the rare occasion they DID get to play together... they were always the Most™ excited and cute about it. here's them talking about playing on the same line, here and here and here are some first moments of cellying that deserve to be looked at for 10000 years... just pure excitement and joy

here's mitch hopping right on into a ridiculous fight on auston's behalf. and here are their responses about it in the media afterward (cute, loyal, grateful).. and here’s auston pissed about an uncalled shove on mitch ... even though they’re not big fighters, they ARE big defenders of one another

2016 centennial classic where they were so cute (x x x x x)

there are lots of practice photos/vids and media of them around or mentioning each other obviously (like this hug at a scrimmage that kills me personally), but anther one of my favorite standout days was this practice when auston had mitch falling on the ground in laughter. gifs: "I think a lot of people don’t understand how big of a jokester he is at times. He’s always pretty serious, but that’s not his kind of personality at all" (pics)

so many bench shenanigans (literally too many to try to round up)

(what i assume is) a broadcast quote i can't seem to track down but so many ppl have used it for edits and gifs that i believe it: “They love him, clearly Auston Matthews loves him.” ... they're always saying the most ridiculous things about them as a pair

case in point.. they also said this: "Matthews and Marner together - their eyes light up […] They've been dying to play together." (basically confirmation vid here from auston.. his hopeful little smile, help)

one of the most iconic moments has to be the time the camera caught them singing 'livin' on a prayer' together on the bench and it became a whole thing in the media. here's the moment, their responses (gifs, gifs), and bon jovi's response too.

they used to play video games as a unit and basically annoy the shit out of everyone. thanks zach hyman for the confirmation: “They have this whole strategy, whenever we play. Auston sits in the back and snipes, and Mitch runs around and looks for you. They have this whole little strategy they put together. And then they laugh. They start dying laughing. They’re clowns.”

they have so many oddball social media interactions and a lot of them are probably lost to time but: here's a meme of mitch being part of both of their twitter profiles, here's some petulant mitch getting clowned on and compared to mickey mouse, here's more auston making fun of him for looking 12, “can’t be a boys week when your gfs are there...... but u look nice :)”, purp.... the joint ootd.. who was doing it like them?, “getty images”, “walking advertisement”

holding bozak’s baby together at the xmas party (gifs)

golfing, hanging out at the mall, shopping

despite their very complimentary talk of each other in media, they're also not afraid to razz each other. "he gets sensitive sometimes", "just kind of get him grinding", auston chirping mitch and the insurance ads he does, mitch making fun of his hair (pre balding era... wonder if that’s off limits now LOL)

here’s a vid of the 2016 leaf rookies at a christmas market... mitch and auston were very cute... mitch uploaded a story of them on the ferris wheel smiling their asses off too

auston recording him on his ig story here and here while they were filming this batting practice vid

here’s a goalie challenge video mitch and auston did with matt martin and barstool back in the day (”don’t take slapshots” “you took seven”)

here are some misc gifsets from this time period: x x x x x x

i'll end this section with a couple of my favorite and the most iconic game pictures from this era...

if you're curious about more stuff from the rookie days, i highly recommend checking out this initial 1634 primer from @/zoehickel, @/thiccbrock's soft bros tag, and @/mitchski's auston x mitch tag (pro tip: add "/chrono" at the end if you want to see everything chronologically).

2018-2020 (not-so-rookie era)

nothing extremely important or concrete separates this timeline but mitch and auston clearly started to grow into their roles on the team and were no longer just rookies (altho i compiled some very basic stats from wikipedia and both of them have just been crazy talented and at the top of team goals/assists/stats almost every year since they were drafted.. they’ve never really been ‘just rookies’ but )

from what i gather, early 2018 was one of the first sightings of mitch's drawings on his gloves... a habit that auston had also been into since his rookie year... mitch started doing this toward the tail end of the hardass babcock days as a reminder that hockey is supposed to be about having fun (here's a not-official-seeming article about their clashes w babcock) (here are some pics of the doodled gloves of that era)

here’s an article talking about how much mitch and auston loved playing together and tried to take advantage of it and prove to babcock they should be allowed more often (also includes goofy bts content of them sharing a fantasy football team)

babcock got fired bc of nasty coaching tactics (here’s a story on what he did to mitch as a rookie), and in came sheldon keefe, who is more mild-mannered and is willing to experiment with auston and mitch playing together so they got more time as linemates these years.

auston and mitch developed a warmup routine together before games where they stayed on the ice a bit longer than everyone else and passed the puck back and forth (here are some vids from this time period: x x x x x)

the team did a big nhl video game faceoff early 2018, and mitch was auston's #1 hype man about it: gasin him up, helping him warm up, sittin behind him making commentary, and acting like it was his own personal victory when auston won

instagram teasing for mitch’s 22nd bday... “babe !”

they participated in this ‘need for speed’ challenge video with natalie spooner and laura stacey to promote the canadian women’s hockey league... competitive dorks is all i have to say about that.

at the end of 2018, mitch and auston took part in a real production of the nutcracker as cannon dolls... and it is as absurd and amusing as it sounds. famous quotes from the event include: “he couldn’t let go of me”, “that’s what friends are for”, “mitch could just sit around and pout the whole time which he’s so used to doing”... here's the vid (gifs) (pics w ballerina) (more goofy pics) (ig story)

some cute practice pics

in 2019, apple had them film a commercial where auston just followed mitch around titled Mitch Marner Shot on iPhone by Auston Matthews... (gifs) (tumblr vid) (more gifs) just any excuse to talk about it forever... it's arguably one of the greatest things they've ever done... pov of dreams tbh. here's another snippet that didn’t make the cut of them laughing... here’s some gifs of ANOTHER snippet.. and here’s an article about auston with some quotes about how he and mitch are great friends and they were just going to “their” favorite places in toronto that day. (also THEIR favorite restaurant being sotto... the exact place mitch/steph go on very special dates apparently according to this pandemic leaf to leaf... food for thought)

another thing about auston and mitch... they WILL be forming unbreakable bonds with people on the team like it's a group activity, and the most formative for them was probably patrick marleau, who basically became their dad for the 2017-2019 seasons. they would always hang out on the road together, watch movies and go to dinner, etc etc. one time mitch n patty when on vaca without auston... ymca in the car with patty and his sons... “he’s obviously old but he acts even younger than me and mitch”... mitch and auston singing happy birthday to him... here’s a christmas party pic of them that kills me... that here's a video where they talk about their relationship... here's another long interview they did together during lockdown... here is an emotional gifset about the three of them, and below are pictures of the family unit (and one rather... interesting... see: the 3rd pic) (here are pics from 2023 when the marleaus came to a leafs game)

morgan rielly on mitch and auston: “[they] are like best friends. they’re different personalities... when you watch the dynamic with the two of them, whether it’s on the road or on a practice day, it’s pretty funny. it changes every year. it’s a unique dynamic for sure.” and him on mitch/auston/patty also

here’s mitch and auston honoring patty with an appearance from the truly wild jumbo

another case of the trio vibes would be freddie andersen, who was on the team 2016-2021. he was basically besties with auston and they spent lockdown together later, but during the 2020 all star game, all three of them attended and freddie, dedicated his goalie helmet to his best friendship w them. "you look cute?" "yeah, i look cute." ..... also here’s some pre-game high five rituals with the three

more all star content: failed attempted at a heart, the blueprint ep (gifs)

the style/clothes content continues... auston was featured in gq mag and here's mitch's giggly reaction to it. "he's a big style guy and i respect it" (gifs)

auston attended a marner assist foundation event in 2018 to support mitch's charity work (some sm pics from here and here)... also went to the marner assist invitational and got dragged for his tape job (here’s a selfie w them)

here’s some intense cellys from this era: like hello? .. SWEET PEAS... this bench moment....... whatever this was

“Marner and Matthews entered the NHL together in 2016-17 and remain good friends and road roommates now. Marner sounded genuinely enthused about his buddy’s new contract, and sent him a text once word broke Tuesday joking that they’re going to have to figure out where to be neighbours once they enter a higher tax bracket next season.” fellas.... is it gay to plan your future in the suburbs of toronto together

here they are dancing at naz kadri’s wedding ... hand check

which teammate does auston matthews like to watch the most? the answer won’t surprise you!

mitch was planning to stream and play nhl with this random streamer during lockdown and auston literally asked to join and hang... “matts, i’ll talk to you.. in like an hour probably” aka mitch is a constant texter/talker (ALSO here is a twitter thread recounting to the experience since the streams gone forever... rip 2020-2021 mitch the streamer)

here are some of my favorite pictures from this time period:

2021-present (superstar era)

they're both alternate captains, very clearly leaders of this team, and basically recognized as superstars in the league too with continued individual success. they're the last ones out on the ice at warmup still, the first ones to cheer for their teammates milestones, the last ones to give the goalies big hugs after wins. they still don’t always play together 100% of the time, but they individually enhance the players around them and have played career high years when they’re at each other’s sides.

confirmation of their warmup rituals and the fact that it's something they've been doing together, to feel good about themselves, since the very beginning ........ the same as back then .... here’s very recent vid

still doing their little handshake too, with the added bonus of a behind-the-back one too sometimes (mitch does the handshake line for the whole team by this point)

"it really seems like we're not cellying really by ourselves. we're constantly going in to hug each other. i think that just shows the amount of joy and happiness we have going for each other right now."

mitch basically assisted on a large percentage of auston's goals these past few record breaking years that they've been allowed to play together. here's a video after the 21-22 season where mitch talks about how thankful and generous auston has been.

here is a tumblr compilation about their chemistry after they've gotten to play significant stretches as linemates (literally part of the most offensively dangerous line in the 21-22 regular season).

“have you ever had this kind of chemistry with another teammate before in your life?” “no, not really”

they're so silly... so much goofy inconsequential content is out there but: mitch fighting the post that hurt matthews at practice.

here’s mitch checking on auston after he took a puck in the knee at practice

forgotten 2021 christmas vid i can’t track down but. matching mugs and whipped cream mustaches. also just look at them in THIS...

the fashion saga continues.. where here they anecdotally have the same spikey high top/low top shoes (they also have lots of random matching sneakers but i’m not knowledgeable enough to compile those)

this media day fashion trend video... where do you even start with this. “you better put some earrings in here for auston” like auston is the center of his fashion conscience. “i won’t wear one of those.. i don’t think... maybe.. we’ll see” you know DAMn well if auston recommended--- “matts has got those- he’s got a big frame”

they both wear chains with their numbers on them (recent fit pics of auston here and mitch here), and though they’re not exactly matching but the coordination, the knowing they talk about fashion and accessories... them having these chains dates back to 2018 btw

their mutual social media hype for each other's accomplishments never gets old: mitch breaking game point streak in 2022... random overtime winner in 2022... auston hitting 50 goals in 21-22 season... "@austonmatthews what an achievement. proud to be a part of this journey with you"... "congrats to my brother @austonmatthews on his historic night"... “couldn’t have done it without my boys”.... they were so extra just bc of a pic of them hugging... like sure ! ... “my fucking guy is a beast” YOUR guy?? .... mitch basically campaigning for individual awards for auston every time he scored a goal ... “well deserved my dog” “lets go baby” when he finally won them... “new range got that dawg in it”

“[auston’s] always very thankful. he’s done a couple really big thank yous for me already and given me a couple things that i’m just gonna keep between us two... he’s a great guy and obviously deserves what he got.”

in the same way they grow attached to people as a pair, michael bunting joined the team and auston and mitch's top line in 2021 and a best friendship blossomed between the trio.

they went to auston's home in arizona over the 2022 summer to "build chemistry", play golf, play tennis, and just generally hang out

they also potentially celebrated auston’s birthday there because here’s a photo of them at auston’s house with his fav chef and here’s auston with his bday cake in the same outfit ...... best friends

went to a jays game together right at the beginning of the season, this image..... a video of them chatting :’)

here is bunting talking about what it's like to get to know them

iconic bench moment between the three of them... another cutesy one

the 2022 heritage classic costumes/entry together like usual, plus the new trio, plus practice pic

their 2022-2023 gloves where they are still drawing cute little doodles of hearts and dog initials and smileys to remind themselves to have fun

"i think the sky's the limit for [mitch]. i think he's just unbelievable. i love playing with him. i think after he came back, he was probably the best player in the world for the rest of the year. he's incredible to be out there with and watch."

commentators weighing in on their joint legacy and saying “they’re magic out there together. they are what they are because of each other”

here are some more quotes about their impact on the franchise and the way their names are basically cemented in history... the modern day odd couple, they say

for auston’s birthday in sep 2022, mitch commissioned a drawing of auston and his dog felix as a gift

speaking of their dogs..... this goofy insta story

auston feeding mitch a golf club at a charity event? or are they using it as a mic... who can dissect their weird antics

the blueprint episode about mitch has some cute bg stuff of them (gifs), as well as one of my fave little head bonks here

some cellys/bench moments these years too bc they don’t stop: big squeeze... he just lauched himself... i just love them... arms wide open... mitch is a cartoon character... what in the hell is THIS... iconic moment ... 22-23 season cellys so far.... this riveting convo

“all of this doesn‘t really happen without him.” okay another unverifiable quote but like. look at those images and tell me it’s not something he’d say... you can‘t

auston asked about mitch trade rumors: "Mitch is an unbelievable player, he's an unbelievable teammate. In this room, everybody loves Mitch; everybody loves everybody. We really have a tight bond. All the noise coming from the outside, you guys have fun with that."

i’m getting derailed here bc half of these moments are not that significant but i fucking love these pics of yappy auston... like of course he’s talkin to mitch

plenty of ribbing is still going on.... or at least attempts: “those are loud flip flops”... though we have transitioned into blatant confirmation that auston can and will be bossed around by mitch when he says stuff like “mitch will assault me if i don’t pick him [to bring with me to a desert island], but i’d like to have him there too”

team bonding at a lake house but you only tag mitch? that vs the history of mitch complaining about not being included...

the importance of the content we received on the 2021 media day cannot be overstated. here’s 5 questions with auston and mitch, yearbook superlatives, career day (images: x x x), and then 2022′s who’s more likely? (all must-sees, i promise... even confirm themselves as the best bromance... if i spent too long on any single revelations this post would be 500k words more)

also the 2021 leafs call out video and the 2022 leafs call out video absolutely showcase how annoyingly endearing they are about each other... whether they’re trying to harp on one another or give genuine compliments... amazing that a dynamic can be captured so clearly when they’re not even in the room at the same time

“mitchelly marner, i’m grateful for my guy” (gifs) (the new nickname... the incessant use of my guy... mental breakdown inducing)

in november 2022, mitch tied a franchise point streak record (with a very valiant effort from the whole team to get him an empty net goal in the final 2 minutes, i might add) and auston was the first one to scoop him up in celebration and then (where he’s normally :| in media these days) was very :D and proud about it and him afterwards. “i’m so happy he got it” (mitch went on to set the new record at 23 games)

and as for extremely recent, both auston and mitch hit their 500 career points mark within a week of each other (1/3/23 and 1/7/23). here are screencaps, gifs of mitch getting to hit 500 with auston on the ice.. then auston collected the puck and pretending to throw it over the glass and prompting the broadcasters to say: “they’ve celebrated so many milestones together”

here are some teammates and coaches talking about their chemistry together and the fact that they push each other to be better players and enjoy it (tumblr vid)

there’s them being hype about the fact that they were SUPPOSED to go the 2023 all star game together on instagram (auston didn’t end up going bc of injury)

here’s a 2023 athletic article about how different they are in personality but how clear their leadership and friendship is (the athletic... tumblr)

mike johnson went on a podcast pre 22-23 playoffs and said “they like playing here, they like playing with each other, they care about each other, they want to have sex– success together” .... the freudian slip

toward the end of the 22-23 season, mitch was nearing 100 points (never made it) BUT they kept showing this graphic about how mitch has assisted on 99 of auston’s career 299 goals up to that game (ALL DESPITE THEM NOT PLAYING REGULARLY TOGETHER TIL A COUPLE YRS IN)

mitch being asked if he prefers to drive his own line or play with auston... he says it’s always fun and special to play with auston bc of their chemistry and the way they're not afraid to “give it to each other” about where they need to improve. “that’s the kind of friendship and teammate you want. that’s something we’ve built a bond over” (vid) (gifs)

mitch marner got married on july 29th 2023, and auston came back to canada (after skipping OTHER weddings like his “favorite teammate” alex kerfoot and ex teammate tyson barrie) to be in attendance :’) here’s a video of him watching mitch n steph dance there way into the reception, here’s a picture nazem kadri generously posted, here’s a pic of him with mitch and willy, here’s gifs of mitch and auston singing shirtless at the reception, and most 👀 of them all... here’s a pic of auston watching mitch and steph’s first dance. ..

here are some of my favorite more current pics of them

i also gif or post pretty much every 1634 moment from current leafs content/games, so you can check out my hockeyedit tag for some goofy bench or ice shenanigans that didn't make the cut. or my 1634 tag in general.

TL;DR

mitch marner and auston matthews were basically drafted to the maple leafs to be two of the faces of the franchise, and they share a similar burden in that with the leafs lack of playoff success thus far being leaders on the team. they’ve accomplished so many records at an individual level in tandem because of their talents and their chemistry on the ice, and they play their best and happiest hockey when they’re allowed to play together. despite different backgrounds and personalities, they’ve developed an extremely charming relationship off the ice, one built from years and years of intense mutual support, playful teasing, and a shared vision for the team. they seem to be so much more outwardly excited for each other’s successes; it becomes so easy to root for them...... regardless of what the future holds for the current maple leafs team, the two of them have done enough to have their names in the hockey history books, and we are all so lucky that there’s much more ahead of them and that we get to WATCH.

if a single person made it this far, i love you, lol. i personally will never be getting over them and am always looking for more content or unseen stuff so lmk if i missed something crucial. edit (6/18/23): if you’re looking for more pictures of them, i have removed watermarks of 95% of their images together on getty and organized them by tags on this blog @1634archive if you’d like to peruse!

hopefully some people get some sort of joy out of this like i have in compiling it all!! cheers to much much more 1634 in the future too. ❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️

last updated: 9/12/23

#toronto maple leafs #leafs #1634 #mitch marner #auston matthews #hockeycomp #iidk what to call this KLFJSDKL #1634 PRIMER #AnYWAY.. SInCE THE LEAFS LOST ABYSMALLY ... LETS GO #Eplease SOMEOn EnJOY THIS. i beg.#also im officially using this to summon a 583416 return #hockey

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hugheses · 10 months ago

Text

literally years ago i started transcribing this and then never got around to finishing it but finally did with some help from oomf. pls tell me if you notice any errors!

below the cut:

5-3-21

AJ: We are so excited to have Ellen Hughes hop on the bus with us today. So Ellen, welcome. And to give a little background, you grew up in Dallas, which, a long time ago before the Stars, there were not- it was not a hockey hotbed, as maybe it is now. Played a lot of sports. You ended up playing soccer, hockey and lacrosse, three sports at UNH, made it to the NCAA semifinal game in Lacrosse in 1987, inducted into the UNH Athletic Hall of Fame in 2012. You ultimately pursued a graduate degree at UNH, and while you did that, assistant coached for both the soccer and hockey teams. Ultimately, you made Team USA for the 1992 World Championship, where with Cammi you won a silver, named to the tournament All-Star Team. Two years later, at the Worlds in ‘94, you served as an ambassador to Norway's national team, went on into broadcasting. You were in the booth for when Cam and I won gold in 1998 with CBS and then a sideline reporter for the 1999 World Cup of soccer. Your husband, Jim, is a former hockey player and coach, has worked for the Maple Leafs organization. And of course, you are the uber matriarch, hockey mom of North America because you have three superstar sons. You've got Quinn, drafted number seven overall, plays D for Vancouver. You've got Jack, who is number one overall with the New Jersey Devils and of course, Luke, eligible for the draft this year. So welcome, Ellen. We can't wait to catch up with you.

Ellen: Thanks so much for having me. And thanks for the nice intro. I know, AJ, you see Jack here and there with the Islanders, could you remind him of some of those things, that I actually had a life? And Cammi, I know you've been nice enough to have Quinn over for dinner, not this year because of COVID, but maybe you could give him that whole intro again that, I did something other than just being their mother.

Cammi: Well, you know, it's funny. There is probably, I don't know what it was, maybe four or five months ago, you had sent me a video that you guys found, which we have to post on our social media channel here. But it was you as this little cute, blond, tiny little voice hockey player being interviewed in Texas, of all places, for hockey. Right? A woman, a female playing hockey, let alone kids playing hockey in Texas is so rare. Right? And I remember Quinn texting me and being like, said something about your skating, how bad it was. And I was like, little do all your kids know is that their talent comes from their mom. I've nothing—taking away nothing from Jimmy, because Jimmy was a great athlete himself. But you and Quinn play almost identical. And I'm going to keep reminding him of that.

Ellen: I love it. I love it. I usually get like just one word, dust[?] with things like that.

Cammi: Yeah, well, thank you for being here.

AJ: Yeah, yeah. But I want to start back with the fact that you grew up in a nontraditional hockey market. I know. According to USA Hockey, we’re not supposed to say that anymore because there are all—they don't really consider that anymore. There are so many with the Coyotes and the Stars and the two teams in Florida and Southern California. But when you grew up in Dallas, hockey was not a mainstream sport. I can imagine you had to have been playing on the boys team. Can you tell us what it was like growing up in Dallas then?

Ellen: Well, it's so funny because you see, you know, it's so exciting to see where the women's game has gone. And, you know, you forget how old you are and you kind of forget like, wow, that was pretty unusual what I was doing back then. And, you know, I'm even older than Cammi, so Cammi's older than you, AJ. Sorry to age you there, Cammi. But you forget that what we were doing in those times as young girls and how… you know, unusual it was, because we were fortunate enough to have parents that encouraged us and led us and pushed us and created those opportunities to play with the boys. And it's amazing to think that we did that and it seemed so normal to me. And my dad's been gone a long time, like he used to coach us. But I think about the fact that as a young girl in Dallas, Texas, a nontraditional market, to have a father that said, “Oh, you want to play hockey? Okay, you can play with the boys and you can go do those things.” And just how lucky I was to have a father that created those opportunities and supported those opportunities. And so it's pretty great. But we used to play down at the fairground. So, so people that know Dallas know that, you know, there's a fairgrounds downtown and the Cotton Bowl is played there every year. And there used to be a CHL team. So the old CHL. And so for us, it was very normal. I have an older brother that played and then went off to prep school and played at Deerfield Academy and then played Division three college hockey at Bowden. He could have played Division one, very academically oriented, and that's what he chose to do. So you want to do everything that your brother did. So when we were really little, we moved from St Louis to Dallas, and when I was in St Louis, all I wanted to do was play hockey. But in the state of Missouri, and I may have this factually not correct, but this is what my parents told me, that the girls weren’t allowed to play on boys’ teams in the state of Missouri. So when I knew I was moving, it was on my eighth birthday and my dad said, Well, it'd be great because you can play on- you can play hockey when you move to Dallas. So that's when I was so excited about the move. Like I could go play on a boys team because there was no girls’ teams to play on. And so there's only one team, if you're good enough, you play on the best team. And we would travel to St Louis, we would travel to Kansas City, we would travel to Colorado a couple of times a year and we would go play the best teams that we could possibly play. I just didn't understand at that point that was the world that I was living in, that that was unusual or different. So every once in a while I look back on it and think how fortunate I was to have parents that really not only supported it but encouraged it and let me really sow my own oats.

Cammi: When you were in St Louis, you saw the game of hockey around you. You wanted to play, you couldn't play. Did you play off ice then to be ready for when you moved and were like able to play or did you just start fresh when you moved to Texas?

Ellen: You know, I don't even remember. I was eight, so I don’t- I don't- it I must have been- I must have learned how to skate, but I wasn't playing. I don't really remember playing, like I remember running around the rinks with your brothers. I mean, you know how that is. You play mini sticks at the rinks, y’know. But I always wanted to play. I wanted to play everything. So, you know, I was just… and then off I went and I just started playing and I loved it. And I was fortunate because, you know, Cammi, you never went to Bob Johnson’s hockey school in Colorado, did you, in Aspen?

Cammi: No.

Ellen: I know, because I know you have a close relations with that whole Wisconsin crew. But every summer we spent the month of August in Aspen, and I would do the Bob Johnson Hockey School. So I actually think I did that like, at seven, before I ever moved, and they would always let me play. So it was Bob, it was Grant Standbrook, it was Jeff Sauer, all these people that, y’know, were so supportive of the women's game, Art Berglund who just passed away. And so I would spend my summers there playing and being groomed by the players that played with Tony at Wisconsin. It would have been their generation of players that were the camp counselors and that was right around the ‘84 men's Olympics. And a lot of those guys went on to play in that. So I think culturally that was exciting for me and that's where my passion grew.

Cammi: And you played soccer as a young girl as well.

Ellen: Yes. So soccer: really competitive. You know, we won youth nationals. And I was, I mean, it's crazy to think that I'm going to be 53 years old. And when I was being recruited to play women's soccer, there were 31 Division one schools across the country offering scholarships. And so Wisconsin was one of them. And I really wanted to go there because of my allegiance with that. But they had no women's hockey. So when we— [...]

Cammi: That's where I- me, too. I wanted to go as well. We would have been teammates instead of rivals.

Ellen: Right, at least for one year. I think you were a freshman my senior year. Is that right?

Cammi: Either junior or senior. Yeah. Yeah.

Ellen: [Laughs] So anyway, so the soccer side of things, you know, if you were an elite player, you wanted to go to UNC. My very best friend on the team growing up on my youth hockey, my youth soccer team was Carla Werden, you know her as Carla Overbeck, who became the captain of the team in the first World Cup team. Mia Hamm, I played with on my state team, so we were really good in those days. Brandi Chastain was my roommate at my first youth national team camp for soccer. So that was my, you know, generation of players. And I wasn't recruited by UNC, but I was recruited by some of the other top schools and I had this like, crossroads, where am I going to go to a school like UNH, where there are startup women's soccer programs, but yet I can play two sports. And they were offering me a full scholarship. And the crazy thing is there was no school in the state of Texas that was playing Division one Women's soccer. Think about that. Not a one. I mean, there was 31. I think there's 360 some odd schools, Division one programs at this rate for women's soccer. So that's how the landscape changed and that's how the lack of landscape really drove my next move.

Cammi: So you chose UNH. You played soccer and hockey, but then you also added lacrosse.

Ellen: Yeah. And the interesting thing about hockey is here I am, this girl coming out of Dallas and nobody knew about me. And as you know, Providence at the time, so all the Ivy Leagues were playing hockey and then we didn't have a lot of programs back then that were playing. So it was all the Ivy- it was the ECAC. So it was what, maybe 15 teams playing? How many, 22?

Cammi: Yeah, roughly 22.

Ellen: And so there weren't a lot of options. So there were so many girls playing that wanted to get on those teams. So I remember reaching out to Russ McCurdy who was the coach and saying, “You know, I'm being looked at by UNH for women's soccer, but I'm only coming there because I want to play women's hockey,” and he was like, “Oh, you know, you're probably not going to make the team. You know, we're a fully funded program.” I mean, you know how that goes, right? Right, right. Why would you take a girl out of Dallas you knew nothing about, playing in these, he asked if I was playing women's hockey at that time. And so I had- you know, I wasn't guaranteed a spot, but I'd watched them play, and my mom and dad watched them play. And I really, in my heart of hearts thought I'd be able to play. And they were a fully funded program and my scholarship was coming from soccer. And so, I decided that I wanted to do it. And he said, and I remember having Bob Johnson at the time call on my behalf. He called, he was at Wisconsin still, and he called and said, you know, she can play, she’s been with me every summer, and I really think you should give her a shot. So he said, okay. So the deal was, I was going to play soccer. Well all the women start with hockey, probably—when did we start, in the fall, like in mid-September. And they had the whole training camp, while I was still playing soccer until Thanksgiving. And so I said, when you get done with soccer, just come see me and I'll give you a week to try out, to get up to speed. So he really had no thought of me or like, there was no, like, ‘she's not making this team.’ So we finished soccer and then I went over to hockey and I remember after my first day he said, “What size states do you wear?” So that was like, that, that made me happy. Like that was it. I was on the team, so it was pretty good.

And then our women's soccer coach, Marge Anderson, was one of the most decorated women's lacrosse players in those days. She had played at UMass for soccer and hockey, and she was on the World Cup team for lacrosse. So she would take a couple of athletes a year because in those days you needed female athletes to play more than one sport, to really round out your depth of your programs. So she had encouraged me to come out and play lacrosse. I knew nothing about it. So our first year they had just won the national championship the year before, believe it or not. Did you guys know UNH won the National Women's Lacrosse championship? Different landscape in those days. So they had won the national championship. None of the Southern schools were playing. Nobody across the country was playing. It was a real Northeast-driven collegiate world. And so I walked onto this field and, um, let's just say… I wasn't very good. I could run, but my stick skills- and I learned and I did everything, and it was great, and we went to the Final Four, but I was out at that point. So everybody always says I played three sports like, I was on the team. I was, you know, three sports at that level. I was done at that point and I stuck with soccer and hockey after my first year. But it was a really cool experience.

AJ: Well, a kudos, too, by the way, to go back to something you just said, that McCurdy asked what size state you are. Kudos to UNH for giving you guys skates back in the 80s. I didn't get skates in college until my senior year, which was the fall of 1998. That was the first time I got skates bought for me. So that's, that's pretty good on UNH, I give the Wildcats props.

Cammi: Well, Ellen, you know what? So, Russ, I actually- I was. I was the same, a kid coming from Illinois. So, such a similar story where nobody wanted to talk to me really, until someone saw me play when I went out to the East Coast, I just played with a girls’ team for one game and I got seen by Providence. Other than that, I called Russ. Same thing. No interest, but I got to say, Russ, and I know what he meant to you, when I look at all the coaches that I've been coached with, he coached us at the — at the ‘92 World Championships where you were named best defenseman of that tournament. He taught me a lot, not about, not just about hockey, but just like how to organize yourself off life, how to make your bed every day. Like, there's things that stuck with me from Russ from that one or two, I think, seasons we had him. He was a special guy, you know. You know, I just— he never gets any recognition. He's very unknown. But did you remember that about him? Do you have that same sort of view of him that I do?

Ellen: Totally. And I'm still really tight with him and Sheila. And, you know, when you think about it, for what he did as a male player, you know, in that generation, he was a heck of a hockey player. And then, I don't know what he did, but he left the game and did something, you know, I'm not really sure what he did and came back to the game, but for his stature to come back and coach the women and do what he did, and he coached tennis as well, and he cared so much. He was so passionate about the game, and teaching the game, and teaching away from the game. And he cared so much about the people, you as a person. And I always laugh because, you know, Quinn had Donnie, you know, your brother, at the NTDP. And he reminds me a lot of Donnie. I don't know if you feel that way, but-

Cammi: I totally feel that way because as you say, first of all, from a mental standpoint, they're both like, they help you so much with the side, the mental side, and also the skill based stuff that Russ taught us. He goes beyond the game and I feel, yeah, it's really interesting that you say that because I can see that as well.

Ellen: And it's just the, you know, some people have their skills and then some people like, have different skill sets. And I feel that the best of the best try to cover all the different skill sets and really get to know the different human being and try to push the buttons. And it doesn't work for everybody. Not everybody would feel that way, but he was an amazing man and still is an amazing man. And I also think it's funny because one thing that, you know, I don't know how you are with the kids, but this sticks with me. And I don't know if you remember this, Cammi, but the interesting thing is, I've seen my boys be taught that same lesson from coaches at a younger level, and I can particularly say the NTDP level is: get up every day and make your bed. You've accomplished one thing. Do you remember that from him? And then it was either Donnie-

Cammi: No! Always.

Ellen: Or Wroblewski that I remember had Quinn and Brady, like, make your bed every day. And then I saw with, with Jack and Luke. Like, “we got to make our bed every day because that's orderly” and like, little things like that.

Cammi: Well, I got to say, Ellen, that stuck with me for— still to this day, I think of Russ when I make my bed. I'm not kidding. And I tell the kids the same, like if you just… and it resonated with me. So like, I don't know, it stayed with me. It resonated with me when he said it. And then his… just his stuff about practicing skill. And we hadn't really done that so much, as an, I guess where we were at Providence. Like we would just go practice, but like, he was working on skill-based stuff. He’s a very smart man. So I'm happy to hear that you're still in touch with him and you felt the same way. But I love that we're both making our bed because of Russ McCurdy. You taught your kids that.

AJ: I obviously didn't have Russ, I obviously didn't have Russ McCurdy, you can see behind me in my hotel room here. So I do not make my bed every day. And I know the value of it, but yeah, no, never had a coach who told me that.

Cammi: He was pretty special.

Ellen: Then. AJ, I was thinking about when you said about getting skates. I don't know how you guys were, but how would your shot be today? Like when I was playing, like, of course I couldn't shoot the puck because we would take the old men's sticks that were wooden and they would cut them down for us. Like, how would I have any flex on the stick?

AJ: Right? Right. So stiff. And it's like, it's crazy when you think about that, and the technology. And even when I did get a pair of skates, when I came back after the Olympics and played at Harvard, they were so much lighter. They were just… the material and everything, and then you look at the sticks and it's crazy. I mean, I never played with the one piece that they have now, that was just coming out when I was at the tail end of my career. But I remember I tried them, but the puck was all bouncy and I didn't like them. But you think about how quick the release and all the kick point on those sticks, that technology's insane.

Ellen: Right? You also think about how great the women are and where they're at. Like we didn't go in the weight room. We did not go in the weight room. The weight room was not for women's sports.

AJ: Our coach actually, my first year at Harvard before Katie Stone took over, he actually thought weightlifting was unbecoming for women. He didn't, he didn't book us. He wouldn't let us go in weight room. It was a, it was sort of an off limits thing. So he was a lovely man. But it was… not appropriate.

Cammi: Well, our Providence College coach, John Marchetti, who I love, I have always loved him as a coach. We had to beg him to just get us to get in shape. He thought women, that was just the way it was at the time. He was old fashioned and women would skate from the blue line in, so we would have half ice practices. And I was like, “We're out of shape. Like we got to skate!” “You guys don't need to skate full ice.” And it was literally all great intentions. Wonderful man. But that's what he felt. And I mean, think about that. Like I tried- it blows people away to think that that was the way it was. But that's how we were viewed as women. We can't exert ourselves the same way as men. And we were begging him to.

Ellen: Okay, now I know why we won, then. Why we beat you? Because we skated. [unintelligible]

Cammi: You didn't. You didn't beat me. Did you beat me when I was there?

Ellen: I don't know.

Cammi: We won. We won. I think we went the last year. You remember freshman year. I think you beat us in the finals. I think we[...]

Ellen: I think we met four years. Was just super cool, but I only — I was there five years. Much shorter. One year. But we went three years.

Cammi: Okay? We went three years. So we must have crossed over. And you beat us once? Yeah, you beat us. Let's get into the hockey mom stuff because I think a lot of moms are interested in the landscape of sport. Our kids that are passionate about anything. And it typically it's like, well, we know the sports world, but I mean, nowadays it's, it's everything. Like, whether it's music or some sort of non-sport, a passion that someone has. We're always trying to get our kids to pursue excellence. And AJ and I have talked a lot on this podcast, how sometimes things are flipped a little backwards and we're a little bit out of skew right now with the way we push our kids and just how fast they're put through the system. And you had three boys that you raised with Jimmy, who are now… two are NHL superstars. One's on his way. How, what was it like in your house? How did it start with the kids? What were you like as a mom and Jimmy as far as like, having, cultivating that for them?

Ellen: You know, it all seems like a blur. You know how that is, right? You're in the middle of it, both of you with young kids. So you're just day to day. I mean, you're day to day, right?

Cammi: Survival.

Ellen: Right? It's survival mode. So for me, you do things that you enjoy or you- you teach them things that you feel like you can teach them, Right. So it's kind of a slight on me that I wasn't more worldly and wanting to take them to museums. Or maybe like I felt like I had do those things because like, ‘Oh my God, what am I teaching them?’ But you tend to do the things that you - you're trying to find activities. Jimmy was off coaching a lot, I had three young boys that were really close in age. So what do I know? What can I do to pass time and keep them active? It was kicking a soccer ball. It was throwing a ball, it was doing rollerblading, it was passing the puck, it was taking them skating. So for me, those were mommy and me activities, right? And then every once in a while I'd be like, you know, I'd be like, ‘uh, we got to do Kumon, we gotta do like - we gotta read.’

You know, academics was really important to me because I felt like I was so driven the other way that like, I didn’t want to miss out on the other. So for us, it was never this grandiose plan, and I'm sure you guys were the same way. It was more like, ‘be the best at whatever it is you're doing, work your hardest at whatever it is you're doing.’ Working the hardest didn't mean scoring the most goals. It was playing the right way, whatever it is, being a great teammate and working really, really hard and we always felt like the other would come.

AJ: Do you feel like with your boys having you as a mom, Jim as a dad, did they feel pressure to perform on the rink?

Ellen: I don't think so, because we never put pressure on them. We would put pressure on them to work hard and play the right way. I mean, there were days I can remember with Quinn when we moved to Toronto, we were like “Ah, he’s doing pretty good, he’s a pretty good little hockey player. This is good.” Like, hmm. And we were coming from New Hampshire and Jimmy taking the job up in Toronto and we got there and I remember Jimmy going somewhere and he's like, “He is not even in the top 300 players in the city.” Do you know what I mean? Like he was, this thing was not—

Cammi: Was that what age? What age is that?

Ellen: He probably would have been… I'm trying to think when we moved. So Luke was born six, seven, eight, maybe? He was in first grade. What grade are you in first grade?

Cammi: Yeah, about seven or seven. Seven.

Ellen: And we thought he was doing great, but we never cared. What we would just say to him, like, and he was on a good little team and we would get beat by Ryan McLeod, who just played with Edmonton in and, and, Strome was on that team, Matty Strome, the youngest of the Stromes. And those two were like, I mean, I mean, they would score five, six, seven goals and I would be in awe how good they were at a little age - at a young age. So what we would do is we would just put them up against the best in the spring and in clinics and have them chase, try to be the best you can be. It was never like, “why aren't you that good” or “why are you scoring” or - and, you know, Jack was a little bit different. He came in and he was playing up a year with the older kids, you know. And Luke, we didn't even think about, like, third child, he's probably benefited the best because we were just trying to get the other two other places and we didn't even know how he played or what happened. And, and I think that was the other thing with them. You know, Jim was so busy working that we didn't watch ‘em practice. We didn't, you know, I might drop one at a the game and try to get to the other one to the game, to get to the other one to the game. So they had to self evaluate at a young age and really decide how they played. You know, you guys are probably the same way with your busy schedules.

AJ: Yeah, it's interesting. I look at it like I'm at the Nationals right now with my daughter Jamie, and talking to some of the parents last night and they were asking me like, what did you think of the game? And we were talking about it. But they don't watch far more than I do because I travel. So, you know, they're asking me, knowing that I have a hockey background. But it's to your point, I love coming to watch my kids play, but I really feel like I can just watch them and enjoy. I'm not coaching this year and it's a really- it is fascinating because I do feel like my kids have sort of they'll tell me how they played and, you know, usually they're tougher on themselves. I mean, I think most kids or most athletes are probably tougher on themselves anyway. But when- like as a hockey parent, I'm surrounded by people and you see all the studies about the low percentage of players that will make it from youth hockey to even D-1, let alone the NHL. You have three kids, three boys, two that are gone first round. Luke obviously is on his way to the NHL. So at what point did you think they were going to make it? Like, was there a time like you're talking about when Quinn was seven and you guys were just trying to have them compete? But was there a moment where you were like, wow, our - our kids are legit?

Ellen: You know, there was a point where I said, All right, this is good. Like, they're going to get to Division one college hockey. Like, I was pretty pumped. And at the end of the day, there's a point where you say you can only provide so much information and now they have to have their inner drive. Now that's gotta kick in. And I think for each one of them, that was when they got to the program. So for junior hockey, I guess, would be the equivalent. And I think it's the every day focusing on getting better, doing I mean, living it, eating it, not liking it, loving it. Y’know? And there's kids who get better from 18 to 20. There's, you know, you got to keep getting better. Doesn’t matter if you're the best at 16 or 15. So I saw my kids take different paths, you know, and just staying to have fun and having fun. Having fun is everything, as you know. You know, I mean, it's got to be fun. I mean, Cammi, you have two sons who are elite little soccer players, but if they're not having fun, that changes their drive for wanting to get better.

Cammi: Fully and if it's not cultivated as well, I mean, you have to have the right people above you and leading you and coaching you to believe in just playing and not just playing for- to be this best. There's a lot of pressure on kids these days and I think about your boys and knowing your boys and, and getting to know Quinn better since he's been out here as a person. Your kids are such great people. They're so well-balanced. They're such they get it. Like when they met Reese and Riley, my sons, they get it. They look kids in the eye. They joke around. They look adults in the eye. I mean, there's- they're just great kids. The other thing I noticed about them and and before I let you comment is when they play, when things are not going their way, they go straight ahead, like there's no pouting, there's no emotion. I mean, of course, we get emotional about the game, but as far as like, you know, what you taught them, like, where did that come from, that confidence and that humility and then that just that drive inside to just keep going?

Ellen: Well, you are awfully kind. And, you know, it's like, up and down. You know how parenting is right. And, you know, for me, it's the competitiveness. You both were uber competitive, Olympians, got to the highest level, accomplished so much, gold medals. So you know, that competitiveness. So you instill that in your children. You don't realize that you're doing it, but it just organically happens. Right? I'm sure. And AJ I see some of the fun things that you do, but I'm sure it's competitive at dinner, whether it's, you know, Boggle that you're playing or - I aged myself. But you know what I mean? Or Jenga that you're playing or if it’s a race, or- everything is a game at my house! Like, Luke and Quinn this summer. We had a lot of time together and they're creating a game out of nothing in the pool. We're like - Jack and I are looking at each other like, ‘What are those two doing?’ Like, it's games and there's a winner and there's a loser. So for me, I think it's more about they really care about winning. They really want to win. And in everything’s a team sport and they wanna - They take it personally. They want to be the best that they can be to help their team win. You know, whether it's giving something up and feeling bad about that and wanting to get it back. And that's probably the same mindset both of you had as Olympians. Is that fair to say?

AJ: Yeah. I mean, I think that that is, you know, the ultimate drive to compete is something that I'm not sure can be cultivated. Right. I mean, I think you but what what is so impressive about your boys is that the balance that Cammi’s talking about. Right. That confidence and that drive to compete coupled with the humility and on seeing them being interviewed, seeing the way they carry themselves at a very young age, that that's what I think is, you know, you and Jim should be very, very proud of. But I do think that that drive to win and it's not win at all costs, but it's win whether it's the right way or as a part of the team. I think that that is something that can be very unique. And obviously they come from two very competitive elite athlete parents. So they were, they were given that at a young age. I was just reminded while you were- we were talking about Quinn, last year in the playoffs, do you remember getting a text from me Ellen, when I talked about in on the broadcast, I talked about Quinn, he was so relaxed playing the power play that it was like he was playing shinny hockey. S H I N N Y and I got blown up on Twitter that people thought I said he played S H I T T Y hockey. That I was like, ‘oh my God, the Hughes family hears me on NBC telling like’ and it was a compliment. I mean, it was like the utmost like, this is amazing how great he is that, you know, as a young player in the NHL playing with this sort of poise but also like freedom, he just plays with his freedom. And I'm sitting there thinking and my producer was like, “You can't use that term. That's such a hockey term.” Like, who doesn't know shinny hockey? But anyway, that was just so.

Ellen: So I laughed at that when I got your text and I think I wrote back like, “it's okay if you ever want to say he's saying the other - the S H hockey too.”

AJ: I would never say that.

Ellen: You know the game, you're allowed to say that and we would be just okay with it. We would probably agree with you.

Cammi: So when you're watching Ellen, when you get to watch your kids and I know I've texted you before, I'm like, I wonder if she's still up. But of course, you're watching the games when you're on the East Coast and you're watching them and watching the West Coast games, probably late at night. Right, with Quinn. And... can you relax? Like, are you feeling like now? Like you can relax? Is it still, like, feel intense? Like, what's the feeling that you get as a mom? You know, I know Luke’s on his way, but like, do you get to see you get to enjoy it all? Do you get to sit back and enjoy it?

Ellen: Let me ask you this. When you watch Riley play and it's a big game and [unintelligible], how do you feel?

Cammi: So do you feel like at every game - do you feel like that every game?

Ellen: Well, your logic tells you it should change.

Cammi: Yeah.

Ellen: But I think it's just your competitiveness. But I can tell you this. Now my oldest two are at a level where I don't get involved in the hockey anymore, I just really try to be a support system. They don't need to hear from me when they get to the next level. You don't know how many people are badgering them or bothering them or sending texts[?]. And you know, they got here because this point, they got here and they're driving their own business. They don't need to hear from me. Now, do they… Do they lean on Jimmy with hockey? Do I know a lot about hockey? But I just need to be a different support system for them. You know, I need to be an outlet for them and someone that's not going to talk about hockey unless it's something specific. Does that make sense? Like when I talked to Quinn today, it wasn’t about last night's game. It was about other things, you know, he's got enough of last-

Cammi: That makes sense.

Ellen: And he's got this - he doesn't need to hear from his mother, that that ship has sailed. Does that make sense? And I don't mean that in a negative st-

Cammi: Totally, because.

Ellen: It's just that's not what they need and, and that's not what I want to be that - be there for them. That type of support system.

AJ: I don't know how you got away without having one of them play goalie. I'm just going to leave it out there.

Ellen: Well, Luke. [...] Luke in net. and I was telling this to someone the other day, I mean, I got funny stories, like when you say, oh, you guys were great parents. I'm like, Oh, really? Like the time I showed up for this massive tournament with Jack and Jimmy's taken everybody's skates sharpened and I got everybody’s skate sharpened and he was off somewhere. I was going to meet him at the university. I'll tell you one story. So this is just typical. So their cousin was playing for B.C. and we wanted to go to a college game because we want to expose these kids that were growing up in Toronto to what college hockey was, so that that could be an option. So we took ‘em to see B.C. versus Michigan, their big cousin. We're driving down and Jack had this massive tournament, which we thought was massive as a you know, you always think these youth tournaments are massive and have grandiose importance, sorry, because you are at nationals and that is important with your daughter AJ. So Jimmy had said, I think Quinn was going to play in Michigan. And I said, okay, I'll bring the boys down I’ll get the skates sharpened and then Jack and I will leave after the game. We won't tell his coach that, like, we're getting into a hotel in London at one in the morning to drive around- around the lake to get to Buffalo for his 9 a.m. game. So I'm driving to Michigan first so he can see his cousins. And then whereas all the other parents are in Buffalo for that 9 a.m. game spending the night getting a good sleep right. Well I let him come watch his brother play. I left two hockey bags with Jim, of Luke's bag and Quinn's bag and I, Jack and I left after the game. We got into London at like one in the morning. We went to sleep. We got back up at six and off he goes for his game. When we get to Buffalo, I'm like, ‘This is great. I did it.’ And they're playing. I think they're playing Shattuck St Mary's and Oliver Wahlstrom is on the other team just to give you a few names. Right. So because he's an Islander, right AJ?

AJ: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Had a goal last night.

Ellen: And it was a non parent coach. So you don't talk to these coaches. I don't think I had a conversation with them and they're young they’re- I don’t know Jack was an underager so he's playing up a year. And so the coach calls me. He's like, “ Umm... We've got a problem. Can you come back to the locker room?” So I go back to the locker room and he goes, “Ummm Luke skates are in Jack's bag.” You know what that means? Where are Jack’s skates? In Luke’s bag or God knows where, right? So I'm like, agh and they're like, “Where are Luke’s skates?” And like, I think he - I left his bag in Toronto. So at this point. So I look at Jack, I'm like, “What you want to do?” and he goes, “Find [buy?] me some skates.” and I'm like, “Okay, what size are your skates?” So I go around, I find the Chicago mission, and if he was in CCM some guy had a Bauer of a size four and a half or five or six or whatever he was in, and they're like, You can borrow these skates, but our game is offset from yours so you can only play until we need the skates back.

Cammi: Oh my God.

Ellen: Right?

AJ: I'm like, my stomach's dropping listening to this. I know.

Ellen: So he’s in these random skates and sorry to go off on a tangent here, but you saying you were great, You know, we do the same things that everybody else does. So it wasn't a completely tightly run ship. So. But maybe that's the adaptability. So Jack goes out and he plays two great periods, and all of a sudden I see this guy walk around and you see them take Jack's skates off. And this is a tight game and it's a big tournament. And he sits on the end of the bench with no skates for the third period. So here you are. We both have - we all have husbands. So Jimmy’s like, “How was the game?” I'm like, “He played great for two periods and let's just leave it at that.” He's like, I was. [unintelligible] But so anyway.

AJ: Yeah, I think that's building resilience. I think you're right. There is something to be in moment. It's- that's the worst feeling possible. But in retrospect, it's a great story, right? And it's one period of hockey that-

Ellen: [unintelligible] five like that running down the coach whenever Jack's hockey bag and his helmet was sideways like, I hope you guys have stories like that.

Cammi: Oh, man. You know what is funny is, those- that's just part of sport and part of the life where you have that happen. But I do as a kid, remembering, feeling like there was nothing more important. And I remember my brother Tony had just got his license. He was driving me over to a friend's house that was going to take me to an away game. It was about 45 minutes away. He went through a stop sign with just skated through a stop sign, hit the front of another car. I'm in the front seat. No seatbelt at that time. Right. And the first thing he goes, “You okay?” and the first thing I said is, “I'm not going to miss my game, am I?” And sure enough, we had to drive home. Somehow we got home. My mom is pregnant with my younger brother Joey, eight months pregnant, and I somehow cried my way into making my mom get in our trans van massive truck with Tony in the passenger seat, driving through snow to get me to the game, which I got there in the third period. But it was to me it was like, I know that feeling like it's- you cannot miss, you cannot. And I see with my kids too. So yeah, those are the best. Some of those are the best memories actually, right?

Ellen: I'll give you one.

AJ: We spent about five and a half hours driving down here to Philadelphia. My daughter, I think, checked nine times to make sure her stuff was in the bag because I had to. She was at school and I had to get it. She does not trust me at all. I'm like, okay, yeah, you just make sure you got two- a right and a left skate in there.

Ellen: I'll give you one last story. To just - to say, like, like here I am, a hockey mom, thinking I’m going to teach my kids to skate. So when Jimmy was coaching in Boston with Robbie Ftorek, I didn't have Luke yet, so Jack... Quinn must've been three. So I wanted to have some one-on-one time. You know, with your first child, you feel like you have your second child and you just need some one-on-one time. So there was free kindergarten skating at the Reading arena. And so we were living in.. in uh.. oh my god I can’t even remember - right around the corner from there. So anyway, so every Tuesday I would take Quinn to skate and that's how he learned to skate. Like it wasn't like I was teaching him strides, I was teaching him to skate. I was getting him on skates. So I was really proud of this kid. He’d gotten off his crates that he was pushing and blah, blah, blah, blah. And at that point Robbie's parents were still alive. Steve and Ruth and they were amazing. And we would go to the games and, and so they didn't live far from there. So they wanted to come watch little Quinn that they see at the Bruins games skate. And I was so proud that I’d taught this kid to skate y’know, he was standing up on his own, he was pushing, the whole bit. So Steve comes out who had taught Robbie how to skate and Robbie was a great skater and I'm like this particular day, Quinn is terrible. He must have been three. Like he just looked like he had two left feet. I’m like, “he's not skating like, I swear, like he could skate, like, something's not right.” And Steve goes, “Ellen, I think his skates are on the wrong feet.” And they were! Do you know how little skates are? Yeah. How would you know? Like [unintelligible]. So we laugh about that story. So, Quinn doesn't know. He can't communicate to tell me that his skates are on the wrong feet. We sit him down, like literally in the doorway. We switch his feet and off this kid goes. And he's pushing and like a little three year old and he's doing great. So that's one of my many [unintelligible] stories.

AJ: But just to make you feel better, I did that to my son Sam, when he was however old, probably five. We went skiing. It was ski boots on the wrong feet. He kept telling us his feet hurt. And we basically were like, You're fine. It's just ski boots they hurt. And the end of the day I was like, Oh yeah, no, they really hurt. That's actually a legitimate point. So been there!

Cammi: Before we wrap up here and get to our rapid fire, I just wanted to ask you about the couple of times where I've seen the boys play tog- Well they played together on the World Junior team and it was in Vancouver. Jack and Quinn played together. What was that like and what was it like when they played their first NHL game toge- against each other for the Jersey Devils and for the Vancouver Canucks? Can you take us through those two times and what it felt like?

Ellen: Yeah, that's great. I mean, the- we had the fortune of them playing together at the World Junior Showcase up in Kamloops the summer before, leading up, kind of the tryouts. So I think that was my first experience. It was great. It was great. Really competitive. They played together. They were on the same PP that was a ton of fun. They were on the ice together a lot. Then the World Juniors that- in Vancouver, that was great too. But Jack was injured, so he was kind of in and out of the lineup, but it was just really great for them to be able to, as- they're so tight, they're best of friends, all three of them. So I think it was more letting them have that experience together and you know, you're disappointed for them in the way that the outcome was because they were so close to winning a gold medal. But it was super cool. It was a lot of fun. And then when they played against each other it was super special, I think for our family, just because it was the first time we got to share something like that with our whole family, we had a huge crew there. The Devils were nice enough, they were amazing. They had a box there and we were able to have all Jim's extended family there from the Northeast, which is a huge group of people. And Jack happened to score his first goal that night. So that was a relief and great and exciting. And then the next time they played together Cammi we went with you. You had the boys and Ray, and that was a great game, too, right? That was a lot of fun. I think the biggest thing is I like it better when they're not on the ice at the same time, especially with one being a D and one being a forward. I prefer, and it's hard to watch them. I don't know who you guys are, but AJ, your daughter right now at Nationals, is a stay at home defenseman so you watch all the D and you have a good feeling. It's really hard to watch two positions let alone two teams play.

AJ: I agree with that when I think about what you're, what you went through, with that and it's not even allegiance of which team you want to win. It's more what they're doing individually and you can't focus. I think that must have been so cool. Was there added pressure on the boys? Did you notice any nerves that night playing against each other?

Ellen: No, but I don't know what kind of side bets there were. Like. I'm going to need [unintelligible] Haha I could have used a girl so I could get a little more information, a daughter y’know they’re a little more forthcoming. I think it was exciting. They were both very young. I mean, it's crazy to think they entered their rookie year together. I think as they, y’know, hopefully have a really long, sustained career. That's your greatest hope for all of these players that play in the professional sports is to be able to stay healthy and have a long, sustained careers. So I think as they age and- it'll be more and more fun to watch it evolve.

AJ: Now we're talking about Quinn and Jack. Is there. Do you think that there's added pressure on Luke right now because of the successes that his brothers have had?

Ellen: You know, it's funny because I always worried about that with Luke, like, you know, as a parent, you know, I want them to all be successful in their own right. I want them all to have their own passion. I want them to care about school and do well in school and so, you know, you're always like, which one needs what someone will, you know, whatever it is you want to try to support them. And so Luke was really small for a while and he was playing against kids that had already hit puberty. And- and you know, I know you dealt with that Cammi with Riley and then he took off and he blew them like his whole game was a new you know, as soon as that- the playing field was evened. And that's a hard thing to try to nurture them through, you know, like, “just keep going” and “it's okay,” and “you’re gonna have your man strength,” and “you’re gonna have more separation speed because of that,” so Luke was really young and I mean, it took him a while before he grew. And so I wondered in my heart, like, is there pressure on him? Does he feel bad about himself? Like, I didn't know, you know what I mean? So then he made the program, which he just kind of started to take off.

Never in a million years did I think he was going to be 6’2” like you could’ve- I would never. I mean, he was who would have thought he was going to tower over his brothers? He was so late. So we used to talk to him about it, you know, and I used to try to ask, but it's hard to get information. But he drove his own bus and he had his own inner desires and his own inner strengths. And it never seemed to faze him or bother him, which, you know, was- we tried to communicate about it like you guys would as parents.

Cammi: It's so wonderful. I just love your whole family. I love everything you guys have instilled in your boys. I love watching them. We're such you know, we've grown so much closer. We get to see each other more often. And I just yeah, I commend you and totally appreciate all the insight that you've given us today. We've kept you a long time on, but we have our not so rapid, rapid fire, if you don't mind answering some rapid fire questions you can answer ‘em slow or fast. It's up to you. AJ and I seem to go the slow way sometimes with our long questions. But let's put you in the hot seat.

AJ: So, yeah, this means you're coming to the front of the bus. So I don't know if that in the bus or trips that you went on that meant you were in trouble. But I'll say that just.

Ellen: Time out before you go. Where were you guys on the bus?

Cammi: I was in the back on the right, about maybe three seats from the bathroom, two or three seats from the bathroom, and AJ was up front.

AJ: I was more like middle, but on the other side. So it was like.

Cammi: You were like two rows ahead. Yeah. Yeah, where were you?

Ellen: Cammi. I think I was right where you were.

Cammi: Yeah. Okay

AJ: Not quite far enough back for, like, all the crazy card games and everything like that, right? That was always our bus. There was a lot of shenanigans in the way back of the bus. Actually maybe our rapid fire should be called Go to the back of the bus. That might be a little I don't know, might be a little different. All right. So here we go. Let's start. What is your favorite youth hockey, or any sports since you played a lot of sports, memory?

Ellen: Probably winning the national championship with the Dallas Sting in soccer, which still today is one of the premier club teams in the country.

AJ: Oh, that's a good one. How old were you?

Ellen: I was probably 15. And then one other thing is we went to China when I was 15. That was a pretty cool experience. Before women's soccer had a national team and they were playing, they were having their first international tournament. And since we had won the club championship they sent us, which is amazing to think they sent a bunch of women to China to play in an international tournament. You know.

AJ: That’s very cool.

Cammi: How’d you guys do?

Ellen: We won it.

Cammi: You're kidding.

Ellen: There's actually someone that's trying to, I just get the emails, that’s trying to make a movie about it, because it's pretty unheard of.

Cammi: It's amazing.

AJ: That is amazing. So we didn't really get into this. The one thing we were carrying our time up for is that you had the good fortune of having all of your boys home during COVID. Maybe a silver lining to what was going on in the world. Everybody got to be back under one roof. But when everyone's home, what's your go to family dinner?

Ellen: Oh, our go to family dinners, steak. They are all about steak. So steak and pesto pasta with a spinach salad is the go to. They would eat steak every night.

AJ: Oh, that sounds good.

Ellen: Cammi, Quinn’s cooking [?]. Believe it or not, [unintelligible]. When they're allowed to go places next year in Vancouver over you and Ray should-

Cammi: I can keep him honest for that?. Yeah, I know I will definitely. If I know that now. What is he cooking in these?

Ellen: Cooking steak and lots of he cooks some, tuna ahi tuna and lots of peppers and veggies and that's a good thing about COVID. Is that most of these young kids have learned to cook, which is amazing.

AJ: That is amazing. That's actually that is another- that's a good silver lining. I know. Speaking of your three boys, Quinn, Jack and Luke, which one was most mischievous as a kid.

Ellen: And I mean, you know how it is, it's a three month cycle like, just like one needs your attention more than the other when they were little. But um… Quinn and Jack together? This is not rapid fire, but I can remember when they were really level and I don't know. And I've already taken up too much of your time. But I remember Jimmy had taken off to Toronto and, oh no, then he must have been littler than this and Jimmy and I, Luke was just born, maybe six months old, and we heard this rustling. You know, you have that in the baby room, on the other room. And I don't know if this has happened to either one of you. And I'm like, it was like six in the morning. You're trying to get sleep, and I heard something. I mean, “Jimmy, what is that?” You know, So we listen to the voice and they had this grandiose idea that they were going to throw the baby out of the crib, Jack was inside the crib, picking up Luke to hand him off to Luke- to Quinn, who wasn't big enough, it was going tobe a drop outside the crib. So let's just leave with that. Right?

Cammi: How old were they? How old were they when that happened?

Ellen: Luke was under one because he couldn't get out, right? I mean, it was not a great plan. Then. Thankfully, we rescued them.

Cammi: So if you would have had that nanny cams that are the baby cams, that would have been brilliant to have that on video.

Ellen: Right.

AJ: Good. Some Hughes boy mischief. I like it. Now, of the three, who is the most competitive?

Ellen: Probably, I don't, I can't.

Cammi: Can’t choose, you’re a mom.

AJ: Yeah no I actually we were just talking about the drive to win and everything. I understand that. But it's all three, I guess. Now we you, you mentioned being nervous still, when you watch your boys play, what can you remember being the most nervous you've ever been as a sports parent?

Ellen: Mmm that's a tough one. Probably for me, it's not about the kids. It was more about the team. So, you know, having your kids go through the NTDP you want them to win these big tournaments. So you’re nervous for the group because you want so well, they're representing their country so the World Championships, the World Juniors, I mean, Cammie, you've sat with me and seen me between periods at the World Juniors, so that might be a fair one you can attest to, like, you're like, Really? You probably walk away from meeting with the boys between periods and me. Like, she's a little wacky over there. I don't know.

Cammi: Oh, they love you.

Ellen: You're stressed. Not for your kids. You're stressed for the team in your country. And you want so well, you want them to win! Their competitive side and they're tight. And you’re just on the edge of your seat. More like a fan, I would say, than a mother. So much too. Is that fair to say?

AJ: Yeah. Did you ever coach any of them?

Ellen: Yeah,

AJ: I think they're so close in age. You. Oh, you did?

Ellen: Yeah. So I coached them in soccer. I coached them in lacrosse, but they played box lacrosse. I didn't coach them in hockey. They would do a lot of spring hockey. What I would do is get on the I would just buy outdoor ice like and I would run the skates. But when I say I would run the skates is, I would get out of the way. I would turn the nets. Three on three, three on three, three on three, no direction, just let them. And then it was more, you know, just playing, like the environment, the competitors setting up the competitive- competitive mini games. So that type of stuff as extras.

AJ: The last question we have for you is what advice would you have to hockey parents out there or what kind of motto did you guys, would you say you followed?

Ellen: You know, who gave us really good advice, especially as they got older were Keith and Chantal Tkachuk. They were amazing role models for us. Quinn was fortunate enough to live with them and, and Keith always. They always said it, just be a great teammate, be a great human being, great- be a great person and work hard, be one of the hardest working. Get out there and have fun. You know, I know it's easy to say, but there's so many great things you can do in this life. There's so many greater things you can do in this life. You know, you find your passion, find lots of passions and be you and follow your heart in whatever it is that your [passion is like, live it, eat it, drink it and be it. I mean, I think those are the same advice that both of you as past Olympians give your own children.

Cammi: That's wonderful.

AJ: That is, that's awesome. And you are so awesome. I love hearing the sort of inside scoop from the first family of hockey, the Hughes family, and everybody's favorite hockey mom, Ellen Hughes. But at the same time, I love also taking that little walk down memory lane to make sure everybody remembers what a stud you are.

Ellen: Well, I so appreciate it. And I'm having so much fun listening to you two on your podcast. It's amazing what you're doing. I think you're amazing human beings. You both know how I feel about you and my admiration for what you've done for the women's game and what you're still doing in the game of hockey is so cool and you're both trailblazers. And I love this podcast and I love the guests that you have on. I take myself out of that like I don't fit in the realm of guests.

AJ: Yes, yes you do.

Ellen: I'm just saying that in the heart of hearts, I love the guests you've had on, and keep rocking it. You two are amazing and I'm lucky to have you as friends. And AJ, I laugh. I think about watching you at the Olympics and Cammi and I already had a relationship because we played together. And then I think about you today. And it's incredible.

AJ: And you are. I do remember you paved the way for us, but I do. I'm glad. I think you're buttering us up just in case I say, I will say anything negative about your sons on the ice, which so far I haven't had to because they're such superstars. But, you know, don't hold it against me if I do.

Ellen: You know, And then and hopefully things will get back to normal and we'll be traveling and I'll see you guys one day.

Cammi: Well, Ellen, thank you so much for being here. We were so happy you joined us and we'll have to have you on again at some point. And when the whole quarantine is over, well, I'll be looking forward to when you come to watch Quinn in Vancouver here.

#thank you to leo without whom this would just be sitting unfinished in my google drive for eternity #ellen weinberg-hughes #jack hughes #quinn hughes #luke hughes #transcript

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seeminglyranch87 · 11 months ago

Text

Taylor & Travis Timeline

December 2023 - part 2

December 10 - Chiefs v Buffalo Bills, Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City.

Travis Kelce arriving ahead of game

Taylor flies into Kansas City to attend the Chiefs game with her cousins, Travis' cousins & friends at Arrowhead Stadium

Travis made a brilliant play contributing to a touch down but was denied due to a team mates penalty.

During the game, NFL announcer and former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo referred to her as "Travis' wife" while on the air with announcing partner Jim Nantz.

"As you see, Kelce's wife, Taylor Swift, in the audience," Romo pointed out, quickly correcting himself and saying, "I'm sorry -- girlfriend."

"Not yet," Nantz said in response.

Chiefs were defeated 17 - 20.

Taylor and Travis leave the stadium together

Taylor and Travis together with team mates, coaches friends and family gather at Miracle Pop Up Bar

Travis' barber shares a photo of Taylor and Travis (x)

Lots of photos emerge from the party with Taylor and travis taking photos with friends - these have been cropped...

December 11 - Taylor is nominated for a Golden Globe for The Eras tour movie.

USA Today reports that Taylor has donated $1 million to a Tennessee tornado relief Fund (x) after a Tornado ravaged the state on Saturday 9 Dec.

ET article (x)

According to Cheterah Jackson, a Columbus, Ohio-based real estate agent and friend of Travis', the couple rented a luxury bus to transport their group and reserved the Christmas bar in downtown Kansas City for friends and family.

Jackson tells ET, "My boyfriend Calvin Locke... is Travis' friend and has known him since the 7th grade. We were in the suite at the game, which was filled with family and friends."

"Taylor is an absolute sweetheart. She is very down-to-earth and kind."

"Taylor and Travis are so in love. It was so cute seeing them together and I can see them getting married"

December 12 - Taylor returns to NYC. Pictured with Miles & Keleigh Teller

December 13 - New Heights Ep. 68 airs (x 5:05)

Jason and Travis limit talking about Taylor although when the brothers chat about the No.1 & No.2 sales of NFL jerseys in the UK, they give credit to Swifties for helping with the success of topping the sales and Travis gives a "shout out to Kylie and Taylor." Travis suggests that perhaps they could "find our way over there this off season and say hello to everyone in person" and record a live show in the UK. Jason replies "we also got an opportunity to do one in Australia - we could make it a world tour"

Any one know of an international pop star who may be touring in the UK and Australia in 2024 that coincides with the NFL off season? Are the Kelce brothers hinting that Travis and perhaps Jason will join Taylor on tour next year? It should be noted that Patrick Mahomes has also raised the idea of possibly catching the Era's Tour in Europe in the off season too...

The boys answer "No Dumb Questions" from handle "metal-as-hell", a reference to Taylor's TIME article calling Travis "metal as hell" when he publicly declared his interest in dating Taylor.

Taylor Swift's 34th Birthday - Taylor heads to Banzarbar, NYC with friends to celebrate her birthday into the early hours of the morning - Happy Birthday Taylor! The paps even broke out into song to sing Taylor "Happy Birthday". Note Travis remained in KC with commitments to the Chiefs. This was expected.

December 14 - Taylor and friends share photos from the birthday celebration the evening before (x)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Taylor Swift (@taylorswift)

instagram

December 15 - Taylor is named Billboard's No.1 Greatest Pop Star (x)

It didn’t seem possible that anyone could have a year this dominant: not this deep into the streaming era, not this long after the oft-proclaimed death of the monoculture, not when the entire industry seems to be in crisis over how to capture and hold onto listener attention. It was a year not to be judged against Swift’s 2023 peers, but against the entirety of modern pop history.

There is no wasted potential with Taylor Swift, no what ifs – the chance was there for her to have one of the greatest years any pop star has ever had, and you know that she grabbed it. Taylor was here. No one who was around for her 2023 will ever forget it.

With reference to Taylor's relationship with Travis, Billboard's Andrew Unterberger says:

... rumors were beginning to swirl about her and Kelce. The Chiefs star had become increasingly coy in his comments about the pop icon, saying he’d invited her to come see him play a home game (after he’d seen her Eras show in Kansas City that July). She did indeed do just that on the September 24th, with her presence at Arrowhead sending both the worlds of sports and pop culture into a frenzy, and leading to numerous posts and videos of non-football-conversant Swifties sharing the sport’s rules with one another, so they could better understand what was happening in between the shots of their hero in a private box with Kelce’s mom Donna. From then on, every Sunday (and a couple Mondays and Thursdays) of 2023 was overtaken with Taylor talk: Would she be showing up at the Chiefs’ next game? What other celebrities would she be attending with? What kind of Kelce swag would she be wearing, and what would that mean about their relationship? What do you mean Kansas City is on a bye week?While Swift’s short relationship with Healy was extremely controversial to Swifties and her long relationship with Alwyn was largely uninteresting to everyone else, her love story with Kelce – a well-liked, unproblematic figure, a Super Bowl-winning superstar as an athlete with enough of a Q rating as a celebrity to host SNL �� was universally accessible, and found near-100% public approval. You didn’t need deep grounding in Swift Lore to understand the relationship, because it just felt right: the All-American athlete dating the All-American pop star.

Go to part 1 of December 2023

Go to part 3 of December 2023

Return to the timeline

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tetsukuroos · 9 months ago

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k.t | Take A Chance

Part 3. The Elusive Past of Coach Nekoma

It had been a week since I moved my essentials from the dorms at Aoba Johsai to my dad’s house. Tooru and I shared a hearty goodbye before I left where he treated me to a meal that cut short after we had been bombarded by a crowd of fans that spotted the ‘familiar’ back of his head. He promised to try and visit, and that was all he could do. Which was enough for me. I didn’t tell Iwaizumi that I was leaving. When I finally felt settled in, I redecorated my old room, tidied it up and renewed my closet that had been filled with clothes that I abandoned a year ago. Most of them no longer fit me. Mainly the jerseys. There was a certain weight on my chest when I held them up, their colours and design almost unrecognisable unless completely unfolded. For some reason, those hurt the most to throw out. I felt my hand cramp when I tossed them to the side, pushing them deeper into the pile of clothes that would soon find their new home in the trash.

The organisation had come to a stop when the clock ticking in the corner of my room became a little too loud. Distant shuffles came nearer, followed by a cough.

“You should have been at the school by now, Izumi,” my dad said, tapping his wrist as if he had a watch on it. I smiled thinly and nodded, grabbing my bag and phone before leaving with a quiet ‘see you soon, dad’.

Their practices usually started after school. That’s what dad said. Some came late, some came early, some came on time. My feet were already moving by the time I hopped off the bus, beginning a light sprint towards the school’s gym. To my surprise, I was greeted by an eerie silence. No balls, no slaps, no laughs. Entering the gym on my own was a whole nother feeling. Chills ran through my body and my heart skipped a beat as a handful of breaths were stolen from my lungs. For a moment, I couldn’t breathe, I could only move. I walked as if the floor wasn’t there, shifting my weight onto planes of nothing, existing in a realm of something. I got used to the cold biting my arms, embracing me like something uncomfortably familiar.

“What am I even doing here?” I uttered to myself, looking at a stray volleyball on the floor. I leaned down and picked it up, sighing at the poles extruding from the floors, the net yet to be strung up.

It took me thirty minutes to do it on my own. Thirty minutes of dragging the net across the ground, realising that it was way heavier than I remembered it being. I strained myself, pushing harder on my good leg and shuffling across the floors with the other. When I had finally gotten it up, I stared at my work and shook my head. Disappointment lingered in the air, feeling more bitter than the cold did. I picked up the stray volleyball once again, running it in circles against the palms of my hands.

“I hate this place!” I screamed, throwing the ball forward. It flung against the net, bouncing off and back onto the floor with a weak slap.

Again, it found its way into my hands. I don’t remember when, but somewhere between the I hate this place and the I hate this game and the I hate this, I had picked the ball up once, twice, three times, maybe even four. Each time, the ball landed back in front of me. Each time, the two handed throws became one handed throws, which then became a weak attempt at a spike, which then became a movement of memory. My muscles, imagining the patterns, indulging in the memory, the feelings, the adrenaline, fought to show that my body could never forget as well as my mind had tried to.

“Fuck!” I shouted as my wrist flicked forward, slamming my palm against the ball. Finally, the ball flew through the air, shooting past the net and onto the other side of the court, filling the gym with echoes of the ball hitting the floor. Finally, the ball no longer landed in front of me.

“Wow.” A low, sly whistle mixed in with the last moments of the balls’ echo, followed by a singular clap. “That was pretty good form.”

I gasped and turned to the sound, my cheeks warming at the sight of Nekoma’s captain leaning against the gym’s door frame. His lips curled into a smirk, his arms crossed over one another.

“Didn’t your mother teach you not to stare,” I bit back at him, huffing in annoyance.

“I was complimenting you?” He scoffed.

“Well don’t,” I turned back away. “It’s uncomfortable.”

“Fine.” Heavy footsteps made their way towards the centre of the gym, closer to me, closer to the ball. I watched as he leaned down and picked the ball up from the other side of the court. “You looked stiff and the ball almost hit the net.”

“I don’t need pointers.”

“Exactly.” He smiled again, a smug tone to his voice. “Aren’t you supposed to be our coach?”

“Everyone can make a mistake every once in a while. Maybe give the pointers to your own team, captain, the one that’s actually playing in a tournament.”

“Don’t you ever get tired of being so snarky?”

I shut my mouth and shook my head. There was no use arguing. I already hated the feeling of being here. Adding another form of tension would only push me to make a decision that would break my father’s heart.

“So, what were you? Outside? Opposite?” He leaned down a little, squinting his eyes as his thumb and pointer finger rubbed at his chin in contemplation. “You’re a bit too short to be middle.”

“That’s none of your business.”

“It was a good spike though,” he chuckled to himself. “Maybe libero?”

“Drop it,” I urged, biting back the curses dancing on the tip of my tongue.

“Too mean to be a captain.”

“Fuck you!” I shouted, grinding my teeth together to say anything further.

His mouth had opened to respond, cut short by the cheery ‘hellos’ of Yaku and Lev as they entered the gym. I spared no glance towards him as I retreated towards the storage room, the weight on my body growing more uncomfortable with the added heat of a glare burning into the back of my head.

Masterlist | Next

ˋ°•*⁀➷ Take A Chance Synopsis

After a year in hiding, Izumi Nekomata is tasked with coaching the Nekoma High men's volleyball team after her father falls ill. Izumi reluctantly agrees despite her past with the sport and swallows her pride to fulfill her father's wishes.

Meeting the rowdy team and their charismatic captain, she is taught to love what she once lost and let go of what had been holding her back.

ˋ°•*⁀➷ Pairing

Kuroo Tetsurou x F! Reader

A/N: Another part out!! It takes so much editing to do the boys’ gc but it’s so worth it when it comes out looking nice. Let me know if you guys are interested in a tag list x

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brookstonalmanac · 6 months ago

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Holidays 5.6

Holidays

Adhesive Postage Stamp Day

Army Day (Bulgaria)

Arrival Day (Guyana)

Condom Day (Japan)

A Day Without Homework

Emancipation Day (Cayman Islands)

Freud Day

Globeflower Day

Great Lakes Awareness Day

Hellshire Day (Eugene, Oregon)

Hıdırellez begins (Turkey)

Infantry Day (Ukraine)

Infidelity Hurts Awareness Day

International Blowing Bubbles Day

International Coaching Day

International Management Accounting Day

International No Diet Day

Jimmy Buffet Day (Mississippi)

Joseph Brackett Day

Mark A. Groh Cardiothoracic Surgeon Appreciation Day

Martyrs’ Day (Gabon, Lebanon, Syria)

National Aidan Day

National Azulejo Day (Portugal)

National Day to Prevent Teenage Pregnancy

National Hentai Day

National Meeting Planners Appreciation Day

National Nurses Day (a.k.a. National RN Recognition Day)

National Tony Day

National Tourist Appreciation Day

No Homework Day [also Last Friday in March]

Pastele Blajinilor (Memory/Parent’s Day; Moldova)

Peg Day (UK)

Phi Day (Southern Hemisphere)

Police Day (Republic of Georgia)

Prayer Day (Denmark)

Refrigerator Day

Rubber Day (Japan)

Salad Burnet Day (French Republic)

Saviour's Day

Senior Citizens’ Day (Palau)

Shepherd’s and Herdsman’s Day (Bulgaria)

Simple Gifts Day (a.k.a. Joseph Brackett Day)

Steel Plow Day

Teachers’ Day (Jamaica)

Visit Your Local Quilt Shop Day

Wishbone Day

World Accordion Day

World Kids Coloring Day

World Moyamoya Awareness Day

World Philately Day

Yale Lock Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

Crepe Suzette Day

National Beverage Day

Russell Stover Candies Day

Sauvignon Blanc Day (UK; Commonwealth countries)

Independence & Related Days

Arkansas (Seceded from the U.S.; 1861)

The Kikkian Empire (Declared; 2019) [unrecognized]

First Monday in May

Bank Holiday (UK)

Great Lakes Awareness Day [Monday of 1st Full Week]

Labour Day Holiday (Many Counties outside North America) [1st Monday]

Melanoma Monday [1st Monday]

Motivation Monday [Every Monday]

National Meeting Planners Appreciation Day [Monday of 1st Full Week]

National Testing Coordinator’s Day [1st Monday]

Open Farm Day (Ireland) [1st Monday]

School Bus Drivers Appreciation Day [1st Monday]

Weekly Holidays beginning May 6 (1st Full Week)

Air Quality Awareness Week (thru 5.10)

Economic Development Week (thru 5.10)

Mental Health Week (Canada) [1st Full Week]

Mental Illness Awareness Week (Canada) [1st Full Week]

National Children’s Book Week (thru 5.12)

National Nurses Week (thru 5.12)

National Safety Stand Down Week (thru 5.12)

National Sun Safety Week (thru 5.12)

National Wildflower Week (thru 5.12)

Puppy Mill Action Week (thru 5.12)

Screen-Free Week (f.k.a. TV Turnoff Week; thru 5.12) [1st Full Week]

Teacher Appreciation Week (thru 5.12) [1st Full Week]

World Cocktail Week (thru 5.13)

Festivals Beginning May 6, 2024

Food Safety Summit (Rosemont, Illinois) [thru 5.9]

Frankfort Elberta Restaurant Week (Frankfort & Elberta, Michigan) [thru 5.12]

Melbourne Writers Festival (Melbourne, Australia) [thru 5.12]

Tartu International Literary Festival Prima Vista (Tartu, Estonia) [thru 5.12]

A Taste of Talent (Andover, New Jersey)

Trondheim Jazz Festival (Trondheim, Norway) [thru 5.11]

WasteExpo (Las Vegas, Nevada) [thru 5.9]

Feast Days

Alexander (Positivist; Saint)

Ancestor Day II (Pagan)

Beverage Day (Pastafarian)

Bruces Appreciation Day (Pastafarian)

Charles Drouet (Artology)

Connect with the Land Day (Starza Pagan Book of Days)

Dominic Savio (Christian; Saint)

Đurđevdan (Festival for the Roma People of the former Yugoslavia)

Eadbert, Bishop of Lindisfarne (Christian; Saint)

Enlightenment of the Buddha (Buddhism)

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (Artology)

Evodius of Antioch (Roman Catholic Church)

Food (Muppetism)

François de Laval (Christian; Saint)

George (Eastern Orthodox Church) a.k.a. ...

Đurđevdan (Gorani, Roma)

Gergyovden (Day of Bravery or Army Day; Bulgaria)

Police Day (Georgia)

Shën Gjergji (Albania and Kosovo)

Yuri's Day in the Spring (Russian Orthodox Church)

Gerard of Lunel (Christian; Saint)

Guinness (The Stout) Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Harry Martinson (Writerism)

Jeffery Deaver (Writerism)

Long Island Church of Aphrodite (Everyday Wicca)

Lucius of Cyrene (Christian; Saint)

Petronax of Monte Cassino (Christian; Saint)

John before the Latin Gate (Christian; Saint)

John Demascen (Christian; Saint)

Munichia (a.k.a. Mounikhia; Ancient Greek Festival to Artemis)

Nestor Basterretxea (Artology)

Prudence (Christian; Virgin)

Remembrance for Eyvind Kelve (Asatru/Norse Pagan)

The Sixth Day of May (Shamanism)

Orthodox Christian Liturgical Calendar Holidays

Easter Monday (Orthodox Christian) [Day after Orthodox Easter] (a.k.a. ...

Memorial Day (Georgia)

Doua zi de Paste (Moldova)

Doua zi de Pasti (Romania)

Orthodox Easter Monday

Vtor den Veligden (Macedonia)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Perilous Day (13th Century England) [17 of 32]

Shakku (赤口 Japan) [Bad luck all day, except at noon.]

Unlucky Day (Grafton’s Manual of 1565) [25 of 60]

Premieres

Alias the Saint, by Leslie Charteris (Short Stories; 1940) [Saint #6]

At Folsom Prison, by Johnny Cash (Live Album; 1968)

Backstreet Boys, by Backstreet Boys (Album; 1996)

Call for the Dead, by John le Carré (Novel; 1961)

Captain America: Civil War (Film; 2016)

Chernobyl (TV Documentary Series; 2019)

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (Film; 2022)

The Double Helix, by James Watson (Memoir; 1968)

Highwayman, by Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, and Willie Nelson (Album; 1985)

The Hollow Hills, by Mary Stewart (Novel; 1973) [Arthurian Saga #2]

The Good, the Bad, and Huckleberry Hound (Animated TV Special; 1988)

I Got You (I Feel Good), by James Brown (Song recorded; 1965)

Interview with the Vampire, by Anne Rice (Novel; 1976)

Into You, by Ariana Grande (Song; 2016)

Kingdom of Heaven (Film; 2005)

La Bohème, by Ruggero Leoncavallo (Opera; 1897)

The Leghorn Blows at Midnight (WB LT Cartoon; 1950)

Little Shop of Horrors (Off-Off-Broadway Musical; 1982)

Metropolis (Film; 1927)

Mickey’s Trailer (Disney Cartoon; 1938)

The Million Dollar Cat (Tom & Jerry Cartoon; 1944)

New York Herald Tribune (Daily Newspaper; 1835)

Paint It Black, by The Rolling Stones (Song; 1966)

Railroaded to Fame (Hector Heathcote Cartoon; 1961)

Rock and Roll Music, recorded by Chuck Berry (Song; 1957)

Rocket Man, by Elton John (Song; 1972)

Son of Batman (WB Animated Film; 2014)

The Stainless Steel Rat, by Harry Harrison (Novel; 1961)

Star Wars, Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (Film; 1980)

Swooner Crooner (WB LT Cartoon; 1944)

Take This To Your Grave, by Fall Out Boy (Album; 2003)

The Thanatos Syndrome, by Percy Walker (Novel; 1987)

This for That (Money Rock Cartoon; Schoolhouse Rock; 1996)

Thor (Film; 2011)

Thugs with Dirty Mugs (WB MM Cartoon; 1939)

Un Verano Sin Ti, by Bad Bunny (Song; 2022)

Today’s Name Days

Godehard, Jutta, Sigrid (Austria)

Irina, Mira (Bulgaria)

Anđeo, Hilarije, Maksim (Croatia)

Klaudie (Czech Republic)

Gothard (Denmark)

Loit, Loomet (Estonia)

Maini, Melina, Melissa (Finland)

Judith (France)

Gotthard, Jutta, Sigrid (Germany)

Efraim, Efrem, Eirene, Eirini, Eirinaios, Irene, Irini (Greece)

Adrián, Györgyi (Hungary)

Angelo, Massimo, Pellegrino, Penelope (Italy)

Gederts, Gerhards, Ģirts, Gothards (Latvia)

Angelas, Anielius, Barvydas, Gintaras, Pijus (Lithuania)

Guldbrand, Gullborg (Norway)

Irena, Ita, Pius, Teodor, Waldemar, Zdzibor (Poland)

Irina (Romania)

Lesana, Lesia (Slovakia)

Amador, Ángel, Hilario, Máximo (Spain)

Erhard, Gotthard (Sweden)

Irene, Myroslav, Myroslava (Ukraine)

Morna, Mya, Myah, Myrna, Orson, Prudence (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 127 of 2024; 239 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 1 of week 19 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Saille (Willow) [Day 23 of 28]

Chinese: Month 3 (Wu-Chen), Day 28 (Geng-Wu)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025) [Wu-Chen]

Hebrew: 28 Nisan 5784

Islamic: 27 Shawwal 1445

J Cal: 7 Magenta; Sevenday [7 of 30]

Julian: 23 April 2024

Moon: 3%: Waning Crescent

Positivist: 15 Caesar (5th Month) [Junius Brutus]

Runic Half Month: Lagu (Flowing Water) [Day 12 of 15]

Season: Spring (Day 49 of 92)

Week: 1st Week of May

Zodiac: Taurus (Day 17 of 31)

#Holidays

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gregorygerwitz · 2 years ago

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Burzek + the Hockey AU

The first time Adam Ruzek put on skates and stepped onto ice was when he was eight years old, and he never wanted to leave it. He wanted to keep skating, and learn to play hockey as well as his father did, and maybe go all the way to the NHL. That was the first dream he ever had, to play for the Blackhawks one day, even if he wasn’t quite tall enough to use a full size stick yet.

Enthusiasm alone could only get him so far, but that’s what he had a coach and a team for. As soon as he was old enough, his dad signed him up for a club team at the local rink. It wasn’t much, and the team didn’t win many of their games, but he had fun, and he liked coach Olinsky, and he was getting better. All the practice and games, even if they didn’t always end the way they wanted them to, only helped Adam hone his skills.

So, he played through all of middle and high school, learning everything that his coaches had to teach him. When he graduated, college wasn’t exactly his top priority. He wanted to keep playing the game, keep getting better at it, maybe put his name in for the draft. He didn’t quite get that far with it.

He still trained, still spent three hours at the rink, four days a week, running drills and practice shots against the same coach he’d had since he was ten. The encouragement helped, between picking up shifts at one of the food stands at the arena for cash, and he kept all the enthusiasm he’d had for a decade of his life. Eventually, it actually got him somewhere.

Specifically, it got him into a grey and red jersey for the Chicago Mice.

The team had a record that was actually worse than any of the ones from his teen years. They had never won a single trophy. Their playing had been getting better, but they were still far from even reaching for a title. But it was a place to start.

Kimberly had her entire life turned upside down when she was barely a teenager. Her last name was changed, she was moved to the other side of the city to live in what was basically a mansion, she had her entire wardrobe thrown out and replaced with things that would be perfect for the cameras that would follow her around. It had all seemed so silly, living with the Gerwitzes, acting as though they were family when she only shared blood with two of them.

She was a bandage, something to cover the blemish that Gregory III’s affairs brought upon his reputation. She was there to look pretty at events, with her hair done perfectly and her dress some brand new design with a name attached. She was there to get good grades and be the polite little sister to a brother she had to real introduction to before he was driving her to and from school every day. She was there to go to dance lessons that she didn’t want and apply to college programs she wanted even less.

When her father bought a hockey team - just another thing for Greg to inherit instead of her, she was sure - she made a decision. if this family, the one that was supposedly hers, was going to upend her life to pull her into theirs, then she was going to make sure she was an active part, not just an accessory.

She went to watch the Mice play whenever she could get a ride to the arena, even if it meant taking the bus. She cheered louder than anyone on the rare occasions they scored. She made sure the cameras saw her being as loud and as enthusiastic as Thelma Gerwitz made sure she knew she shouldn’t be. She was supporting her father’s latest business endeavor, after all, when her brother would rather be fooling around with boys under the bleachers and lying about how much time he spent fencing.

After high school, she didn’t waste any time. Kim applied to the same business program that Greg had been studying for two years, and made it in, and that was just the start of her master plan. After graduating in less than three years, only missing getting to receive a degree at the same time as her brother buy a few months, things were moving along even faster than she intended them to. But there was a job available at the family business - not something menial like secretarial work, of course, that wasn’t exactly becoming for a Gerwitz, but she wasn’t exactly running things, either.

She ran the schedule - or a version of it. She made the calls that got them better seats on flights, and nicer rooms in hotels at a discount, and that was her routine for every business conference or executive visit. She was in charge of flights and hotels and restaurant reservations, occasionally making extra calls to a few driving companies in the city to ensure there were rides for their visitors everywhere and they didn’t have to arrange them themselves. And she was good at it. But it left her with quite a bit of free time.

All that meant was that she could go back to her old routine. There were still Mice games to catch now that she wasn’t too busy with studying anymore, and she could actually go to them without worrying if she’d have a ride home afterwards.

And, if the first game she caught after settling into her new job happened to be the first time she’d ever seen them actually win, with the winning goal scored by a rookie she’d never seen play before, maybe she could consider that a sign of good things to come.

#one chicago #adam ruzek #kim burgess #burzek #cpd #chicago pd #the hockey au*#alex does moodboards #jay and adam: literally just score one (1) goal #the gerwitz siblings: 😍😍🥰🥰😍#i just think it's funny #i do love them tho #the platt siblings #there's a lot going on here i'm sorry

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devilsupdates · 7 months ago

Text

I just saw this

Taking a Look at Potential Devils Head Coaching Candidates

TSN’s Pierre LeBrun mentioned some potential candidates for the Devils head coaching job, so let’s take a look at them.

By Jared W Moore Apr 3, 2024, 11:00am EDT

Two weeks ago, I wrote about what qualities the New Jersey Devils should look for from their next head coach. I didn’t really talk so much about systems or anything like that, other than I wanted somebody known for more defensive structure than the previous regime. I also talked about accountability and how there needs to be a lot more of that moving forward regardless of who the coach winds up being. If you haven’t read that, I’d suggest going back and taking a look at it as I’ll reference some key points from that article throughout this one.

Last week, TSN’s Pierre LeBrun mentioned during their “Insider Trading” segment that current interim coach Travis Green is a serious candidate for the job. In case the video doesn’t open for you (TSN can be weird sometimes with content being blocked geographically), here’s the quote of what LeBrun actually said in regards to Green and the Devils vacancy.

“My sense from talking to the Devils is that Travis Green is a serious candidate, absolutely. They love what he’s done since taking over for Lindy Ruff, the Devils feel they’re a different team, they play differently. But GM Tom Fitzgerald will probably still look at some other candidates just to have a thorough process here in terms of naming a head coach at the end of the year. So bigger names....perhaps, like (Craig) Berube, (Todd) McLellan, Gerard Gallant who hasn’t coached all year.....those are all possibilities but yes, Travis Green is very much a possibility.”

LeBrun is as credible an insider as there is and he clearly has connections within the Devils organization. His recent on-the-record conversations with Tom Fitzgerald and Martin Brodeur are proof of that. While circumstances can change and lists can change (Lindy Ruff wasn’t exactly the first choice the last time the Devils conducted an extensive head coaching search), LeBrun isn’t the type of insider who will throw anything at the wall just to see what sticks. I’m sure he didn’t just float the names of Craig Berube, Todd McLellan, and Gerard Gallant out there for no reason and on a whim if he didn’t hear from someone (Fitzgerald, Brodeur, agents, the coaches themselves) that they have some level of interest in the job. I also think if you have your sights set on a bigger name like Mike Sullivan, keep in mind that he already has an NHL head coaching job. I’ll be the first person to admit that this list is kind of uninspiring, but I don’t think its anything more than a few names LeBrun heard and that the Devils will do due diligence. I say all that to say that I wouldn’t look at the names LeBrun mentioned as a final list. Circumstances can change.

That said, that didn’t stop people from reacting to the list. Something that I was guilty of as well.

Devils candidates mentioned by LeBrun, ranked.

1. Berube

2. Gallant

3. McLellan

4. Getting hit by a bus

5. Green

After having a few days to take a step back and think more about it, I thought it would be a smart idea to take a look at each individual candidate, try to figure out why the Devils might be interested in them, and whether or not they’re the right fit.

Let’s start with the interim bench boss, Travis Green.

Travis Green

The best argument for Green getting the permanent gig might be the same argument for Principal Skinner getting his job back after Ned Flanders was fired as school principal.....he seems to know the kid’s names.

The Devils might indeed be playing differently under Green, but it’s fair to question whether or not they’re playing well, despite a 6-8-0 record since taking over.

On the season, the Devils are giving up 3.39 goals per game and are averaging just over 30 shots on goal allowed per game. In a small sample size since Green took over, they’re giving up 2.92 goals per game, however, I think that can be more closely tied to improved goaltending by Jake Allen (.923 since the trade) and Kaapo Kahkonen (.934) over what the Devils were getting the majority of the season. And while purely counting shot totals doesn’t tell the entire story of how the Devils are playing defensively, they’re giving up more shots on goal with Green on board than before (31.7 shots on goal per game). It might be true that players such as Luke Hughes have cleared the rookie wall, but this is also still a team that regularly plays Brendan Smith for some reason, so take all of this talk about defensive improvements with a grain of salt.

The Devils are also not doing so hot with the expected goals since the Ruff firing. And while I’m always the first person to point out that real goals mean far more than expected goals, it further supports the idea aren’t really playing all that well now, they’re just getting better goaltending than before.

It’s probably not fair to Green to expect him to dump Lindy Ruff’s system overnight, implement his own, and get the team to execute it when they’ve had little to no practice time and no full training camp. The Devils have played games in 14 of the 30 days since Ruff has been fired, after all. But we’ve also seen very little to suggest they’d have more structure defensively or maintain what they’ve been doing offensively. In fairness to Green, the power play has ticked up a bit since he took over. Whether that has more to do with Timo Meier taking over Tyler Toffoli’s spot on the top unit, and whether or not we should ignore that the PP was stagnant for a long stretch under Green’s coaching....I’ll leave that up to you to judge.

For what its worth, I don’t believe Green is a serious candidate to be the Devils next coach. Or at least, I hope he isn’t. John expressed his concerns with the power play back when Green was hired and I think a lot of what he wrote at that time has indeed come to fruition. Chris wrote the other day about how Green has overseen too many lifeless efforts to get serious consideration, including Friday’s loss in Buffalo, and it goes noted that a team that is supposedly still alive for a playoff spot somehow plays as uninspired, lifeless hockey that this Devils team plays.

Green does have some championship pedigree in his background with a championship at the WHL level with the Portland Winterhawks and a Calder Cup Final appearance with the Utica Comets in 2014-15, but its fair to be underwhelmed with his previous NHL head coaching run in Vancouver, as well as his tenure thus far as the interim Devils coach. I can see why Fitzgerald might want to give Green an interview as a professional courtesy, but I feel like hiring Green would be ‘settling’ and the Devils would be doing it because he’s there. The only way promoting Green makes sense is if they can’t get their preferred choice and they choose to wait until a better candidate becomes available sometime next season. Either way, the Devils should aim higher than settling for Travis Green.

Todd McLellan

McLellan brings plenty of experience to the table, as he has well over 1100 NHL games as a head coach and 9 playoff appearances on his resume. He is best known for his run with the San Jose Sharks, becoming the winningest coach in franchise history and helping the Sharks reach a pair of conference finals. McLellan landed on his feet after parting ways with the Sharks, getting the head coaching job in Edmonton, but he was fired early in his fourth season in Alberta. He took over in Los Angeles prior to the 2019-20 season and helped lead the rebuilding Kings to a pair of first round playoff exits, but was once again dismissed earlier this season.

McLellan is known for a defense-first system and clogging up the neutral zone with a 1-3-1 alignment. It’s not the most visually pleasing version of hockey to watch, and I think questions whether or not the Devils have the personnel to play that manner is fair, but McLellan has had enough success in this league to where he’s going to do things his way and want to bring this structure to his next head coaching job. I’m also old enough to remember the Devils being very successful playing a brand of hockey that could be described as somewhere between grinding, efficient, and boring.

I don’t necessarily hold it against McLellan that he got fired from his last two NHL head coach jobs (and ‘mutually parted ways’ in the third).....coaches are hired to be fired, after all. I also don’t necessarily hold it against McLellan that Cam Talbot was brutal for a six-week stretch around the time of McLellan’s firing because that’s the risk you run counting on a journeyman netminder in Cam Talbot in the first place. I also don’t hold it against McLellan that the Kings appear to lack the top-end talent a team needs to get past the Edmonton Oilers, something they have failed to do the last two seasons in the playoffs. Never mind being able to beat more complete teams like Colorado or Vegas in a Best-of-Seven series. And it should be noted that it appears the coaching change will work as the Kings have stabilized, Talbot has stabilized, and appear to be heading back to the postseason. Unlike Tom Fitzgerald, Rob Blake knew when to make the coaching change and will reap the rewards for doing so.

I do question whether or not McLellan will be able to get that level of buy-in and commitment defensively if the Devils were to hire him, as he has had issues getting that from players like Pierre-Luc Dubois and Kevin Fiala. Granted, Dubois has his own history of playing his way out of favor in markets he doesn’t want to be in and Fiala won’t be confused with Mark Stone defensively, but the Devils have their share of forwards who make cursory efforts in a 200-foot game. I question whether or not the Devils have the wingers who are capable of winning on the boards and being able to retrieve pucks. But thinking more about it, I do think with some tweaks on the roster that need to happen anyways, McLellan could be an interesting hire.

Gerard Gallant

Gallant, who as far as we know is the only repeat name from Tom Fitzgerald’s previous coaching search, is back in the mix, and understandably so. His body of work at his three most recent head coaching jobs in Florida, Vegas, and New York speak for itself as he has consistently gotten his teams to the postseason. Gallant is a former IIHF World Championship gold medalist as a coach, a former QMJHL League champion, a former Memorial Cup champion, and a Jack Adams winner. He also was the coach who led the Golden Knights to the Stanley Cup Final in their inaugural season, where they ultimately lost to the Washington Capitals in five games. Gallant has been known for being a players coach, to where he’d allow the skill players to play to their strengths and hold themselves accountable. That all sounds well and good, but when the opposition adjusts, Gallant’s teams in the playoffs have often been left having no answers. Lindy Ruff outcoached Gallant in last year’s playoffs, so turning around and replacing Ruff with Gallant would be a curious choice. Gallant has also been criticized for not doing a whole lot to develop young talent, and it’s probably not a coincidence that former #1 overall pick Alexis Lafreniere had a breakout season the second he left. In fairness to Gallant, his job is to coach the hockey team first and foremost win games, not necessarily try to squeeze blood from a stone in hoping that Kaapo Kakko is better than he actually is. Considering the Devils still have some young talent that needs developing in Luke Hughes, Simon Nemec, and eventually, Seamus Casey and/or whoever the Devils first round pick is, I think its fair to question whether you want Gallant involved. I said previously that I think the Devils team needs a kick in the pants and I don’t know that Gallant’s “let the players police the room” approach is the direction I’d go in when that clearly hasn’t worked this year under a different player’s coach in Lindy Ruff. Add in the fact that Gallant typically has a short shelf-life....shorter than he should considering his track record of success and that would suggest to me there’s something going on behind the scenes we’re not quite privy to. I don’t know if his hands off approach tends to lead to him losing the room or if he’s just a miserable jerk behind closed doors, but I feel like Gallant would be better suited with a more veteran team where the standard is understood. I think the Devils are still in the process of figuring out what that standard actually is. Just because I write on this blog that the Devils need to have the mindset that “this can never happen again” doesn’t necessarily mean the players will show up to camp next September with that mindset.

Craig Berube

The most interesting name on this list to me is Craig Berube. Berube coached two seasons in Philadelphia and made the playoffs once before famously resurfacing in St. Louis. After serving as an assistant coach on Mike Yeo’s staff, Berube took over for the fired Yeo and the Blues went from worst to first, ultimately winning the franchise’s only Stanley Cup in 2019. Berube followed that up with three more playoff appearances, but the Blues struggled to replicate Jordan Binnington’s brilliance in net as well as replace what Alex Pietrangelo brought to their blueline. St. Louis missed the playoffs last season and they fired Berube 28 games into this season when it became apparent things weren’t going to turn around.

What ultimately did Berube in in St. Louis was poor defense and goaltending, as their defensive zone play was not good. That said, I think a lot of these issues are more on roster construction than they are on the coach himself. Torey Krug was a desperation signing after Pietrangelo left for Vegas a few summers ago that hasn’t worked out. Colton Parayko has not been good for some time now. Their CapFriendly is littered with unmovable contracts and NTCs. Players like Ryan O’Reilly who play a good two-way game ultimately left. And while Binnington is having a good year this year, the 6x6M contract that he signed a few years ago has been a mixed bag. Some good like a .912 this year, some bad like a .894 over 61 games last year. Most of this probably isn’t Berube’s fault.

That said, I think Berube was instrumental for helping the Blues become Stanley Cup champions. They got the right level of buy-in at the right time. They played as a team and played a physical brand of hockey. Berube did play 1000+ NHL games as an enforcer, after all. Instead of letting the players hold themselves accountable, he holds them accountable (which might be part of the reason why Jordan Kyrou wasn’t too sad to see him leave). That type of hard-nosed style may have a shorter shelf-life than most coaches, but it can be very effective.

Berube would need to do a better job of having all five skaters engaged defensively than Ruff did, as that was ultimately one of the things that did both coaches in in their respective cities, but I think Berube’s approach would be what the Devils need at this time.

Final Thoughts

Upon further review, I’d probably rank Berube and McLellan as my top choices from LeBrun’s list, followed by Gallant and then getting hit by a bus. And then Travis Green. Again, its not exactly an awe-inspiring list, but its still early in the process, coaches who may ultimately become available such as Mike Sullivan haven’t become available yet, and there might wind up being another interesting name linked to this opening that we haven’t heard yet.

The pressure is on for Fitzgerald to get this hire right. Odds are if he doesn’t, he won’t get to stick around long enough to make a third coaching hire.

What do you all think?

#hockey imagine #new jersey devils #nico hischier #jack hughes #luke hughes #hockey #timo meier #john marino

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