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Three Crowns - boom - 11-09-2024
[1741 words, ready for grading]
Note: This piece picks up immediately where Chasing Glory left off, just after the end of the S77 SMJHL season. As usual, apologies for the delay - real life is significantly delaying the opportunities I have to write, but I'll try to be more consistent with these.
---
"I got nominated for what?"
The text on her phone was impossible to comprehend for Anastasia Söderström.
Ideen Fallah Trophy - Most Valuable Player of the Regular Season
Anastasia Söderström
Demir Bellona
Wyatt King
It had actually happened. She'd been named a finalist for the MVP award for the second time in three years. Only Nikolaj Muller had ever won the Fallah twice in a career, and that was almost thirty years ago when he won back-to-back trophies.
"What happened? You sounded so shocked!" Taylor's voice streamed through Ana's headphones.
"I got named a finalist for the SMJHL's top goalie award - that one I kind of figured would happen since my stats were near the top - but I also got nominated for the MVP award which I definitely didn't see coming. I figured one of the forwards from Maine would be in there, but I guess they all did so well that none of them really carried on their own," the goalie explained.
Even through the screen, Ana could hear her friend's excitement at this accomplishment. "That's so amazing! I know the season didn't end the way you wanted, but you've worked so hard for this and it's great to see you getting the love for it," Taylor cheered.
The time between the nominations and the award ceremony felt like it would drag on forever, but Ana had another fun notification in store: she had finally made Team Norden. At last, she would get to pull on a jersey and represent her country, even if it wasn't specifically the Swedish national junior team, and the thought of playing for them occupied her waking hours. Before too long, it was finally time to hop on the plane and travel to the awards ceremony, the chance at making history in reach but not quite real yet. Ana didn't get much sleep the night before the award ceremony, not wanting to get her hopes up too high yet and be disappointed.
The award show started as usual with the statistical awards, and Ana and her goaltending partner Mark Andrew Flower were happy to come up on stage and jointly accept the trophy for the best save percentage, which was a huge success even if Ana hadn't been able to get the high-water mark she was aiming for at the end of the season. The first half of the night passed fairly uneventfully save for her draft class teammate Brayden Point's victory for the Brandon Holmes Trophy for the best defensive forward in the SMJHL. Taking home awards wouldn't entirely replace the sting of losing in the playoffs the way they had, but it was a nice way to be recognized regardless.
After the awards for the best defenders had been handed out, it was at last time to announce the winner of the Cedric Robinson Trophy for the league's top goalie, an honour Ana was confident in her chances of winning. Despite a late slide to narrowly lose the GAA crown to Regina rookie Grant Berd, her stats had been atop the league for most of the year. Berd and Maine's goalie Shotty McStopper were the other contenders on the ballot, but all she could do was hope.
"The Cedric Robinson Trophy for the top goalie in the SMJHL is awarded to," the presenter began before pausing, "Anastasia Söderström, from the Detroit Falcons."
It finally happened. After just missing out on this award to an excellent season by Song Ju-gong in her rookie year, she'd finally attained the honour of being named the league's best goalie. Ana had always been one of few words and her acceptance speech was appropriately short, and she returned to her seat with the biggest honour still to be named.
A few minutes later, it was finally time for the big reveal. The names of the finalists were announced, with Ana, Ottawa's Demir Bellona and Quebec's Wyatt King having their stats chronicled. The presenter stepped up to the podium with the envelope and Ana held her breath, anxious to find out whether history would be made.
"The Ideen Fallah Trophy for the SMJHL's most valuable player is awarded to...Anastasia Söderström, from the Detroit Falcons."
It had happened. History had been made. Ana Söderström had become the second player ever to win the Ideen Fallah trophy twice, and doing so as a goalie was unlikely to ever be equalled. The players with which she was sitting cheered and clapped her on the back, taking in the moment right along with her.
"I'm so honoured to get to be up on this stage, and I'm just thankful to have been part of a team that helped me achieve this goal. I wished we could have had a better ending as a team, but hopefully next year is the one where we can take it all away."
With the last of the awards wrapped up, all that was left for Ana at the auditorium was to get some pictures with her trophy haul for the night. All she really wanted to do at this moment was get back to her hotel and get a good night's sleep before heading home and getting ready for the upcoming World Junior tournament.
Just got back to the hotel. Won the double, she texted Taylor when she got back to her hotel room.
Congrats!!! So proud of you, the reply came back instantly. When you come here for training camp in the fall, we should celebrate. It'll be delayed, but you deserve it!
Ana smiled at the offer. I'd like that, she typed back. How were your exams? Taylor was staying at home to go to the University of Calgary with a goal of becoming a sports agent, so she'd been hyper-focused on finals lately.
They went well, Taylor replied. Look at us, two best friends getting closer to our futures!
The two teenagers stayed up talking a little more, but Ana had an early-morning flight to catch so she couldn't stay up too much longer. September would be when they'd meet next. I'll tell her then, Ana thought.
---
Soon it was time to head off to the World Junior tournament, and Ana would at least have some familiar faces on Team Norden. Anna Skovgaard was on the team, so was her Falcons teammate Teemu Salami, and one of the new Dragons draftees in Bas de Leede. Team Norden was expected to be a contender for a medal, but they got off to a bit of a slow start with a 2-3 record to begin the group stage and lost a couple close games to the Czech entry. Despite this, the team still seemed to be really tight-knit, united by common origins and languages, and the get-right moment came in the second game of a three-game series with Team Rhine. Ana got the start in this pivotal game, important if the team wanted to have any chance to turn their tournament around. On the first shift of the game, Team Norden got on a quick three-player rush that ended with the puck in the back of the Rhine net and a 1-0 lead. That lead soon turned into a 3-0 edge and Team Rhine never really got back into the game after that, with Norden cruising to an easy 4-0 shutout. Ana wasn't that busy in the win with only needing to make 18 saves, but the mood of the team was totally turned around after that. With Ana watching from the bench, the team shut out Rhine again for another 7-0 win, and while they did drop one more game to the British side, Norden got right back on form after and won their last four games of the group stage to make the knockout round.
In the quarterfinal stage, Norden was matched up against Team Ice, and this time the other goalie Dexter Harrison would get the start while Ana rested up from a minor nagging injury in the group stage. While she probably could have played in the game, she was resting up so that she'd be 100% if the team made it to the semifinals. The quarterfinal game was close for the first period, but nothing could get past Herman Stahl and the first period ended 0-0. The second period started the same way, but in the first few minutes Slava-Ukraini Heroyam-Slava got a tripping penalty to send Ice to the power play, and late in the extra-player situation they managed to get a goal past Dexter Harrison. Team Norden almost made it to the end of the period without losing any more ground, but Niclas Wastlund put another goal past Harrison with just 30 seconds left in the period and the mood in the locker room in the second intermission was somber. The team pushed as hard as they could in the third period, but it was ultimately for nothing and the game ended in a 3-0 loss.
Despite the loss, there wasn't much that could ruin Ana's overall mood for the year. She was taking her steps towards independence moving into a new place in Detroit, her senior year in the SMJHL was coming up, she was finishing up her schooling this year, and she was learning more about herself in the process. At the end of next year, she'd move up to Calgary full-time and get to start her career in the big leagues, but for now there was the chance to take one last shot at finally winning the Four Star Cup.
---
At last it was September and the routine of getting back into the swing of hockey season was here, starting with the big-league training camp in Calgary. Ana had a routine down for this annual trip, down to the hotel she stayed in and where she'd go for dinner on each day. The flight was uneventful as usual and Ana didn't have any problems getting to the place where she'd be staying for the week. Once she'd checked in and gotten her bags into the room, she flopped back onto the bed and pulled out her phone.
Just got into town. Ready to meet?