[1466 words, ready for grading]

OOC Note: This piece starts soon after Hopes and Dreams: Part 2 and continues through the end of Season 73, chronicling Sophie's peak TPE season. This one's kind of a love letter for the ride to making 2000 TPE for the second time, contributing to three SMJHL finals runs in four seasons, spending almost seven seasons as Quebec City's all-time leading scorer, the Latvia meme run of S70, some thrilling underdog playoff pushes with Calgary, and all the memories in between. Maybe on the next player I'll finally win the big one.

~~~

Coming off the thrilling ride of only missing the playoffs in the previous season by a single game, Calgary Dragons fans were expecting this season to build on that success with a young roster. Rookies Sven Holmberg and new free agent acquisition Lea Cranberry were joining the team, but the team still lacked forward depth behind the top line of Sophie Bordeleau, Tom Pedersen and Lev Lebedev and the offense was struggling for it. Sophie herself was finding it more difficult to go on the road and away from her young family as she couldn't be with Jamie and Taylor at this formative stage. The young girl was starting seventh grade, already a tough period before all of the crap life had thrown her in the past couple years, and needed the support of her new family at this stage.

Sophie was feeling the stress of trying to balance the demands of being a leader on a struggling Calgary team and being a parent, but the hard training seemed to be paying off, as her stats were quietly putting her among the leaders for two-way play in the SHL, and things got easier at home as everyone built familiarity and trust. Christmas this year was refreshingly lively around the Bordeleau household, and it helped that the Dragons had a stretch of games through the first half of December where they didn't have to go any further away than Edmonton, meaning there was plenty of time for holiday bonding. The adoption was finalized after the new year, and with that came a feeling of peace and relief at last for the little family. The team's performance was picking up too in the second half of the season, renewing hopes that the Dragons could come all the way back and get into the playoff race, but ultimately they fell short by three games, though still an admirable effort with a roster having to play a grittier style than their rivals to make up for the talent gap.

~~~

Even though the season once again ended without making the playoffs for the Dragons, there were still a couple of bright spots on the team. Sven Holmberg and Lea Cranberry had put up admirable numbers as rookies on an underpowered blueline, Hank Stopper had put up another strong year with a save percentage over .900, and of course there were the twin superstars in Sophie with 88 points (though she still couldn't overcome that 30-goal barrier) and her running mate Tom Pedersen with 85. While they were saying goodbye to some faces with Faust Faker and Rhys Pritchard hanging up the skates, there was a ton of rookie potential on the horizon coming up next season with Arthur Kaliyev, Sunrise van de Schubbekutteveen, Cheeks Klapanen and Jaden Tanner all making the jump as homegrown prospects. Later in the spring, Calgary also swung a trade to bring in bruiser Crystal McLeod for a bargain price and augment the second line. 

The bigger news came in May. The draft lottery was happening, and the Dragons finally had their own pick, so even though they were well back at just the fourth-best odds it was still exciting for the team to have their own top pick for the first time in several seasons of the rebuild. Many breaths must have been held in Cowtown that night as the league commissioner revealed first the fourth-place card, and then the third-place card, to not have the Dragons logo on them. In some sort of cosmic joke, just as the commissioner was about to flip over the card that revealed who would have the first overall pick in this deep SHL draft class, the television signal cut out. When it came back, the order showed the Dragons being the owners of the first pick. Call it what you want, but Calgary would have their pick of the litter in an excellent prospect pool to add to a group that was already bearing fruit.

~~~

It was the night before the draft, and Sophie was on the edge of her seat. The SHL's awards ceremony was tonight, and the centre was there not only to support her teammate Sven Holmberg as a finalist for the Ryan Jesster Trophy for the rookie of the year, but also to eagerly await the outcome of the award she'd been herself nominated for. Getting 88 points with a strong defensive season had put Sophie on the radar as a finalist for the Jeff Dar Trophy, awarded to the best two-way player. She wasn't expecting much here, as she was up against two players from the league's best team in Evan Winter and Benjamin Surkhi-Ze'ev, but it was still cool to be the finalist for some hardware after a rough year for the team. 

While she waited for the celebrations to begin, Sophie took a minute to sit back and think about everything. She had come a long way from that starry-eyed prospect straight out of a Trois-Rivières high school, and not just on the ice where she'd broken records, made memories and led teams. She'd endeared herself to three cities along the way, including her childhood team. She'd inspired girls and queer kids to keep playing sports by being an out star to believe in. She had a wife, a kid, a family, everything she'd ever wanted. The only thing she hadn't done in the majors was play in the SHL playoffs, but Sophie knew that the Dragons were building something exciting coming up and she couldn't wait to be a part of it, even if she wasn't the one leading them when they became a contender again.

The first several awards of the night went by to much fanfare. Sven Holmberg didn't win the Jesster, but he'd more than proven himself by playing difficult minutes and would be a solid piece of Calgary's back end for many years to come. Soon, it was Sophie's turn to wait eagerly for the presenter to read the card. With the nervous breath she didn't realize she'd been holding, all she registered was the eruption of surprised elation. The players around the Dragons star urged her to her feet and she started towards the front of the auditorium, her phone starting to buzz with an explosion of congratulations from fellow players around the league and from her family, whom she knew was watching. Sophie was so surprised by the win that she hadn't even really prepared much of an acceptance speech, but she thought she got through it fine and thanked all the people she wanted to shout out for this victory.

The euphoria continued into the next night. Sophie had caught a red-eye home to be with her family for the end of the school year, but later in the evening she put on the TV. Calgary had made a big trade to move back into the first round at 12th overall to go with their top pick, and she always tried to catch the draft to see who the future of her team was. The Dragons GM stepped up to the podium and announced the selection of Frøya Solberg from Quebec City as the first selection. A sure-hit centre was always a great asset to have and the Quebec City familiarity made sense from Williams' connections in the area from her days as Sophie's agent. More clenching in Calgary ensued until the 12th overall pick revealed why Calgary had been so gung-ho to go up for this selection, as they reunited their new top pick with her sister Sonja to keep that connection going for what would hopefully be a long time. The Dragons kept on with the deep draft class with defender Oranj Konhe at 24th overall, centre Jerry Moonshine at 34th, another defender in Kaarlo Koivunen two picks later at 36, and wingers Walter Melon and Austin Dodd at 44th and 64th overall, respectively. Sophie Bordeleau wasn't totally sure of her future plans as she adjusted to life as a mentor to the team's young prospects and as a mom to a teenage daughter, but the culture of the team was changing quickly for the better and she was excited to see where things would go next.