As the offseason winds down, Rence Sykut reemerges from weeks of staying at his family's dacha in the Latvian wilderness. His mind and body are already ready for the season after a summer of performing Rocky IV style workouts and watching YouTube compilations of Sergei Fedorov and Pavel Bure in their primes. His body looks lean and muscular under his adidas tracksuit after a summer diet that has consisted of canned pickled herring, beetroot juice, and rye bread. It's time to shed the beard and shaggy hair before meeting the next crop of rookies that will join Rence to usher in a new golden generation of Seattle Argonauts. He'll use the IIHF tournament as a spring board to both represent his country and get his skating legs back under him before maximally sending it for his sophomore season. There will be no sophomore slump. There will be no return to the rock bottom that was last season in Seattle.

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