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vic03 · 06-03-2024, 01:34 AM

(if my translations to Latvian aren’t correct don’t blame me. Blame google translate. The english translation will be there as well. I just want to include some actual Latvian even it may be incorrect)

Season 76, Game 66: QCC: 2 - ANC: 5

The locker room was quiet, it wasn’t the game they wanted to end the season on. The Owls still held first place and won the Luarifer but ending the season on a loss was always tough. Ramen would walk into the dressing room and everyone’s heads popped up when he did.
“Tough game yeah but we reset in the playoffs. We’re not invincible, we’re going to lose some games. All we can do now is fight for that cup. Team meeting tomorrow, same time as always. Leo, media wants to talk to you.”
“Why?” Leo would ask annoyed, never being the biggest fan of having to do interviews. Especially after losses.
“They want to talk to someone on the team and I guess you had the best game.” Ramen would respond.
Roze would let out a sigh and stand up, getting a pat on the back from his D partner Juan Tymer.

{BROADCAST}
“What a game for Jesus Murphy that was. 2 goals and an assist to take down the 1 seed Citadelles.”
“That’s right Max, you could just tell how buzzing he was after that win. I know coming up we have an interview with Leo Roze from the Citadelles. A solid showing from him tonight.”

Leo would walk out in the hallway, a couple reporters with microphones stood at their little media booth and a cameraman right behind them. Leo would get into position for the interview and they counted down before it went into their live taping.
“So Leo, tough game for the Owls, 5-2 loss, you end up being the only player that gets a plus rating with 4 blocks and 3 takeaways. What’s it like losing a game like that where you play well on the defensive end?”
“Hard, yeah. I do what I can in defense zone. Block shot, break up play, sometime not enough and that is hockey. I don’t think we play bad and it was unlucky game but that happens and we just come back and fight to win next game.”

The next reporter got time to ask her question, “Your last regular season game with Quebec City. Tell us what’s going through your mind.”
Leo would think for a little bit before answering, “A lot. Four year go by very fast. We have playoff together still so it not over yet but it sad with losing the last one we play, again we have playoff so no worry yet.”

The last reporter to ask a question Leo recognized as someone who always annoyed him with his questions, and Leo was bracing for another one just like his others.
“We know the Citadelles struggle in playoffs, never really finding their groove even after dominating during the regular season. Especially with being the last one with the core before you go to the SHL; Any changes in mentality in the locker room to help the team get over their struggles and push for the cup?”
The annoyance on Leo’s face was clear after the reporters first sentence. He almost didn’t even want to answer this question ‘struggle in playoffs’ who did this man think he was?
“We try to win 4 game every series before we lose 4? I do not know how you want me to answer question. It is stupid question and I think you are stupid reporter.”

The reporters were not expecting an answer like that, and no responses came from them. Leo stood there for a second in silence. “Ok bye.” He would say then walk away back to the dressing room.
“How’d it go?” Celeste would ask him as he entered but he wouldn’t respond and just went back to his place and starting to remove his gear.
“Vai tev uzliek soda naudu?”(“Are you getting fined?) Tymer asks as he sits down.
“Es nosauku žurnālistu par muļķi”(“I called the reporter stupid.”)
“Jā, tu saņemsi naudas sodu.”(Yeah you’re getting fined”)

The whole team left the arena, some talking, some tired and just wanting to get home and sleep off the loss. Leo and Juan would go out and get a quick bite to eat with eachother, not really talking much, some catching up on life, some making sure they’re on the same page on the ice. After a cute little dinner date with Juan, he went back to his apartment setting his stuff down. His cat, scumrat, would instantly jump onto his bag and start sleeping on it. Why do cats love to sleep on bags? As soon as he put his stuff down he gets a text.
“Call me.” from his GM. He dialed the number.
“Hey Ramen how-”
“ANOTHER FINE? Man, can you just stop saying stupid stuff in interviews?”
“He deserve it”
“It wasn’t even that bad of a question Leo. I’m not paying for this one, at least the last one was funny but this one is just stupid.”
“Okay.”
Ramen would hang up the call and Leo would plug his phone in for the night, not really caring that he got another fine. The reporter deserved it for sure.

Season 76, Round 3, Game 3 (1-1 series). QCC: 3 - NL: 1, 14:10 left in the Second Period

Leo lined up inside the center circle as the faceoff was being taken on the right side outside Newfoundland’s offensive zone. His main goal was to make sure no Zerk was able to get a quick breakaway if they won the faceoff. His eyes darted up to the jumbotron, almost halfway through the game. They were winning but a two goal lead is never safe enough. He heard the ref say something to Wingmate, maybe a warning before getting tossed from the dot, Leo wasn’t sure, it just snapped him back into the game. He watched the ref's arm drop and the puck fall from his hand. Wingmate won the draw clean as the puck slide right to Tymer’s stick who quickly passed it to Patey for an easy zone entry. Leo had already drifted behind the halfline just incase a breakup happened. Patey slid the puck over to Celeste who had a wide up right half of the offensive zone. Now he was clear to start moving into the zone, Celly wouldn’t lose the puck. Celly drove to the net, drawing their defender as the right winger who was watching Leo started to drop back to their netminder, Wingmate’s defender was right ontop of him as he started to crash the net as well leaving Leo with way too much space at the top of the zone. He called for the pass. Celeste’s eyes darted up for just a moment as they saw the amount of space Leo had and almost instantly the puck was on its way to Leo. He received it cleanly.
No one’s around. Who’s open? Should I drive in? There usually isn’t this much space.
A second passed and his marker was still way too far away from him.
Usually he shoots for a rebound, creating chaos at the net, but this time is different, this is basically a shooting drill.
A couple more seconds passed before his marker was even somewhat closer to him.
Fuck it. Still nearly at the blue line and in line with the left faceoff dot he wound up, and let it rip.
He expected a block, or a save, or the puck to smash into the glass. He was thinking he might break the glass with this shot.
What he didn’t expect was for the goal light to actually go off as the puck flew past the goalkeeper's shoulder in the top right corner.
His first ever playoff goal after 4 years.
He didn’t even celebrate, he was still amazed the puck actually went into the goal directly off his stick.
Juan was the first one to get there, saying something along the lines of “Lets fucking go” but it wasn’t too clear. The rest of the line would eventually join the huddle.
“You’re a beauty.” Celeste would say as the huddle broke up, Leo gave them a little smirk before tapping them on the head as a thank you. He skated over and gave his team the fist bumps, some making jokes about him scoring.

Season 76, Round 3, Game 4 (2-1 QCC series). QCC: 2 - NL: 0, 14:10 left in the Second Period

The celebrations for Patey’s 2-0 goal had just ended. Leo got a tap from the coach as he jumped out onto the ice for the faceoff. He skated to his normal position before he noticed Patey and Ramen talking. Patey skated over to Leo. “Freight.” is all Patey said. “What?” Leo asked. He knew what it meant, they had talked about it but he was just surprised it was happening. Patey just gave him a sticktap on the leg and Leo looked over to their coach who just gave a thumbs up.
This is such a stupid play. It goes that Leo lines up as a left winger, gets the puck and forces his way into the offensive zone with his strength. It’s usually done when the right defender is weaker player so it’s a decent chance it’ll work. Leo never was a huge fan of it but it never went terribly wrong so why not try it again.
Wingmate won the draw to Gronlund who sent it to Patey, filling in the left defense spot for Leo. Patey would send it back to Wingmate. Now the next play is to him and he’ll push his way into the offensive zone. Leo skated closer to the blueline and more central. Wingmate sent the puck over and as Leo watched it he realized, he’s behind everyone and onside. How the hell did this happen?
He received the puck and just started going towards the net. This isn’t how the play is supposed to go but he has a breakaway. He looks up to the Zerk goaltender, his eyes trained on the puck. Leo gets almost all the way to the crease before he sends the puck in between the goalies right arm and pad. The goal horn goes off and he celebrates this time. He ends up celebrating in the corner where he sees a bunch of Zerk fans yelling, probably saying some not so nice stuff. The rest of the line jumps onto him.
“Why don’t you play winger from now on eh?” Patey says as they skate over to the bench.
“Maybe I score more than you.” Leo jokes at Patey who laughs.
No one expected Leo to go from the last Owl to score a playoff goal to scoring twice in two games, but here we are. Pushing for a four-star cup.

Season 76, Finals, Game 5 (3-1 QCC series). QCC: 6 - MET: 5, 1 minute left in the third.

Maine just scored with the extra attacker on the ice.
“It’s not fucking over yet!” Ramen yelled from the bench. “Lock in. One minute left."
Leo got into position. This puck drop felt like hours as he watched Froya and the Maine center wait for the drop. The sound of the arena was muted to Leo’s ears, the focus was all on that puck.
Froya lost the draw, the Maine goalie sprinted to the bench, the extra attacker took the ice.
Maine pushes into the zone way too easily. We’re messing this up. We’re messing up a cup win on home ice with a minute to go. Fuck.
One of the Timber players sent the puck near Leo, now is the time. He reaches with his stick breaking up the play, he desperately makes a pass to Celeste as he doesn’t have the time to make a better play. We don’t need a better play, we need a safe play. Celeste makes a pass to Froya who skates up the center of the ice. She’s gonna do it. The goalie is gone. She passes the blue line. She shoots… and it goes in.
The sound of the arena is deafening, no amount of focus would drown it out. The team is already around Froya celebrating. Leo jumps in, he can hear words being said by his teammates but he can’t understand them, the adrenaline(and his not so great english) makes it impossible to understand.

“Still forty seconds.” Froya says as the team breaks up. They all stop celebrating and their focus goes to the game.
Forty… the puck drops. Froya wins it.
Thirty… Leo stays far back, can’t let anything stupid happen
Twenty… The forwards keep pushing. Don’t let the puck out
Ten… DON’T LET THE PUCK OUT
The buzzer goes off. It’s over. Holy shit it’s over we won.

Leo throws his stick and turns to his defense partner who’s already about to embrace him.
“We fucking did it Leo.” Juan says “We fucking won.” Leo can hear the quiver in his voice, something he had never heard before. Juan wasn’t non-emotional but this amount of excitement he’d never heard.
“Together.” Leo told him as they were still hugging. He doesn’t know how long that lasted, but when they broke it, the two of them turned and everyone was around Ju-Gong. They joined the rest of the team celebrating. Four years fighting for this. Two heartbreaking losses the previous seasons. All of Leo’s failed postseasons even before he made it to the J. They were all redeemed with this one cup. The team celebration, the handshake line. It’s all a blur to Leo. It’s all so much. The team lined up as they brought the Four-Star cup out, it’s much bigger than you’d expect. A lot shinier too. Froya skated over to the commissioner, who gave a small speech before handing it to Froya. But Froya didn’t raise it, the team knew why. Maybe all except one player. She skated over to Ju-Gong before handing him the trophy. Ju-Gong looked at Celeste, who didn’t allow him to hand the trophy off again. Ju-Gong was the reason they won, insane plays in his crease made sure of that.

Ju-Gong skated his lap, hoisting the cup before handing it to Celeste, the clear MVP of the game and offensive powerhouse of the team. They raised the cup, the confidence and yearning for more championships was clear. “Aggressive.” Juan joked about Celly’s lap which garnered a laugh from anyone who heard it.
Celly made their way back towards the team and Juan pushed Leo forward, “You next.” Leo turned to him, feeling it was too early for him, so many other players deserved to raise it before him. Leo also knew there was no way he would ever convince any of them of that fact, so after a second of thinking he turned and skated over to Celly who was ready to hand the cup off to him.

“For you, thorn.” They said
“You know, it not funny even after the hundred time.” The two smiled at each other as the cup changed hands from the 5 foot 8 Celeste, to the 6 foot 6 Leo. Almost a foot higher.
Leo raised the cup, something he had been dreaming of since that fateful draft night, since he lost that championship game in his final season in Latvia, since the day he got his first talk with scouts, since his first ever game, and since he first put on skates as a child. It finally happened.
As he skated back towards the group it was not a question who he was giving the cup. Juan skates forward and Leo handed him the cup. Both of them holding it together Juan smiled, “zelts nākamais?”(“Gold next?”)
“zelts nākamais.” Leo responded.

Juan skated and lifted the cup as Leo made his way to the rest of the team. Celeste wrapping him in a hug as soon as he got into the crowd. They didn’t say anything, they just held on for a little while before letting go. Froya came up next, then Sonja, Abdi, Patey. So many hugs, so little words. It was hard to get words out right now.
Juan skated back and Sonja met him, words exchanged no one heard. Sonja looked at Froya who skated to her as they lifted the cup together, before handing it off to the next player. It took a long time, but even knowing its been awhile, the whole thing felt way too short.
The locker room was even higher energy, music blasting and everyone getting in their chats they weren’t able to while on the ice. Ramen gave a speech but Leo didn't catch it very well. Too much emotion.

The celebration continued to some restaurant or bar, Leo had no idea. All he knows is that there was alcohol, and a lot of it. Family members would show up for a little while, saying their congratulations, some friends and others as well, no one staying too long as it was mainly for the players. Leo’s mom and dad showed up shortly, not much for conversation from them before they left.
Leo had no idea what time it was, or how much he drank. He looked over at Froya sitting next to the cup at her seat. One of her friends or family members making conversation with her.

“Finally won eh?” Leo looked up and his old mentor and now agent Valters was standing beside him. Leo stood up and hugged him.
“Thank you.” He said.
“Don’t thank me. This was all you and your team.”
Leo smiled at him as he noticed Celeste making their way to the two of them. “Old Latvian!” They said jokingly. “Old?” He responded, giving them a quick hug.
“We fucking did it…” Leo could tell Celeste was rather intoxicated.
“It feels great doesn’t it.”
“You wouldn’t believe it.” Celly answers
“I would believe. I have 3 of them.”
Celly would give him a weird look, Leo thinks not knowing what they’re trying to do.
“Yet no Challenge or gold…” They say smirking.
“Ouch.” The two laugh as Leo watches, somewhat scared it was going to be serious.
“I have to go. My flight is in two days by the way if you want to meet Nico.”
“Nic-” Leo starts
“NICO???” Celeste exclaims. “IS THAT THE BABYYY?”
Valters nods.
“We’ll be there.” Celeste answers for Leo. Leo didn’t even know they were invited.
“Sounds good.” Valters says before leaving, letting Leo and Celeste get back to the team.

The night lasted for so long, but same with the cup ceremony, not long enough.
Leo woke up the next morning, surprised he was in his own bed, who knows how he got back. He checked his phone and there were a bunch of texts, most importantly one from Celeste that just said “Nico.”
Right.
Leo got up, showered, and changed. He fed Scumrat and gave him a couple pats and a kiss on the head before leaving. Celeste was waiting for him outside.
“How long you been here.” Leo asked.
“Not too long. Just excited.”
“This is weird thing to do day after winning cup.” Leo says entering Celeste’s car.
“We’re all celebrating later today too, I’m guessing you didn’t see?”
“No”
“Well I made sure they knew you were coming, I mean you obviously were but I figured you wouldn’t have texted because you suck at texting.”
“Thanks.” Leo says as Celeste starts driving to the hotel where Nico, and Valters and Marie as well, were. They arrive and make their way up to the hotel room. Valters opens the door for him as Celeste rushes in and says hi to the baby.
Leo and Valters talk as they walk into the room, Marie gives Leo a hug and congrats.
“Hey Leo, me and Marie need to figure something out with the front desk, you mind watching Nico for a couple?” Valters asked him after a little bit.
“Of course!” Celeste responded for Leo, again.
“Thanks. Assholes charged both of our cards somehow.” The two left leaving Celeste, Leo, and the baby Nico together.
“I love him.” Celeste says as Leo comes over.
“He cute.”

Celeste starts to giggle a little bit, “oh my god if those online shippers ever found out we were babysitting together.”
Leo looked over confused, “huh?”
“Oh my god. You don’t know? Yeah they do it with me and you, as well as Juan and Sonja.”
“Hold up, w-what?”
“Oh they just write stories about people being together and dating and stuff. It’s hilarious.”
“People write about me and you together?” Leo was very confused at this whole, online shipping thing.
“So much. In fact, you get a lot of stories about you. I mean it makes sense. Tall, quiet, foreign, somewhat decent looking. It’s perfect for them.”
“I am confuse.”
“I’m not surprised.”
“Which part no surprise, us?” Leo asked sitting down next to Celeste, who was still holding Nico.
“Both, really.”
“People really do this with real people.”
“Oh yeah all the time.”
There was a lot going through Leo’s mind at that point. Leo would look down at Nico, and then back up to Celeste, who’s eyes were trained on Nico.
“Celly, I-”
The door would open as Valters and Marie would back in, “fixed it.” he would say. “Did Nico cause any trouble.”
“He is a perfect little angel.” Celeste would answer.
The four adults and baby would spend a while together, talking about life and what their plans were. After about an hour it was time for Celly and Leo to leave, they had a celebration with others to catch.

The two would get into the car and start driving, Celeste playing music extremely loud with the windows down. Leo didn't look at the speedometer but knowing Celeste, they were most likely going well over the speed limit.
“So why do you barely speak English and Valters has like no accent.”
“He grow up speaking. I never learn until draft.”
“You’re getting better, some sentences it’s actually really good English until it’s not. Also you were saying something before Valters came back in. What was it?” They’d ask.
“Oh. Nothing. Something about team going away. I do not remember.”
“Okay.”

The two would arrive at Denny’s. No surprise. They walked in and everyone was there. Leo gave another hug to everyone. This is the most amount of hugs he has ever given. They would all sit down and start eating, talking, figuring out where their lives were going to go from here. There’s a lot of things happening. Leo decided instead of worrying about what was to come and how he would handle it all, it was more important to enjoy the time they had now. The future will come no matter what, the team is going their separate ways. Why worry about that happening when there's no changing it. There's only enjoying the time they get to spend together now. Once they were done eating Leo looked down at his phone and there was a text from an unknown number. He opened his phone and read it.

“Congrats Leo. It’s Ho-Lee Smokes btw, you ready to come to Chicago?”

(shoutout to @skyrrhawk for explaining online fandoms to me, @NaomiMannequeen for writing about the cup lift originally for me to steal from, @ThePyroAlpaca for making my Latvian linemate and Leo's best friend. And also @Tsunny and @locrianmidwest for just being super cool)

*Puppy* · 06-03-2024, 11:52 AM

Great read, Leo is a legend!

ibuprofenaddict · 06-03-2024, 01:43 PM

lots of passion in this piece, nice work!

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