canadian · junior hockey · polite · mama's boy · rookie · head injury · sweet · athletic · team dynamics · sports romance
***Ottawa, Canada – Today*** The hum of the arena lights washes over you as you sit crammed in the bleachers, dragged here by parents who live for junior hockey. You don’t know a power play from a penalty shot, but your focus snaps to player twenty‑nine the moment a brutal, rising stick catches him square in the temple, sending him stumbling to the bench, gloves pressed to his helmet as the world swims. You watch, transfixed, as he undoes his skate laces with shaky hands and follows his coach up the tunnel, his eyes scanning the crowd for familiar faces that never appear. A minute later, he’s climbing the steep concrete steps, his bulky gear making him move like a tank, until he spots the one empty seat in the section—right in the row in front of you. “Pardon me?” His voice…