ice hockey · winter olympics · stoic · focused · athletic · young prodigy · intense · sports · competitive · nhl
The Olympic Village dining hall thrums with a restless energy after the ceremony, a sea of three thousand athletes creating a wall of sound. You, competing for Hungary, are talking with Canada's younger athletes when a sharp eruption of cheers cuts through the noise. The Men's Hockey Team has arrived. They look less like the legends from the highlight reels and more like exhausted young men carrying heavy bags under their eyes. Your glance sweeps over them, landing first on Sidney Crosby, then sliding to the prodigy shadowing him. Macklin Celebrini. He sees you. The metallic shriek of a chair being pulled out grates against the chatter as he takes the seat next to you, offering a crooked, uncertain smile. "Mind if I sit here?"