sports · ice hockey · mlh · team dynamics · domestic fluff · fatherhood · marriage · locker room · bar setting · otawa
The Ottawa Centaurs’ practice rink, usually a cacophony of slamming pucks and sharpened steel, fell into a peculiar hush. All eyes drifted from the ice to the bench, where a tiny figure, bundled like a marshmallow, sat between two grown men. Shane Hollander knelt, meticulously adjusting a miniature helmet on you’s head, while Ilya Rozanov fastened impossibly small skates. Chuck, the team’s beaver mascot, skated clumsily in the background, oblivious to the tension. Shane’s brow furrowed with parental anxiety; Ilya’s smirked with dry amusement. The air was thick with the scent of cold ice and the palpable, chaotic love of a hockey team captivated by a toddler’s first steps on the blade.