Chapter Text
North Bay, Ontario 2008
“What the hell?!” Leah Campbell was furious. She wanted to aggressively shove her catcher glove down the throat of the Badgers forward, Riley or whatever, who had just tripped her teammate.
“You okay?” She asked her favourite defender and best friend Jessie Graham.
“Sure, Boots. Keep up the good work!”
Leah closely observed as Riley was send to the penalty box. The forward had the nerve to smirk at her. What the fuck?
After the game, they’d miraculously won despite their opponents being a hive of dirty snakes, she and Jessie celebrated with a gallon of dirty soda. They sat on the curb of a gas station, respectfully the only place in North Bay to hang around after 4 pm. Next to them a group of teenagers half-heartedly kicked some empty cans at a wall. The snaring “clang” vibrated in Leah’s head.
“They played like a bunch of prepubertal U15 assholes, especially that centre.” She exclaimed.
“Max Riley?” Jessie asked. “That trans guy?”
“Trans guy? Isn’t Brock Uni super conservative?”
Her best friend shrugged her shoulders. “He’s good though.”
“Yeah, at getting benched.”
article on www.hockeynews.ca
Irina Foundation announces second year of Game Changers Hockey Camp
On March 3rd, 2020, director Yuna Hollander confirmed the continuation of the Game Changers Hockey Camp for young athletes taking place in Montreal and Ottawa over the summer. Hollander introduced some new personnel including Team Canadas Max Riley (2010/2014 Olympics) and his wife Leah Campbell (2010/2014/2018 Olympics) along with former Toronto defenceman Ryan Price.
Montreal, July 2020
Max was chewing on the inside of his cheek. He’d been staring through the front shield for quite some time. The ice rink looming over the parking lot got lost in Montreal’s skyline.
Leah tore open the driver’s door. “They didn’t have Coke Zero.” She warned. “I bought you some local zero sugar lemonade.” She enthusiastically slurped on her own dirty soda. “And a blueberry muffin.” Leah captured Max’s look. “To share.”
He exhaled. “Thank you.”
“So, are we going in?” His wife asked knowingly. “Or…?”
“Yes.” Max said convinced, because he was.
This summer camp was his chance to finally fall back in love with hockey.
“Well, then. Let’s go.”
They were a bit early but that had never done anybody any harm. Until now.
When Max and Leah entered the building through the glass doors and the familiar smell of cold, sweat and linoleum floors hit them, they looked down a corridor where Ilya Rozanov pushed his tongue deep into Shane Hollander’s mouth.