NHL 56

“Good luck with tomorrow’s game.”

―Thank you. Have a great day.

“You too, Dylan. Bye.”

Dylan hurriedly finished the call because of the phone ringing incessantly beside him, then switched to the other line. Just as he had expected, it was a call from the head coach calling for a meeting. They absolutely had to win this last away game to maintain the points and ranking necessary to advance to the playoffs, and because of that, the strategy team was on high alert.

However, even though Dylan hadn’t even heard the tactics properly yet, for some reason, he felt confident that he would put up points today. Surprised by the fact that he could be comforted himself just by comforting someone else, Dylan prepared to head down to the meeting room.

When the time came, the players gathered in the meeting room, dressed in neat attire. Unlike other sports, ice hockey, which sticks to the classics, always maintained clothing close to a suit even during meetings. This was because the anecdote of a player who showed up to a team meeting in a tracksuit and was subsequently disciplined and unable to play was already a famous story.

Instead of empty seats, a few unfamiliar faces were visible in the meeting room. The new players with fresh faces were acting composed to hide their awkwardness, but they couldn’t conceal the tension flowing through their stiff bodies. They were players called up from the lower leagues.

Seeing them tightly clenching the fists they had placed on their knees, as if overwhelmed by the mere fact that they would be playing in the big leagues, even made him think they were cute. Tomorrow, their parents would also take up seats in the stands. Watching their child’s first league debut game was also a day of great honor for the parents.

Although he had become quite desensitized now that he had gained years of experience, the sensation of that moment when he first stepped onto the ice in the big leagues often visited Dylan suddenly. It must be a moment like a dream for all players. That was when he first learned that excitement and fear could exist in the heart simultaneously.

However, an even more terrifying fact was that maintaining that position was just as difficult as stepping into it. Just like in other sports, all game content is converted into simple numbers and recorded as performance. Just as a complicated 60-minute game is explained by only two numbers: “○:○.”

“Is everyone here? Shall we begin?”

Head coach Connor Walsh tucked his tie into his jacket, and closed the door to the meeting room.

Due to the rough physical contact in the previous game, there were two players excluded from the roster for player protection. One of them was Jackson. According to the opinion of the team dentist, Jackson had not only broken his teeth but was also suspected of having a fractured jaw, so he was urgently sent back to Toronto.

While his playstyle was the opposite of Dylan’s, that was precisely why they were line mates who complemented each other’s shortcomings well. Petrov, who was in sync with the two, was a player with solid fundamentals who had the capacity to adapt well to any line mate’s playstyle. It didn’t seem to be a big problem whoever joined the second line.

The head coach carefully examined the tablet he had brought and announced the lineup.

“Dylan.”

At the sudden mention of his name, Dylan looked at him with curious eyes.

“Kevin, coordinate with Noah. Ian and Mike will be on the second line, and Raphael, Joseph, and Michael will be in charge of the third line.”

The gazes of all the other players, including Kevin Matt and Noah Olsen, shifted to Dylan. The two were the center man and right winger of the first line. That meant Dylan had shifted his position to play on the first line as a left winger.

Of course, he had already been in sync with the two through power plays. Dylan had played as a winger then, too. The moment the opposing team is short-handed due to a penalty is a golden opportunity for the team granted the power play. Therefore, they must put all their efforts into the attack. Since the lineup is naturally adjusted around the attackers, it wasn’t particularly awkward for Dylan to play with the two.

However, running together for about a minute out of a mere 2-minute power play was a different issue from playing together for about 20 minutes, which is nearly a whole period of the 60-minute game. If they were out of sync, mistakes would be frequent, and fans could not tolerate even a little bit of sluggishness from a player on the first line.

However, moving up a line is also the highest honor as an attacker. In fact, the longer he played with players considered the league’s best attackers, the bigger a learning experience it would be for Dylan. Because he had no reason or authority to refuse the head coach’s decision, he gladly accepted it.

🏒🥅

“Today’s game is truly hard to believe. It’s the day the Polar Bears pulled off a thrilling 7–3 victory against the Grizzly. A huge part of this was the performance of Dylan McClain, who stepped onto the first line for the first time today.”

“That’s right. McClain showed incredible chemistry after meeting Matt and Olsen, proving his amazing performance of 1 goal and 3 assists. This way, he ended up collecting 4 points today.”

The highlight scene followed immediately. Dylan was a player famous for his mobility thanks to his flashy and stable skating, and his new line mate Olsen had excellent ability in position selection. Matt, who was recording the most goals this season, had puck control at a league-best level, so when the three of them entered the offensive zone together, opposing defensemen couldn’t help but be tense to block the puck that could fly anywhere.

The head coach perfectly utilized the confusion experienced by the opposing team and sublimated it into an aggressive strategy. The team secured points by a large margin. Ironically, the one who collected the most points there was Dylan.

“Dylan, this was your first game since the lineup changed. What do you think about today’s game?”

“We unfortunately lost the last game, but I’m glad to have finished the last game of the road trip well.”

“You’re finally going back home.”

“Yes.”

“How does it feel to have joined the first line?”

Dylan, who chose his words for a moment at the reporter’s question, answered with an unexpectedly calm face.

“Both players are very fast and have great ability to select positions, so no matter where I send the puck, they have the ability to make the most of it. We also practiced focusing on that during practice. I think good chemistry was visible because we trusted each other and moved.”

“I’ll look forward to your good performance in the future, too. Thank you for agreeing to the interview.”

“Yes, thank you.”

Joeon repeated rewinding the interview several times because he was unfamiliar with Dylan, who had shed his playfulness or sticky gaze. There wasn’t any particularly important content, but the face he showed when he heard it was the last game of the road trip remained as an afterimage, engraved in his memory for a long time. It was a face that wanted to return home as quickly as possible.

Exchanging a few brief messages with Dylan when he sent his congratulations saying he had watched today’s performance well was everything, but since he said he was going to catch a plane at that time, he must be flying somewhere over Manitoba by now.

Before welcoming Sunday dawn, Joeon finished preparing for sleep and laid his body on the bed like a log. He was blinking only because he couldn’t fall asleep while looking at only the pitch-black ceiling, holding his breath alone in the darkened room.

Although they hadn’t made a firm promise to meet, he had a hunch that he would definitely have sex with Dylan again in the near future.

Sex with him brought out a pleasure he was experiencing for the first time in his life. Amidst the anticipation and excitement for the thrilling ecstasy that would soon come, he would often feel a philosophical fear at the same time: is it okay to degenerate into a lewd body like this?

Joeon’s body, which hadn’t particularly been conscious of awkwardness when coming into contact with anyone else, would easily catch a fever and heat up in every corner of his body touched by Dylan’s slender, long fingers. It didn’t even have to be a secret place; it was the same even if it was just his back, shoulder, or the back of his hand.