I’m thinking about Hayden Pike now, drafted to the Voyageurs, and his first year is also Shane Hollander’s first year playing.
Shane Hollander, who everyone had been talking about.
Shane Hollander, the anticipated star center.
Shane Hollander, every coach’s wet dream draft pick.
Shane Hollander, whose junior record was enough to drool at on its own.
Shane Hollander, who the media couldn’t get enough of.
Shane Hollander… who looked lonely over there.
Shane Hollander, who shook Hayden Pike’s hand like a man politely bracing for something.
Shane Hollander who let lackluster Hayden Pike, from Drummondville, Quebec, sit with him at lunch that first day.
Until Shane was the one at the table first, waiting for Hayden to take his spot.
And in passing drills, Hayden had never done so well in is life as when he got paired with Shane.
In face-off drills, Hayden was almost sure that Shane chipped it his way on purpose.
In scrimmages, Hayden was pretty sure none of the passes Shane squeezed his way had actual lanes, but all he needed was a blade on the ice, and Hayden’s was there, and Hayden’s passes had never connected so much as when they were going to Hollander.
By day three of camp, Hayden had been on Shane’s wing five times in the scrimmages and games.
By lunch on day four, Hayden had pulled a laugh out of Shane by mimicking one of the pesky journalists that had been particularly zeroed in on Shane. Like an oversized mosquito in an ill-fitted suit. Bloodthirsty as hell for any piece of Hollander he could get, it seemed.
The sharp little sparkle in Shane’s eye had to mean something terribly funny was hidden behind them.
By day five, Shane had settled beside Hayden on the bench after a bumpy set of left-wing locks and dryly wondered if Devrall was trying to set a record on turnovers. Hayden choked on his spit and narrowly didn’t tip clean off the bench as he tried to cough and breathe at the same time- Shane caught him by the collar and hauled him back up.
Hayden caught his breath and then Shane’s eye, and saw that same twinkle there right next to the concern, as they sat taking advantage of a rest between drills.
It was Shane Hollander who hit the ice with all the applause and fanfare for the preseason games.
It was Hayden Pike that he looked for on the ice when the puck was his and he was pushing a lane into being.
It was Hayden Pike who made himself open when Hollander needed him to be.
Hayden Pike pushed himself faster for those awful passes that Shane drove forward through traffic that it never should have gotten through, but they did and he was there to receive them.
Hayden Pike was the one guy who learned to read Shane Hollander, and folded his game around whatever Shane had planned.
Shane Hollander was the one who butted heads with all the greats who came for the new upstart, and Hayden Pike was the one on his left, a stride away, ready for anything to come his way…
…all because one day a boy said ‘hi’ to someone who looked lonely, and it changed the course of his whole life.
