So like. This is my Panecklein headcanon timeline
They first meet in fall of 2014 at the U of M. Kelly already knows who Lee is because she was on the team that won the ncaa tournament in 2013, and then was the youngest Olympian for team usa womenâs hockey in Sochi and took home silver, and while she admires her hockey ability thatâs it. Lee is vaguely aware of who Kelly is just bc it was kinda notable that this incredible, incredible soccer player decided to go with hockey for college, even if she is also incredible at hockey.
That all being said. Technically, they had met once before, when they played each other in high school. Roseville and Benilde St. Margaretâs donât play each other OFTEN but they do *sometimes* although neither remembers this until much later.
Anyway, they meet and are on the team together; Lee is an alternate captain and Kelly is this rookie whoâs topping lists, leading in rookie point production, blazing trails to the ncaa championship. And yes theyâre friends but the chemistry is palpable. If youâve ever experienced the trauma that is a female friendship that absolutely has homoerotic undertones, thatâs the vibe. In my RPFverse, Kelly knows sheâs gay. Lee is in denial. ButâŠI meanâŠeveryone experiments in college, right? And theyâre at this party and one thing leads to another and they kiss andâŠwell. They both agree that itâs no big deal, friends kiss each other all the time. It doesnât have to mean anything. (Kelly is dying inside because she knows thatâs not true for her, but Lee needs it to be true, so she agrees.) and then they win their next game in just a blowout, they absolutely dominate, and hockey players are so superstitious, and their captain tells them to repeat everything they did before that game to capture that lightning in a bottle, soâŠ.so.
Itâs for hockey. Obviously. It doesnât mean anything if itâs for hockey. And obviously it doesnât work every time, so they have to up the antee each time it doesnât work and before they know it, theyâre hooking up regularly, and itâs all for hockey; Lee swears, itâs because they play better hockey that way, and sure itâs fun, but it doesnât mean anything because itâs just college. And Kelly wants it. She wants her. And honestly, itâs not that big of a deal, plenty of people have friends with benefitsâŠshe can be cool with this. And if Lee says it doesnât even have to be gay, then sure. Maybe thatâs true for Lee. Kelly knows itâs not true for her, but it doesnât have to be the same.
And they win the NCAA tournament, donât they? So clearly itâs working. SoâŠso they continue. Lee is co-captain this year, and theyâre hooking up so regularly and only with each other it might as well be a relationship in all but name, and theyâre both playing the best hockey of their fucking lives; Lee has a +50 season, Kelly is having a career high season, they win the NCAA back to back and theyâre fucking glowing. AndâŠwell, theyâre both treating each other like girlfriends in all but name. BecauseâŠwell Kelly doesnât want to say it out loud, because that would be gay. Which would scare off Lee, maybe. And ofc, Lee isnât going to say it. And they talk just as much in the off season itâs perfect. They end up getting an apartment together off campus, things are genuinely blissful and then-
Well. Then Lee gets a boyfriend. And thatâsâŠwell. Kelly knows that they werenât anything, technically. She knows that, whatever it was they had was unlabeled at best, and purely friends with benefits at worst, but they had spent the entire fucking year in a relationship and then Lee introduced her to this man and expected her to be excited andâŠwell, what the fuck. And Lee is her captain and her friend, (and sheâs in love) so itâs gonna have to be just hockey. And she fucking throws herself into it being just hockey, and she has her best season ever, sheâs a finalist for the patty kaz for crying out loud. And then Lee breaks up with this man and sheâs crying to her best friend about it because it seems like no matter what she does thereâs just no spark with him. She likes him fine, but she doesnât ever see a future where heâs in it and she doesnât understand what sheâs doing wrong-
Kelly comforts her. Obviously. But they lose the NCAA tournament that year. She goes to Lees graduation even though she has to buy a ticket to it and thereâs no reason toâŠthatâs girlfriend behavior. Not casual hookup, itâs really nothing, behavior. She tries not to think of it. Mostly because even though Lee graduated, theyâre still playing together. Itâs the 2018 Olympics, after all. Her first, Leeâs second. Sheâs taking a red shirt season, and she and Lee already live together and Lee is working for Clif bar or something in the cities and they might as well, and neither are in a relationship right now, so they start hooking up again and well OBVIOUSLY it works because they win gold in Pyeong Chang. Kelly meets Hilary, who clocks Kellyâs deal and tells her to be fucking careful how invested she gets in this. (Lee was supposed to go to Buffalo. She was drafted to Buffalo. But she was playing in Olympics, so she chose to stay with Kelly, even though she could have moved.)
And wellâŠitâs Kellyâs senior year. 2018-2019. Sheâs the captain now. And Lee was traded to the new expansion team in Minnesota! So sheâs just going to stay there, why wouldnât she? Lee wins the isobel cup because of course she does, god, sheâs so perfect she wins everything and Kelly doesnât win the ncaa, but she leads the league in hat tricks, and thatâs gonna have to be enough because Lee has a different boyfriend and she just-
Well, she comforts Lee when she hears the same things again. And then they start hooking up again. Because it was always gay for both of them. (Kelly knows this. But she still doesnât say it because she knows Lee isnât ready to hear it and sheâs scared that if she says it, Lee will leave. And sheâs a coward, because sheâd rather have this than nothing at all)
Itâs 2019 and Kelly gets drafted fourth overall to the same team as Lee, because of course she does. Because everything sheâs ever won, sheâs won with Lee. Lee can win without her, she canât win without Lee. And isnât that such a sick metaphor? Because Lee has another fucking boyfriend and Kelly just knows that itâs gonna be the same thing over again. Funny that Lee never asks her why she doesnât ever date anyone. This time, her boyfriend breaks up with herâŠhe turned out to be just the worst, as evidenced by his reaction to Leeâs decision to boycott her league with the PWHPA. Kelly was never more happy to kick one of the boyfriends out.
She obviously boycotted with Lee. Even if she secretly was dying inside over never actually getting to play professional hockey with her.
And for years, from 2020-2023 they competed in the dream gap show tours. They go to the Olympics again, and take silver in Bejing, and they play in worlds and internationally, and itâs off and on, but whenever theyâre in Minnesota, theyâre living together. The apartment is now the fourth one theyâve had, and every time they move thereâs no question that theyâre moving together, neither wants to live apart. (Kelly once joked they should just buy a house together at this point, but Lee had gotten weird, said she wasnât sure what theyâd do then once they got boyfriends. Kelly had dropped it, even though she had wanted to laugh and say âeven if I did try to find a girlfriend, at this point, youâve ruined me for everyone else. No matter what I do, Iâll only ever be wanting you.â) And whenever they play on team USA, they see their friends from college like Hannah, and their other Olympians like Kendall and Hilary, and Hilary will fix this pitying look at Kelly and her stomach ties up because yeah. She knows why sheâs getting that look. She canât bring herself to explain herself to Hilary. She knows deep down it isnât healthy, but she canât break it off.
And then the pwhpa backs the PWHL and of course theyâre both selected along with Kendall to PWHL minnesota, and theyâre so happy. They go back to back in 2024 and 2025. Itâs electric. Sheâs really getting to play professional hockey with Lee. Fuck, itâs the greatest. Sure, at this point, everyone and their mother assumes theyâre a couple and Kelly canât bring herself to correct them. Lee does, of course. And itâs fine. Itâs really. Really. Fine. And all of her friends on team USA and in the league are engaged or married or having kids; the fucking wife line in Montreal makes her so irrationally angry that she canât play right against them because she wants that. Why canât she have that? Hell, sheâd even take whatever Emily and Jamie have going on and play against Lee if it meant that they could really, actually be together. But no, the love of her life is so deep in compulsory heterosexuality and has been clinging to the idea that everyone experiments a little for a decade. And itâs fine, itâs SO FINE.
They lose in the semi finals in 2026, itâs so fine.
And then Lee tells her she canât keep doing whatever this is, and she justâŠitâs not fine.
Itâs.
Not.
Fine.
She canât handle it. And she says some things sheâs not proud of, and sheâs sorry for those but she canât apologize for the outburst given the circumstances that led to it. And then they ask her to be captain and she canât do it. She canât be Leeâs captain. They end up having three alternate captains that year. And theyâre havingâŠa weird year. The start is rocky. Thereâs clearly some breakdown in the team and the rift started between Lee and Kelly and no oneâs quite sure how to fix it because how to do you help two people through a break up who were never dating?
Ken asks Kendall, whoâs not even playing that year, to talk to them, as their friend. Kendall, who pieced together the broad strokes of the issues says, âthis is out of my skillset, but Iâll do what I can.â And calls Hilary, who, despite literally playing against them sits them down mid December 2026 and encourages them to fucking talk it out, and either acknowledge that there was a relationship and actually, for real, break up and get the closure they both need, or acknowledge there was a relationship and mend things and get back together. (Hilary thinks that Kelly should move on for the love of god, but she already thinks this is far too much meddling to be doing in the lives of her fucking 30 year old colleagues. This is a favor to Kendall, and sheâs not getting ANY more involved.)
And they do. They talk about everything, and they both explain their perspectives of the last decade of their lives and apologize for everything and they just canât break up. They canât. Because at the end of the day, Kelly was right four years ago. She was right eleven years ago, honestly. Theyâve ruined each other for anyone else. And it was always. Always. Gay.
And yeah, Lee will admit finally. She is also gay. And she always was. And they donât announce it. But at their next game, they play the best hockey of their lives. They keep playing the best hockey of their lives. They play such amazing hockey and are so fucking in love with each other and Kelly can finally show it. Say it. Name it. And they win the Walter cup, and thereâs no captain for it to be handed to first, because thereâs three alternates, but Lee asks Taylor to take it first and then hand it to her second, and Taylorâs not really paying attention because she just won her third ever Walter cup, hello? So she agrees and takes her lap around the ice before handing it to lee, who yes, takes her lap, but when she hands it to Kelly, she kisses her, on the ice, in front of everyone. Because yeah, sheâs gay, and sheâs so fucking in love with Kelly, and sheâs wasted so much time and made Kelly wait so long, itâs time she showed it.
They get engaged on their cup days that summer. Some people ask them if theyâre moving too fast. But they both know. No where near fast enough.
(A year later Lee realizes they actually met at that one hockey game she played against Kelly in high school)
