with the end of the f1 season, i’m officially pivoting my blog to include the 25-26 NHL season.
one and only true love:
capitals 🔝
fond by association:
bruins
two players on my success watch (aka i hope they do well and exceed expectations) include:
my recent personal obsession with seeing “a phoenix rising from the ashes” aka trevor zegras on the flyers
24-25 calder trophy winner, rookie of the year aka lane hutson on the canadiens
rpf-friendly space here since i do dabble in it!
teams’ tier (+ extra stuff) below cut
organising my tags:
where i ramble: some thoughts by foryt22
for the reason why this blog even started
yuki tsunoda
for the washington capitals:
caps lb tag
#3 matt roy
#6 jakob chychrun
#8 alex ovechkin
#9 ryan leonard
#15 sonny milano 🍫🐻
#17 dylan strome
#21 aliaksei protas
#22 brandon duhaime
#24 connor mcmichael
#26 nic dowd (currently with vgk)
#29 hendrix lapierre
#33 clay stevenson 🍫🐻
#34 justin sourdif
#38 rasmus sandin
#42 martin fehérváry
#43 tom wilson
#47 declan chisholm
#48 logan thompson
#52 dylan mcilrath
#53 ethen frank 🍫🐻
#57 trevor van riemsdyk
#63 ivan miroshnichenko 🍫🐻
#72 anthony beauviller
#74 john carlson (currently with ana)
#79 charlie lindgren
#80 pierre-luc dubois
spencer carbery
non-caps/bears players that are caps-adjacent:
antoine keller (G prospect, drafted 2023, NL)
for boston bruins:
#39 morgan geekie
#52 sean kuraly
#73 charlie mcavoy
#88 david pastrnak
#93 fraser minten
for flyers:
#11 travis konecny
#22 christian dvorak
#46 trevor zegras
extras:
rpf - tzjd
winter olympics tags:
team slovakia: samuel hlavaj (G)
team canada
team czechia
menho lb: svk vs fin, sui vs fra, cze vs can, ita vs svk, fra vs cze, can vs sui, swe vs svk, ger vs lat, swe vs svk, fin vs ita, can vs fra, svk vs ger, can vs cze, fin vs sui, can vs fin, svk vs usa, ogm- can vs usa
I hope all those people talking about how ‘there’s no way ovi would agree to reduced minutes or not playing on the first line’ watch his media availability today and feel embarrassed forever. That man is NOT motivated by ego. He’s may be the greatest goal scorer of all time but he just wants to play hockey with his boys
ramble post about football aka the first sport i followed and how sad it made me (a rather parasocial view)
comeback wins? underdog wins? they are my sore spots
forever bruised by loving a team who’d been historically trailing behind, almost always unfavoured in matchups but never stepping up - lost derby after derby to their rival, lost player after player to their rival, lost final after final to their rival
really wanted 2 jun 2024 to be the best day but it turned out to be the worst
woke up at 3am to watch my captain’s last match for my club and started crying before the final whistle was blown. proceeded to eat breakfast while sobbing on the phone to my friends, made last-minute plans and then attended a party. spent the most of the day off my phone and then when i got home, started scrolling and wept when i saw all the thank yous and apologies and farewells and everything else that marked the end of the era.
the most hopeful one yet but everyone knew there would be no rerun next season. they were tearing apart the roster and many of our players would be moving elsewhere to start anew.
so i spent the rest of the night editing a video i never completed and would never get to posting. i loved that season’s jersey so much i wore it all the time but i hadn’t worn it since.
(and i never bought another jersey again)
anyways yeah. i always wonder what if we had won that day.
what if i got to see my captain win it all with his childhood club? what if i didn’t have to be upset about how his twelve years with this club ended? but we didn’t win and all i was left with all these memories and bitter feelings about how that roster ended.
and i think about how unfair football has been to my captain
he had spent most of his youth proving himself in the youth academy only for the club to shut him out, and then only to be bought back when he found success elsewhere.
he would then play for the club for the next 12 years, immovable even when our other stars left for rival clubs and big contracts, immovable even when contending clubs offered him a hefty bag with the guarantee of championship-ready rosters.
face of the club, a club legend.
but after it all, he will not retire here. he is to leave his childhood club with no crown as proof of his time there.
some people said his sacrifices were in vain, that he should have left when he was younger and not injury-ridden, and that he made the wrong choice to stay.
it’s okay though, because my captain always said he never regretted anything and that he made the right decisions. he said he always wanted to come back to win for us even when they didn’t offer him a contract as an academy player. he said he never thought of leaving us, that he wants to win with the club’s crest on his chest. when he signed that one-year extension, he said that his 9yo self would have been happy to see it, that it was the right thing to do. he said he would like to end his career here, that he loved his team, his fans, his home, but it was right to go.
and then there was no cup, no parade, no celebrations. just another 2nd place finish added to his list of 2nd place finishes. just a guy and his yellow wall who stood behind him for the past 12 years. and they will sing to him for the very last time.
sports can be so cruel.
and truthfully, no sport but football has shown me more cruelty than this.
"Bag of pucks. Just excited to be here." Brandon Duhaime, trying to downplay himself during the ex-team love ritual, and the Capitals refusing to let him.
