(My take on ilya's necklace breaking)
In 2015, Rozanov starts a fight on the ice (naturally). It's 2nd period and he doesn't even remember which montreal player he pissed off first. It's rough and grabby and there are at least 5 of them in the brawl. He can already tell there'll be bruises on his jaw and collarbone in the morning. After they're pulled apart and penalties served, the game goes on.
It's not until the end of the period, as both teams start heading to the dressing rooms that one of the boston rooks shouts out to his team "are any of you missing a chain?"
Rozanov turns to see the thin gold hanging from the rook's raised hand, freshly ungloved and immediately reaches for his own neck, digging under his jersey and gear to try and locate his mother's necklace. He can't. Desperation sets in quickly as he rushes to the rook and takes the chain from him, seeing it snapped a few inches down from the clasp.
"Where is the cross," Ilya demands of the young man in front of him, he looks up at him with an apology and touch of fear in his eyes.
Ilya gets on the ice and skates over to where the fight happened, scanning across the horribly gouged terrain for any sign of the last piece of his mother.
Distantly, he registers his coach yelling at him to get off but the words dont make it past the panicked guilt that fills his head. He couldn't lose it, what kind of son would he be to lose his mother like this.
"ROZANOV. Move it! Ice needs resurfacing"
Ilya's head snaps to the Zamboni sitting at the edge of the rink, halted in its tracks by his frantic reentry. He is overwhelmed by the image of her cross being cut by its blade, crushed by the conveyor, lost into a massive, dense pile of ice shavings and dumped unceremoniously out the back.
"NO! No zamboni!" He yells back, voice thick with fear, pain and anger. Eyes still frantically swinging across the ice as he skates around.
Marlow, who has gathered what this is about, stands at the bench and throws out "Roz, its probably stuck in your gear, get into the locker rooms and shake it out." He's trying to be helpful, but Ilya is so enraged by the idea that he would chance the destruction of the only important object in his life that the most restrained response he can give is to ignore it completely.
And suddenly someone skates past him. Ilya looks up to see Hollander headed toward the far end of the rink. The shock of Hollander breaking the rules is enough to break him away from his search for a moment. His rival captain moves with intention toward the boards to the left of the net, takes off his glove and picks something up, something so small it is imperceptible to Ilya at this distance. Shane turns towards him, gestures at him with closed hand and skates forward. Ilya, with the beginnings of hope, skates too. They meet at the free play line and Shane opens a lifted hand. His mother's cross sits in the cupped palm and Ilya plucks it gently out and inspects it. It's scuffed and has a dent, clearly from whoever's blade sent it half way across the rink. But its safe, and in one piece and he's holding it. Locking a tight fist around the gold, he looks up and Shane looks back, giving him a small smile and says, "I thought i saw something shiny over there."
In the back of Ilya's mind there is a jab about how of course Hollander would be the one to see a tiny dot of gold among the glistening ice, but he is still coming down from the rush of fear and relief and all he can manage is "Thank you." With a nod, Hollander pulls away, headed towards the benches. Ilya watches him for the briefest moment. Finally, much to the relief of the Boston coach, Rozanov leaves the ice.
In the post match media, both of them are asked about it. Both answer simply. Rozanov says his mother's necklace broke, Hollander says he was pretty sure he saw it, and that retrieving it helped the game move on.
The footage hits the internet with mixed reception. Hockey's biggest rivals in a small moment of kindness amongst another vicious battle between Boston and Montreal. Rozanov's attachment to the memory of his mother humanises him to the public, and Hollander's sportsmanship is added to his long lost of virtues. (The clip becomes a staple in hollanov edits, for many it was the first moment they saw something more between the two than fierce competition).
Shane often thinks about it when he sees the gold chain, in interviews or when Rozanov is on top of him. His brain stuck on the single instance of them being in the public eye together without the pretence of rivalry and hatred. He likes the way it felt to be with Ilya like that.
Ilya gets the cross polished, erases the scuffs, but removing the dent would involve solder, gold that had never touched Irina. He has never been sure of the ship of theseus, if changing would make it less of what it was before. His father says that every measure should be taken to achieve perfection. His mother would disagree. The dent stays, and when Ilya runs his fingers over it, he thinks of Shane.
