Hi! Hello! I was wondering if you have any fic recs for works that get into the weeds with hockey aspects of HR? Like fics that detail game play, specifics of Ilya and Shane on the ice, or details about the MHL as an organization?
Themed rec list: Hockey-heavy stories
So, I went through my bookmarks and my previous rec posts. These are the stories that meet anon's rec criteria:
lines of lightning by @ecotoned | 13K | The road to the Stanley Cup is fraught with expectations, injuries, and worst of all, conversations about feelings. | I know nothing about hockey but I like some actual sports in my sports romance and this fic delivers. It also has great characterisation and believable voices, which is a dealbreaker for me. The other two stories in the same series are very good too, btw.
The Best Game You Can Name (the good ol’ hockey game) by @arustyspork | 4.4K | Shane and Ilya on the ice, over the years | I loved how this story has a lot of hockey! Truly, most stories in this fandom would benefit from more hockey, and I say it as someone how knows nothing about the sport.
we’re strangers, we’re not friendsby @isozyme |5.3K |set during 1.01| lya Rozanov’s rookie year reimagined by someone with serious hockey-watcher brainrot.| For someone who knows nothing about hockey, I sure do enjoy HR fic more when it has actual hockey in it, huh. Cracking Ilya PoV. Also ends with the best Ilya line ever: "Ilya smiled and kicked his feet up on the couch to get more comfortable. Then he sent Hollander a dick pic and stuck a hand down his pants while he waited for the outraged reply."
#goalbody by @toomuchplor | 5K | future fic, possible spoilers for TLG|"We put ourselves through it," Shane says, scraping plates. "Anything for hockey." "Anything for the Cup," Yuna says. This makes sense to her as it's always made sense to Shane, and he's never been sorry to have a mom who doesn't fuss over his suffering for sport the way Jackie fusses over Hayden sometimes. He has always taken it for granted, maybe: that hockey comes first. That everything in the world should bend to the breaking point if it serves hockey. | Another amazing look at the physical side of hockey, the sacrifices Shane and Ilya do for the game, and also some lovely pieces of Shane's backstory. David and Ilya's dynamics kill me with their cuteness. Yuna is so IC too. It also comes as podfic!
courage [it couldn't come at a worse time] by @veilofimag | 82K | sometimes it takes a little more time, and some courage, to be with the one you love.| I'm pasting here a bit of the author's note because it explains the premise and rationale for the story really well: "ILYA AND SHANE DESERVED BETTER THAN BEING OUTED. Shane deserved to CHOOSE his timing. Ilya deserved for Shane to actually CHOOSE HIM. To choose to love him out loud on Shane's terms, not on the dumb NHL's (and plot devices). this is that story. Canon divergence from Chapter 23 [of the TLG], the scene where Ilya tells Shane to leave" I think this is a valid reading of TLG and makes for a very interesting canon divergence AU. A bit too angsty for me, at times, but well-written and it does stick the landing just as promised. And there's lots of hockey, IIRC.
i know where to draw the line | 61K | “Hollander’s Metros have had a challenging few years, with back-to-back knee injuries and a concussion keeping the two-time Stanley Cup winner and Olympic gold medalist off the ice for three consecutive postseason runs. Hollander is apparently back to fighting trim, but everyone’s wondering if that will still be true come April. The Metros have promised that they’re behind their franchise star one hundred percent, but there are signs they might be hedging their bets. The Metros announced last week that they have penned a deal with San Francisco’s dynamic young Russian star, center Ilya Rozanov. The move has sent shockwaves through MLH, as San Francisco was widely expected to sign a contract extension with Rozanov, who became a restricted free agent in June.” OR the 2016-2017 MLH season in a world where Shane was born three years earlier and Ilya was born three years later.| magneticwave is an amazing writer. Their other AU (clear to the hedgehog) was quite possibly my all-time fave AU in this fandom - and I have a thing for AUs!...until this one came along. I love how the age gap and Shane's maturity change their dynamic in some ways but also not fundamentally. This is SO well-written and engrossing. And there's so much hockey! And it's central to the story. I'm running out of superlative adjectives to describe this story. It's pathetic.
Bitin' List | 6.8K | Shane starts a full blown donnybrook with the Metros when they target and injure Ilya during the playoffs.| Ilike stories where the hockey takes centre stage...and BAMF Shane. This story had excellent game and fight descriptions! Felt like I was there on the ice too. As much as I find fighting a turn-off IRL, it really was hot here to see Shane do it. Poor Ilya never stood a chance...
This is the only story I haven't recced yet (because I don't rec WIPS and this just wrapped up, I haven't read the last two chapters yet, btw)
good on my own accord | 150K| No serious hockey fan or sports commentator worth their salt would have considered record-breaking Boston superstar Ilya Rozanov to be Shane Hollander’s rival exactly, but sleeping with a man who had a specific offense-related vendetta against him and a wrist shot like a jet engine to back it up was probably ill-advised just the same. Or, Shane is a goalie. Ilya can’t score| I enjoyed this one tremendously, mostly because it taught me a lot about goalies in hockey! And the author has some really educational notes about hockey (kind of like @arustyspork does!) which I appreciated a lot as a newbie to ice-hockey.
Btw, this post was compiled while I'm watching Canada trouncing my national team (I'm Italian) at the World Championship. It's just nice to be able to watch some hockey not in the middle of the night, no matter how painful it is for my poor fellow countrymen (our goalie looks shell-shocked, lol). I think I deserve to see a Celebrini hat trick after all of this copying and pasting at the very least.
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