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Dylan (April 2024)

Officially as captain I can’t condone losing my other wing for five minutes because you were fighting someone

Unofficially, thanks for taking out the trash

I appreciate your standing up for Henri

Nover

Any fucking time. I have been wanting to punch him for like two years

Figured you might not be ready to do it yourself yet

No not yet

But if he hits Henri like that again next season, all bets are off

Oh don’t worry I’m not letting him get near Baps again

CHAPTER 68

Henri took off his helmet and relaxed on the bench in the locker room. The regular season was over, and they were playoff-bound. The Turkeys’ recent playoff woes were well documented; Henri had barely seen the playoffs at all. The times his teams had made it, he’d gotten minimal ice time. Enough to say he was there, but not enough to feel any real ownership of the result.

This year would be different. He would be on the top line. He would be on the power play. He would be on the penalty kill unit. He’d been leading the team in ice time among forwards for the last third of the season. For better or worse, Henri would make a difference this time.

He was so fucking excited.

Nervous too. This was his chance to impress the Turkeys enough to keep him after next season and start the talks to extend his contract. A few more years here⁠—

He cut the thoughts off. Acknowledged them, pushed them aside, and focused on the good parts. He was guaranteed these playoffs. He would get to play with Dylan and Novak and the whole team until someone knocked them out. And Henri would do his fucking best to make sure they got as many games as possible. It wasn’t even about the Cup (he didn’t even let himself think about that), it was about more hockey with the best team he’d ever played for.

The first team that had ever welcomed him. The first city outside of Saint-Jérôme where he felt at home.

They’d be in Tennessee to start the first round of the playoffs in less than a week. Normally Henri would review game footage while his memory was still fresh, but he might not watch tonight’s game again. This had been a meaningless game to everyone on the ice—the Turkeys had already secured their playoff spot and neither a win nor a loss would change their ranking; the hometown Mallards had been eliminated from the playoffs weeks ago, so at best they were trying to entertain their fans. What he should do instead was look at footage from their games against the Outlaws this season.

“Listen up, babes!” Dylan was in the middle of the room, clapping his hands to get everyone’s attention. Whatever he’d planned to say, he’d apparently decided to say it with only his hockey shorts on. Even after all this time together, there were times he didn’t understand Dylan at all. “I know we want to celebrate a great season before we dive in and kick Tennessee’s ass.”

He was interrupted by some cheers, hollers, and, most notably, a few barks.

“We fly home early tomorrow. Take the day to hang out at home. Wednesday night, bring the family to my place. I’m hosting a playoff party to get us pumped for a very long postseason. Lots of hockey left, babes. Let’s fucking get it.”

The barking was louder than the cheers this time. Henri let himself get caught up with the rest of them, adding in a howl that got picked up by a couple of the guys near him.

abqtukeysnhl (April 14, 2024): Who else is pumped for playoffs next week?

[Video of the Turkeys howling in the locker room]

↪ turkeytalk: Are they…howling? why?

↪ gobblegoals: no one understands the hockey player brain. but also it’s a little easier than gobbling

↪ turkeytalk: More intimidating too. Looks like Baptiste started it - last guy I would’ve expected

↪ luc-henri-sourit: le petit loup est devenu un grand loup!

↪ gobblegoals: “The little wolf has become a big wolf.” girl, explain.

↪ luc-henri-sourit: Little wolf. ti-loup. It’s a common thing to call children. We cheered that when he played youth hockey in Saint-Jérôme