It Won't Be Long Now

[OblivionWalker 255]

The blood was still thundering in Slava Kovalenko's ears as he made his way into the locker room. He still wasn't sure, even now, what the hell had happened out on the ice but a line brawl had broken out just a mere 15 seconds into the second period of the game against the Halifax 21st and while he wasn't usually one to throw a punch, there had just been something about the way that Ty Duke had gotten into his face and given how much taller Slava was (a good eight inches or so), he had definitely gotten the better of Duke in their little throw down.

 

The rest of the game had been chippy too, with Shot Blocker finally getting ejected from the game outright in the third period but given how things had been going, Slava hadn't exactly been shocked by that.

 

But as he had a chance to change out of his gear and shower and take a breath, he couldn't help feeling like he'd let the team down. He was the captain, he should know better than to allow someone to bait him into something so stupid as a fight.

 

It was something of a joke among his family and people that knew him who were following him to see just how low his penalty minutes were compared to everyone else in the league. But with his long reach and ability to poke the puck out of where he wanted it. Slava didn't really have to get up in anyone's face to get the puck. He was currently ranked 86th in the VHLM in penalty minutes which had prompted his sister Anya to start calling him "Mr. Congeniality" which had made the entire family laugh.

 

But he'd managed to add five on to his total today and as he got himself settled onto the team bus to begin their travels to their next games, Slava knew he was going to need to take a closer look at all of this, figure out where things had gone wrong and what he could do as the captain to make damn sure it didn't happen again. The Hounds were third in the standings right now and they didn't need to be giving their opponents any free power plays that they could potentially score on.

 

They had a good group, though and Slava was inclined to chalk this one up to just a weird day. Even though they played a physical game, he was certain Halifax wasn't necessarily known for that kind of thing either and hopefully when they faced each other for the last time this season, it would just be a normal game and nothing like today.

 

Heaving a soundless sigh, Slava opened his phone, idly flicking through some pictures. Even though he loved to play, he also hated to be apart from River and seeing pictures that they'd taken together during the World Juniors tournament just made him miss the other even more. But they just had to get through the playoffs and during the off-season, they could be together in one place again. It wouldn't be long now.

 

(word count: 523)