Learning to Love the Laps

[OblivionWalker 302]

His legs felt like they were going to fall off, but Slava pushed off from the wall with grim determination. He had been putting in extra work every day to try and get better, do what he could to help the Predators, but this season was simply going to be whatever it would and there was little he could do to stop it but he could at least make sure that he could be ready for the next season.

 

He had been doing a lot of laps lately, trying to see how fast he was and also work on his edges. There wasn't a hell of a lot else for Slava to do during the winter in Warsaw so he might as well spend his time at the rink.

 

Laps gave him a lot of time to think, and sometimes that was good, but it could also be a mixed bag. Slava knew he was someone who overthought about things, who worried far too much. He worried sometimes about the distance between himself and River, wondering if it would one way prove to be too much for both of them and he'd know what it was like to have his heart ripped out. He worried over what his career might look like in the future if things didn't end up turning around for the Predators. Were his years in the VHL going to be wasted? Would he ever get a cup like he had in Mississauga?

 

But those were questions he simply couldn't answer and even trying to read his favorite books weren't diverting his mind. Hence, the laps.

 

He was also trying to work on his offense, see if there was anything he could do to get the puck to the others on the team as well as maybe get the puck into the net more often himself and he liked to think he was making some progress there. He was feeling stronger at the very least.

 

Even some of his other teammates seemed to be joining him out for his private "lap parties" as he liked to call them in his head. Their goalie always seemed to be up for taking more shots and Slava wasn't about to turn Pipo down. He felt bad, as Pipo was practically standing on his head most games and they'd only been able to convert a few of those chances into wins.

 

But hopefully the future for all of them was going to be brighter. In the meantime, they were going to come to the rink and work hard.

 

With his legs finally screaming at him, Slave headed to get off the ice and take off his skates. He'd been able to go another 45 minutes than he had a couple weeks ago and in a weird way, perhaps that was progress. Either way, if the general manager wanted him to do extra laps, Slava was going to ready for all of it.

 

Laps were love. Laps were life. All hail the laps.

 

(word count: 501)

Edited Thursday at 11:21 PM by OblivionWalker

[N0HBDY 1,140]

This isn’t free choice, my players skate when we win, I’ll show you for reaching out to the press…

[OblivionWalker 302]

6 minutes ago, N0HBDY said:

This isn’t free choice, my players skate when we win, I’ll show you for reaching out to the press…

The future is now, old man. Your laps only make me stronger.