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alexeisokolov (June 2, 2024): Albuquerque is in Stanley Cup Finals. I am no longer a Turkey, but I know they are good team. Everett has been playing very good hockey, so not sure luck is even needed, but good luck to old friends. Show them West is better than East!

gobblegoals (June 2, 2024): omg i almost spit out my coffee when i saw sokolov’s tweet this morning. that’s cray-cray.

↪ turkeytalk: Regretting that he’s in Chicago. Big time.

Henri pulled on a gray CCM shirt that might actually be his. As the soft material slipped over his head, he saw Dylan frowning down at his phone.

“What’s up?” he asked. “Did Coach change his mind?”

The team had practice before they headed out to Ohio. They hadn’t recovered from Edmonton, but they needed to get back on the ice to prepare for the Otters. Most of them, anyway. Dylan and a couple of other older guys were given permission to sit out for ‘maintenance.’ It gave Dylan the excuse to stay home to recover (wearing the damn sling, so help him, or the shoulder would be the least of Dylan’s worries) without calling him out specifically.

And Henri couldn’t help but wonder if the coaches knew of other injuries that they were keeping hidden.

“Huh?” Dylan shook his head once he’d processed the question. “No, it’s not that. It’s…it’s Alexei.”

Henri tried not to flinch. He couldn’t pretend to like Sokolov. The best he could do was feign neutrality. He knew Dylan and Sokolov had a complicated friendship but had no idea where the two men currently stood with each other. Sokolov had hurt Dylan so badly so many times that Henri would never forgive him, even though he suspected Dylan eventually would.

“Oh?” he asked with a good approximation of disinterest. He'd fooled himself, at least.

“He's online wishing us luck in the finals, and I think he has no fucking clue I’m hurt.”

“Good. That means no one is talking about it. I don’t think most of the team has figured it out. Novak and I have figured out how to cover⁠—”

“You noticed the night it happened,” Dylan said. “Nover noticed halfway through the next game. My sister noticed two games after. The guy I fucked and played with and lived with for a decade doesn’t notice?”

Henri sighed and came to sit next to Dylan on the bed. He put a hand on Dylan’s leg over the blankets. “I don’t think he knew you as well as he thought he did.”

“Guess not.” He watched Dylan’s Adam’s apple work as he swallowed. “I knew, I think, he was a bad boyfriend the whole time, but especially after he left. I just ignored it because I was happy. It’s harder to deal with the fact that he wasn’t even as good of a friend as I thought.”

“I know,” Henri said. It was the nicest he could be about it.

“Sorry, I’m keeping you from practice.” A pause. “I could come with you and watch.”

“No.” Henri jumped off the bed and rushed to the door. It was an empty threat on Dylan’s part, given he didn’t have anything on except boxers, but Henri wouldn’t take the chance. “You’re not taking that sling off until we fly out.”

“Bossy.”

Henri fled the room with a hurried goodbye, otherwise he might never leave.

turkeytalk (June 4, 2024): Tonight is game one of the Stanley Cup finals. For the first time since 2014, the Turkeys are playing in them. I keep pinching myself because I don’t believe it.

↪ gobblegoals: this is both the best and worst. THE ANXIETY. i’m no stranger to playoff stress, but it’s usually turned into frustration and resignation by now. but the stress, it just keeps going. can only imagine how much pressure it is for the players.

↪ turkeytalk: A lot. You can hear it in their interviews. Most of the younger guys haven’t made it this far. Even a lot of our veterans like Novak weren’t here the last time the Turkeys won. They’re hungry for it yes but they need guys like Everett to step up and calm it down.

abqturkeysnhl (June 8, 2024): After losing Games 1 and 2 in Ohio, the Turkeys hope to even the series as they return to Albuquerque. Join us tonight for Game 3!

luc-henri-sourit (June 8, 2024): ti-loup’s ever first goal of the Stanley Cup Finals!! He looks so proud in the huddle :D

↪ turkeytalk: Y E S there’s that fire!!! Baptiste looks like a maniac on the ice. I think this might be the single best game from him all season. If he can keep this up, he might singlehandedly drag the Turkeys kicking and screaming across the finish line

↪ gobblegoals: i officially retract everything negative i’ve ever thought or said about luc-henri baptiste. i was wrong. he is everything the 2017 draft said he would be and more. i am loving this!!

Henri threw up after the game.

It took him by surprise, like a punch to the gut that had him stumbling over and barely making it to a trash can before he hurled. He stood there with his shaky arms propped up against the wall and scrunched his eyes shut to keep the nausea at bay.

Wildly, he thought he might have a concussion. He didn’t remember getting hit, but if he did have a concussion, he might not remember. But he’d had concussions before (once in high school, then again during his second year in the NHL), and this didn’t feel like that. He was relieved until his stomach churned again and he dry-heaved.