HAYDEN
The last horn of the final scrimmage echoed off the cold rink walls, and just like that, it was over.
Three weeks of pushing my body harder than I ever had. Of burning lungs, late-night recovery, cold hotel rooms, and half-asleep text messages.
Three weeks of drills, rotations, seminars, awkward small talk, and relentless eyes of scouts watching my every move.
I should have felt exhausted.
And I was.
But I also felt... satisfied.
Not in the cocky, ‘I dominated every drill’ kind of way, more like the kind of satisfaction that settles in your chest when you know you gave something everything you had.
There were no regrets on my part and I was damn proud of myself.
My shoulders slumped as I pulled off my helmet, the cold air biting at the sweat on my neck. I skated toward th
