The Wild advanced to the second round of the playoffs in early May, a genuine milestone for a franchise that hadn't gone this deep in nearly a decade, and the specific intensity of postseason hockey consumed every available hour of Cole's life in a way regular season hockey never quite managed — extra film sessions, extended practices, media obligations that multiplied with every round survived.
He barely saw Reese for the better part of two weeks, both of them operating on parallel, exhausting tracks — his playoff push demanding everything he had physically and mentally, her CBA negotiations reaching a critical, contentious stage as the league office continued stalling on the concrete protections players were demanding.
"I feel like we're living in the same apartment but different time
