Since finishing the book, I’ve been thinking a lot about the real-life NHL and how no players are openly part of the LGBTQIA+ community. And it has me wondering who in the IRL NHL would need to come out for it to be 1) this earth-shattering and 2) this (relatively) accepted.

And for the record, I’m not hypothesizing who could be closeted, because that’s none of my business. I’m just thinking of their notoriety and how that would impact the news of them coming out.

In the book, Scott is an all-star, but he’s older. Which makes me think someone like Sidney Crosby or Alexander Ovechkin. (Obviously Ovi adds complications of being Russian and outwardly buddies with Putin, but let’s set that aside for this brain exercise.)

But at the same time, with them being at the tail end of their careers, it seems like if they came out, it would be… underwhelming? Is that just because, as a hockey fan, their careers and stats are currently underwhelming? Would it be a bigger deal than I’m imagining?

I’m also thinking about the “younger” guys. I could very easily see someone like Mitch Marner, William Neelander, or Auston Matthews coming out, but then would the older players and fans just be like “these zoomers don’t know what they want, they’re all crazy”?

I’m also wondering if there’s anyone who could come out and it would NOT result in homophobic and misogynistic assholes coming out of the woodwork. Especially in today’s political climate (especially in the US), I honestly don’t think it could happen.

Any thoughts?

That’s… not how shootouts work.

You’re telling me that the second shooter for NY scored, and if Toronto missed, the game would be over? …….

Each team gets three shooters. Period. They get more if it’s still tied after 3 shots each, and THEN it goes one pair at a time.

The only time the third shooter wouldn’t go is if one team scored on the first two shots and the other team didn’t score any. Which is… not what happened in this situation.