The Next Year

Today was the day, I would find out if the IOC & the IIHF would let me play against the men as I had been doing most of my life. Sid & I were in Calgary at the home of Team Canada waiting for our turns to go in and make my case. Both the IOC & IIHF had spent months talking to everyone who I had played with or been coached by to find out how legitimate my claim was the the women's game was too easy for me. Right now Steve Yzerman and Coach Babcock were in making Team Canada's positive case for me to join the men's team.

"You know it's okay to be nervous. It'll even be ok if they rule against you." That was Sid right now, supportive and realistic. It wasn't what I wanted to hear though. I wanted the chance to compete at my highest level for Olympic Gold. That to me meant against the guys I played against, anything else would be a slap in the face of everything I had ever done.

Steve poked his head out and motioned for us to come in. He had a small smile on his face which made me feel a bit better. If he had any doubt he wouldn't have been smiling. Settling into our seats we were introduced to the members of the IOC & IIHF that were present. "It's good to finally put a face to the name we have been studying. As you know we've been talking to all your former teammates and coaches and we have come to our conclusion. Before you hear that, wanted to hear from you the reasons behind your application to play on the men's team."

My nerves kicked into overdrive. Sid squeezed my hand and I began to speak. "Thank you both for at least listening to my petition. Internationally I have never played for anyone other than Team Canada and I don't see that changing. The reason I want to play on the men's team is simple really. The Olympics are about competing at your highest level for the pride of your country and sport. My highest level is playing against and with men. I realize that this might set precedence for others, but all I want to do is my best in my sport. Don't misunderstand, Women's Hockey is important but for me it's like playing against children. There's no fighting or hard hitting play like I'm used to. Not to say they don't play hard, just that I am used to playing harder. I'm not asking for special treatment in the locker room or the dorms, just a chance at my version of the Olympic Dream." I noticed Steve nod at the end of my speech.

The gentlemen looked at each other and leaned in to confer for a moment. Once they were done, they looked at me and smiled. "Ms. Malahkov in all the years of working to hear petitions, never have we heard one like yours. To be so open and honest speaks volumes about your reason. It is the decision of the IOC & the IIHF that your petition be granted." My jaw dropped and my heart sang. I almost missed the rest of what they said I was so happy. "We have found that no matter how old you have been you have always strived for excellence beyond what others thought your gender could produce. This does not, by any means, grant you a spot of Team Canada's roster, only the right to fight for that spot. If you are selected, you will be welcome in Sochi for the 2014 Games. Congratulations." They began packing their briefcases as I sat there blown away, I would be able to fight for a spot on the team that meant the most to me.

After they had left, Steve and Babs let out a sigh of relief. "That was the biggest hurdle to your Olympic career and you past it with flying colors. This being said you still have to officially make the team. Consider this your invitation to camp this weekend.” Steve laughed a bit. “Of course I had a feeling so we even left a spot open for you.”

Sid squeezed my hand again and spoke. “She’s serious about not getting special treatment. Neither of us want it, especially because of what we’re about to officially tell you.” I felt him play with my rings and I squeezed his hand back. I could tell he was nervous. “Everyone knows we’re an item, that’s public knowledge. What isn’t, and what we really do _not_ want to over shadow this year at all, is that we actually got married about a week after Aleks signed with the Pens.”

Steve chuckled. “I remember that invitation. We wanted to go but it conflicted with a prior planned family vacation. Nick and Annika said it was lovely.”

I smiled. “For us it was _the_ perfect small wedding. By that I mean it was just under 100 people and most of those were part of our extended family. A good portion of our own team couldn’t make it due to other commitments. We weren’t upset at all if people couldn’t be there. We would have announced it last season but, the lockout was more important than it and now the Olympics. Right now our plan is _after_ the Olympics to send out a formal statement. We just wanted to make sure you knew before everything started.”

Babs smiled. “Honest is one of the best things someone can be in my opinion. This fact won’t effect my votes for the roster when the time comes. If I think you can help us win, great. It will all depend on how you play, however.”

Sid sagged against me in relief. “I was hoping you’d say that. Until we make our announcement she’ll still be using Malakhov on her jersey. Actually she might still keep it after, I don’t know.” I touched Sid’s arm, he was babbling.

The meeting was over and we now had 2 1/2 days to kill before Olympic Orientation camp. We went back to The Fairmont where we were staying for a couple days. “Let’s go to a movie.” I said after we got into our room. “Something light and fun.”

Sid grabbed his laptop and looked up what was playing. “There isn’t much light and fun out. I see Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters and Planes.” He looked up at me kind of dubiously. “Of the two, I vote Planes.” We went to see Planes.

A couple hours later we came back to the hotel still laughing at the movie. It had been what we needed. Sid grabbed the phone and phone book and dialed someone. “Yes I’d like to see if I can get reservations for 4 tonight.” 4? I was wondering who he was having us have dinner with. “Towards the back is preferred. Can I get your name please? Sandra, thanks. The reservation should be listed under Crosby. Hello?” He hung the phone up. “Why don’t people want to believe me?”

I chuckled and crawled up the bed to him. “Because everyone knows that Sidney Crosby doesn’t make reservations under his own name. Who were you going to invite?” I lazily picked up the phone and called Caesar’s Steakhouse again. “Hello? Yeah, I’d like to speak to a manager please. I’ll hold.”

Sid shook his head as I began triple checking the reservation he just attempted to make. He picked up his phone and dialed someone. “Hey Mike, it’s Sid. Yeah. Not bad not bad. Look we’re in town early for this weekend’s Orientation camp and I kinda want to know if you and your lady would like to go to dinner tonight with us? Well I tried getting reservations at Caesar’s but said my name and got hung up on. Nah, Aleks is on it. She’s waiting for a manager right now.” He laughed. “Oh she’s good at fixing stupid things like this. 8 if that’s good for you guys. Ok we’ll see you there.” He hung up and grinned at me. He was done before I had even gotten off of hold.

Then I heard a click. “This is John, you said you needed to speak to a manager?” I smiled.

“Yes, hi John. My name is Aleks and my honey and I called to make reservations for 4 for tonight at 8.” I paused to let him digest this before continuing. “Unfortunately Sandra didn’t seem to want to believe the name we gave her for that reservation.” I was twirling the phone cord in my fingers while Sid moved so he could listen in.

“That’s a serious accusation Aleks. Can I get the name he was trying to make it under?” I heard him flipping through a book.

“Oh I understand that. The name is Crosby. He asked for a table in the back as well. No, I’m quite serious. Tell you what. Call the Fairmont, ask for room 68 and then we’ll finish this conversation.” This was a tactic I’d used before. Get them to call me back, things tended to go more smoothly after.

The phone rang and Sid stopped me from answering it by grabbing it himself. “Hello? Uh, she’s indisposed but I’m her other half.” He laughed. “Actually yes I am… Yeah that’s her too. Actually yeah I did and she hung up on me. Preferably towards the back yes. We are going to have some friends joining us as well. No, we don’t want a private room, just in the back away from too many people will be fine. Thank you, we’ll see you tonight.” He hung up and chuckled. “God, that really _does_ work!”

A few hours later we stepped out of the cab an immediately saw Mike and Courtney. I immediately hugged Mike tightly. “So good to see you guys!” They both laughed. “God, this last year has been bad.”

Mike shook Sid’s hand. “Well at least this weekend will be good and then the countdown to going back to D.C. begins.” We were now coming into Caesar’s and now we would see just what us making a fuss will have gotten. “You guys look good though, keeping out of trouble?”

We both laughed then Sid replied. “Trouble? Remember I can barely leave the house. The most trouble we’ve gotten in was the paint fight we had while finishing off the house.” He laughed again. That paint fight was hilarious, our bedroom still held the evidence of it. Our first real fight as married people and it was over what color to paint our new bedroom.

Thanks to Sid’s laugh we were known quickly and shown to our table. It was in the back and out of the way so we might get as much privacy as we could have without a private room. Sid and I were smart and sat with our backs to the rest of the room to try and keep ourselves hidden a little more. We hoped to stay quiet and enjoy a night out with some people we could call friends. I’m _very_ happy to say that we succeeded.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

2 days of fun later, we signed in to Orientation Camp. Looking through I saw that Tanger and Kuni were already here. I pointed this out to Sid who just grinned. I opened my envelop and found a hand written note from Stevie.

Duckling- I knew you would pass the IOC and IIHF’s interrogation. I look forward to seeing what you can do in colors we can all agree on. Good Luck. -Stevie P.S. I hope you can stand _not_ rooming with your other half.

I also found 1 keycard and chuckled. I looked over at Sid’s room number and found it wasn’t near me. That made me even happier. As much as I loved Sid, we needed our time apart too. I moved out of the way and grabbed my bags.

Before I could hit the elevator, completely without Sid who had been tagged by a couple other guys to talk to, I was lifted up and spun around. When I was put down, my eyes were covered and I heard a very familiar voice in my ear. “Mal! How’s my favorite Penguin?”

I turned to find Jordan Staal. A grin lit my face, I hadn't seen him since his wedding. "Well if it isn't the blabber mouth. How are you Gronk?" That's when I noticed a few others behind him that all knew me well. "I see news travels fast still. Hey Eric, Marc." They both waved with smiles. "This is supposed to be a good weekend."

Jordy laughed. "I thought Marc was pulling my leg when he said you were here. Does this mean you won your appeal?" Trust Jordy to be up on the news. I nodded happily, my smile getting even larger. "That's awesome Mal. How's he been really? He seemed really stressed out the last time I saw him."

I chuckled, "Weren't you? Not everyone could go to Europe or the minors. Hell I couldn't even talk to my own family. Fortunately that's all over now and we have a season and the Olympics to look forward to." Yeah, I still felt like a weight had been lifted from me.

Marc came over and hugged me. "We haven't seen any announcements, are you two doing alright?"

I would have answered him but Patrick Sharp came over then to say hello and I couldn't remember if we had invited him or not. I would not be the one to spill this secret before we were ready. "Hi Pat, how are those girls of yours?"

He broadly grinned. "Weeds, I don't have kids, I have weeds. They're great, with Abby at her folks place visiting while I'm here. Did I read the table correctly, you're trying out?"

I laughed. "It took both the IOC & IIHF signing off on it but yeah I am. I just hope I do well and make the team. This team is going to be stacked." I said kind of marveling at who was around us. "I think I might be the shortest one here too, not that that is going to bug me."

Pat laughed which drew over Johnny. "If Peekaboo can handle it, you can too." He punched Jon on the shoulder. "Of course your connections make you a near shoe in, you realize." Both Jon and I scoffed. "I'm serious, how many of these guys do you know off ice? You're a lock to go."

I shook my head. "All I get to do is fight for a roster spot. If I'm not good enough to make the team, I'm not good enough simple as that." Jon squeezed my shoulder, he knew how I felt about special treatment. "There's only one spot I'm positive I have a lock on and that's as the only woman in the League."

Everyone around me laughed. Jon spoke up. "Mal, everyone who saw you play and win the Cup, knows you're a lock for more than just that. Those of us who know you know you'll fight tooth and nail for every inch of ice and second of time on it. I for one can't wait to see you rip up those who stand in your way, as long as it's not me." Everybody laughed.

"I'm jealous of Fleury this year, stealing my favorite Defensman." I looked over and saw Holtz standing there, I couldn't help but giggle at him. He threw an arm over my shoulders and continued. "I expected to see you in Wilkes-Barrie last year, what happened?"

A giggle escaped me. "Oh Holtz, I have a one way contract. I couldn't be sent there. I had enough to keep me busy though. How's Benjy?" He grinned and showed me a picture. "Holy cow that boy has grown."

"Yeah he's keeping Brandi and I busy. That's not..." A look of semi-horror crossed his face.

I laughed out loud. "Oh god no Holtz, we were finishing our monster of a house. It's huge and it feels like it took forever to finish. I love it though, we'll never have to move. Awesome neighbors and schools. My heart sister on the next block, it's perfect. "

Of course that's when Nealer showed up. "You guys finally finished that thing. We thought for sure it wouldn't ever be done." I smacked him which made him grunt. "What? That place is huge!"

I rolled my eyes at him. "Nealer, it's not as big as you're making it seem. Now be nice or you won't be invited when we host this year's opening BBQ.” I was feeling more secure in handling the team’s opening BBQ since having the family over. We’d even figured out a way to close off the rink.

James tried the puppy dog look when I admonished him, which I ignored in favor of actually getting _on the elevator I had been waiting for. It hadn’t been a long day, just one where I needed to find my own space sooner rather than later. When I got to my floor I rolled off down the hall and found my room easily. I had just unlocked my door when I felt a hand on my back. I turned and found Tanger standing there. “Hey Aleks, can I talk to you? I ‘ave some t’ings I need you to know about.”

“Hey Tanger. Yeah come on in, this is mine alone so we won’t be interrupted unless we want to be.” I led the way into my room and sigh at how it looked, like every other hotel room I’d been in. I left my bags sitting on the floor and turned so I could see Tanger better. “So, what’s up?”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “Je ne sais pas comment vous dire vraiment ce ... Vous savez comment Catherine et moi avions des problèmes? Eh bien, euh, elle ne sera plus un problème. (I do not know how to tell you this ... You really know how Catherine and I had problems? Well, uh, she will not be a problem.)” I was stunned. I had heard from Vero that Cat and Kris were having some serious problems and that Cat had changed a lot, but I didn’t expect this.

I patted the bedspread and coaxed Kris over to me. “Qu'en est-Alexandre? Serez-vous le voir encore? (What about Alexander? Will you see him still?)” He let out a dry chuckle and smiled. “Qu'est-ce que Kris? (What is it Kris?)”

He looked at me with a light in his eyes I hadn’t seen in a while. “Eh bien en fait, j'ai rencontré quelqu'un. Elle littéralement heurta en moi dans Kasual. Au début, elle était juste soignant d'Alexandre, mais nous avons commencé à voir les uns les autres. Aleks, je l'aime. Mon fils l’aime. (Well actually, I met someone. She literally bumped into me in Kasual. At first she was just caregiver of Alexander, but we started to see each other. Aleks, I love her. My son loves her.)” The soft wonder in his voice told me he spoke the truth.

I leaned forward, now very interested in what he was saying. Vero had told me a little bit but not a lot. “Sait-elle? Quoi d'autre faites-vous à ce sujet? (Does she know? What else are you doing about it?)”

He sighed and ran his hand through his hair. Looking back at me, he found what he needed to say. “Vendredi prochain, Catherine donne à tous les droits à Alexander et Kalista sera l'adopter officiellement. Je tiens à rendre encore plus spécial mais je ne sais pas comment. Voulez-vous m’aider? (Next Friday, Catherine gives all rights to Alexander and Kalista will formally adopt. I want to make it even more special but I do not know how. Will you help me?)”

At this point I wanted to see a picture and give up the change in language. “I wanna see a picture.” Kris grinned, feeling more secure now, and moved over to the same bed I was on.

“I took some discreet shots when she was distracted. She is a photo grapher by trade.” He showed me first a shot of a woman with his son. “This is my Kallie. We were coming back from packing ‘er t’ings in Toronto. Stopping by ‘er family ‘ome so t’ey could meet Alex and I and so Mario could talk to t’em. Mario was asking questions about Kallie to ‘er family. I saw Alex being too cute and had to take a picture.”

Moving to the next few shots, I saw pictures of this same woman, Kallie with Alex and Estelle in a church. Also with Vero and Flower, what got me was that Vero’s smile was lit up which meant she truly liked Kallie. “V really likes her doesn’t she?” Kris nodded. “That’s great. I can’t wait to meet her. If V’s smile is real and it is, she obviously is a great person.” I went to the next shot and found one of Kris and Kallie. They were very close and smiling. Looking carefully, I noticed that it was a candid shot. You could tell neither knew it had been taken. That’s where I saw what I really needed. “Wow Kris, this is a great shot.”

He looked, I heard his breath stop then I heard a knock on my door. Handing him the phone I answered it. Sidney, of course. “Hey.” I let him come in, not worrying at all that Tanger was here.

“Hey yourself, oh hey Tanger.” Kris didn’t even look up from his phone but he did wave. “What’s up?”

I chuckled. “Kris has asked me to help with showing his new lady how important she is to he and Alex. I’m pretty sure he didn’t know someone stole his phone and took the shot he’s staring at.” I plucked the phone from Kris’ unresisting hand and showed Sid. “This is Kallie, V and Flower already love her apparently. Mario too. I think if he doesn’t wife this one, he’s stupid.”

I looked over at Kris who had flushed. He pulled a box out of his pocket and handed it to me. “T’at is why I need your ‘elp. I know she is _T’e_ One. I just do not know ‘ow to make ‘er know t’at it is not jus’ me w’o loves ‘er.”

Sid looked through a few more pictures then looked up. “Then you should both give her rings.”

Everything froze. Sid didn’t know that they were about to have Kallie become Alex’s mom, but somehow he’d hit on the perfect idea. “Sid, that’s a great idea! Tanger, once everything is final next Friday you should take the entire family out. To mark them becoming mom and son, Alex should give her a ring. Maybe one with his birthstone for her right hand. Then as you guys have more kids, the kids can each give her the same kind of ring.” It was sweet, thoughtful and showed how much she meant to both of them.

Kris opened the box and showed it off. “Do you t’ink she will like it?” It was _gorgeous_ ring. It was in the shape of a lotus flower. The diamonds were set in rose gold. “I didn’t want to leave it laying around at ‘ome, we just moved and I do not yet have a hiding spot for it.”

Oh this boy had it bad… “Tanger, if she’s the one we’ll take Sid’s idea.” I looked at my husband and grinned. “Which was a great one, and run with it. I’ll go shopping with you for a ring from Alex, just name the time.”

It took us a day or two to find the right ring and then to find something to put it in so Alex could give it to Kallie, but we did. After some talking with Sid, we decided that we would also take up the tradition of commemoration jewelry for our children. I found a necklace and a simple baby bootie charm. After some quick texting back and forth, Sid and I agreed that we would use yellow gold for our boys, white gold for our girls and rose gold for the one we lost. I picked out what we thought was the right stone, sapphire for September, for the baby we lost and had both booties engraved with Lost 3/12. Was it emotional for me, yeah but it no longer felt like I was ripping my heart out just thinking about who was taken from us.

Orientation Camp went as well as I thought it would. I wasn’t given grief over being there or being female. They guys just seemed happy that I was taking this seriously. I even got to play against my husband most of camp, which was a unique experience for us. I gotta say, robbing the “best player in the world” of his chance to score even in practice was awesome.

We were all told that how we performed in the first 3 months of the upcoming NHL season would more than likely be our chances of making the Olympic Team. After the final meeting, I was sure about two things. I was going to have to work my ass off to make this team and Sid was a near lock. Sounds normal to me.