The Next Year

Today was the day. Because I had been accidentally forgotten in the initial plans, I had been given special permission to take the cup to more than one state. That had been finalized just before we had left for our Mini Camp in L.A. and the Reebok Photoshoot. So here I was, in a dorm room at my High School Alma Mater, Shattuck-St.Mary’s. It was now 4:30 in the morning and I was hauling myself to the ladies locker room so I could go through a workout with the Girls Prep Team. Now, I hated morning, especially early mornings, but today was even more special so I hated it less. Today was my day with Lord Stanley and Philip Pritchard, the Keeper of the Cup. I wouldn’t be meeting Philip and Lord Stanley until later today.

I pushed my way into the locker room and was met by the sleepy looks of the ladies. Well, all except for one. “Aleks!” Tay cried as she got up and came over to hug me tightly. I hugged her back just as tightly, it’d been over a month since we’d seen each other in the flesh.

“Hey sis, not so loud. I haven’t had coffee yet.” It had been 2 months since I had been up anywhere _near_ this early. There were soft chuckles from around the room as I moved further in. “Don’t mind her, you should have seen her brother when I left yesterday. Talk about clingy.” I had to laugh at that, Sid had changed his mind and wanted to come with me but the guys at Southpointe had given him hell for not wanting to be away from me for even 12 hours so he had backed down after extracting the promise that he could meet me at Children’s Hospital.

Their assistant coach, Melissa Boik, came in at 5:00 am and nodded as she passed all of us sitting there. I grabbed my water bottle and looked around. “The sooner we start, the sooner we finish. What’s today’s routine?”

Taylor’s Roommate and Fellow Goalie, Mia, spoke up. “Actually we were hoping you would take us through _your_ in-season routine.” They all looked at me hopefully.

I thought about it for a moment, it would benefit me for sure to get my workout in, but I wasn’t sure their coach would go for it. “Let me ask your coach, if she says it’s ok then I have no problem.” I got up to go ask when I heard a chuckle behind me.

“Don’t bother, when Taylor ask if you could join us for this morning they checked to see if they could workout with you. If you have no problem with it, neither do I. Maybe they will learn something that can help them too.” She stood there in workout gear as well. “In fact if you’re ok with this, I’ll join too.”

I was a little flabbergasted but I did what I normally did in this case, I rolled with it. “Well then let’s hit the weight room and start some warm up yoga.” The girls got up and lead the way. The locker room had changed since I had left the school and I marveled at the new weight room. “This is great.”

The girls spread out and got ready. “Ok don’t hurt yourselves by following along. I’ve been doing yoga for almost a decade so my workout warm up had changed a lot since I started. If you have a chance to do Yoga or Pilates I would suggest you try it. I’ve found myself more flexible and stronger. I’ve gotten some of my team mates to try it over the years and they enjoyed it, Even Greenie liked it once we got into a routine with it.” With that I faced them all and began my warm up.

Partway through one of the girls had a question. “So does Sid do this with you?” Both Taylor and I laughed out loud. I also heard another door open and more people come in.

I continued with answering the question as I moved through to another position. “No, no he won’t do this with me, although he is willing to so _some_ Pilates. I do have my Best Friend Mari who does this with me, she’s a goalie and knows how good it feels.”

I heard footsteps behind me and then a young man speak up. “I’m sure you know all sorts of things that feel good.” It was a slimy thing to say and before the coach hidden in the back of the area I stood up and handled it.

Turning around I looked nearly eye to eye with the young man. “I may not be sure who you are but I do know the attitude you’re throwing out. Trust me little boy you couldn’t handle me.” I heard a laugh from behind him and caught the eye of Jeremy Brodeur. “Oh god not you.” Yeah I was giving him shit, the last time I had seen Jeremy we had a good conversation over his Spring Break.

“You might want to watch out, Will’s here too.” He gloated back which just made me laugh.

“I’m sure I can handle both of you, after all I’m not alone here either.” The guys around us all made noise while the ladies behind me were quiet. “Now all of you gentlemen behave or else I won’t let you meet my friend later at the assembly.” Jeremy just smiled and shook his head. I just smiled and winked at him.

“So it really is true, he’s here?” said one of the girls. I turned and nodded. “How did _we_ get so lucky?” I sat down in front of the girls and giggled.

“That’s easy, I’m an Alum. I went from here to MSU and on to get my Masters’ in Athletic Training from George Washington University, though I missed graduation something about playing in The Finals.” They all laughed and started standing slowly. “While a lot of the guys have brought him here, I wanted to be the first lady to do so. I thought it would be good for you _girls_ to see that you can follow your dreams and have them exceeded beyond what you thought you could do.” Yep, I brought Lord Stanley here for the girls first.

Of course one of the boys had to try and make it into something it wasn’t. “Sounds like you and _your_ _friend_ could use some exercise, maybe you should spend the night in my room.” I heard both Jeremy and Taylor gasp deeply while the rest of the room fell silent.

“Honey I don’t _do_ threesome with little boys.” I said sassily, of course I had to continue. “My friend is well over 100 years old and revered around the world, both Jeremy and Tay have at least been in the same room as he before. So before you start disrespecting La Coupe Stanley, I suggest you back down.” I deliberately used the French for The Cup to throw him off.

I herded the girls away from the guys before I lost my temper. “Come on ladies, let’s show the boys that we can work just as hard as they can.” We spread out and began circuits on the equipment. All working as hard as we could for the time we were doing the exercise. We all worked on doing a modified crossfit routine that had been developed specifically for hockey players. I knew it well as it was the routine that both Sid and I used with Andy.

About 30 minutes later we were all done while the boys were only halfway through. As we got back into the ladies locker room I looked at the girls. “It’s not how many you can do, it’s how many you can do at your highest level. Heavy weight and low rep; doing things for a short amount of time but intensely at that time and resting between repetitions. Now let’s get cleaned up and get some food.”

I dressed with some care for the rest of my day. A lovely angel wing top in purples and blues paired with a set of dark wash curvy fit bootcut jeans. My shoes were glitzed up purple sandals that I loved. All of my jewelry from my wedding set to my watch were silver-toned, including my 3 favorite saying bracelets. This I could wear everywhere I was today and be not only comfortable but also stylish.

Taylor came up and put her head on my shoulder. “I’m happy you could be here today Aleks.” She had her uniform on already and looked ready for the day. “I still can’t believe you brought him here.” I laid an arm around her shoulder and we went to go get breakfast.

After that we parted ways for a little while. I went to the main office to wait for Philip and Stanley and she went to class. I hung out in the main office as I waited. Phil and Stanley had stayed in the Twin Cities last night due to an engagement the day before. I looked around at the various pictures on the walls while I waited.

Nick Stoneman, the President of the school, came up behind me and startled me by speaking. “There have been some incredible people to come through this school.” As I got my heart rate back under control he continued. “We are happy that you brought such a special gift to us. It’s not every one of our Alumni that brings it here.”

I chuckled. “Sir, from everything I’ve been able to find out, I’m the _only_ NHL Alumni to bring Lord Stanley here. Trust me I’ve asked every Alum who’s won this beauty, not one has brought it here.” I heard a truck pull up outside and looked up. There was no mistaking Philip Pritchard or the case he had with him. “Sir, would you like to see The Cup before we show it off to everyone?”

The sparkle in his eyes said enough. I lead the way out to Phil. “Good Morning Mr. Pritchard.” I said as we got close.

He looked over at me and smiled. “Good Morning Ms. Malakhov, are you ready to begin your extra special day?” President Stoneman looked at me oddly so I explained. “Because I was a special contract, they forgot to count me in the original set of players dates. Because of that, I am being allowed to not only bring Lord Stanley here but we will be going from here to Pittsburgh for the rest of my day. Once we get there we go to Children’s Hospital, probably meeting some of the guys there and show off The Cup to the kids. I have a young friend who had a re-check today for Pilocytic Astrocytoma, I’ve coordinated my visit with the hospital and her mom. Tiffany has no idea I’m coming.”

Both of them looked impressed. “Why don’t we get this case and its contents into the school. I can show you where your presentation will be held and get you whatever you need to make this the best.” I looked at Phil and shrugged, it didn’t matter to me where I got to hold it first. We were escorted into a multi-purpose room. “Just let someone know what you might want and we should be able to make it happen.”

“If we can get a table so that we can put The Cup on it. It might be only 35 pounds but it does get heavy after a while.” We were brought a good table for the size. “Perfect thank you.”

Soon enough the bell rang to change classes. It took me back to my own classes here years ago, I was pulled out of my reverie by Phil. “You know you’re the fist to bring him here right?” I nodded as I looked around the multi-purpose room. “What made you think of bringing him here?”

“To prove to the girls that dreams really _can_ come true. The guys know if they work hard enough they’ll make it to the NHL, I know I’m the first woman to really make it and I wouldn’t have been given that shot without Manon Rheaume. The girls in this school can now also dream of making it in the big league, I wanted to show them that it _can_ happen.” He smiled and opened the case. Inside lay the most coveted trophy is all sports. The Caps engravings had been done before I got my day and it was laying face up in the case. As I looked and found my name, I teared up. They had put me right after Ovi, in a place of honor.

Phil smiled as he saw me tearing up. “Alex himself asked that I make sure your name was after his so that everyone from now on would know how important you were to winning The Cup. He knows, they _all_ know, that if it wasn’t for you elevating their game, they wouldn’t have done it.” The President coughed politely.

“I don’t mean to cut this short but the students are nearly ready to file in. We have taken their homerooms and made it the assembly period for today. Let me show you where to wait before I announce you.” We were both shown to an alcove that could not be seen from the multi-purpose room.

As the students filed in I stood in the alcove. Soon enough the National Anthem and then the School Fight Song were both played, I began having trouble fighting back my tears. Phil touched my shoulder. “Emotional day already?”

I wiped my eyes and chuckled. “You have no idea. I never thought I’d get to do this. I know this isn’t original, bringing him to a school you went to, but it means a lot to me to be able to bring him here on my own.” Checking my makeup, I heard the President announce me; it was show time.

“Some of you know who our special guest is, but most of you don’t. It is my honor to introduce one of our best Alumni, Aleksandra Malakhov.” I look over and Phil and smile, he nodded back at me and I walked out to the cheers of the student body.

“Thank you President Stoneman for that introduction.” I said after he handed me the mic. Turning to the kids I smiled. “I know what you’re thinking. Who the hell is she and why is she here? Well I am a _proud_ Alumni of this school and while you may not know it, today is your lucky day. I brought a couple friends with me who are much more famous than I am so far.” The kids chuckled as I turned and nodded to Phil. I saw him hoist Lord Stanley into his arms and come out into the room.

The kids gasped and then the roar of approval began. Phil set His Lordship on the table and stood back. I grinned at the students. “Oh good, you all know Phil, I was afraid you wouldn’t.” I heard him laugh out loud and a few of the students. I turned to him and blew him a kiss.

“In all seriousness I’m honored to be the _first_ Alum to bring Lord Stanley here.” I placed on the body trying not to cheese out. “How many of you play ice hockey, no matter the level?” I saw the guys hands all shoot up, but not as many of the girls. “Oh come on ladies, where are you?” I spotted Taylor and beckoned her. “Come on Tay, might as well completely floor them.” She practically skipped to me. I threw an arm around her. “This is my sister, Taylor. She and her teammates are the reason I’m here. Because I want her and every other girl in this school to _know_ that dreams, even impossible ones, come true. About 6 months ago, I was given my true dream job, to play Defense with and NHL Team. No one really gave the team an honest chance to Lord Stanley here. We proved them all wrong. Be cause of that my name is the first woman to be on here as a player.” I looked and found that Phil had carefully put the Caps engraving facing outwards. Finding my name I smiled warmly. “Right here in fact.”

Taylor looked and snickered. She went back to her place and got a couple things and came back. She then began to take a rubbing of the engraving. I spotted a second mic and had an idea hit me. “You know, I’m not going to do _all_ the talking. Who has a question for me?” Taylor looked up at me and grabbed the mic.

“I do, sis. Before anyone else asks, we’ve heard the rumors and seen the video of you and my brother and all that. When is the wedding?” She said it with a straight face and it was all I could do to not laugh at her.

Coughing a little bit to get myself mentally in the right space, I answered. “Well, you would know seeing that we would make sure you would be there. Um, in all honesty we won’t be publishing when we’re getting married. Family and friends will know but that’s about it. Sorry if I’m crushing dreams here but I’ve waited now 9 years for that man to actually propose and damn it I’m keeping him.” That got some chuckles. “Ok, who’s next?”

One of the guys stood up and Tay jogged the mic over to him. “Yeah, You signed a playoffs only contract with the Caps and then signed a 2 year agreement this past July with the Pens, why didn’t you resign with the Caps? Didn’t they want you?” He kept standing so I could see him as I answered.

Taylor by now was continuing her rubbing and listening. “Well, to be honest I had to get special permission from the League to even sign the playoff only contract. It was a lot of paperwork on the Caps end to do this. They had to document that I had unofficially been on the team for at least 3 months or more and some other things that I have no idea about. Fortunately they had all of that information. I had unofficially been practicing with the team every day since Coach Hunter took over.” I paused as I thought about how to phrase the next part of the answer. “As to signing with the Pens, Pittsburgh is home. Yes I’m Canadian and proud of it but I’ve spent more time living in the U.S. in my life than Canada. My folks live and work with the Pens, then there’s Sid.” I chuckled. “We’ve spent so much time of the last 9 years having a secret relationship long distance that we’re both sick of it. It’s part of the reason we came out as a couple back in February, so we wouldn’t have to hide anymore.”

He nodded as he passed the mic off. This time it was one of the teachers who had a question. “Out of everything, what would you say motivates you the most?”

I was pacing a little bit while I spoke now. “Hmm… Family for sure, friends too; especially if they overlap. I’m sure you all have friend who are more like family than anything else.” The kids all chuckled at that. “Um… I have to say doing my absolute best every single day is a big motivation for me. Not because of who I’m with or anything, it’s my personal daily challenge. If I can look back on the day and be proud of everything I did I’m happy.” I paused and looked out over the crowd. “You hear a lot of guys saying that they aren’t role models and all that. That’s not me. I _know_ I am, not just for other women who want to break into the League but also for every little girl who plays and dreams. There are _so_ many ways that girls get told they aren’t pretty enough and such that I feel it’s important to say, even indirectly, that you don’t _have_ to dress like trash to be taken seriously. That’s a motivation as well, to provide a positive role model for every female athlete who needs one.” I moved my right wrist and heard my bracelets jangle together. “How many of you have sayings that you use for motivation? Show of hands.” A few hands went up as I looked around.

“Me too. In fact I’m wearing three of my favorite sayings around my wrist right now. First,” I took off the bracelet and held it above my head. “Was our team motto during the playoffs. Do or do not, there is no try.” Quite a few chuckles rang out. “I know, kind of cheesy but it works. It reminds me that I can do anything.” I put that one back on and took off the second. Holding it high I continued. This one is from First Corinthians. Love is patient, Love is kind… ” I put it back on. “That one reminds me that no matter what I might be going through, love will get me through it. Even if it’s being pissed off at the man I love. Yes it’s true we fight like any normal couple. Love conquers all though.” I pulled off my third bracelet and held it high. “This one, however, is my favorite. The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. I truly believe that everyone can have their dreams come true, you just have to believe in them and yourself. This one has gotten me through times where I didn’t believe in either to where I am today. It’s my dream to hoist this beautiful trophy again with the Pens.” Again I touched The Cup. “It is also my dream to inspire others to follow theirs as well which I hope I have today. I think we have time for one more, who’s got a good one?”

The boys head coach took the mic. “I know that diet is an important part of any player’s regimine. How does your diet impact how well you play?” He set the mic back down where Taylor had found it as I answered.

I walked around some more cause I was tired and getting antsy for the few pictures I wanted at the school. “Well Coach, my diet is not what you might expect, I have to eat between 5,000 and 6,000 calories a day.” I heard the gasp and nodded. “Yeah I know it sounds like a lot. It isn’t as difficult as you might think to eat well. I have 4-6 smaller meals a day but I always have snacks on me.” I pulled a bag of my homemade trail mix out of my bag. “I make this trail mix myself in large batches so that I can carry it everywhere. I also cook more than is needed for one meal so that I can take things with me as I need to. Chicken breast if it’s cooked right can be still juicy and yummy hours later and cold. My diet and Sid’s are similar, heck our calorie count is similar but both are for _very_ different reasons. As you can all see I’m a _lot_ smaller than 98% of the League. That means that I have to be smarter, stronger and faster than them all. I won’t lie I’ve always loved playing the boys style of hockey, I can crash and grab as well or better than anyone out there but there’s a price. I work that much harder to do that. That means I have to fuel myself differently as well. I use a modified Gary Roberts diet as my base. I just can’t be as strict as Scary Gary wants his people to be.” The kids laughed. Gary’s nutrition plan was well known. “I eat lean and healthy meats of all kinds and as much of it organic as I can as well. Good fats like from nuts of various kinds and things like that. Every kind of fruit and vegetable I can get my hands on, also as organic as I can get them. I don’t take out carbs although some guys do. I _do_ make sure I have as many whole grains and good carbs as I can. My plan is always evolving as I learn something new from reading articles in well-respected health magazines or talking to the team nutritionist. I also use BioSteel to augment the foods I have. I started using those during the playoffs and have continued to use them during this summer. Gary carries the Magic Bullet blender also for quick and easy shakes and smoothies. I’m going to try and do that, or at least have it in the gear that the team carries, and see if that helps me too.” I looked at the clock, we only had a few minutes left in the hour.

“Well gang I hope that you’ve gotten a kick out of seeing my new friend here. How about I do the _one_ thing only those who have _earned_ him are allowed to do and then take a few pictures?” Claps and whistles filled the air as I set down my mic and touched the bowl. Then, for the first time since I was handed him from Greenie, I took hold of Lord Stanley and hoisted him above my head. I was sure that most of them were taking pictures as a whole host of phones came out of pockets. When I could no longer hold him above my head I gently set him down on the table and then Taylor came over to me. “Hey you.”

“Hey, I did something for you.” She handed me a piece of paper. As I looked at it I teared up. She had taken a rubbing of the Caps engraving and then gone on to get all of her teammates to sign the page. Across the top was written the following: From Yesterday’s Dreamer to Today’s Champion, Thank you from The Future. I set the page down and pulled her to me in a hard hug.

“Thank you Taylor.” I whispered to her. “You have no idea how something this simple makes today worth it.” I was crying now. She had done something even better than a picture to give me a very special memory of today. I’d have to find a way to thank her more properly later. “Come on, Let’s find someone to take a couple pictures of us with His Lordship here.”

Phil had come walking over as Taylor had come up. “Give me your phones and I’ll take them for you.” We turned them over and got next to The Cup. “Say Champion.” He said with some laughter as he took a few pictures of the two of us. He even took one with his phone. “So what do I put as the caption for this for Twitter?” He showed us the picture he took as he handed back our phones. I took the phone and wrote something for him. Guess who is at Shattuck-St.Mary’s with Crosby’s fiancée and sister, how lucky is #TheCup? He laughed and sent the tweet. “Great wording.”

After that he students were allowed to gather in groups around the Cup with me and get pictures for a few minutes. The Girls Prep Team quickly swamped me; Phil took several pictures for us all. Then a few others came up and took pictures. Soon enough it was time for Lord Stanley, Phil and myself to go and get another picture at center ice of the arena here.

After that, we loaded up and were whisked to the airport for our trip to Pittsburgh. Once in the car, Phil had to ask something. “So, how _does_ it feel to bring him here first?”

I chuckled. “It blows me away Phil. Did you see what Tay did for me?” I handed him the page proudly. He took it and smiled. “I’m going to have it framed I think. I think she was awesome for thinking of doing this for me.”

On the plane we had a good meal, we also had Paul Martin joining us. We swapped stories from the summer, including a few from the many weddings we attended. Phil was confused for a little bit. “Wait, this sounds like you and Sidney got married _this_ summer. I thought you weren’t married yet.”

Paulie laughed loudly. “Oh my god, are you serious? Did you guys really manage to keep this a secret?”

I couldn’t hold my laughter in any more. “Come on Paulie, there were no Staals there of course we were able to keep it secret.” That sent him into more peals of laughter. It took us a while to calm down. “Yeah we got married _very_ quietly this summer. The news won’t be broken until just before the season starts. Our agent is handling that. We wanted the summer to get used to it before the world knew.”

The rest of the flight was easy and we got to Pittsburgh International in about 2 hours. Paulie didn’t want to go to Children’s with me so he went to his place and the rest of us went to Children’s Hospital.