Islands

December 2, 2010 Capitals 1 @ Stars 2
December 4, 2010 Thrashers 3 @ Capitals 1
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“Two in a row you’ve lost.”

“Yeah, I know, I know…” the blond sounded guilty, blushing. “We have to turn it around…pretty soon.” more

I cringed and pulled back Jaden, my nephew, who’d made the blond man blush. “Don’t be rude, Jaden.”

The man was eyeing me, looking up at me from his crouched position on the ice, where he was signing red jerseys and shirts and posters for a crowd of children around him. I offered him my best apologetic smile, for Jaden and the truth that Jaden had said.

“Is no problem,” he spoke to me, his accent slipping. “He’s just being honest.”

After he had signed all the merchandise that had been thrust in his face, he moved to his feet. He looked down at the two kids directly in front of him, Jaden one of them. “Wanna skate around with me for a bit?”

My nephew’s eyes were wide as saucers as he vigorously nodded his head. A grin was pasted on Jaden’s face from ear to ear. He didn’t ask me for permission or even look back at me as he took the blond stranger’s hand. I let it slide and watched as they skated off slowly, the man watching the kids carefully to make sure they wouldn’t trip, minding his strides. Technically, I guess, he wasn’t a stranger. Nicklas Bäckström was a hockey player, and a damn good one, that was beloved by the hockey fans in the city we were in. We were at a fan event, a public skate at the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden ice rink with select members of the Washington Capitals.

Bäckström was carefree and all smiles on the park ice. He looked like it was what he did every day of his life, guiding eager young children around on their skates, all while other people hounded him for pictures and asked him questions he shouldn’t have had to answer for anyway. Three of his teammates, John Carlson, Karl Alzner, and Marcus Johansson, were co-hosting the event. But the crowd flocked to him, a pack always close on his heels with each circle of the ice he paced. Dark blond hair to the nape of his neck and an infectious smile, the Swede was the fan favorite.

When Jaden skated his way back to me, I could tell by the expression on his face that I was going to be in the park until the event was completely over. He was completely mesmerized by getting to skate hand in hand and have a two-minute conversation with one of his hockey idols. After skating with Bäckström, he wanted to take a couple laps with me. I obliged, happy that he saw me as just as much fun as a Capital.

Within fifteen minutes, Jaden had to go to the bathroom. Then he wanted to get hot chocolate – the kind with whipped cream on top. I was eager to please him. He looked at me with big, puppy brown eyes and I crumbled at each of his requests. I wondered how my sister had the strength to properly parent and ever say ‘no’ to her son. He was the most adorable kid on the planet.

We were among the last of the groups of people that left the ice. Jaden had insisted that he get a chance to skate with Johansson and Alzner and Carlson, too. After, he sat beside me on the bleachers off to the side of the ice, exhausted and ecstatic as I was jamming my skates into the huge tote bag I’d brought. There were only two other families still there. The place had cleared out almost as quickly as it filled.

I tied my long brown hair into a messy bun and out of my face, then began helping Jaden out of his skates and back into his Buzz Lightyear sneakers, when his shrill, high voice belted out beside me. “Bye!”

Following his gaze, I looked over my shoulder to see Nicklas Bäckström making his exit. He noticed Jaden and stopped, facing us, the backpack slung on just one of his shoulders hitting the chain-link fence. He spoke directly to Jaden again for the second time that day, “I hope you had a good time.”

“It was so awesome, Nicky!” my nephew was not shy in the slightest.

Bäckström chuckled and walked the few steps to the fence gate. I pried Jaden’s left skate off and handed him his shoe to put on. I snapped the skate guard onto the blade of his skate and placed it in the tote bag. The bleachers had been deserted, save for Jaden and me. Bäckström spoke again, but he was beside me. I didn’t even notice him walk the distance towards us. “Need some help?”

I glanced at him sideways. Or rather, I glanced at the shoulder patch of his red jersey. He was probably half a foot taller than me. I shook my head confidently. “No, I think we got it.”

He shuffled his feet, but didn’t move from his spot as I gathered all of my belongings and Jaden’s loose belongings into my bag. I remembered then that he probably wasn’t used to being turned down by anyone for anything. He didn’t seem like the pushy type or the cocky type, not the type of guy who expected girls to fawn all over him. He was more of the ‘oh shucks, I can’t believe they pay this much attention to me’ kind of guy. And of course they did. He was the prototypical athlete. Tall, lean, and blond. With a Swedish accent and easy on the eyes.

Our eyes met and I felt my toes curl. At arm’s length from me, he was a Viking god. But maybe not a completely stoic one. He looked so cute with his blond hair flattened against the back of his neck, a white Capitals hat with a pom-pom top placed purposefully on his head. His track pants—Reebok and bright red—matched his jersey. Even the Nikes on his feet matched, completely black save for the red swoosh and soles. I silently reminded myself to set the DVR when the first episode of the Capitals/Penguins special aired on HBO. Maybe I would catch a glimpse of his getup. Maybe I would even catch a glimpse of my nephew.

“Lemme help you carry the stuff to your car,” Bäckström said. “Where did you park?”

Jaden answered quickly, his statement sounding like an exclamation. “We’re taking the Metro!”

“Oh…” The star forward sounded surprised.

It wasn’t a big deal, really. My brother-in-law had dropped us off at the event before he headed to work. He was a nurse and was on the second shift rotation. He and my sister only shared one car because she was a graphic designer who worked out of her home office. So Jaden and I just had to take the train home after the skate. He didn’t have a care in the world about it, because he just wanted to meet some of the players on his favorite sports team. I didn’t mind because I was in college, without my own car, and I rarely went anywhere that wasn’t reachable by foot or shuttle around the campus.

“You can ride with me,” was the next thing Bäckström said. “I’ll drive you.”

“Okay!”

The acknowledgment was out of Jaden’s mouth almost as soon as Nicklas said it. I didn’t have enough time to process that one of the Washington Capitals’ young guns was offering to drive us home. Maybe he wasn’t a complete stranger to us, but we were definitely strangers to him. Jaden was on his feet, looping his arms through the straps of his backpack.

I stood, too, unsure of what to do. “I…”

“C’mon, auntie!” Jaden interrupted my trailing word. “Bäckström will drive us.”

I wasn’t scared to put Jaden and myself in a car with Nicklas Bäckström. He was a public figure, after all. I remembered reading the article in the Washington Post about his teammate, Brooks Laich, helping a family change a spare tire on the side of the road late at night. Nicklas’ offer just showed that he was of the same breed as Brooks: a gentleman. I was just weirded out by the whole situation. There he was, a guy who probably made more in a month than I would in a year once I graduated in the spring, and he was offering us a ride like it was no big deal. I’d heard that hockey players were down to earth athletes. Just normal people. But actually experiencing it firsthand was strange. I wasn’t intimidated by Nicklas, but I didn’t quite know what I should say either.

At that point it didn’t even matter what I thought. Jaden had his own mind made up. The six-year-old took my hand and told Bäckström that we were ready. “Let’s go.”

Nicklas adjusted his own backpack on his shoulder before he picked up my tote. This hockey star was so normal that he was even parked in the main lot, where the fans that showed up to the event had parked earlier. A handful of vehicles remained, including the van from the radio station that had covered the public skate. Bäckström pointed out his vehicle to Jaden, a cherry red Range Rover by itself, with no cars around it. It looked like it was constantly up kept and the windows were tinted very dark. Jaden went running towards the SUV, determined to be the first one to make it there as if he had competition. Nicklas held up the keyless entry on his keychain and pressed one of the buttons twice, unlocking the doors.

I laughed at Jaden when he realized he wasn’t tall enough to climb into the heightened vehicle by himself. He put his hands on his hips and called for Nicklas and me to hurry up.

“Thank you, Nicklas,” I said when the Swede fell into step beside me.

He nodded, but replied with a question. “What’s your name?”

Up until that point, I’d kept my cool. As cute as he was, I hadn’t ogled him or deliberately tried to get his attention. There had been enough teenage girls at the event to do that. I wasn’t a huge Capitals fan, either. I’d gone to the Sculpture Garden for Jaden. My sister and I had grown up near Denver, so my hockey allegiance was to the Colorado Avalanche. But as soon as he’d spoken, I was embarrassed. Here I was about to get a free ride in his fancy SUV with my nephew, and it hadn’t even occurred to me to introduce myself.

“I’m Erin,” I answered, holding my hand out for a handshake.

He took off his black glove before taking my palm with his own. His grasp was firm, and his large hand was warm. He looked at me again with that Viking god smile pursed on his lips.

“You can call me Nicky.”