Time Stands Still

Dear Diary,

It’s me again. At the time I signed up for this offseason charity event, I thought it might be kind of cool. I thought about all the TV shows I watched with Detectives like Sherlock Holmes. If I wasn’t a hockey player in the NHL, this was the route I wanted to travel down. I wanted to be a detective or a private eye.

I was fortunate enough to get a sick internship with an Investigating Agency known as H.D.A. (Hockey Detective Agency). The HDA was known as a private agency, for hockey players who wanted to do a little extra for a charity during the offseason. This branch consisted of many different players who oversaw the entire league and kept an eye on things. It was essentially the NHL’s form of the CIA, FBI, and NSA. It there was a danger to one of the players, the HDA was on it. If there was a case needing to be solved, like if a crazy fan attempted to kidnap a player, the HDA was on it.

I loved the work and the spirit behind the agency and that was what initially drew me toward it. I helped them doing small stuff first, like filing paperwork and retrieving items for the boss. Eventually I was promoted to help with cases, putting in my input. I was having a fun time. And on top of that I was producing money and proceeds for a charity. The money went toward people with Asperger’s Syndrome.

I first started the partnering, during the offseason, back when I was still a Dallas Star. When I was traded to Boston in a Blockbuster trade, I wanted to carry on the event. So I did. However, other hockey players joined me.

Oh, and did I mention that my bosses name was Antti Niemi? That’s right, the San Jose Sharks’ goalie was in charge of all of us interns. He wasn’t strict, but he was thorough and he didn’t like screw-ups. He made that sure in the orientation. Luckily, I survived and wasn’t named a screw-up. I actually impressed him.

Anyway, I had moved up last offseason and started working on some cases. My first one was a doozy. I had to figure out, who stole Patrick Kane’s puck. I solved the case with the help of my partner at the time, Brandon Saad. Brandon was actually injured in a standoff with one of the suspects: the ref for the game.

This offseason, with Brandon’s withdrawal from the charity to move on, I was given a new partner. His name was Valeri Nichushkin. He was a rookie for the Dallas Stars.

Don’t get me wrong, I knew about and had heard about this special Russian player drafted in 2013 to my old team, but I couldn’t speak Russian for the life of me. I had respect for the country and I didn’t want to be rude. I didn’t really get why I was stuck with him at first, but I guess, Antti thought I could handle him.

He was right. Val was kind and he could speak some English, not a lot, but he understood me and my instructions. He had been continually learning and putting forth the effort to learn English and the slang involved. He knew more than I thought. And he had definitely improved in his speaking and phrasing. I was impressed. Him and I became close friends, as we worked together.

Soon we had fascinated the boss, who told us we could work case together. Once more I was put on the solving crew.

And now, for our third case together, we have been assigned a special task. Val likes it, but I am a little on edge. I’ve seen my fair share of strange cases that we are put on, but I guarantee that nothing will ever rack up to the same bizarreness as this case.

It took a long time to conduct and get through, but at the end we finally managed to come through. I’m not quite sure how this happened or why?! And you may want to sit up for this one. I am not kidding when I say that this current case was definitely unique to my experiences. I had known that there were some crazy people out there, like the ref who stole Patrick Kane’s puck, but not even the screen or stage has ever considered this original plot line.

Are you listening? Val and I solved a case that involved missing persons. No wait, scratch that. A missing sports star.

This is the story of that case.

-Reilly Smith-