🦈

asky joins, you got this baby during a shoot out drill that misa almost fumbles, luca chirping baby almost didn’t have it eky and muhks when they were here, eky’s fond and sweet, aw baby’s falling asleep when they’re on an early morning flight and muhks swats at eky let the baby sleep, we need him good tonight cherny is sweet with it, cheeks as flushed as misa’s when he gets close, heads bumping and so good baby that has misa squirming a bit, grin too wide and cheeks cherry red

but it’s sam who uses it the most, baby come here, baby let’s go, baby don’t bother him, baby baby baby that devolves to babe, honey, sweetheart, sugar plum, honey bunches because misa went through a honey bunches of oats cereal phase, bug and bear and puppy—much to toff’s chagrin—get mixed in there somehow but the one that backfires on sam is kitty.

misa curled up in a sun spot on the floor of toff’s living room, stella quietly guarding him when sam spots him. the sunlight makes his expression softer, rounding out the sharp edges that are coming through.

sam takes a picture and sends it off to the knights group chat kitty’s all tuckered out and ignores the barrage of messages that range from there’s something seriously wrong with you to he’s so cute i’m gonna lock him down if you don’t

it slips out while they’re hanging out in the backyard of the wennbergs, misa chasing after the kids, joining in on them screaming until sam says kitty come and eat and misa bounds over, grinning widely at sam and takes his plate from sam’s hands.

toff lets out a groan, money exchanges hands between trouba and keifer, mason lets out a holler and sam ignores them all to look at misa; there’s a toddler on his lap, picking at misa’s plate as misa twirls pasta onto his fork.

he ruffles misa’s hair, his chest squeezing when misa pushes up into the touch, even if his attention is on the kid on his lap.

kitty sort of becomes sam’s thing for misa, the two syllables now solely meant for him. he reacts to it as if it’s his name, wide brown eyes that turn glassy when sam is above him, pressing into him, kitty whispered into the line of his neck, kitty, kitty, kitty as misa trembles underneath him, nails digging into his back, leaving behind long red scratches that has the locker room whistling at sam when he takes his shirt off.

Hello everyone! What an absolutely fun time at Shoulder Check yesterday! I went in hoping for a good experience and definitely had way more fun than I expected. First and foremost just want to shout out Sacred Heart University's rink - what a nice facility, very modern arena with no bad seats! On to the experience:

In General: Shoulder Check reminded me a bit of the Chicago Blackhawks Convention in that there was the fan fest beforehand with games, food, merch, and other things going on. You basically had that to entertain yourself with for two hours while waiting for players to come out and do signings. Inside they had more merch and jersey raffles. That picture of Leno being on the Sens has made its rounds already, but interestingly enough they also had stuff for players who were not on the roster. At least it all goes to a good charity at the end of the day!

The Signings: so there's no real rhyme or reason as to what players come out to sign. They all don't, and it's staggered, so you don't know if they'll all be out for two hours or if they kind of come at the same time. I did hear from several attendees that Trevor Zegras is the last player to come out and he definitely ended the autograph line yesterday. The players who signed yesterday were Ryan Leonard, Tony DeAngelo, Shane Pinto, Matt Rempe, Chris Kreider, Drew Fortescue, Cutter Gauthier, Spencer Knight, John Hayden, Jules Constantinople, Madison Samoskevich, Mason McTavish, and Trevor Zegras. Most of them took their time and tried to meet with as many fans; Drew and Matt were especially attentive to all fans and taking their time to see everyone. I had brought my BC jersey with me as a backup and that was a smart move on my part as the players I ended up getting to sign were basically all the former BC players except Ryan Leonard. Leno moved a bit quickly through the line and was definitely looking mostly at the children in the front/not really looking above the first row of people. He was very quiet but seemed very polite from the interactions I did hear him having with fans. He also came off as very lethargic, so do with that what you will. I've met Chris Kreider before so it was always nice to see him again and he's def a fan favorite. Spencer Knight was also very sweet but a bit more on the quiet side. I have to say my best signing interactions were with Drew, Cutter, and John. I know I am already super annoying about Drew on here but I am about to be even more because he was absolutely lovely. He actually stopped and had conversations and would look you in the face when you talked to him. He gave off a very warm and friendly vibe. He gave me the biggest smile when I passed him the BC jersey and then we chat briefly about the fact that we are from the same area of NY. My friend who was with me joked with him a bit about Leno. He's just such a nice kid, I can't stop saying good things about him! I'm not the biggest Cutter fan for reasons but I tossed my jersey to him and when he unfolded it and saw the BC logo he gave the jersey such a huge grin and then gave me an even bigger one; I have a friend who wonders if it's because his time at BC is overshadowed by things that have happened since he left and that he apparently has mentioned he loved playing there, so I'm appreciative that he was very gracious to me and actually stopped to talk and look me in the face. Finally: John Hayden. I've loved John Hayden since the era of "shorty give me neck til I pass out" Team USA era with Thatcher Demko; he's bounced around the AHL a lot since he's gone pro, but I always love to hear about him when he does shows up. I was debating forcing him to sign a BC jersey but then went "fuck it" and when I passed it to him I just went "I am REALLY sorry this isn't a Yale jersey" and when I tell you WHAT A SMILE he gave me for that comment. He was so lovely, so sweet, just nice overall, I dare say I think he appreciates being recognized since he's not as much of a career NHLer as some of the other guys. Also Trevor Zegras is a goofball and pretty much exactly like how he behaves on social media. Can't say that's surprising but! The Game: sorry if I get a bit RPF-y in here but if you know me it's to be expected! The game in general was such a blast. It's so nice to see these guys having fun and having no stakes, so they get to do things like smile at each other or playfully bump each other or twirl around on the ice (Cutter and Trevor). Gabe was smiling literally the entire time. I mentioned in postings but he was all over Matt Coronato the entire time they were on the ice together from the lineups to face offs to just skating to the bench, which was super cute because the unexpected friendships of Shoulder Check are always the best ones. I always love how Chris Kreider bullies Trevor and at one point Trevor jumped over his butt when Kreider attempted to shove his ass at him - it was a beautiful move.

Leno looked like he had no idea what was going on the entire game but he literally wouldn't stop talking to Shane Pinto and John Hayden when he was on the bench. The best part for me was of course when Gabe and Leno were finally on the ice at the same time. They were so smiley at each other, had the infamous face off where Gabe tripped him, and then Gabe passed to him with the biggest smile EVEN THOUGH THEY WEREN'T ON THE SAME TEAM??? At the end they followed each other around until the handshake line and then were chatting each other up helmet to helmet whispering until it was time for pictures. Safe to say I am very happy to see that Gabeleno is alive and well.