We are the Gold Standard™

I need to see ilya in his WAG era. like totally embracing the stay at home dads, husband to the captain lifestyle. he pick shane up from practice with sunglasses, sleeveless shirt and baby strapped to his chest. he insults nearly every team member in the playful way that he does, before showing off the thousand pictures he took of tiny baby sleeping that day. moms are cooing over him at the mommy and me classes that he goes to, and sometime drags a reluctant shane to. he’s the coolest dad at pre-school pick up. everyone is wanting to arrange a play date with him because he’s ilya fucking rozanov. he sits with the rest of the wives at home games and is the loudest and more annoying spectator. he is screaming to luca to take the shout, swears in russian when wyatt catches a the puck. he would be so endearing but so fucking insufferable, i need it so bad.

This is so important - and I believe why it was done twice - because Ilya knew all his life that emotions are weakness, crying is unacceptable, don't be like your mom, she was weak. But Shane, turning him towards himself, shows him that he doesn't want Ilya to hide his emotions. He wants to see them, to take care of him, to give him space to grieve.

Hey, OP. That last one was unnecessary

having ilya rozanov as a captain would be such a fucking hoot. “GOOD JOB I LOVE YOU” and fist bumps as you skate off the ice. “FUCKING FUCK SAN FRANCISCO!!!!!!!!” as veins pop out of his forehead like he’s the terminator. pep talk in the locker room like “whoever scores tonight gets one thousand dollars HAHA JUST KIDDING!!! U FUCKERS OWE ME ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS!!! BITCH!!!” love him. i would be loyal to my captain until the day i die. captain rozanov forever

i do think it’s beautiful that ilya refers to him and shane as lovers so soon after their first mutual i love yous. hello shane’s parents, i see shane is struggling to define what we are. i feel you should know we are in love. hmm there must be a word for this. something chaste and sweet that expresses the depth of my feelings for your son. and he accidentally tells them that they’re fucking

Ok so this is actually a very fun language detail as well! Ilya likely used the word "lovers" because it's a direct translation of the Russian word "любовники" but the meaning the word carries in Russian is just a little bit different. In Russian it's a generally used word to refer to two people who are having sex but are not married for whatever reason and it can carry an implication of secrecy depending on the context used in (for example, affair partners are also referred to as любовники). So it's still a romantic but slightly broader, bit more complex and less antique sounding word in Russian. It is a good example of how even when words are direct cognates of each other they may not be used in different languages the same way. Idk who writers had on staff and if they were fluent in Russian or if this is a book original joke that the author came up with but either way it's a cute detail.

thank you for jumping on and sharing!! it really gives some insight into ilya’s mind to know why he might’ve chosen that particular word. you mentioned in your tags that there’s a lot of interesting language quirks in the series so please tag me if you ever decide to post about any of them!!

eventually yuna's gonna b like "it's really upsetting u cant get pregnant because your children would've been the best hockey players of all time" and shane will look at her like she shot a dog in front of him