#hazing

shane cannot win. and these overarching racist structures will manifest in microaggressions and overt violence against him. the churning animal of the canadian youth hockey system is rife with abuses from coaches paying to get certain kids transferred to their teams for win records/betting, to racist and homophobic epithets being standard, to youth hockey players this month, april'26 getting brought up on charges of SA with a weapon against some of their teammates in a hazing ritual. it's difficult to convey how integrated hockey is with culture and community particularly in rural canada, and how many financial claws it has. but shane was more than probably billeted with a (white, rich) family during his upswing through juniors and he has to play with almost entirely white/privileged kids and no exceptional status is gonna change that, and him being gay will infinitely complicate that and put a bigger target on him. (+ shane growing up haafu/diaspora child, quebecois forced assimilation/linguistic racism, autistic and undiagnosed, overly invested mother figure, ocd coping tendencies, made captain of og-6 team so young, eating disorder, etc.)

ilya is not insulated from harm, no. the russian hockey system exists as an extension of the state via kremlin policy (state-sanctioned propagandized cultural/gender norms and literal regulations for youth sports and the importance of it for russia's image/economy). part of which we can infer, like in the military, includes generational hazing practices echoing dedovshchina. ilya's father, as a general/member of state, is literally feeding into this ideology with his in-text abuse: "apologize to russia/are you not ashamed?".

ilya could have come up through the system through a designated sport school/UOR, which puts scrutiny and additional pressure on him and creates an isolated boarding-school environment which are renown as canada's, for featuring coach abuse and hazing rituals. systemic bodily violations a la overwork, forced drugging, lack of ability to quit the sport, etc. is proven.

so ilya is in a three prong lock of: conformity to culture, lack of bodily/financial autonomy, and state surveillance.

and contextually i think it's important to note the visceral pressure for russian players to maintain conformity thru state control and play for russian teams, adhere and vocally support socio-political ideology, etc. is lifelong. players have had their visas complicated to prevent them from leaving russia to rejoin the NHL after summers (kiril k*prizov), have been coerced to signing contracts to play in russia before leaving for the NHL/had to secret themselves out of russia to play (evgeni m*lkin), have been abducted from outside a rink and taken to complete military service (ivan f*dotov), have been threatened w jail/death to shut the fuck up abt russia's genocide against ukraine (nikita zador*v), etc. every one of them that will speak, reports feeling terrified for their families back in russia if they step wrong. ilya is already in a place of threat being so publicly a russian athlete, let alone tossing being partly gay into it. (+ ilya growing up in domestic abuse/parental suicide home environment, depression, cptsd, hypersexuality, russian in america, made captain so young, immigrant status instability, etc.)

for both of them, being preceived as gay is a dangerous evolution of the threat of being seen as not a team player, not a regular guy, not a hard enough worker. hazing doesn't stop at juniors. this is why they are both terrified in text, during the timeline of s1.

neither shane nor ilya exist in safe spaces, even while hockey is their escape and their joy. that's what makes it complicated. it's never just a game.

so, asking if they would participate in hazing is sorta like asking if they care about hockey, imho. they want to play hockey. to play hockey, you have to be able to be in the locker room with the rest of the guys. and to be in the room, you have to assimilate and conform and endure. yes different rooms have different tones, but everyone young and serious is jockeying for a place in the majors, is indoctrinated into this for-profit abuse system that demands children's bodies and isolates and attacks them to prevent change. hockey hazing culture is rooted in violent misogyny and how men perform that to the judgement of other men. juniors guys referring to girls they sleep with as 'kills', nhl as the only league without a domestic violence policy, etc.

and that becomes wanting to stay in the majors at all costs, and hypermasculine misogynistic performance to white NA capitalist standard is the requirement. guys get real ugly about that and you have to pay your dues, prove you are part of the hockey machine, just a cog. no better than anyone else in the room, what happens in the room stays in the room, no matter the ice. and they don't view this as hazing the way we analyze it as hazing, really. they view it as just how it is. and everyone either makes it through and proves they're a man of the team or they wash out.

shane and ilya made it through. that's what it takes.

thanks for the frank questions. this post is not suuuper detailed, but i think this is important to talk about, obviously. i think we owe it to real kids/folks in these industries to discuss this stuff and keep it in our minds when we engage in fanworks abt HR. bc our support of a hockey tv show feeds into support of hockey as a sport. and that's complicated.

some supplemental texts for shane+ilya+hazing:

@rozzed 's adroit and cutting exploration of generational hazing re: david and shane: here, here

@transshanehollander 's essential, more eloquent, and thorough discussion of structural racism shane endures in childhood/the league and how RR frames it: here, here

Contrails by grudekoks (glanzkohl) which frankly explores the depth of possible cultural and sexual trauma for shane and ilya

i looked over it and i ached by IsvsWorld which explores shane's relationship w his own racial id/hockey system/microagressions

chapter 1 of cracked plexiglass by syntjjh which focuses on hockey being synonymous with white nationalism in canada

@yiiiiiiiikes25 's deft and detailed exploration of sexual assault, institutional misogyny and conformity to capitalist structures: here

@kiyaar recs starting reading on generational military hazing in russia as related to russian masculinity policing: here, here

important context for reality vs. fandom: current uptick in bos, MA youth hazing from players and coaches as a response to HR popularity that talks abt the pervasiveness in NA sport

two links aggregating further readings abt hockey+hazing+racism+gender: here, here. feel free to put in comments any works/fanworks you found particularly insightful!

footnotes

You wanted to like being on the 141 team and being in their pack, but they kept provoking you. They would tease you, trick you into believing certain things were true, and play dumb when you confronted them, and just enjoyed riling you up until you were growling and nipping your teeth at them. Every time they riled you up, they would wag a finger at you when you bite at them.

"Ah ah, puppy. We'll muzzle you if you keep acting up." The words felt like cold water being poured down your back. Wolves were more respected than dogs were in the hybrid hierarchy, and sometimes dogs would be muzzled if they acted "too wolf like."

Or, in your case, lashing out when you were endlessly provoked the entire day. You were sure that they were joking about the muzzle until it appeared in Price's hand after you nip Kyle's arm.

He'd spent the last thirty minutes interrupting you when you spoke, cutting you off to ask, "Who asked?" When you were trying to make your point. You got sick of it, growl at him, and nip at his arm hard.

"Come on, mutt, that's not appropriate behavior." Price coos as he steps beside you and quickly secures the muzzle to your face. "I'll take this off at dinner." Price chuckles, looping his fingers through the mesh of your muzzle and giving it a shake.

You hate the cold metal pressing into your face, the strap catching your hair in the clasp and making a few strands tug painfully. You don't say anything, ears lowering as you try to keep the tears at bay. Why would they muzzle you? You were standing up for yourself! Responding to their cruelty that they seemed to find so funny, but you hated so much.

You hated being the butt of every single joke, the only one being riled up for everyone to laugh at when you finally snapped. And now, you got muzzled for it.

You wait until enough time has passed before you stand up and leave the mess hall. "Be careful, stupid mutt, or you'll earn more muzzle time!" Johnny calls after you, and you feel your heart jump in fear.

When dinner rolls around, you're not even hungry. You want the muzzle off, and you want to go to bed. You'd tried not to interact with your pack too much, but they had sought you out. They shook your face around by your muzzle, teased you about being "such a little puppy!" Or "does mutt need some training?"

Anytime you wanted to open your mouth to respond, you felt the press of the muzzle to your face and immediately shut up. Of course, that convinces John and Simon that the muzzle is a perfect tool for whenever you act up again.

"Guess we'll keep this around. You were such a good mutt all day, puppy." John coos, stroking behind your ears after he takes off the muzzle. He expects your ears to perk slightly, your tail wagging at the praise he gave you, but he gets nothing. You press into the touch before turning to leave. "Pup, aren't you hungry?"

"No, Sir. I'm good." You mumble, yawning comfortably for the first time since lunch. "Just want to sleep." You don't wait for a response as you head to your barracks and change into your sleep clothes. Instead of sleeping in your bed, you creep underneath it and curl around yourself. It was safer that way, because no one could put a muzzle on you when you slept.

You hated the muzzle, and you were starting to hate being on this team.

Price begins to notice your moral dropping considerably over the next few weeks. Instead of getting snappy when one of the boys would try to rile you up, you would walk away. If you couldn't, you started anxiously licking your teeth and submitting your neck to them.

Kyle would take mild offense to that, huffing at you since he wasn't actually angry with you or making fun of you. He just wanted to have fun. You started avoiding him just to be safe. You didn't want them to make fun of you, and you didn't want the muzzle again. As much as you wanted a pack, you didn't know if you fit in with this one.

"Hey, Y/N, come here." Price calls to you, watching you try to duck into your barracks for the night. "It's movie night. Wanna pick?" He offers, pointing to the living room. Your tail gave a half-hearted wag until you remembered your last pick getting dog piled on the entire watch.

"I'm okay, sir. I'm ready for bed. I'll see you tomorrow." You hum, giving him a small smile and slipping into your room. Price sighs quietly, glancing over at the muzzle sitting on his desk. They had used it a few times since the first day. You'd nipped a them here and there, growled at Nikolai when he playfully tugged your tail, just a few things that they had fun teasing you over.

Price quietly heads over to your barrack, opening the door very quietly to see if you had actually fallen asleep yet. He didn't see you in bed, looking around the room confused until he spots your tail sticking out from under the bed.

His heart sinks a little, watching your tail tuck underneath the bed, and a small huff escapes you. You were probably falling asleep now, and Price knew better than to disturb you now. He heads to the common area where Johnny had a move qued up for the team to watch.

"Y/N, stay back, please." Price orders after morning training, making sure no one else would he around when he talked to you. You whine silently, wondering what you had done during training to earn you the muzzle so early. You approach him cautiously, licking over your teeth as you approach him.

"Why didn't you tell me you don't like the muzzle?" Price asks softly, making your eyes widen slightly.

"I... Thought you knew." You mumble shrugging a little. "Sometimes it feels like you just like making fun of me sometimes. So the muzzle is just another way to put me in my place for challenging you as wolves." You explain quietly, your ears dropped submissively. Price felt his gut drop as you put the pieces together about why you had gotten so quiet every time they had so much as mentioned the muzzle.

"Y/N... I'm sorry. I didn't know about... that." His gut lurches as he remembers you weren't raised with other dogs. You were adopted by a wolf pack family. The mean teasing jabs were more of a wolf hybrid way of bonding, which they hadn't realized wasn't very fun for you. You were like a puppy compared to them, and they hadn't bothered to nurture that side at all. "Is that something your family taught you?" He murmurs, putting it all together in his head

You nod, and he lets out a small whine, giving your head a small nudge as you give him a small look of confusion. "We don't do things that way. Not like that. We were trying to tease." He explains which makes your ears drop as you drop your tail slightly.

"Felt like bullying and punishment to me." You mumble, and Price looks guilty at that, giving your face a lick.