“Glitter is a painful reminder that, even though you might know the ins and outs of a genre from a reader’s perspective, you can be clueless writing it, let alone outside of it” Sampoong adds to this quick reading of Glitter’s short story, feeling like the emotions the lead feels early in it are repressed while she acts upon them.

Oof… Glitter might have told me that I wrote good hockey scenes, and Capitolium, somewhat decent characters, but I must stay on my guard and remain aware that I might not necessarily be that great, Caro also feels like Sampoong’s assessment of Glitter might be a warning to the other viewers still engaged in NaNo or their alternatives.

“And yet, don’t forget, about ninety percent of work is crap, but what makes it crap depends on the details” Glitter adds and sighs.

The following day, Caro returns to work, fresh off the 25k-word mark, and Marie-France brings up how these hockey game scenes felt to her in Player Masher, even though it’s still a work in progress.

“Ça c’est du match de hockey comme j’en n’ai pas eu la chance de lire avant!” (Now that’s a hockey game as I never had the chance to read before!) Marie-France shows an excerpt of the Gunners’ game against the Constellations.

“Caro, tu sonnes comme une commentatrice de hockey…” (Caro, you sound like a play-by-play hockey commentator) Jacques adds.

“Est-ce une bonne ou une mauvaise chose?” (Is it a good or a bad thing?) Caro seems to struggle which sense Jacques was using.

“Si je te disais que, pré-guerre, tu aurais pu auditionner pour être la commentatrice en français, ou en anglais, de la KHL…” (If I told you that, pre-war, you could have auditioned to become the KHL’s English or French-language play-by-play commentor) Jacques clarifies his statement.

“Lire un match de hockey dans un roman à la glace de rose peut parfois ressembler à des commentaires radiophoniques! Seulement, la KHL en français aurait probablement requis les Nordiques dans cette ligue” (Reading a hockey game in a hockey romance book can sometimes read like radio commentary! Only, the KHL in French might have required the Nordiques in that league)

During my teenage years, I regularly heard about how the KHL courted Québec City and how the KHL was the only way Québec City could recover its NHL team. However, in my memories, the KHL head office knew that Québec City would never have worked in the KHL without at least another team or two in cities unable to support the NHL, Hamilton being the most obvious target at the time, her coworkers’ comments send her mind spinning.

“La KHL, êtes-vous malades? Autant bien que les Nordiques puissent remplir le Centre Vidéotron à chaque soir, la longueur des voyages ferait peur à tout un chacun!” (The KHL, are you crazy? As much as the Nordiques could fill the Centre Vidéotron every night, the length of travels would scare so many!) Marie-France points out the core logistical issue.

“C’est à se questioner sur le coût des voyages de l’Amur de Khabarovsk” (One might be wondering about the travel costs for the Amur Khabarovsk) Jacques, believing the Amur Khabarovsk has the KHL’s worst travel costs, would be left to believe the KHL-Nordiques would face these costs as a baseline.

The three discuss other aspects of whether more North American teams could play in the KHL, and where. Potential cities would have included Saskatoon and Halifax, on top of the obvious, Hamilton and Québec City, and depending on which point in time one is talking about, Hartford, Houston, Cleveland, Kansas City, Milwaukee (Utah and Seattle were both considered before they landed the NHL, although not at the same intensity). But they knew the one thing they agree on was the ability of the KHL-Nordiques to sell out the Centre Vidéotron every night, and at lower prices than the NHL.

And not simply because pre-war KHL seemingly covered the entire gap in playing level between the AHL and the NHL. Whether it would have forced Bettman’s hands is another matter altogether. And yet, it’s clear that the trio knew the business of hockey.

Once the lunch break ends, she is left wondering about how to write the scenes between the holidays and the final plot-bearing game prior to the trade deadline. And in what order to do that. I could have Gus invite Emma at his place upon his return in Montreal, but only in the presence of his roommates’ WAGs. Or perhaps I could write that game prior to the TD and then write out the whole arc between the holidays and that game later. But just because I overtook Capitolium last night does not mean I will stay there.

Then, upon returning home, she wonders what she will do. However, immediately after writing a game scene where Gus somehow earned the second star of the game, she is afraid that Glitter will yell at her on air once again if she continues to write more hockey.

When she sits down to continue writing Player Masher, Caro, feeling a little too shaken to stream that night, hastily fights a few maps she knows she can beat while cashing in the ultimate battle pass reward: access to the secret shop. Which apparently works like a trade office, so that players with access to the secret shop can trade in certain resources they have in excess for other resources they lack.

Upon returning to Simon’s place, Gustavs inquires about when his girlfriend can be there. For he has questions about Simon’s girlfriend’s availability, insisting that, at this stage of the relationship, his girlfriend must not be left alone with two men, Caro writes, while also alluding to the opportunity to open Emma up to a world of fame.

But that fame is not necessarily shared by the WAGs. And also a world Emma starts to feel some reservations for, especially since she feels like being a WAG includes being defined by her love interest, and may even overshadow what personal qualities and identity she might have.

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Meanwhile, Capitolium starts writing the WJC arc, while making his MMC the sole US player at the WJC playing in the QMJHL. When he leaves behind the billet family for the US team, he can’t help but make him cry, as well as grateful for the academic assistance his love interest gave him.

When opening night comes, the billet family plans on watching every Canada game, as well as every US one, since, this year around, Canada and the US are in the same preliminary pool. As he writes the scene of the billet family watching the American opening game against Germany:

“Welcome to the opening game of Group A at the World Juniors. This game pits the United States against Germany. What do you expect out of each team this year?” he writes his narrator in the pre-game sequence as the warm-ups take place for both teams on the ice below the not-Canadian Tire Centre.

Which he portrays as a game that doesn’t sell out, even though the US typically draws more fans than any other team outside of Canada whenever the WJC take place in Canada. And the national anthems are sung, with Ottawa’s national anthem singer, one of these officers ensuring Parliament Hill’s security, at center ice to sing the German national anthem and, of course, the Star-Spangled Banner.

And, since Capitolium doesn’t have his MMC start the game, he isn’t going to be on the ice when the puck drops. Face-off won by the US, pass to… he struggles to think of player last names, and stops writing for a bit. He might have some measure of choice, but he knows that he can’t simply take real player names.

Unless… unless that guy the starting center is passing to is the guy I could tack on for Washington to trade up and get my MMC, but only give up a third! I want Washington to hold on to their second, or to already have it traded away by draft day… Capitolium looks back on a scene Caro called him out on much earlier, when he wrote his own draft-day scene. But I also want that guy to be on the ice when my MMC scores his only goal in that game.

And then he writes another clip, if you will, of what happens at the billet family’s home when they see both teams multiply shots on goal as well as saves and hits. As well as telling that they are willing to forgo Boxing Day so that they don’t need to worry about missing the games they want.

That night, however, Caroline starts having another dream related to hockey, but not about ghosts of her playing days at the Pee-Wee Worlds:

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Centre Vidéotron’s TV studio, 2019. The Nordiques were on the road. The time zones of the KHL forced her to be there in the early morning, which would be prime time for the home team. Amur Khabarovsk, whose camera feed was on a screen in front of her. And yet, somehow, Musique Moins was awarded the French-language KHL broadcasting deal despite being a newcomer to the sports broadcasting world. It was apparently a joint venture by the KHL, the Nordiques and Much Music.

“ici Caroline Fauchoux pour Musique Moins. Bienvenue à ce match des Nordiques de Québec, qui entreprennent un voyage de cinq matchs en Extrême-Orient. Ce matin, ils rendent visite à l’Amur de Khabarovsk pour leur match d’ouverture” (This is Caroline Fauchoux for Musique Moins. Welcome to this Québec Nordiques game, who start a five-game road trip in the Far East. This morning, they visit the Amur Khabarovsk for their season opener)

Then Musique Moins’ color commentator, who, like Caroline, was, at this point, a complete unknown of the hockey media, began discussing who to watch out for on Amur.

However, since Amur Khabarovsk’s regular anthem singer didn’t know Oh Canada, the organization had a Nordiques player sing it. Once the Canadian national anthem ended:

“Veilleux gagne la mise en jeu, s’avance vers la ligne bleue, passe à Légaré, s’approche de l’enclave par la gauche, solide mise en échec de Kirilenko au cercle de mise en jeu…” (Veilleux wins the faceoff, dashes to the blue line, passes to Légaré, closes in on the crease from the left, solid hit by Kirilenko at the faceoff circle…) Caroline’s oneiric self began describing the Nordiques’ first away game, which she knew was watched across the province.

Quickly, to the Musique Moins executives, it became clear that the league had dilemmas in scheduling. Yes, someone had to be scheduled for the opening game, but even Caro scratched her head when a Khabarovsk attempt to clear the puck ended in an icing call a few minutes later, and then cut away for commercials.

Why is it that the KHL saw fit to schedule the Nordiques as a season opener for Khabarovsk when they know Québec City is supposed to be one of the jewels of the league? She started to feel frustrated by the idiosyncratic behavior of the league’s front office, but kept quiet about it on air. Even she believed a Saturday afternoon at home against any of the Moscow teams might have been a better business idea than playing Khabarovsk on the road for an opener.

But when the commercials ended, Caro was more excited, upon seeing play resume in the Nordiques’ offensive zone.

“Taillon au cercle de mise en jeu, remporte la mise en jeu, pression de l’Amur sur l’échec avant, Balmochnyk travaille le long des rampes, échappe la rondelle, revirement repris par Dupuis, passe à Taillon dans l’enclave, le tir… et le but!” (Taillon at the face-off circle, wins the face-off, pressure by Amur on the forecheck, Balmochnyk works along the boards, loses the puck, turnover recovered by Dupuis, passes to Taillon in the slot, shoots… and scores!) Caroline became increasingly exuberant upon describing that game sequence.

“Le premier but de l’histoire des Nordiques en KHL!” (The first goal in Nordiques history in the KHL!) the color commentator followed up, before that dream ended.

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It sure seemed happier than previous hockey-related dreams I had while NaNo is underway, Caroline’s mind still seems to run relatively fast in her dreams. And make her sleep not as good as she would like. Thank God that I still hit the daily par before going to bed, but it seems that, lately, it seems to take me longer to do so.

But when Caro awakens the following morning, she is swiftly reminded of Capitolium establishing his narrator as being the play-by-play announcer at the WJC. And DMs him:

Caroline: I trust you know about how hardcore Canadian media gets about the WJC

Capitolium: I know how big of a big deal it is

They put every single game on TV, or at least cover every game even if the non-Canada games may not have been on Canadian TV. But even when Caro tries to have some screen time away from hockey, she ought to start making her leads more intimate between each other. She must have realized by now that her choice made it difficult to build chemistry between her leads, Capitolium skims what Caro wrote outside of the hockey games.

Capitolium: One more thing: I don’t feel there’s much chemistry between your leads

Caroline: I might make them long for each other, until they get their chance, which they would wait for weeks

And the next chapter after that might be the final plot-bearing game after the trade deadline, Caro sighs, but feeling like she needs several days’ worth of words before getting to the trade deadline arc.