HAYDEN

The last horn of the final scrimmage echoed off the cold rink walls, and just like that, it was over.

Three weeks of pushing my body harder than I ever had. Of burning lungs, late-night recovery, cold hotel rooms, and half-asleep text messages.

Three weeks of drills, rotations, seminars, awkward small talk, and relentless eyes of scouts watching my every move.

I should have felt exhausted.

And I was.

But I also felt... satisfied.

Not in the cocky, ‘I dominated every drill’ ...