The old veteran blueliner paused by the sideboards and pondered the scene before him.

It was the start of a new season and a new year of hope for the team and fans he now found himself with. The arena was nearly empty except for his team running through warm up drills on the ice and a few early bird fans mixed in with ushers and other arena personnel speckled throughout the stands. The air was warm and dry outside, the last vestiges of summer slowly giving way to fall, but inside the hope and expectations were
already at their peak.

He had never seen several of the players on his own team, most of them fresh out of juniors or transferred in from other leagues, but he would soon be out there with them, helping to shape them into a well-tuned unit, capable of reaching the top of their league. It was also his hope that he could instill the proper work ethic into some of the exceptional talent on this team they would need to be future stars with the parent team.

He smiled as he finished the tapework on his stick then pushed himself off to join his team. This was going to be his final year as a player, and he was damn well going to give all he could this one final outing!

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Finally got some time to write a blurb for this great image from  marurun! It's time to drop the puck and get started on great new season!