Summary:

Shane didn’t remember his first time skating, but he remembered when hockey became a career, when he became the vessel for his parents’ dreams, when his hockey ability came second to where his ancestors were born or who he loved, when he became a brand. Somewhere in these memories, though he couldn’t say exactly where, he learned to hide himself.

And then, behind an arena in Regina, he met Ilya Rozanov, who managed to see him anyway. The hours they spent together each year became the only time Shane could breathe, until being apart felt like suffocating. But Shane had entered the hockey world with two strikes against him, and he couldn’t let Ilya become his third.