Hockey Imagines

Artemi Panarin (Chicago Blackhawks)

You are only 7 years old when you were forced to move from the wonderful city of Chicago to a whole new country with a very very different language. Your dad's job is requiring that you and your family move to Russia, the town of Korkino to be more specific. Your father is in the United States military and as part of a relationship deal with Russia about 30 families are moved to Russia and spread throughout the country. The past month has been filled with a lot of packing and a family effort to learn Russian which hasn't exactly worked out too well.

When you landed on Russian soil, and you got all your bags, you received a warm welcome from Russian military officers and government officials. At the age of 7 they seemed extremely intimidating no matter how kindly they treated you. Everyone around you in the airport, mostly locals gave you and your parents mean glares and some confused looks so you took your dad's hand and he looked and you and saw the terrified expression and picked you up and carried you the rest of the way to the car.

Your first day of school was probably even more terrifying since you didn't speak Russian, at all. The military had worked out to have a translator for you but he would also help teach you Russian. You walked into your second grade classroom and all the kids were playing. The teacher came over and introduced herself in English, and then told you to go play with the other children. One little boy ran over to you and introduced himself, "Привет! Меня зовут Артемий !!! (Hi! My name is Artemi!!!)" "Hi my name is Lani. (Привет! Меня зовут Лани)" "Иди поиграй со мной! (Come play with me!" "Okay, (Хорошо)." You went with Artemi and the two of you played with blocks and you had the translator explain to him why you didn't speak Russian but Artemi didn't care, he said he'd teach you Russian and you were very grateful for that.

10 years later- Your dad retired from the military and you were graduating high school so you decided to move back to Chicago for college. You wanted to major in communications with a minor in Russian because you fluently speak it now but you can easily switch back to English since you always spoke English at home with your parents. Artemi was absolutely heartbroken when you told him you were leaving. The two of you had become such close friends and you always had each other's backs no matter what. But you also knew that Artemi would get really far in the hockey world and he would be drafted and move as well. You move just so happened to come first.

Another 5 years later- You work for the Chicago Blackhawks, translating for their foreign players. You were given word that a new player was coming in today and he spoke Russian and very little English. You had to go into work early to help the coaches talk to him and then he had a press conference that you were going to have to help with. You pulled up to arena sporting your typical Chicago Blackhawks Hoodie and some black leggings with white converse. Once inside you went straight to Coach Q's office where you saw the new player, and it was none other than Artemi Panarin, the same boy you left 5 years ago in Russia, the same boy who had befriended you 15 years ago when you had moved to his home country. "Артемий это ты? (Artemi is that you?)" You questioned. "Да, ничего себе это было долгое время. Я сильно скучал по тебе. (Yeah, wow it's been a long time. I missed you so much.) he said back and he came over and you guys hugged for the first time in what felt like forever. "Я пропустил вас слишком Артемий, я так по тебе скучала. (I missed you to Artemi, I missed you so much.)" You both were finally back together and boy were the Hawks in for a surprise.