God Bless The Broken Road (Jonathan Toews)

Locked Out

Jonathan

I pack for training camp and try to make sure I had everything I needed. It was only for a few days and we weren't going to be far away from Chicago, but I hate feeling unprepared, especially for something like this. After repacking twenty times I finally call it quits and lay on the bed. I couldn't wait to start another season, we had a lot to prove. I had trust in Corey and our defense. We weren't as young as we once were. But we were ready and we were hungry. Winning is addicting and once is never enough. You can never get enough once you get the taste.

As I lay on the bed I think of plans for Maisie and I's anniversary. Sure we have a real one now that we're married, but the day we first met was something special. It represents the first day of the rest of my life. I was thinking of a carriage ride, maybe another Disney trip sometime soon. I don't know, I just wanted it to be special. She would be satisfied with anything, but she's not just a somebody to me. She's my everything and I planned to show her.

I nearly nod off before my phone goes off jolting me up. I look and see it was Stan, that was peculiar.

"Jonathan" he asks.

"Yeah, it's me" I say slowly.

"Hey man, I got some bad news" she starts and I shoot up. Well this can't be good.

"What's going on" I ask.

"As you know, a lot of the players are upset about how things are running around here. The purposed shared revenue and new contracts didn't set well with the commissioner. If there isn't a new deal by the end of the day Bettman is canceling the beginning part of the season until something is figured out. I'm afraid this is out of my hands at this point. This is between the players and the council. I just wanted to give you a heads up" he explains. I feel my heart drop because I knew this was bad. What labor dispute was ever a hundred percent good? You gotta give something to get something, but I didn't want to lose hockey.

"How long do you think this will take" I ask.

"At least two months, maybe more" he replies and I sigh. It was already September. We didn't have a few months to fuck around. We're here to do one thing, and that's play hockey. Why these people were trying to demean what we do and take it away is beyond me.

"Is there anything I can do to move it along, something? Anything" I ask.

"The NHLPA could use someone like you right now. People listen to you Jon, use your voice for good" he suggests. If only it was that easy. We talk for a little bit more before I hang up. I go to the kitchen to see Maisie feeding Everly in her high chair. Jackson was setting the table for dinner and perfectly placing the silver wear by the plates. It was really cute.

"Hey sweetie, you all packed up for camp" she asks never taking her eyes off the baby.

"I am. But there is no camp. There's actually no NHL as of right now" I sigh and she shifts her focus. She drops the spoon and walks over to me before caressing my cheek.

"I'm so sorry, what happened" she asks. I can tell in her voice that she cared and didn't want me to be sad. But this was a shitty thing and a shitty time.

"They're trying to dock pay and alter contracts so it's more beneficial to the owners. I knew they were talking about a lockout but I didn't think it would get far. It sucks because the easiest things isn't the right thing to do in this situation. Who knows how long we'll be without hockey or if we'll even play this season."

"Oh baby, I'm so sorry. Anything I can do to help" she asks.

"Whatever you're fixing smells great" I admit and she smiles. She pulls me over and I fix myself a plate. Everything was super delicious, I'm not even that shocked at how good her food is anymore. I help her clean up and change Everly before turning sports center on and listening to what they were saying. There's a lot of rumors floating around making this situation that much harder. The media was eating this up, which was weird because ESPN barley talked about hockey in the first place. But now that there's a problem it's all they talk about. I watch the show mumbling to myself and rolling my eyes every time they spit out whatever shit comes to their minds. This was my league and my team was the one suffering, not them. The fans, they don't deserve this. No one did, but it goes to show how much money rules sports. People are paid to entertain, as simple as that. But this is a dangerous sport, we should get paid for what we do and have contracts that benifit both us and the organization.

"It can't be healthy watching that. Why don't you come to bed" Maisie suggests rubbing my shoulders. I shrug her off and immediately regret it. I didn't mean it like that, that's just how it came of.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to send you off like that. I just... I'm stressed and need some space" I say. Her head drops and I felt really bad. I know she wants to help but it's out of our hands.

"It's okay. I'll be in bed if you need me" she says getting up and trudging to bed. I let out a sigh and run my fingers through my hair. I don't know why I was being a ass hole to her, she didn't do anything wrong. And I don't want to push her away. But I felt like I needed space and time to figure things out, whatever it takes. I wanted my team back and sooner rather than later.