Ushl Stories

Sophia Zegras has always been the more shy one out of her friends and her siblings, but things are destined to change when her brother's hockey team starts living in her vacation home with her; hey, maybe she'll even get into her first relationship.

❝𝘗𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦. 𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴. ❞ Seventeen-year-old figure skater 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚 𝐃𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐡 has one goal: win the Grand Prix Final and prove she deserves the title the media shoved onto her: America's New Ice Princess. She trains like her life depends on it, battles through pain like it's normal, and lives by a single rule: perfection or nothing. Private rink time is her sanctuary. Her edge. Her escape. Then a hockey stick nearly smacks her in the face. 𝐌𝐚𝐥𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐦 𝐇𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐞𝐬, the sweet, mature, golden boy and rising star of American hockey, the "Next American Phenomenon," and the boy the whole country seems obsessed with, suddenly starts sharing her ice. Every day. Right in the middle of her practice, loud and unaware. Marcella hates him instantly. Malcolm, drowning under the pressure to be flawless, barely notices anything outside the constant storm in his own head. That is until Marcella confronts him. She's impossible to ignore. And suddenly, she's the one thing he can't get out of his mind besides hockey. What starts as a one-sided territorial battle on the ice becomes a slow, reluctant understanding. Two prodigies burning themselves alive for perfection, pushed by parents, coaches, and the weight of the country watching. Two teens who were never allowed to be anything other than exceptional. But the more their worlds collide, the harder it gets to pretend they're more than just strangers who know more about each other than most. And when the season pressure peaks-rivals, expectations, the Grand Prix Final, the national spotlight-they'll have to decide if the connection growing between them is a distraction or the only thing keeping them from falling apart.

We hear loads about the wives of hockey players, particularly those who are established on their teams. But we don't hear nearly as much about the girlfriends, especially those standing by newcomers to pro hockey. What is it like to rise up? Credit to @Nolanpatrick_baby for the title!