Chapter Text
Polar opposites. Fire and ice. The biggest rivals.
Those are some of the descriptions that not only reporters used to name the relationship between Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov. The Russian player was the fire side of the duo. Lightning fast on his skates, typically with a quip that was meant to go under the skin of the opponent. Never shy to initiate a brawl and always there to throw a punch. On the other side, the Canadian player was known for his graceful moves and levelheadedness. Always the calm one, rather than punching someone, he was the one who ended fights. Most of the time, Shane was as calm as the ice he was playing on.
But. People tend to forget that both fire and ice are dangerous elements. Yes, fire can burn whole cities to the ground if it is not contained. It can damage in a blink of an eye. It can help, of course, it can warm you when cold, and it paints beautiful pictures on walls when the flames dance in the fireplace. But, when there´s no control, the damage is devastating. (Some of Ilya´s opponents have this knowledge from firsthand experience).
And that can be said of ice, too, even though people tend to describe it as less harmful. Especially athletes who live on ice often forget that injuries made on the ice can be life-ending. We all know that water turns into ice when the temperature hits sub-zero. Ice rinks tend to be frozen to around -6°, a temperature that can turn even lakes into ice rinks when it lasts long enough. But you have to be careful, when the environment is warmer, the ice melts, which in the case of an ice rink can be troublesome, in the case of a lake, even life-threatening. And then there can be the opposite situation. When the temperatures drop really low, below zero. Fast death comes for you when it´s -50° and lower, and let´s not forget the mythical number, the absolute zero. Which you can´t experience on your own skin, because your death is faster than fast, even before you reach the first hundred below zero. And that is the depth of Shane Hollander, that nobody knew existed.
For all the years he played hockey, Shane was the ice freezed for the ice rink. Stable, cold, reliable and trustworthy. But then there was the situation that switched the temperature really low below zero to the point of no return. And the Metros were the ones that made the switch inevitable. And they were the ones who had to carry the consequences. Because they made Shane furious. And his fury was ice cold.