Sacrifice

Chapter 9

All the top hockey players at this age had player agents and advisors who would talk to scouts and find out which team or school would fit you best. In a conversation Ryan had with his agent he expressed to Ryan how his team was holding him back from reaching his full potential. He said it would be more beneficial to his career to request a trade to a better team. This shocked Ryan and seemed unnecessary.

"Would you be open to explore these options?" Ryan was asked.

There was a long pause as no one said a word awaiting Ryan's answer. His mind was racing with so many thoughts. He would have to move away from his family for the first time and move schools. He would leave his best friends he's grown up with, the team and coaches who gave him all their best effort and encouragement and leave Alyssa who had been there for him through his crazy last five months and supported him through all the hard times. He couldn't do that to her, his friends or teammates he thought.

"Yes," Ryan finally spoke. He knew deep down his agent was right. Being on the worst team was not helping him get to where he wanted to go. Ryan wanted to play in the NHL and this dream would not work without proper commitment and sacrifice, so few hockey players actually make it. Nobody knew that this conversation happened other than Ryan, his parents, his agent and now the team staff was informed.

The next day Ryan woke up to a phone call from his agent.

"Hey Ryan, we got a deal done already!" He said in an upbeat voice.

"So what's the deal, where am I going?" Ryan asked.

"Montreal baby!" He yelled into the phone.

"Oh my God, that's a long ways away," Ryan replied.

"Best team in the league though bud, first class organization with professional coaches and the best talent from all over North America, you're going to light it up bud, I have no doubt NHL teams will be fighting over you!" The excitement and joy in his voice was rubbing off on Ryan.

"That's amazing, thank you so much! This is a huge step in my career, and I'm excited to get going." Ryan hung up and laid still in bed with so many mixed emotions and thoughts. He thought to himself at least he didn't have to go to school today. He texted Alyssa to have a talk after school, he had no idea how she would react to this news, but there was a lot of people he had to say goodbye to.

Ryan's Dad was ecstatic about the Montreal organization and how incredible this experience would be. But then he reminded Ryan that Xavier played on Montreal, the top ranked player who had injured Ryan earlier in the season. This hadn't even came up in all Ryan's thoughts even though he absolutely hated Xavier for years. Their first interaction would definitely be interesting he thought to himself.

When Ryan met with Alyssa that night, he broke the news. Alyssa was crying and hugged him for a long time before she said anything.

"Congratulations, this is huge for you" she said wiping back tears.

"I'll make time to come back on weekends and see you whenever I can. It's only an hour flight back here" Ryan said.

Alyssa understood this was the sacrifice that came with dating a guy aspiring to be a professional athlete. She decided she would stay with him and support him through his dream.

The next day he went to school to make his final appearance and tell the teachers and friends the news. All the teachers were happy for him and wished him the best of luck and now the last people he had to tell was his friends. He found them in the same spot as always at the side of the school between classes.

"What's up Ryan?" one of the guys asked.

"I got some big news guys, big news" Ryan said with a half smile.

"I got traded to Montreal,"

"No way, are you serious?" Trevor asked.

"This is my last day before I move there tomorrow."

All the boys hugged and wished him luck and had some laughs. Ryan went home and now all his focus was on his flight the next morning. He would be moving to a new city with a new language, (Ryan didn't know any French at all) living with a new billet family, new teammates, new coach and a new school to adjust too. This would be a huge change of scenery and would take time to adjust to, Ryan was both extremely excited and extremely nervous at the same time for the challenge he would face starting the next day.