Hey Remember When The Vibes Were So Off In Plymouth That Quentin Musty Called His Dad To Come Pick Him

hey remember when the vibes were so off in plymouth that quentin musty called his dad to come pick him up?? idk what could have possibly tipped him off tbh...

was it greg cronin's underage street fighting classes? is it the fact that your parents have to sign over legal guardianship and power of attorney to billet parents? the same billets who receive monthly checks from USA Hockey and therefore have it in their best interest to keep receiving those checks?

was it when they forced 15- and 16-year-olds to dress and undress in the public hallways of the USA Hockey Arena for a month until they "earned" the right to privacy? you know, those hallways that have security cameras up in the corners? but don't worry about that. the NTDP staff has plenty of experience of storing, editing, and streaming hours and hours of footage of their boys!

not that the kids have anyone to complain to, really! after all, after the Jack Hughes class the NTDP switched to 100% online school instead of regular high schools like Plymouth High or Northville High where there are, oh I don't know, mandated reporters who aren't also paid by USA Hockey, or god forbid other kids they might befriend outside of the hockey bubble.

what could possibly go wrong or unreported in a system like that? ha ha! surely not USA Hockey, who hired Brad Aldrich AFTER his sexual abuse scandal with the Blackhawks! surely not NTDP, which emphasizes "breaking down the individuality" for the incoming 15-year-olds!

(not my own words, of course. words from beloved NTDP founding member and pillar Kirk Culik, the man responsible for team and culture building, player mentoring, and off-ice conditioning for 20+ years, whose only qualifications pre-NTDP seem to be boxing coach/thoroughbred horse trainer/corrections officer, and who was later charged of murdering a 16-year-old boy)

again. i don't know what musty was possibly talking about. this is a totally normal place to make teenagers change

an open letter to the boy i sat next to in junior high art class

youre missing a tooth, closer to the side of your mouth than the front. said you lost it playing hockey.

it was a first semester assignment. i did something red and blue with color pencils. you wrote in big letters with the soft drawing pencils, deep blue with the hardness embossed in gold like real artists used, probably. you pressed down hard enough that it carved dents into the paper.

you tried to erase it. the lines didnt even smear.

i dont remember much about you (or much of those years, for the matter). not your name, the position you played, what you drew in art. you sat on my right. your face was round with boyhood, pink in the cheeks. i remember your voice. i dont remember anything you said.

i only saw you in passing the years after.

when i still had hopes in my higher education, the nearest universitys mens ice hockey team didnt show up for the open house. their table was empty, sandwiched between other athletics. they had biking, helmet mounted like a skull.

you probably went far. the kids in sports always go far.

i watch prospects drop their gloves in grainy video. when you throw enough punches, the bones in your fist mold to the shape of it. theyre just kids.

the track team runs in the summer. its a locked car hot out there. the girl that sat in front of me complained that she was tired. she didnt ask me for advice i dont follow. just kids.

the newest draft class was born in 2006. the newest class of our junior high was born in 2014. kids.

how did you lose your tooth?

i looked up your name on the wikipedia page your draft year. it returned no matches.

i hope you made it.

i hope you didnt.

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lilfeckingoblin

11 months ago