THE NEXT MORNING, almost everyone was in the kitchen, making breakfast and trying to get the last of their hangover out of their bodies. "I still think Segs and I won," Mark insisted as he sauntered into the kitchen, a tired Carey Price alongside him.
"No way, Crow and I took it all," Steven argued, flipping a pancake in the pan.
"Finally! We have someone who can flip pancakes, Alex was shit at that before," Sidney laughed, flipping through the newspaper that was on the kitchen counter.
Alex sent him a glare, rolling his eyes but nodding his head slightly, not wanting to agree with Sidney, but not able to deny it.
"We have more things to worry about," Andre intruded, walking into the kitchen with a smile on his face, clearly not as hungover as everyone else.
"Why are you so happy?" Andrew asked groaning, taking a sip of his coffee, swallowing Advil in the process.
Tyler squinted his eyes, "I know that face. I have worn that face. That's the face you make after a big win and a night at the bar..."
Andre didn't say anything, simply shrugged with a stupid smirk on his face, walking to the fridge, grabbing a water bottle and taking a swig. Jamie hadn't taken his eyes off the Swede, "Andre..."
Smiling at Benn, Andre continued, "like I said, we have more important things to worry about. Now, wheres Dylan?"
Drew snickered from his spot at the counter, "we thought you'd know."
Andre chose to ignore the comment, "last night well I was drunk, I had this great idea and so I wrote it down to make sure I'd remember it."
"That only thing you did last ni–" Geno started.
Dylan walked into the kitchen, an oversized sweater covering a good portion of her body. "Yup, I'm listening," the girl hummed, grabbing a cup and pouring herself a coffee.
"We should email Bettman! Directly!" Andre exclaimed, a goofy grin on his face as he bounced up and down slightly, his disheveled hair bouncing around. "I mean he hasn't released a statement on what he thinks about all this. We need to make sure he knows we aren't just going to say something over a video and then leave it at that."
The guys all stared at each other, unsure of what to say, and unsure of how they felt. Once they couldn't decide they all looked at Dylan, who was in the middle of taking a sip of her coffee. Dylan shrugged, "I wouldn't mind writing an angry letter to Bettman."
Quick nodded in agreement, "that sounds therapeutic."
Patrick nodded, a small smile crossing his face, "I'm down."
The team got to work, first jotting down things they needed and wanted to include in their email. Everyone crowded around Dylan and Sidney as they wrote the letter first down on paper, then moving to the computer.
"I think our masterpiece is done." Sidney smiled proudly, looking up at Alex who nodded, clearly impressed with what they had come up with.
Evgeni tilted his head, "we be harsher, no?"
Dylan chuckled evilly, "oh Geno, we could be harsher, but we don't want to say anything worse then we already have until after they've made their final decision." Geno nodded his head, understanding why they had to be harsh, but not too harsh in the email.
Andre jumped from behind all the guys as they all said their praises. "I! Can't! See!"
Toews chuckled as he leaned forward to get a better look at the computer. Clearing his throat, he started to read the email off to the Swede.
Hello Mr. Bettman,
We are speaking on behalf of all the players and fans that are outraged from this possibility of not going to the Olympics. I'm sure you've seen the videos we as a group have posted, and the social media posts that others have shared. We had no say over those players, and I hope you know that slowly, more and more people will continue to stand up and voice their opinions. Regardless, we hope you know that what we said was not just to get your attention. We will stop at nothing, absolutely nothing to make sure the NHL is going to Korea. We've always been taught to do whats right, and to stand up for what we believe in, so here we are. We believe we have the right to go and represent our countries, so thats what we're going to stand up for. We hope you take this into consideration as you discuss this situation with others, and make your final decision. Although we don't particularly like you, we have enough faith in you to believe that you will make the right decision... Well, at least some of us do.
With love,
Lockhart, Toews, Kane, Malkin, Crosby, Tavares, Ladd, Burakovsky, Doughty, Ovechkin, Quick, Price, Crawford, Stamkos, Scheifele, Seguin & Benn.