[NHL.COM]

After almost exactly three months, the group of hockey stars, and Gary Bettman have finally reached an agreement.

THE OFF-SEASON WAS SUPPOSE TO BE HETIC, but no one expected this. Just into the first week into July, Dylan Lockhart, CWHL Toronto Furies captain, had spoke her mind about the NHL and Olympics, in her final practice of the season. Not even a week later, her, Alex Ovechkin and Andre Burakovsky were all living in a mansion in the outskirts of Washington, starting what would soon be a revolution.

Slowly, the mansion started to fill up and many of NHL's favourites, including Sidney Crosby, John Tavares and Jonathan Toews, all lived there. Once they had a solid core, Lockhart leading the group, they had began their plan, first by posting a youtube video which had gotten over ten million views.

This video had influenced many of the NHL's other players to show their support by posting to social media, supporting the group. All of a sudden, these players finally used their voices that they've had since this first started. All it took for them to use it though, was a girl that goes by the name of Dylan Lockhart.

After many social media posts, and a few other videos, it was no secret this group was winning over the hearts of many of the board members, and influencing others to speak their minds. Drew Doughty, Steven Stamkos and Mark Scheifele are just a few of the many players that had asked Lockhart if they could join their team.

So, it seems that after all of this, the obvious answer would be that the NHL would go to the 2018 Olympics, right? Wrong. Though the group seemed to win over many hearts, Gary Bettman still had his own opinion on the situation. So although he let everyone believe the NHL would ultimately go to  Korea, he had different plans.

In the last week of August, Gary Bettman had announced they would not let players go to Korea. This caused an outburst of angry fans and players. After mean and angry tweets towards the commissioner, the main group had uploaded another video saying they would not be starting the season with their respective teams until they got the justice they deserved.

Gary Bettman clearly didn't believe him, although this caused un uproar of fans, angry that key parts of their favourite teams wouldn't be playing, lots also supported this decision. Tons of players like Auston Matthews, Connor Mcdavid, Jack Eichel and Dylan Larkin all said their praises towards the group when asked about what they thought of that. There was no doubt that the only person not wanting to go to the Olympics, was Bettman.

After the pre-season started, and all the stars, including Lockhart, were still in that house in Washington, Gary Bettman started to take their threats more seriously. He didn't think captains and leaders of their teams would not start the season, especially Lockhart because this doesn't exactly include her.

When asked about that, Dylan has said this: "I don't like to take credit for all this, but Alex, Andre and I are the ones who started asking people to help with this. We got everyone to this mansion. We convinced valued, star players to come and live with us to start a movement. I simply couldn't leave them all here to go and play hockey. It didn't seem right, it's not right. I came here to do something, and I'm not going to leave before it's finished."

Many of the boys said similar things, saying that they came there and although at first they weren't too fond of the idea, they had grown to love the place, and who they lived with. When asked about not starting this season, almost all said the same thing;

"Dylan. That is the only reason why I didn't hop on a plane and play for my team. She is someone so special. She has the heart and dedication. The fact that this didn't involve her, but she took the time out her life, she gave up her summer to help us players who didn't say anything except for that it sucks we wouldn't be going, is incredible. She's inspired me so much, and she's the reason why I'm where I am. She is the reason I didn't leave when things got tough."

The regular season had started, and neither the players or Bettman had given in yet. Bettman had assumed that once the important games started, the players would give in and go home; but that was not the case.

The second week of the regular season, and almost exactly three months since the group had gotten together, Gary Bettman had spoken to the media. Everyday since the first pre-season game started, their had been thousands of tweets and posts from fans and players, wanting Bettman to crack. It took him quite a long time, but he finally did.

On Wednesday, October 20th 2017, Bettman had released a statement saying the NHL and Olympics were having another meeting. This would be the first since Gary had revealed the NHL would not be attending the 2018 games.

Thursday morning, just the next day, Gary Bettman had spoken again. It was the light at the end of a very dark and twisty tunnel. The NHL would be attending the 2018 games, after all.

Lockhart was right, The NHL needs the players, more than they need the NHL.

Tons of the stars were interviewed, and although they all said amazing things about Dylan and their summer with all the boys, Alex Ovechkin's was especially heart warming.

"I-I can't believe we pulled this off. Sure, at first I was very confident, but as the days passed, you find the confidence just drain out of you. Though, that never happened with Dylan. She was always happy, she was always optimistic through the darkest days. She was the sunshine that would brighten up the house.

Yes, I wanted to go and represent my country, and I voiced my opinions, but I never imagined of doing something like we did, until Dylan came along. I love how confident and brave she is, how she stands up for something she believes in. Hell, she wasn't involved in this, she would've went to Korea either way. But she stood up for what she wanted, for what everyone wanted.

I can't thank her enough for what she did for me, for everyone. She will forever remain a lifetime friend of mine. I appreciate her so much.

She voiced her opinion, and everyone was just kinda like 'huh, thats how I feel too' and they think that because someone said it, they can say it too. The first week in the house, when it was just Burk, Dyl and I, we were talking about this. How once Dylan said something, everyone else followed behind her.

All it takes is one person, one person to say or do one thing. And the rest all follow.

That, my friends, is what we call the domino effect. That is what got us to the Olympics. And we owe it all to Dylan."

[ authors note ]
and thats the end!
oh my god im so upset about this
being over, but im so glad that i finished this! i hope everyone enjoyed this, and i hope i did this book the justice it deserves! thank you for all the comments and continuous support on this! i love you all so much!
(i have a new connor mcdavid book out, called "head in the clouds"!)