Chapter Text
The first post appeared minutes after the game. Nobody paid much attention to it. At first.
@MTL_HockeyDad
Okay, am I the only one who’s noticed Hollander is getting absolutely battered every night?
↳@TheHockeyGuy
It’s hockey
↳↳@MTL_HockeyDad
Yeah. I know what hockey is. I’m talking about the fact that nobody on Montreal’s bench seems interested in helping him
↳↳↳@VoyageursSince82
Go back and watch the last three games. He’s right
↳↳↳↳@TheHockeyGuy
Or maybe they’re just playing hockey instead of starting a fight every time someone gets hit
↳↳↳↳↳@VoyageursSince82
Then why do Pike and Boiziau keep going after people?
↳↳↳↳↳↳@514Hockey
I’m going to say this once because apparently some people need reminding. You do not get to stand there and watch someone try to take our captain’s head off and then skate away like nothing happened.
If you’re wearing a Voyageurs jersey, you protect the guy wearing the C.
There was no answer to that. The post was shared a few hundred times. Then a few thousand. By lunchtime, somebody had made a video
@HockeyNerdMTL
Made a compilation because apparently I’m losing my mind
Game 1: Hollander gets hit. Nobody comes
Game 2: Hollander gets hit. Nobody comes
Game 3: Hollander gets hit. Pike comes
Game 4: Hollander gets hit. Boiziau comes
Am I missing something?
The video was just over two minutes long. There was no commentary, no music, no dramatic edit. Just hockey. Shane taking a hit, Shane getting up, Shane looking towards the bench. Nobody coming. Then another clip. Another hit, another look. Nothing. Then Hayden, then J.J.. The difference was obvious. It was also impossible to explain.
↳@MontrealHockey
You’re not missing anything
↳↳@QuebecHockey
Comeau literally looks at him before skating away in the second clip
↳↳↳@MTL_HockeyDad
That’s what bothers me. It’s not like they don't see him
↳↳↳↳@TheHockeyGuy
Could be tactics
↳↳↳↳↳@HockeyNerdMTL
What tactic involves abandoning your first-line centre behind the net?
Asking for a friend
@MontrealHockey
If one more player touches Hollander and his own teammates just stand there, I genuinely hope the entire Bell Centre starts booing until the roof comes off
Because apparently that’s the only language some people understand
@Hollander4ever
I was at the game, and let me tell you, the stands were booing like crazy
@MTLVoyageurs
I’ve watched Hollander take more punishment in the last two weeks than some players take in an entire season
And every time he goes down, I look at the bench. Nobody moves that’s not hockey. That’s cowardice
The discussion grew. People started watching older games. They found more clips. Not every hit. Not every game. But enough
Shane getting driven into the boards. Shane knocked down in front of the net. Shane shoved after the whistle. Sometimes there was a Montreal player nearby. Sometimes there wasn't. Sometimes Hayden was there. Sometimes J.J.. Almost never anyone else. Someone eventually put the clips side by side. The caption read: THIS IS NOT NORMAL. That one went everywhere.
@HollanderGirl24
Okay seriously. What’s going on with Hollander and the team?
↳@514Hockey
Contract dispute?
↳↳@QuebecHockey
Can’t be. He’s under contract
↳↳↳@HollanderGirl24
Dressing room fight?
↳↳↳↳@VoyageursFan
Whatever it is, he’s still scoring
↳↳↳↳↳@514Hockey
That’s the weirdest part
It was. Shane’s statistics were becoming increasingly difficult to ignore. He was scoring. Assisting. Taking faceoffs. Playing on the power play. Playing short-handed. Taking shifts late in games when Montreal needed a goal. He was doing everything. And the more he did, the stranger the situation looked.
@MTLStats
Hollander currently leads Montreal in points
Also leads the team in shots
Also top three in face-off percentage
Also averaging more ice time than anyone else
Whatever is going on, he’s still playing like an absolute machine
↳@VoyageursForever
That’s the thing. If he’s having some kind of problem with the team, why is nobody doing anything?
↳↳@MTLStats
That’s a question for management
↳↳↳@VoyageursForever
Yeah, it is
The question eventually reached the people who didn't spend every evening analysing hockey footage. People who simply knew Shane because he was impossible to avoid.
@MontrealMum
You literally cannot leave your house without seeing Hollander
Bus stop: Hollander
Pharmacy: Hollander
Coffee Shop: Hollander
Bell Centre: Hollander
My seven-year-old: Hollander jersey
And apparently his own teammates don’t want to pass the puck. What the hell is going on?
↳@PlateauPete
At this point Montreal needs to put him on the side of the buses so the players can remember what he looks like
↳↳@MontrealMum
I would like to point out that he is already on the side of several buses
↳↳↳@PlateauPete
That’s fair
Someone posted a photo of one of Shane’s adverts. He was smiling down from a billboard in downtown Montreal, dressed in a dark suit and holding an expensive watch. The caption read: Montreal’s favourite is apparently having a terrible time at work. The comments filled almost immediately.
@HollanderGirl24
This is actually making me sad
↳@TheHockeyGuy
We don't even know that anything is happening
↳↳@HollanderGirl24
Watch the games
Another photo appeared. This time Shane was on a bus shelter. Then another. A shop window. Then a huge advertisement outside a department store. Then someone posted a picture of a child wearing a Hollander jersey. The joke started spreading.
@514Hockey
You can't walk three blocks in this city without seeing Hollander’s face
↳@VoyageursFan
And apparently you can’t walk across the ice without leaving him undefended
That one got thousands of likes. By the evening, the story had moved beyond hockey Twitter. People who had never watched a full game were asking what was happening. And, as always happened online, the theories became increasingly ridiculous.
@MontrealSportsFan
My theory: Hollander and Theriault hate each other
↳@VoyageursSince82
Based on what?
↳↳@MontrealSportsFan
Vibes
↳↳↳@QuebecHockey
Excellent investigative journalism
@VoyageursForever
You know what makes me furious?
Shane gets up every single time
Doesn't complain, doesn't retaliate, doesn't make excuses. He just gets back on the ice
Meanwhile, the men whose job it is to have his back are apparently too busy pretending they can’t see him
I’d be embarrassed to look him in the eye
↳@MTLForever
Maybe he’s being traded?
↳↳@VoyageursSince82
Why would you trade your captain when he’s having one of the best seasons of his career?
↳↳↳@MTLForever
I don't know that's why I’m asking
↳↳↳↳@PlateauPete
At this point, I don't even want an explanation from the team I want names
Who decided our captain was on his own? Who thought leaving him undefended was acceptable? And who keeps letting it happen? Because somebody needs to answer for this
Someone suggested a contract dispute. Someone else suggested Shane had fallen out with half the dressing room. Another person insisted it was all media nonsense. Someone else claimed Shane was injured and the team was protecting him. That theory lasted approximately six minutes. Then somebody posted his latest statistics.
@HockeyNerdMTL
If he’s injured, he’s doing a remarkable impression of a completely healthy elite hockey player
The conversation eventually became less about the theories and more about what people could actually see.
@Metro1986
I don't care what happened in the dressing room that’s our captain
↳@TheHockeyGuy
You don't even know what happened
↳↳@Metro1986
Exactly, none of us knows, but I know what I’ve watched for the last month
↳↳↳@MTLForever
People keep saying we’re overreacting we’re not
We’re watching our captain get hurt over and over again while the people wearing the same jersey refuse to help him
If Shane Hollander gets hurt badly because his teammates chose not to protect him, don’t expect Montreal to forget it. WE WON’T!
That post was shared more than almost anything else. Then came another.
@MTLForever
Three Cups
Captain
First-line centre
He shows up every night and gives everything to this team
Whatever is happening in that dressing room, he shouldn't have to face it alone
#OurCaptain
Shane saw that one at 1:17 in the morning. He was sitting on the sofa in his apartment, having given up on sleep hours ago. His mind would not settle. The television was off the only sound was the low hum of the fridge. The city outside his window was mostly dark, except for the lights that never seemed to go out.
His shoulder still hurt. His ribs hurt more when he breathed deeply. He had an early practice so he should have been sleeping, but instead, he was scrolling. He had told himself he was only going to look for five minutes. That had been forty minutes ago. He kept scrolling.
Some people were defending him. Some weren't. Some didn't know what to think. Some were angry. Some were making jokes. Some were arguing with each other. He stopped at the photo of the little girl from the game. The sign in her hands read: OUR CAPTAIN! Shane stared at it, his throat tightened. He locked his phone. For several seconds, he sat in the silence.
Then the phone buzzed in his hand. A message from Hayden, Don’t read the comments. Shane looked at the screen before he typed back, Too late. The reply came almost immediately. Anything useful? Shane looked at the phone again, then at the dark window, before turning back to the message. The thought about the people in the arena, the chants, the signs, the way the crowd had started booing their own team. He thought about the videos, the arguments, the questions. Finally, he replied to Hayden simply, Some of it. Hayden didn't reply, so Shane put the phone face down on the table.
For the first time, he wondered what would happen if people kept looking. Not what would happen to him. What would happen to the people they were looking at.