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At 12 years old Luca Haas had an important decision to make. This was the first season he’d be on a hockey team that allowed players to choose their jersey number. Obviously, it was going to be 81 or 24. He just couldn’t decide which one.
81 was Ilya Rozanov’s number. Rozanov was fast, determined and tough. He wasn’t quite what Luca aspired to be, but he was definitely a player Luca held in high esteem.
24 was Shane Hollander’s number. Hollander was precise, skilled and smart. Luca didn’t think he’d ever be as good as Shane Hollander, but it was definitely something to aspire to.
It was scary, but Luca decided to go with 24. He may never get there, but his father told him “If you reach for the stars, you won’t come up with mud.”
Flash forward nine years and Luca has a brand new problem. The 24 he’s worn on his jersey since his Moskito days had become a bit of a liability. The original number 24, Shane Hollander, had joined the Ottawa Centaurs and was obviously not going to let a pipsqueak from Switzerland keep the number.
Sitting in the locker room the first day of training camp Luca was visibly jittery. He’d been at the wedding but hadn’t gotten a chance to really speak with Hollander and was obsessing over what he was going to say and how he would graciously give up the number that had defined his career up to that point.
Worse for Luca before Hollander even got there, in strode Ilya Rozanov who made a beeline for the sophomore winger. “What will it take, little Luca?”
Luca just stared at Ilya, mouth agape.
“I am broker. What will it take to get 24 off your back and onto my Shane’s?”
Luca stammered incomprehensibly.
Wyatt Hayes, seeing that Luca was in no position to negotiate, jumped in. “What’s your opening offer, Roz? He’s had that number since he was 12 and you want him to just give it up for your husband?”
Number swaps happen all the time at the beginning of training camps, but the rapidly assembling team sensed this was going to be a big one.
“He has number since 12 because of my husband. Is my husband's number since before Luca was born.” Ilya cartoonishly stressed “husband” each time.
“But he was on this team first, so it’s his number to keep or trade away. What. Are. You. Offering?”
Ilya sighed dramatically, which somehow thickened his Russian accent. By now, Shane had entered the locker room and was clearly amused by the standoff.
Luca, on the other hand, looked like he wanted the ground to swallow him whole.
“Rolex.”
“Nice try, spokesperson’s husband. Shane gets those for free. Something that’s gonna hurt.”
“Can I just give him the number?” Luca pleaded.
Wyatt and Ilya shouted at him in unison, “No!”
“One of your precious cars, Roz.”
Luca blanched whiter than he already was. “I’ve seen Ted Lasso. I am not going to become Colin Hughes.”
Shane decided to take pity on the kid. “How about this, I pay your meal prep service this season, and you get monthly dinners with us at my parents’ house?”
Wyatt was not happy. “That’s chump change, but the monthly home cooking is a nice addition. Throw in laundry and cleaning services for the season and you’ve got a deal.”
Somewhere in all this, Luca found his resolve. “And the Rolex.”
And so Luca Haas took to the ice to begin the 2021-2022 season bearing the number 42 on his back to announce to the world that he’d figured out life, the universe and everything.