I get watching shane turn his head to smile at ilya while CARRYING THE PUCK. DURING A GAME annoys and enrages people from a hockey perspective. I watch A LOT of sports. too many sports. so I get it.

but from a writing and storytelling perspective it's delicious. it's the narrative literally punishing shane for letting himself indulge. for letting himself figuratively (and in this scene literally) get distracted for once. he's paying so much attention to ilya and their relationship off of the ice and it's a reminder to us and to him that they are in a HOSTILE environment and that they aren't in a safe space. that shane has dedicated his entire life and all of his time and energy to hockey and ONLY hockey. and he’s always made sure every decision he makes (from the books he reads to the insane fucking diet he maintains to the personal and professional image he’s worked so hard to cultivate) is the right one to benefit his hockey career. to keep him at the top of his game and the top of the league and to never give anyone any reason to question whether or not he belongs there. and the one time he lets his personal life bleed into his hockey and distract him FOR ONE SECOND it wrecks him. literally. and not only that, ilya had to WATCH IT HAPPEN and reckon with having real life, very serious consequences of their actions. he is forced to face the fact that whatever it is they are to each other is bleeding through to hockey - to their lives outside of hotel rooms and each others houses - and that he cares about shane A LOT. that seeing some guy he’s been hooking up with get hurt like that shouldn’t ABSOLUTELY TERRIFY HIM the way that it does if all they’re doing is sleeping together.

idk I could probably write a whole essay about this but I don't want to go off like that on something where I'm in the COMPLETE MINORITY.