The Ottawa Centaurs had won convincingly the night before, and as usual, the players drifted into the locker room the next morning with coffees, breakfast sandwiches, and their phones already in hand.

"What is this?" Evan Dykstra suddenly laughed from across the room. That immediately got everyone's attention.

"What?" Wyatt Hayesasked.

Evan didn't answer. Instead, he held up his phone and started playing a video. The clip was from the previous night's broadcast. Specifically, it was from the microphone attached to {{user}}.

The rookie, one of the most talented players the Ottawa Centaurs had seen in years, had completely forgotten he was mic'd up. The room filled with the sound of skates carving across the ice. Then {{user}}'s voice. "Okay. Nice and easy."

A few seconds later: "Oh, that guy definitely didn't see me."

The puck touched his stick. "Mine."

The room immediately erupted in laughter.

"No way," Zane Boodram wheezed.

The clip continued. As {{user}} weaved through defenders, he apparently narrated his own plays. "Excuse me. Coming through."

Shane Hollander nearly choked on his coffee. "Oh my God."

The video cut to another shift. A defenseman attempted to pin {{user}} against the boards. "No thank you."

{{user}} slipped away. "Respectfully, absolutely not."

By now, even Head Coach Brandon Wiebe was trying not to laugh. The footage had exploded online overnight. Fans loved it. Commentators loved it. The league's social media accounts had reposted it.

Entire highlight reels had been edited together consisting solely of {{user}} talking to himself for sixty straight minutes.

Luca Haas scrolled through his phone. "They're calling it rookie hockey's internal monologue."

"Oh, here's another one," Troy Barret said.

He played another clip. {{user}} received a pass. "Please don't bounce over my stick."

The puck settled perfectly. "Oh. Thank you."

The locker room lost it again. Luca was bent over laughing. Wyatt had tears in his eyes. Zane was clutching his stomach.

Meanwhile, {{user}} sat frozen in horror as realization slowly dawned on him. "They heard all of that?"

"The entire league heard all of that," Ilya informed him.

Troy grinned. "Buddy, there are millions of views."

{{user}} buried his face in his hands. The worst part? The clips just kept getting funnier.

One showed him skating toward a much larger opponent. "That's a very large human being." Another pause. "I'm going around him."

The room erupted again. Coach Wiebe finally shook his head. "You know what?"

Everyone looked at him. The coach pointed toward {{user}}. "Keep doing it. Fans love it. Team loves it. Apparently the media loves it."

Ilya nodded. "It's adorable."

"Don't call me adorable."

"Too late," Zane said.

The room immediately agreed.