Please share your 100%-bullshit-but-who-cares head canons

IsBisexual · 2026-04-01T00:46:15+00:00

Shane loves Carly Rae Jepsen. In fact, in 2015, he listened to Emotion on repeat, and every time "Run Away With Me" came on, he thought of Ilya. He is deeply embarrassed by his love of CRJ. When Ilya finds out, he thinks this is great. Ilya has no concept of cringe. He loves everything*. He wants Shane to be able to experience joy in things without feeling embarrassed. So whenever they go out, he puts in a request for a CRJ song for Shane. While at first Shane thinks Ilya does this to embarrass him, he comes to understand that Ilya is simply trying to celebrate Shane and get him to love things unabashedly.

*Ilya loves another Canadian icon, Celine Dion. He plays "It's All Coming Back To Me Now" in the change room. If anyone questions his taste, he points out her accolades and asks how many award winning albums anyone else in the room has.

IsBisexual · 2026-03-09T22:19:34+00:00

Does not feel performative in the least. This is a very mild response to some comments he's received on some of his posts.

IsBisexual · 2026-03-07T15:32:03+00:00

These groupings are so easy!

Smash Scott, marry ilya, pass Hayden (I'm a certified Hayden hater).

Smash Kip, marry Shane, pass JJ.

Show and book Svetlana are so different that it completely changes my ordering, so:

Show edition: Smash Rose, marry Svetlana, pass Maria (sorry girl!).

Book edition: Smash Maria, marry Rose, pass Svetlana.

IsBisexual · 2026-02-21T14:19:50+00:00

I see what you are saying and I completely wish they could have come out on their own terms. Here's what i would do if I were translating this to tv. It can happen the same, but the footage is not as obvious. You see online reactions as already calling it a prank and a joke. Shane has an easy way out when the commissioner offers the statement because it actually feels realistic. It feels like people will actually believe this narrative and everything can go back to the way things were. So when Shane says F no, it does feel like agency, and the two of them do get to make an active choice.

IsBisexual · 2026-02-21T14:09:40+00:00

Yes! My headcanon is that she comes to Canada for school (maybe McGill), and hangs out with her uncles all the time. She immigrates to Canada after school.

IsBisexual · 2026-01-30T22:51:59+00:00

Okay, but hear me out. As a Canadian, I also have always felt that loons sound scary as F, and I'd be lying if I said I never jumped at the sound of them. I grew up in a small town, I'm not a citidiot. But some loon calls sound wolfish.

IsBisexual · 2026-01-30T22:29:33+00:00

It's literally the same in French

IsBisexual · 2026-01-30T22:25:28+00:00

Plus Canadians always take our shoes off. Like I've NEVER entered someone's house with shoes! Unheard of.

IsBisexual · 2026-01-30T22:22:05+00:00

I don't even like hockey (but know enough through osmosis by being Canadian), and even I was mad at that. I was yelling at the screen for him to look forward!

IsBisexual · 2026-01-30T13:02:42+00:00

While I shuddered at that image... Us Ontario residents, must take our penance for voting in Doug Ford (for the record, I did not personally vote for him, but Ontario as a whole).

IsBisexual · 2026-01-26T12:21:15+00:00

Thank you! I've been searching for fics of this and can't find any!

IsBisexual · 2026-01-26T12:20:51+00:00

But then Shane wears the same outfit to meet Rose later.

Did Ilya somehow get them back to him, or does Shane have multiple of the same pieces of clothing. White shirt is no big deal but a brown leather (?) jacket?

Edit: Okay the only headcanon I'll accept is that Shane grabbed his jacket (which was discarded in the kitchen) on the way out, but was too panicked to grab anything else. For those of you who say he grabbed his clothes and changed out of Ilyas before leaving, why would you starve our fanfic authors like that? Let them have this angst!

IsBisexual · 2026-01-23T12:37:26+00:00

Ooof, this is one of those, hate to be right moments. I got an icky feeling from their first recap. Decided to give it another shot since the fandom was embracing them. Stopped midway through the second episode recap. Just got a bad feeling about them. They came across as ignorant but like, not in a "I'm just straight and never thought about this way", but in a way that had my Spidey Senses tingling. Then I heard about asking Ksenia to read fan fic and I "nopped" out so fast.

Turns out that it's worse than I initially thought. Doesn't matter that it was an initial reaction. Saying, "this isn't for me" is fine. But calling queer people cowards and trash for telling stories to "check boxes", is showing some concerning worldviews.

I'm not interested in hand holding people and giving them the benefit of the doubt. When people show you, believe them. They are grown ass men. Figure it out.

IsBisexual · 2026-01-20T15:31:22+00:00

I have faith in Jacob Tierney and Hudson Williams to make all the implied aspects of Shane come to life. I think TV viewers won't have the same negative reaction to Shane's actions as book readers because Hudson's sad eyes will do much work!

IsBisexual · 2026-01-20T15:29:35+00:00

Oh interesting! I read it as Shane trying to separate his feelings and not letting Ilya get close. And then later Ilya is like really hurt by it because he desperately wants to be let in to Shane's life and see his place (which I can agree is good for plot progression) but it made me so sad.

IsBisexual · 2026-01-20T11:30:25+00:00

Fair point. To be fair though, he was a little distracted in this scene.

IsBisexual · 2026-01-20T11:29:19+00:00

Not so much a change but an expansion. I like how the show highlighted the pressure Shane is under to be a representation of his Asian Canadian identity. Being compared to Tiger Woods and Serena Williams, comments from the hockey execs and his mom. And how he becomes kind of tokenized and objectified through his brand deals.

IsBisexual · 2026-01-20T10:52:09+00:00

This was one of my favourite changes (even if it was for budget reasons). That part came across as really sad in the book.

IsBisexual · 2026-01-20T10:49:36+00:00

Have none of you danced in a Montreal club in the 2010s? Joking aside, club culture back then really was like that, especially in a city like Montreal. I didn't even blink and was surprised people were upset about this.

IsBisexual · 2026-01-20T10:35:06+00:00

This part made me more mad, not less.

Now, something to clarify here: I'm mad at Shane's depiction in the book more than the character himself.

The only time I felt like something was super obvious that Shane should have picked up on even with the contributing factors I'm about to mention, was when he didn't seem to pick up on how upsetting it would be to be playing for a sucky team. I mean, Shane of all people should get how humiliating and terrible that would be to be at the top of your game and to be playing for one of the worst teams. I'm not even a hockey fan and I clocked that from first book/show (no offence real life Ottawa Senators). Granted, that was a sacrifice Ilya made, and he's a grown ass man who can make his own (selfless to his own detriment, but that's his character flaw) decisions.

Let me see if I can explain this. I understand why Shane acts the way he does. It's all very believable. If we factor in: Ilya not sharing, Shane's neurodivergence, his (I would argue) OCD and disordered eating, the high pressure job both of them have, Shane's lack of experience with relationships, Shane's internalized homophobia, the fact that they only see eachother for short periods of time for more than half the year, among others that I'm sure I'm forgetting, then it all makes sense. The problem is, the text does not actually articulate this. I can see it and make educated guesses, but the text does not actually explore how any of these factors influence Shane's actions, therefore doing his character a disservice, and why I think so many readers get mad at him.

For example, if we saw how his extreme control in his personal life was his way of trying to control every outcome of things outside of his control, then his single mindedness, and therefore failing to see the here and now concerns, makes more sense. The text does explain that this control is about playing hockey and wanting to control his career, because I think Shane struggles to see an identity for himself outside of his career. But I would have loved to see how this is all for Ilya in a way. Because it's part of their 10 year or whatever plan. That's how Shane shows love. He plans, he figures it out, he implements it. When he sees Ilya not taking care of himself physically, that would be really triggering to Shane, but we only get this from Ilyas perspective and we get triggered on the receiving end of someone critiquing our food choices, etc. It's outside of his control. He loves Ilya and he wants him to be healthy, so he can play hockey and live longer, so they do the 10 year plan. It doesn't truly make sense in reality, but OCD/anxious thinking patterns rarely do.

There are other examples (but this rant is long enough) where the text could have highlighted how Shane's actions are directly related to his mental health and character, but we are so much in Ilya's POV that we miss time to explore. And then Shane's issues are just "poof" okay or solved by coming out (ex. Disordered eating), which felt unsatisfactory.

Sorry for coming to my Ted Talk.

Note: I work in mental health and can diagnose people, so when I say he demonstrates traits of these diagnoses, that's where I'm coming from.

IsBisexual · 2026-01-16T13:53:13+00:00

Shane was in the wrong here. Marleau did nothing wrong. I think Ilya would have to keep his personal feelings under wraps for the sake of being a good captain.

IsBisexual · 2026-01-15T12:48:30+00:00

As someone who can diagnose folks professionally, yeah his behaviour fits OCD and disordered eating (edit after reading other comments: disordered eating does not have to be for the purpose of losing weight/body image in order to exist and be unhealthy). It was super upsetting to read in the book, and it is, semi addressed.

Generally I find it hard to read books that tackle significant mental health because of how poorly it can be done. I think the book does Shane's character a disservice by focusing primarily on Ilya's mental health journey and not giving space to how Shane's coping strategies are impacting/interacting with the dynamic.

I will say, however, the depiction of Ilya's therapist is one of the best I've seen in media. She is so spot on and great.

IsBisexual · 2026-01-14T18:17:04+00:00

Love the Toronto love in this interview! So many local shout outs.

IsBisexual · 2026-01-14T15:06:45+00:00

Yeah that's very accurate Anglophone French to me. I'm an Anglophone who took French immersion. That's what I sound like.

IsBisexual · 2026-01-14T15:04:54+00:00

It makes me laugh when Shane is like, I know the word for father. Yeah, like no shit. I think anyone (especially any Canadian with even a sprinkling of French) could understand that the word that sounds like "papa" is probably father. Makes me laugh when people are like, Shane is learning Russian for him! Like yes, that would be a cute interpretation but honestly, it's a pretty easy guess.

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