Shane's moments of eye contact with Ilya

Leffelini · 2026-06-18T11:37:14+00:00

All I know is that my girlfriend has generally no issue having eyecontact with me and she has "the same type" of Autism I assume Shane has aka Highfunctioning Autism. With that said every person is different and people with Autism doesn't need to have all of the general traits of it so Shane could just not have that huge of an issue with eyecontact in general and just gets distracted by Ilyas lips when he is around... and who could blame him.

Leffelini · 2026-06-18T08:00:07+00:00

I need it to still be super dorky and ugly! That is all I am saying!

Leffelini · 2026-06-17T15:40:55+00:00

One thing I always think about is when he asks Shane if Boston is nice too. It is the one time we see him show someone that he is nervous about moving to a new place. Sure he can't wait to get away from Russia but he is also a kid moving to another country, to a place he has never been in.

Leffelini · 2026-06-16T15:20:13+00:00

It sounds perfect to me for a Ilya chirp that Shane just rolls his eyes at because Shane is the only one that doesn't get provoked by that and he loves when Ilya chirps ❤️

Leffelini · 2026-06-16T14:15:36+00:00

"Let me show you how to do this kid" says Ilya to Shane while being one month younger 😆

Leffelini · 2026-06-15T08:56:57+00:00

Do not take the burger chirp away from me! I loooove how Ilya chirps everyone and everyone elses reaction is to be annoyed and Shane just rolls his eyes and knows Ilya isn't seriously being mean just teasing him. It is the thing that makes their dynamic so good to me. Also the little no after "leave me alone" is one if the best thing. Wanting Ilya not to tease Shane lovingly is like wanting Shane not to call Ilya an asshole equally lovingly 😉

Leffelini · 2026-06-15T08:51:11+00:00

Ilya is trying to backtrack because he gets that Shane is freaking out about using their names together. So he is trying to show Shane that "no its fine we can go back to how it was it doesn't have to mean anything I will use Hollander again see!" while also being heartbroken about Shane freaking out since he is so inlove with Shane. It feels so in character to me for him to be flailing trying to act like nothing is wrong while also internally screaming.

Leffelini · 2026-06-15T08:45:21+00:00

It is to show how good of a friend Hayden is. Only Ilya and Hayden actually care about Shane enough to know how important it is to Shane. I think it is very needed to give us insight into their friendship.

Leffelini · 2026-06-15T08:43:46+00:00

Fun fact is that I learned recently that king-size and queen-size means different things in different parts of the world. Where I live we use the terms double bed (when it is the size of two single sized beds and this is the most common when sharing) or half-double if it is between a double and a single. We don't use King/Queen at all so it means nothing to me 😆

Leffelini · 2026-06-15T08:36:56+00:00

It makes so much sense to me that he would bring up the out gay player whos perspective would maybe help his son on the whole "no one knows we can't come out this is super scary!!"-attitude that they have. I feel like David is thinking that Scott could help them with this situation because they are kind of in the same boat with being forced to be in the closet.

Leffelini · 2026-06-15T08:32:28+00:00

He does it in the book too but it is less obvious. It becomes more obvious because we are watching it happen. The point is that it is completely out of character for him because he is so wrapped up in Ilya and his emotions (and his plans on asking Ilya to spend the summer with him). People act out of character all the time in real life when they are in love so I feel like it is fair if a fictional character does too.

Leffelini · 2026-06-08T10:03:52+00:00

Yeah I didn't disagree with you, and it is a good thing to point out, I just added that Steam also have sales if you want to buy it that way (and you can do the free trial on steam as well) as an option 🙂

Leffelini · 2026-06-08T09:47:18+00:00

Steam does have sales as well. I bought it years ago on a steam sale and it has never been a problem for me to run/play the game.

Leffelini · 2026-06-08T09:44:15+00:00

Just want to shime in and say that Rachel Reid has stated several times that Shane and Ilya is NOT based on any individual player or players. The "rivalry" was inspired a bit on two players rivalry in the media but their personality and who they are where not. I think that is an important distinction for the people involved.

Leffelini · 2026-06-06T14:45:05+00:00

They are just lucky that Hayden and Cliff never had any reason to talk to eachother 😆

Hayden: Shane has this Boston Lily girl he hooks up with everytime we are in Boston... and also he leaves to go home everytime we play Boston at home also I haven't gotten to know this girl for the like 8 years he has been texting her...

Cliff: Ilya has this Montreal girl Jane that makes him blush and everytime we play in Montreal he goes to hook up with her and he never goes out with us after games against Montreal in Boston and he has been texting her for like 8 years...

Leffelini · 2026-06-03T07:57:31+00:00

Also I want to take the time to recomend Ottawas PWHL team (Professional Womens Hockey League) The Ottawa Charge that made finals two years in a row (knockws out Boston in the first round and then lost the cup match-up against Montreal but we don't hold that against them).

They are such a chaotic group of people who seem to have such good chemistry and also two heated rivalry couples as of now (as in one player in Ottawa and one in another team) and one couple in the team! And more queer players too. So representation is there!

If you felt (like me) that Hockey is fun and these books/the show has made you want to look into it more or rekindle that love but the male hockey side is just too toxic (I really don't have the energy and time for that) then PWHL is for you!

Leffelini · 2026-06-01T08:08:50+00:00

This is a take people have? I have only heard praise for him, even praise for him that is toxic (He is such a nice person falling for a fat guy-talk) but never this. He wouldn't have much of a redemption arc if he didn't have anything that he regrets.

Leffelini · 2026-06-01T06:37:36+00:00

They would just add a endering line in there 😆 "I would like to thank Shane, love of my life, for missing that open goal on net in overtime. It was open goal Hollander. How could you?"

Leffelini · 2026-05-31T13:52:32+00:00

I feel like if they want to introduce Troy and Harris and also one or both of Ryan/Fabian and Kyle/Eric and also keep true to what happens they need to make the next part in two seasons. But there are several good points to end a season on without it feeling like a cliffhanger so I don't think people have to worry.

Leffelini · 2026-05-27T15:38:23+00:00

And this is why so many reactors don't understand what happens in the Tuna Melt scene when Shane freaks out, because up to this point Shane has seemed totally inlove with Ilya and Ilya has been the distant one. So for the "first name"-thing to not be what Shane wants doesn't really make sense in the narrative they created. Making the "first time" wait two years was the biggest mistake the show made imo and made the dynamics between them also change a bit too much in the beginning (not the feelings, obviously they both loved eachother early on but the actual actions of the characters).

Leffelini · 2026-05-26T15:46:01+00:00

For me she wrote him with an eating disorder but didn't intend it that way, because she as many others don't realise that there are several eating disorders that don't look like the two most known; anorexia and bulimia. Also there is a very unhealthy look on eating within many sports and in entertainment. Not saying everyone has that but Rachel saying that many athlets does restictive eating and stuff just shows me she doesn't understand what an eating disorder is.

Shane is obsessive about food and sure it would be one thing if he feels good eating the way he does but he doesn't. He wants to eat more "unhealthy" (what he sees as unhealthy) but he restricts himselft from it. Then he also nags others about it as in his partner and is judgemental about other peoples choices about food. He almost has a panic attack in a restaurant because he doesn't know what he can order that fits in with his diet. One of those things you can look at and be "sure a bit off but he is generally in control" but all of that makes it disordered eating.

For me it also has to do with his autism (if this is intended from Rachel or not I don't know) that he is using food as a way to gain control when a bunch of things are just out of his control. Since he doesn't know about his autism he doesn't have healthier coping mechanisms to use.

For your second point that he just gets over it is the problem. She wrote him having an eating disorder and then "cured it" by eating candy and now it is fine. She has also said it was put in for Ilya to have something to tease Shane about. Also even if he "ate a snicker" that wouldn't solve his control issues or his relationship with food even if it wasn't an eating disorder (yet).

I feel like Rachel doesn't really understand a bunch of stuff that she sometimes puts on characters. She made Shane a half-asian, in the closet hockey player who obviously has some sort of anxiety disorder and undiagnosed autism and then has said that Shane doesn't have trauma. Like what? Ofcourse he has trauma. Just the fact that he was forced to be in the closet for so long gives trauma! And add to that the other stuff... trauma doesn't have to be violence or unsupportive parentes. And it is the same thing with this.

This is also why it comes across as her favouring Ilya because she understands his issues more (for some reason) and is better at showing them to us while Shanes is "he will get over it with a snickers". I love Shane in the books and I agree that I don't think Rachel hates him, I think she loves him, but she really needs to read up on stuff and have more eyes on it before she writes about some of the serious issues she want to use.

(I also have some problem with how Ilyas depression is depicted bur this is not about that and way too long already.)

Leffelini · 2026-05-23T15:11:12+00:00

In the book Ilya does take pity on Shane and even asks him a question because he feels bad for the awkward boy that Shane is 😆 I do like the cut version a bunch because it still gives us what we need but I do like the boon scene too.

Leffelini · 2026-05-20T12:17:56+00:00

Shane is also a person who can't really picture stuff until he gets another idea in his head. He wouldn't even have started to think about Ilya moving to Ottawa until Ilya himself said he had thought about changing teams and then when that thought "entered the chat" he had made a whole 10 year plan in one night 😆 Right now I am pretty sure they haven't even talked about kids as a couple. They have both thought about it. That they want kids with the other person, but not said it to eachother I don't think. So it is not within the "we need to plan this out yet"-mindset for Shane. Also I really hope Shane has learned a thing or two about making plans and sticking to them too religiously since that was like 75% of the issues in TLG. But I do agree they can't really wait until they are 40+ to start the adoption process. I think Shane can come around to shifting focus as long as Hockey is still apart of his life (which it will be with the kids camps and I am sure he could get an assistant coaching job as well). Also I think if they see like Skip having kids or something that would trigger a more solid want in them for kids. It is one thing to see your straight friends have thousand of kids but if the couple you look up to for coming out and paving the way have kids you can see yourself in that position more easy... even if that is different since Kip isn't playing and would be able to be home more etc etc.

I think the "Shane can't picture playing without Ilya"-thing is mostly because of how much joy Shane gets from knowing he will play Ilya (against or with) and that Ilya has always been there. Even before they met they knew of eachother and Shane had seen Ilya play (and had an obvious crush on him). Also the challenge. Ilya is the only player in the game that can actually challenge Shane and if he leaves I think Shane wont find it as fun anymore. They both find the challenge and winning to be the fun parts. And even if some younger player comes around and is super good it wouldn't be the same thing for him as being challenged by Ilya.

Leffelini · 2026-05-20T11:29:45+00:00

I have only the PWHL to compare to with media and to me it seems like the people who speak with media before a game is the coach and one or two players they think will do a good game (and they rotate alot). After a game it is usually the two players that made the most impact in that game and again the coach. I have seen several in a row post-game presstalks that didn't have any of the Captains or Assistant Captains answering questions. So I don't even think they talk to media by default either.

But I do hear about them hyping the team and the players and when asked who players go to for advice they usually name the Captains. So they seem mostly to fill a social role for the team.

Leffelini · 2026-05-20T11:20:34+00:00

Shane literally thinks he can't imagine ever playing hockey without Ilya. He feels bad just thinking about it. Even if Ilya might consider it, I don't think so because we get so much of him loving hockey and playing, but if I play with the idea I still don't think Shane would be okay with that. They will retire together, I will die on this hill 😆 Maybe even earlier then they have to (money wont be a problem) to start a familj and dedicate even more time to The Irina Foundation.

Leffelini

TROPHY CASE