TAGE THOMPSON: “SHE WASN’T LOUD—SHE WAS REAL”
By Jackson Reade, The Players’ Journal — Fictional Feature
“When I first met Rachel, I’ll be honest—I didn’t think too much of it. She wasn’t what I expected. Not at all.
At that point in my life, everything revolved around hockey. NHL was starting to feel real—contracts, trade talks, film sessions, back-to-backs on the road. I was dialed in, tunnel-visioned. Romance? Honestly, it felt like a distraction. I had no time for fairy tales. I barely had time to sleep between road trips and lifting schedules.
But Rachel… she didn’t fit into my world. She walked into it like a different kind of melody. Not loud. Not flamboyant. Just real. It was like hearing a steady note in a room full of crashing cymbals.
We met at a charity event in Buffalo—one of those formal things where everyone wears tailored suits and rehearsed smiles. I was halfway through a conversation with a sponsor when she walked by with a tray of appetizers. I thought she was working the event. Turns out she was one of the organizers—coordinating meals for shelters and kids’ programs through a nonprofit. I still remember her correcting me gently when I asked if she could “grab me another water.” She just smiled and said, ‘You look like someone who could use a conversation more than a drink.’
That was Rachel.
At first, I didn’t know what to do with someone like her. She didn’t care about stats. Didn’t know the difference between a wrist shot and a slapshot. She’d never even been to an NHL game. But she listened. When I talked about the pressure, the isolation, the grind—she didn’t flinch. She didn’t offer clichés. She just showed up. And in my world, where people often disappear the second you miss a shot or drop on a depth chart—that meant everything.
She wasn’t impressed by the plane rides or the hotels. What she cared about was whether I called my mom. Whether I treated the trainers with respect. Whether I remembered where I came from.
The guys used to chirp me—‘Tage is soft now,’ they’d say. ‘Whipped.’ And maybe I was. But for the first time, I was also balanced.
When we started dating, I had one of the best seasons of my career. I don’t think that’s coincidence. I think when you have someone who grounds you—not in your spotlight, but in your silence—you start playing the game differently. I wasn’t chasing approval anymore. I was playing free.
Rachel and I got married last summer in Lake Placid. No big media, no fanfare. Just our families and some friends. She still doesn’t care about plus-minus or shootout goals. But she’s in the stands at every home game, right behind the bench—same steady smile, same calming presence.
And here’s the truth: I spent years chasing glory, thinking that the game would give me everything I needed.
But it turns out, she was the goal I didn’t know I was skating toward all along.”
Let me know if you’d like this reworked into a player profile or interview-style feature!
