May Novel Essential Information

Novel Title: Descent into Ruin

Time Setting: 2021

Genre: Life

Minimum Word Goal: 90,000

Timespan: August–April

Locations: Brandon, Manitoba; Sidney, British Columbia; Franchise-Hosting Cities of the Western Hockey League

Main Characters: Chalmers MacKenna

Background Information: 

Chalmers was born the only child of a union so short-lived that it was over before he took his first breath. His father was from Nova Scotia, his mother from Alberta, and because of Chalmers’ impending arrival, his father had brought his mother to Nova Scotia to meet his parents.

Following the meeting, his parents got into a row, as his mother loved Nova Scotia and wanted to stay, but his father insisted they would be financially better off if they went back to Alberta, and eventually returned there alone at the end of the argument.

As a result, Chalmers’ mother was taken in by a family in Oldham, Nova Scotia, who ended up being Chalmers’ primary caretakers upon his birth because his mother had been convinced she was going to give birth to a daughter, and rejected Chalmers for not merely being a son, but having a striking resemblance to his father, whom she no longer loved.

Her benefactors were the ones who tracked down Chalmers’ paternal grandparents in Middle Musquodoboit, Nova Scotia, and asked them if they would be interested in taking custody of their grandson.

Chalmers’ grandparents immediately agreed, and so he was handed over, being given his legal name by his grandparents, as his mother hadn’t wanted to name him, and the benefactors didn’t believe it to be their place.

Life with his grandparents was a pleasant one for Chalmers, until he got to school age and proceeded to be bullied by schoolmates because he didn’t know where his father and mother were, prompting him to seek answers from his grandparents.

His grandma didn’t think he was old enough to understand what had happened, but his grandpa told him anyways, leading Chalmers to be extremely devastated and ashamed, to the point that he withdrew socially, even cutting off friendships, and even feared his grandparents didn’t really want him for a time.

Prior to reaching school age, Chalmers was introduced by his grandpa to the game of hockey, and specifically to the Montréal Canadiens, his grandpa’s favourite team. Chalmers quickly came to love both, and thus eagerly spent even the coldest of days out skating on the backyard rink his grandpa built every winter, where his grandpa — an avid amateur hockey player for years — noticed Chalmers had a knack for hockey such as differentiated the best players of the NHL from their peers.

As a result, he did what he could to coach Chalmers not only on the ice in the winter, but on inline skates in the summertime, until the winter after Chalmers turned nine.

That winter, Chalmers’ grandpa came down with bronchitis, which ended up claiming his life, to Chalmers and his grandma’s extreme devastation.

Hardly a month after his grandpa’s death, a significant snowstorm such as would usually come once a winter struck the area, leaving Chalmers and his grandma trapped for nearly a week because the tractor wouldn’t start and their phone line got damaged, preventing them from being able to call neighbours.

As a result, Chalmers’ grandma was convinced that she and Chalmers couldn’t remain on the small farm that had been in the MacKenna family since the 1700s, and so sold the farm, moving herself and Chalmers to Sidney, British Columbia, where her youngest daughter — and her only child still on speaking terms with her — lived, and had an offer of a basement suite to live in.

Life in Sidney quickly proved to not be all that it had been hoped to be, as Chalmers’ cousins were both older than him, and the older of the two — also a boy — didn’t like Chalmers from the start, proceeding to go out of his way to make Chalmers’ life difficult.

Nevertheless, Chalmers was enrolled in organised hockey for the first time, where he performed poorly, unable to get on well with his teammates, and showed none of the skill he’d shown when playing with his grandpa.

One of the assistant coaches on the team, however, determined to sleuth out what was going on, and ended up befriending Chalmers and his grandma, becoming something like the father and older brother Chalmers had never had, while his own children became surrogate grandchildren to Chalmers’ grandma.

With his help, Chalmers regained the ability to forge friendships and soon was showing all the skill his grandpa had seen in him and more, proving to be nearly dominant at every level of hockey he played, which led him to be considered good enough to be drafted first overall in the WHL Bantam Draft by the Brandon Wheat Kings.

After participating in two rookie camps, Chalmers made the Wheat Kings, and despite the fact that the Wheat Kings failed to make the playoffs, impressed the entire WHL with his skill, talent, and scoring abilities in both his rookie season, and the season thereafter.

Because Brandon has not succeeded in making the playoffs for the last two seasons, however, the Wheat Kings’ management made the decision following Chalmers’ second season to fire the entire coaching staff, and replace them with an all-new lineup, with the hopes that they will be able to make a return to the playoffs.

Although sad to see coaching staff whom he quite liked depart, Chalmers is hopeful that the change in coaching staff will succeed in bringing about the playoff competition that he and his teammates would love to participate in, especially considering that he will be under extra scrutiny during the season, being eligible for the next summer’s NHL Entry Draft, where he hopes to be picked by the Canadiens.

Pronunciations:

Musquodoboit: muhskohdohbit

Montréal: mohrehahl

Canadiens: kahnahdyeh'