A few years ago, Sig Gauthier was a third-round draft pick who limped onto the Boston lineup after a near-career-ending injury in the AHL. Now, he鈥檚 a two-time NHL All Star predicted to score an eight-figure contract when he鈥檚 a free agent at the end of the season. He鈥檚 got just one problem, and it鈥檚 cheering him on in the stands wearing a bedazzled pink jersey with his name on the back: His soon-to-be-step-sister, Chloe, with whom he had a steamy encounter hours before they both realized their parents were getting married.
Gauthier is not a real NHL star but the protagonist of romance author Tessa Bailey鈥檚 bestselling “Big Shots” series, which chronicles the world of hockey with the same breathless enthusiasm as any play-by-play announcer, though most of the, uh, stickhandling happens off ice.
Welcome to the thriving sub-sub-genre of hockey romance novels. Stories of spice-on-ice have more longevity than any post-season bandwagon: Searches for 鈥渉ockey romance鈥 on Amazon Canada are up 20 per cent year-over-year. The sports romance genre posted its highest ever sales going into 2025 and in 2024, 70 per cent of the bestsellers in that category were about hockey, up from 30 per cent the year before.
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While the 海角社区官网Maple Leafs鈥 playoff run may be over, heartbroken fans can take refuge in an alternate universe where the roster is perennially stacked with jacked-but-emotionally-evolved-stars who worship the feisty women they fall for. During the playoffs, fans have been posting cheeky videos from the stands, like a popular Instagram reel of players doing slightly suggestive on-ice stretches, captioned, 鈥楴ot sorry for enjoying. It鈥檚 a book girl thing.鈥
Hockey romance author Bal Khabra says readers send her photos of themselves holding her books at games. 鈥淚t鈥檚 the ultimate full-circle moment,鈥 she says. 鈥淚 love knowing that this story can spark a real-world connection to the game.鈥
Khabra鈥檚 collegiate hockey romance novel “Collide” was the top-selling sports romance novel of 2024. 鈥淩eaders are obsessed with the tropes like 鈥榳ear my jersey鈥 or the bang against the plexi-glass for an intimate moment between the two characters in a packed arena,鈥 she says.
Khabra grew up watching hockey and was in the Boston arena the last time the Leafs lost in a playoff series game seven. She says there鈥檚 just something 鈥渕agnetic鈥 about the sport. 鈥淭he atmosphere, the playoffs, the drama. Even if you鈥檙e not a diehard fan, the appeal is in the athletes themselves. There鈥檚 a mix of intensity and drive in each player,鈥 she says. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e so skilled at what they do, and I think that dedication makes it hot.鈥
“Collide” by Canadian author Bal Khabra was the top sports romance novel of last year.
SuppliedStaff at Toronto鈥檚 Hopeless Romantics Books have seen quite a few shoppers browsing in-store before games this season, wearing their team jerseys. But not all hockey followers are into this sub-genre. 鈥淚’ve heard from lots of hockey fans that they can’t quite get into hockey romances, because they’re not quite sure if hockey players are this romantic in real life,鈥 said the store’s bookseller Shelly, who asked not to disclose their last name. 鈥淪ome readers also occasionally tell us the actual hockey-playing in the books is not quite accurate or realistic enough.鈥
Ontario author Becka Mack is behind the BookTok-viral “Playing For Keeps” series. 鈥淚f they鈥檙e not already a hockey fan, I don鈥檛 think readers understand just how inherently sexy hockey is,鈥 she says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 fast, it鈥檚 aggressive, it鈥檚 sweaty, and hockey players are incredibly skilled with their hands. What鈥檚 not to love? Hockey鈥檚 one of those sports that gets your blood pumping when you watch it, and a good hockey romance can do the same thing.鈥
But there鈥檚 more to these books than eight-packs and puck-based innuendo. 鈥淵ou鈥檝e got this team, this group of tight-knit players who go through so much together and would do anything for each other. It鈥檚 so refreshing to read about men who aren鈥檛 afraid to love their friends and be vulnerable with each other,鈥 says Mack. 鈥淲hen I write about hockey players, they鈥檙e communicating, they鈥檙e feeling what they need to feel, and they鈥檙e asking for and accepting help. If they鈥檙e not, the journey to that point becomes part of their story.鈥
Hockey fan and author Helena Hunting鈥檚 series about a team called the 鈥満＝巧缜偻鳷error鈥 is climbing the leaderboard at the moment. Her readers often talk about the comradeship in her hockey novels, whether that鈥檚 between players or the WAGs around them. 鈥淲e all want a group of friends who will show up for us when things get tough, and a partner who will support us and our own goals,鈥 she says. 鈥淩omance, and sports romance in particular, does that well in a natural way.鈥
“If You Need Me” by 海角社区官网hockey romance author Helena Hunting.
SuppliedThere are other ways that sport lends itself to romance. 鈥淭here are a lot of fit people that are very sweaty,鈥 says Kitchener-born Kayleigh Platz, co-creator of the book club and blog Romance by the Book and lifelong Rangers fan. 鈥淗ockey captures readers because, unlike football or even basketball, it鈥檚 a very physical sport. There鈥檚 fighting. There are big, burly men. They鈥檙e kind of the bad boys of sport, who make a ton of money, but then it鈥檚 like, who are they in real life? Are they sweethearts? Are they a single dad who鈥檚 looking for a nanny?鈥 (Here she鈥檚 nodding to the first book in Tessa Bailey鈥檚 hockey series.)
鈥淚 love to see the clash of the drudgery of training and the risk when they are in the games, and the peeling back of the shell and seeing what they鈥檙e like as humans,鈥 she says. 鈥淗ockey, more than other sports, is like wrestling in that they have these personas that they put on one ice. He鈥檚 the fighter, he鈥檚 the stick master. You don鈥檛 really know what they look like half the time either. There鈥檚 this mystery.鈥
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It is also an exploration of fantasy, one that is separate from the reality where athletes have made headlines for domestic and sexual violence against women. Recently, readers reacted in horror to the news that Sean Avery, a former NHL player who once referred to his ex-girlfriend Elisha Cuthbert as 鈥渟loppy seconds鈥 and who has been who has been accused of abuse by his ex-wife Hilary Rhoda, is co-writing a romance novel due out this fall.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think it鈥檚 landing the way the publishing company thought it would, because a lot of the target market are women my age who remember the headlines. He is a bad boy, but he鈥檚 a bad boy who hasn鈥檛 redeemed himself,鈥 says Platz. 鈥淭hat breaks that bond of fantasy, that trust relationship with a romance author.鈥
That trust is something authors are considering too. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a weird time to be a reader or writer of hockey romance. The ongoing Hockey Canada sexual assault trial has forced us as a nation to confront the ugly underbelly of hockey culture,鈥 says Jenny Holiday, the London, Ont.-based author of 鈥淐anadian Boyfriend,鈥 which centres around a widowed NHL player. 鈥淎t the same time, Canadians have embraced the 鈥榚lbows up鈥 rallying cry in our response to economic and existential threats from the United States. I think the takeaway is that hockey is woven through how we collectively define ourselves as Canadians.鈥
Take her book鈥檚 hero: 鈥淗e plays hockey, considers himself a hoser, and wears a toque, not a hat. I was having fun with leaning into Canadian stereotypes, and the hockey player part of his identity was part of that,鈥 she says. 鈥淏ut one of the main themes of the book is that people are always more complicated than our ideas of them. So I knowingly sidestepped most of the stereotypes of the hockey player.鈥
In the fantasy world of hockey romance, too, queer love can flourish in a sport with a history of homophobia, as in Rachel Reid鈥檚 popular “Game Changers” series.
Khabra also delights in upending stereotypes in her stories, like the way the dismissive term 鈥減uck bunny鈥 is used to refer to women who like hockey. 鈥淧ersonally, I avoid using that unless it鈥檚 in a cheeky, harmless way that doesn鈥檛 target women. I think it鈥檚 important to recognize that women can 鈥 and do 鈥 genuinely love the sport,鈥 she says. 鈥淢y friends and I are walking proof of that. Hockey isn鈥檛 just a guy thing, and I love showing female characters who enjoy it without being reduced to a stereotype.鈥
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