I have news for the Financial Times: hockey romance novels haven’t “rescued” the sport in this country — and it’s insulting (on countless levels) to suggest otherwise.
“I was in Manchester to report on the growing popularity of ice hockey in the United Kingdom,” wrote Kitty Drake.
“North American ice-hockey [sic] games are watched by TV audiences of millions, but until recently most British teams have been playing to half-empty rinks.”
Drake argues that the Elite League has female hockey romance novel readers to thank for its resurgence, which is patronising the sport, the league, and — most importantly — female fans.
Elite League fandom and hockey romance: fact or fiction?
“Overall attendance at British hockey games has increased by 75 percent since 2010, according to the Elite League, and 45 percent of all attendees in 2025 were women,” Drake continued.
“And while there have always been female ice-hockey [sic] fans in the UK, women now buy more match tickets than men in some parts of the UK… [and] the new female fans filling ice rinks have been led to the plexiglass by a siren call.”
I won’t draw many more examples from Drake’s piece.
In short, her view is that hockey has been saved by female fans — many of whom were drawn to rinks across the country to lust over players, living out their hockey romance fantasies.
It’s nonsense. And itself a fantasy, confusing correlation with causation.
Firstly, let’s dive into the context.
The Financial Times is correct: hockey romance novels have exploded in popularity, with hundreds of thousands of videos posted to TikTok about the topic.
Icebreaker, a novel published by Hannah Grace in 2022, is the genre’s most famous export, with “sparks flying [when] a competitive figure skater and hockey team captain are forced to share a rink.”
(This isn’t a plug for the book and I’m sure you can guess where the plot line leads.)
Drake is also correct about the Elite League’s growing popularity.
Attendances have increased across the board in recent years, even with the pandemic shutting down the sport for eighteen months.
And it’s also true that more and more women are making hockey part of their weekend plans.
But attributing those trends to the rise of hockey romance novels is naive — and insults female hockey fans.
‘Women fans of hockey should not be reduced to finding the men hot’
Several fans who are featured in the piece have spoken out since its publication.
“I spoke to [the journalist] on maybe five separate times over the phone and made it very clear to her that I didn’t find hockey through the books,” wrote a Panthers fan on Twitter. “It seems like she’s used the books as a way to weaponise new fans and I’m fuming.”
Sophie Bons, a content creator whose previous collaborations includes work with the NHL, added: “I spoke to this journalist when she was first researching the piece [and] spent so much time reiterating to her that women fans of hockey should not be reduced to finding the men hot. It appears nothing I said made it in the final piece.”
For decades, female hockey fans have been branded “puck bunnies” — the Financial Times’ piece only serves to reinforce this sexist, misongisntic, and harmful trope.
Back to Drake’s experience in Manchester.
“I stand behind the goal with a gaggle of women, who press their noses up against the battered plexiglass partition that surrounds the ice and jostle each other slightly,” she writes.
“And then it happens. Forty hockey players streak on to the ice, drop down on their hands and knees and begin to gyrate. They roll around and make strange thrusting motions with their hips.”
It’s difficult to know where to start or what to write in response.
Let’s be literal.
Drake stood beside the rink… and watched forty professional athletes undertake dynamic stretches.
Cool…
Attendance growth is the result of years of hard work
The Financial Times’ position is also patronising to everyone working behind the scenes to grow the game.
Ross Armour, Nottingham Panthers (Image: Panthers Images)
Elite League clubs spend thousands of hours and pounds marketing in their respective cities.
And that investment is paying off.
Serious work is also being undertaken at the hockey operations level, with teams partnering with universities to attract top talent via scholarship schemes.
They’re also investing in young, local players through two-way deals and development programmes.
Hockey is on the rise in this country. And there’s no doubt that romance novels are surging too.
Sure, those trends overlap in some places.
But romance readers haven’t “rescued” the sport — and it’s grossly disrespectful to suggest otherwise.
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