Power Play: Romance and Hockey Culture
Hockey romances effectively address problems with hockey culture.
Hockey romances written by women bring a unique lens to the dynamics of hockey culture.
Hockey organizations should partner with romance series creators to make long-overdue changes.
Romance and rape surround hockey’s embattled identity like overlapping figure eights, but a new record-breaking hockey romance series offers valuable insights for how to repair this complex sport many of us struggle to love.
Inspired by Elle Kennedy’s best-selling book series of the same name, a central plot in the 8-episode streaming sensation Off Campus is the rape of lead character Hannah Wells by a man whose high-profile status as a hockey player and son of the town mayor leads to a slanderous court trial against Wells. Hailed by survivors for its validating treatment of sexual assault, the series follows Hannah as she processes flashbacks, navigates disclosure, and reclaims her sexuality in a relationship with the star hockey player on the fictional Briar University team.
Weeks after the........
