Being a fan of sports as a woman is hard. In a highly masculine sport like hockey, it is even harder. It often feels like you’re not treated as a real fan, or you have to prove your understanding of the sport to be taken seriously.
Recently, the NHL released its Hot for Hockey campaign. Although the NHL is trying to launch more initiatives aimed at women, these attempts have fallen flat. The campaign features 60- to 90-second audio romance stories on Spotify, featuring real NHL players and written by popular hockey romance authors.
This campaign reinforces the idea that young girls and women likely don’t follow hockey for the sport itself, but only because they are attracted to the players. It suggests the ultimate goal of these fans is to get with the players, not to enjoy the intricacies of the game. Not only is this idea incredibly misogynistic, but it is also untrue.
The audiobooks were recently cut and taken offline, and it is clear the league is trying to move on after the negative reception this campaign received.
Another example of popular media outlets attempting to target female hockey fans is a recent GQ article. The GQ article written about Celebrini attributes most of his fame to the success of shows such as Off Campus and Heated Rivalry. Nick Remsen states, “As his profile has risen, he has become an unwitting target of intrigue, fascination, and parasocial projection among those series’ many (mostly female) viewers, who are eager to find examples of, or at least hopeful stand-ins for, their fictional fantasies in the real world.”
At 20, Celebrini is the youngest captain in Sharks history and recently surpassed the franchise record for points. He is not only one of the most successful young players in the league, but also an Olympic silver medalist and a recent captain of Team Canada. But instead of focusing on his success, the article tried to explain his popularity by claiming young women are only fans because of his looks.
It makes a wide generalization about female fans. This idea is demeaning not only to female fans, but also to Celebrini. The article offers very little substance about his success on the ice or how he navigates being such a pivotal name in the sport and the pressure that comes with it. It’s disappointing that, given the chance to interview him, they spent most of the article saying people are only interested in him because of the success of hockey-centric romance shows.
If the NHL wants to gain more female fans, the league should try to make hockey a more accepting place for women. But recently, it has felt like the league has only become more polarizing.
In 2018, Hart was one of five members of Canada’s World Junior team accused of sexual assault by a female complainant. Although all five players were acquitted in July 2025, an acquittal does not necessarily mean the alleged incident did not occur; it means the prosecution did not prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Following the acquittals, Hart signed a two-year, $4 million contract with the Vegas Golden Knights in Oct. 2025.
Not every fan supports this contract. During the past Stanley Cup playoffs, when the Carolina Hurricanes faced off against the Vegas Golden Knights, many Carolina fans could be heard chanting “no means no” from the stands. When asked about these chants, Hart downplayed them, stating they were “just noise.”
Hockey culture often perpetuates this toxic masculinity and creates a space that normalizes violence and casual misogyny. A prime example of this was during the past Olympics, when, after winning gold, the men’s US hockey team laughed at a misogynistic comment by President Trump about the US women’s gold medal team.
Is it all that surprising that the NHL is trying to capitalize on its female fans while not taking any accountability for the misogyny that occurs within its own league? No. But it remains disappointing. What female hockey fans really want is to be taken seriously. But beyond that, they want accountability and action from the league. As hockey continues to grow, I can only hope inclusivity expands with it.