Alright, listen up: it’s 2025, hockey’s rising in popularity, and we’re going to answer why. With new teams appearing and the fanbase progressively growing, there’s gotta be an explanation behind this madness. Could it be that we’re all frustrated and watching grown men beat the crap out of each other is entertaining? Is climate change so bad that we’re desperate to be surrounded by ice? Or are we all just horny and depressed?
Probably. But exactly what is responsible for this massive uptick in hockey’s popularity? There’s only one thing to blame.
Fiction Adds to the Plot???
The answer is BookTok. I (Kayla) have seen the videos, and who hasn’t? There’s always a conventionally hot man on the cover, usually drawn in that cartoony style that’s been confusing parents for ages, who happens to be either shirtless or wearing their full uniform (bladed ice goblin booties included).
Next to him is always the girl of his dreams. Usually, she has some parental issues or traumatic past that affects her intimate life. She has always been the character I resonate most with, for many reasons I don’t want to divulge to the whole world. But I digress.
Within the BookTok community, there are many subgenres. From fantasy and romantasy to contemporary and sports romance, there’s something for almost everyone. I find myself falling into the sports romance subgenre, and the hockey romance sub-subgenre.
Yes, it’s incredibly niche, but it’s what I enjoy most. I have fond memories of reading these books for the first time and falling in love with the idea of finding someone like the male lead in college. I’m just a little delusional, and I’m okay with that. It could be much worse.
Seeing this, I have to admit… I’ve seen so much good come to hockey and its fans because of readers like myself getting into it. As someone who watches hockey for fun, Sasha has a better understanding than me. So take it away, Sasha!
Why Hockey is Just Good
On a less spicy note; hockey is truly just an enjoyable sport to watch. I attended my first hockey game in mid-March, fairly late into the season, when the Utah Mammoth (formerly known as the Utah Hockey Club, and formerly formerly known as the Arizona Coyotes) played the Anaheim Ducks. The season was the Utah Mammoth’s first as an NHL team after Ryan Smith, owner of Utah Jazz, purchased the team from Arizona. After a small skirmish between the Utah Symphony, Smith, and the Salt Lake City town council, the Utah Mammoth was there to stay.
Despite never being a sports fan, I was hooked from the first game. Something about hockey didn’t feel like watching football, baseball or any other ball-related sport. The environment, with people running around in the crowd giving out free things, made it feel like sports for people who aren’t usually sports fans. (I also recently learned the Colorado Avalanche have a drum line? That’s insane!)
Hockey also checks another one of my boxes: the teams have some of the best social media marketing you’ve ever seen. Their mascots all have their own Instagrams and TikTok accounts, and it’s my favorite thing to follow along with every team’s mascot.
Lastly, I love talking about hockey with my friends in Colorado, given that I’m a Mammoth fan and they’re all Avalanche fans. It gives us something to joke about, because I simply love bragging that my team is better than the Avs. Hockey really is an outlier to other sports that are more popular in the U.S., and I think that’s beautiful.
For Research Purposes Only…
To help us be more informed for this article, Kayla and I conducted some research. (I wanted to go to a hockey game). We attended the Colorado Avalanche preseason game against the Utah Mammoths.
One of us walked away with a winning team. The other? Not important, don’t worry about it. It’s preseason, so it doesn’t count. And let’s be honest, we both had a bunch of fun and made some great memories together. (The Mammoths lost 3-2.)
Being that I had been to a hockey game before, I was just happy to be there, but it was Kayla’s first. Which meant that Kayla got to experience the “boy aquarium” firsthand in Denver’s Ball Arena. (And by firsthand, we mean the nosebleed seats. We’re broke college students, alright?)
So, I asked Kayla the question we all know and love: Was the book better?
hockey Has it All
Honestly, it’s hard to compare the two. The game focuses on the sport itself, obviously, while hockey romance books… don’t. The sport just helps explain the wacky schedules and insane muscles of the leading men. However, I’ll give the sport credit for this: it gives great visuals of hockey warmups.
Regardless of how you became a fan of hockey, it has something for everyone. If you’re there because of the sports aspect, you’ll get what you came for. If you’re in it for muscular men, they’ve got that, too. Hockey games love to be silly, and they’re dedicated to providing a good time for the whole family.
BookTok books, in comparison, are not for the whole family.
So if this article has moved you, try something new and go to a hockey game. Don’t have a team near you? Pick an arbitrary one to root for and go crazy. (Seattle Kraken will always have your back.) Enjoy the community, because we know we do.
And if watching hockey just isn’t your thing, hockey romance books will always be there to read when you just need some hot, muscular men.