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 show aired, North Carolina Hurricane fans shouted the anti-sexual violence slogan “no means no†at Las Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Carter Hart during the Stanley Cup Finals. One of the five players on Canada's 2018 World Juniors hockey team who were acquitted on charges of sexual assault on July 24, 2025, Hart has had a stellar year with the Knights. The fans’ chanting, though, reflects widespread fatigue with the injustice that plagues hockey culture when it comes to sexual assault by its players and the organizations that thrive on secrets over transparency. Videos of the chant went viral and there have been thousands of online responses like: “Finally! Been waiting for this chant since he re-entered the league!†and “so tired of men getting away with these horrendous crimes against women.â€
This anger coincides with a massive global appetite for alternate depictions of sexual violence and masculinity in hockey culture. We saw this with Heated Rivalry, and hockey series written by Becka Mack, Helena Hunting, and Lexi Lafleur Brown—all Canadian—are also serial bestsellers. Romance invites readers into the world of hockey, but their love of the game and what it could be keeps them turning the pages and watching the series, often repeatedly.
The world is watching what happens in hockey in more ways than one.
If hockey associations want to change their image and the lives of the players inside its cloistered walls they should pay attention to what this powerful new series has to offer. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman claims to have binge-watched both Off Campus and Heated Rivalry, so why not leverage what this romance does well to help Canadians fall back in love with our national sport?
Hockey Canada and allied groups could partner with the producers and cast of Off Campus to co-create media content about the white elephant in the room that the series gets right: sexual assault. Men must see other men questioning hockey's tradition of sexual assault and violence more broadly (i.e., fighting, hazing) to shift the cultural needle. Showing men sharing their knowledge about consent in sexual relationships and expressing fears around vulnerable forms of intimacy could also impact the culture in a big way.
As suggested by shelters and anti-violence groups across the country, hockey organizations should be pouring resources into public conferences, media partnerships, and educational efforts to change the legislative approach to sexual assault in Canada. Updating the public about these events and developments is also key.
That sexual assault survivors in Canada may feel more validated by a streaming series than by a courtroom is a travesty that exposes failures across hockey and the legal system, and persistent sexism. In a world where hockey players are still too often treated like gods who skate far above the ranks of the people whose lives they impact, romance is proving time and again to be one of the most powerful and accessible ways to transform the violence that plagues hockey culture.
