A series of audio stories promoted by the National Hockey League as a way to tap into the success of hockey romance shows such as Heated Rivalry appears to have been removed from Spotify after they garnered widespread criticism and concern.
The “Hot for Hockey” campaign featured NHL players and games in 60- to 90-second audiobooks, presented in the style of hockey-themed romance novels, according to a Sports Business Journal report announcing the campaign last week.
One of the first instalments, titled “The Storm Between Us,” featured Carolina Hurricanes centre Sebastian Aho and the team’s season opener against the Florida Panthers on Sept. 29.
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But by Tuesday morning, the audio stories could no longer be found on Spotify.
In an email to CBC News on Monday afternoon, a spokesperson said the NHL had partnered with “real hockey authors, illustrators and voice actors.”
“This was a small way to give a playful nod to something that’s clearly going on in the cultural zeitgeist — among many different marketing activations,” the spokesperson said.
“As a start of the season concept, these were matchup-specific posts designed to run during our opening games in the first week.”
The statement did not explicitly say that the stories had been removed from Spotify. The Sports Business Journal had reported that instalments would roll out “throughout the season.”
CBC News asked when and why they were apparently taken down, but did not immediately hear back from the league spokesperson on Tuesday.
One of the first ‘Hot for Hockey’ instalments featured Carolina Hurricanes centre Sebastian Aho. (@nhl/TikTok)
Asked about “Hot for Hockey” during a news conference last week, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman tied the campaign to an influx of new fans drawn to hockey after watching hit romance-based TV shows such as Heated Rivalry and Off Campus, both based on novels.
“And so since it seems to be a cultural phenomenon, we figured why not get on board,” Bettman said.
But the audiobooks drew widespread criticism online, with commenters accusing the NHL of appearing to belittle its new supporters, particularly women and members of the 2SLGBTQ+ community.
“I hate the attitude towards women like we aren’t real fans; yes I love a hockey romance BUT I have been letting the Pittsburgh Penguins ruin my life for over 20 years and no one will take that fandom from me ever,” one TikTok user wrote.
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Tory Lindberg, a 31-year-old Columbus Blue Jackets fan from Ohio who runs a BookTok account, said she’s faced skepticism since she started getting more seriously into hockey after Heated Rivalry.
“I had so many people say, ‘Well, you only like hockey because you read hockey romances, or because you watched Heated Rivalry or Off Campus — that’s the only reason,'” Lindberg told CBC News.
The “Hot for Hockey” campaign, she said, “felt almost like the NHL was playing into that” effort to make her and others feel like they aren’t real fans. “I took it more as like, almost a joke about women and the people that got into the game,” she added.
Lindberg also said the series raised concerns around the potential sexual harassment of NHL players by some fans of hockey romance novels. That issue came to the fore in 2023, when Alexander Wennberg, then of the Seattle Kraken, and his wife Felicia spoke out against objectifying online comments they said had gone too far.
“By releasing ‘Hot for Hockey,’ [the NHL] was blurring the line” between fiction and reality, Lindberg said.
People hold signs during a protest in Edmonton on Sept. 19 against the Oilers’ signing of Alex Formenton, one of five players from Canada’s 2018 world junior team who was charged and later acquitted of sexual assault. (Amanda May Erickson/The Canadian Press)
Teresa Fowler, an associate professor at Concordia University of Edmonton, who has written extensively about hockey culture, noted that “Hot for Hockey” came amid a wider reckoning in the NHL.
The league has faced years of criticism over its stance on social issues — from 2SLGBTQ+ rights to racism, to misogyny and sexual assault — and what some experts have described as an atmosphere of “toxic masculinity.”
“There’s just all this sexual violence that surrounds this sport and … now you want to throw roses on a puck and say come watch hockey?” Fowler told CBC News.
“I think there’s better things they can do, like not hire formerly suspended players. That’ll get women back,” she said. “It’s simple.”
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Emily Rath, author of Pucking Around and other hockey romance novels, wrote on Threads that she was invited to take part in the campaign but refused, citing its “open mocking of our genre with their ‘tongue in cheek’ jokes” and “the disgusting use of AI cover renders.”
“The NHL knows it has a major image problem because of all the blatant racism, homophobia, and misogyny. They want romance authors to help rehabilitate their image,” Rath said.
The NHL spokesperson did not respond to CBC News’s questions about the criticism.
Recently, protesters have rallied outside Edmonton Oilers games to denounce the team’s signing of Alex Formenton, one of five players on Canada’s 2018 world junior team charged with sexual assault. All five were acquitted last year, and the NHL said they could return to the league.
Longtime Oilers supporter Mary Loewen, known as Mama Stanley, said she could no longer cheer for the team after Formenton’s signing. In an Instagram video last month, she urged Edmonton to reverse the decision and called on the NHL to do more to address sexual misconduct.
“This is bigger than one player, one executive and one hockey team. This is about changing a culture that has made too many survivors believe their pain matters less than winning a hockey game.”
