A.L. Heard

Earlier this year, I had the chance to attend the first ever Sports Romance Con as an author. It was a great experience getting to see so many other authors and readers who LOVE sports in their romance.

But it brought about the question: how much sports should there be in sports romance?

That’s definitely a consideration I’ve had when writing, going back to Hockey Bois. I had more hockey (and more technical hockey) in parts of the first draft, and my feedback from my beta readers helped me edit it down and work in explanations. My beta readers for that one were readers I had from the fanfiction community, reading my stories that were completely devoid of hockey, so that gave me a good baseline.

But talking to readers and other authors, a lot of people are fans of the sport. That’s why they gravitate to this specific sub-genre of romance. There needs to be some hockey, right? I DNFed a hockey romance recently because the hockey was absolutely irrelevant. The hockey player could’ve been an athlete for literally any sport, it wouldn’t matter, because it mattered so little to the plot or even the character.

I feel like I know a decent amount of hockey. I’ve been watching for years,but I also play, coach, and have two young kids who play. I’m around hockey every day (and if there’s a hockey-less day, me and the kids look at each other like…are we forgetting something??? for real?? no one has a practice or game?? the Caps aren’t playing?? 😂😂😂), but honestly, you don’t want to go full hockey. I’m not going to do a play-by-play of every game, post the schedule for the team’s entire season, give you all the player stats and their history within the league. That’s too much.

At the heart of the story, it’s a romance between two people connecting through hockey. The romance needs to be the emphasis, and the hockey the backdrop.

But I do feel strongly that you need to have a decent chunk of hockey. Before the characters ever met each other and fell in love, they fell in love with the sport. The dynamics/tropes I like, that forced proximity, teammates to lovers, the threat of injuries or trades, the thrill of victory and the devastation of defeat, all of that depends on the sport. The sport needs to feel like one of the characters imho.

So that’s my aim. I don’t want the reader to forget there’s hockey… but I also don’t assume you remember off the top of your head every detail about hockey. If one of the characters has won the Rocket Richard, I’ll let you know it’s a trophy for the most goals in a season. If someone’s getting a weird cut on their skates (lol RIP Nick), I’ll let you know that’s not normal. If someone is a heathen and doesn’t wrap the toe of their blade, I’ll make sure the other characters point out that person might indeed be a psychopath (I kid I kid).

Side note: I read a review for The Trade Deadline where someone complained I got the hockey wrong… honestly that gets me more than most things. I know I took some liberties with how my NHL works vs the real NHL, both for plot convenience and because I feel like the players deserved a longer break around holidays and all that, but I thought the hockey parts were, y’know, sound. 🤐 I ignored the impulse to ask for an itemized list 😅- but if y’all ever see a hockey error, especially as a beta reader or ARC reader, feel free to let me know. That’s something I want to fix.

So…how much hockey is too much hockey in a hockey romance book?