A.L. Heard

Read Also: How Much Sports in Sports Romance?

I know I’ve seen this come up in reviews for both The Trade Deadline and other hockey romance books. Some authors choose to use real NHL team names, some don’t, and I wanted to talk a little bit about my choice and why I made it.

I’ve chosen to use fake NHL teams. I use the general same concept of the league, there’s a Stanley Cup and it’s still called the NHL, but all the teams are different. I made this choice for a couple reasons…

🏒 I don’t write real person fic. I have nothing against it, it’s just not my thing. And while that’s great for more of a fanfiction realm, it’s not something that’s suitable for publication. I don’t want people to make the mistake that I’m writing RPF. I do draw from characters in the NHL for inspiration (plays, playoff scenarios, pre-game routines, etc), but there’s no single one-to-one connection between my characters and real players.

🏒 Kind of in the same vein: when I talk about teams or their fans, I don’t want people to think I’m talking about an actual franchise or actual fanbase. Like with the Prowlers in The Trade Deadline—I’m in no way portraying a real team. I don’t want people’s baggage about teams or fanbases to color how they perceive the characters.

Tangent: I tried reading a fic many many years ago that was an NHL AU of my fav ship. I couldn’t get past the first chapter when I found out they played for the Blackhawks. Don’t make me cheer for or care about the Blackhawks 😂

🏒 I want the freedom to make changes. I generally use NHL rules for gameplay and playoffs etc, but if I want to make a change (like having an extended Thanksgiving break or having a team that’s more lax with the dress code), I have that flexibility. It also covers the gaps of things I don’t know about professional hockey.

🏒 Continuity! I plan on writing more stories set in this world, with characters reappearing and the same set of teams. After building my own NHL, it builds continuity for the readers going between books – they’ll recognize the teams and players, and hopefully that’ll ease them back into the world 🙂

When I wrote Hockey Bois, I opted to use real NHL teams. It makes sense for me when writing beer league stories to have the general backdrop be the real world. If the characters have opinions about players or teams, it’s more obviously their opinions versus mine as the author. It’s also a shared frame of reference for the characters and the readers. It doesn’t make sense to have them talking about made up NHL players and teams, when the reader would have no clue who they are. If I say Ovechkin or McDavid, then we’re all on the same page.

Is there some overlap? Of course. I’m not renaming the Stanley Cup, so there must’ve still been a Lord Stanley in my Trade Deadline Verse. Gordie Howe Hat Tricks are still A Thing, so my league at some point had a Gordie Howe. Same with the Rocket Richard Trophy. “Distant” hockey personas and events are such shorthand that they’re not really open to changing

What do you think – are you a fan of seeing real teams and players used in sports romance? Or do you enjoy seeing the teams authors come up with?