The NHL Is Releasing Its Own ‘Hot’ Fanfic. Romance Lovers Hate It
The NHL Is Releasing Its Own ‘Hot’ Fanfic. Romance Lovers Hate It
NHL 发布了自己的“火辣”同人小说，但言情小说爱好者并不买账
For better or for worse, romance lovers have never been hornier for hockey. Now, the National Hockey League wants to cash in. 无论好坏，言情小说爱好者对冰球运动的热情从未如此高涨。现在，国家冰球联盟（NHL）想要从中分一杯羹。
As part of its new “Hot for Hockey,” campaign, the NHL is rolling out romance novel-inspired short stories starring the league’s players on audiobook platforms. According to the Sports Business Journal, the league contacted popular hockey romance writers to write and narrate the 60 to 90 second stories, and will tap creators on BookTok, the romance-heavy literary subculture on TikTok, to promote the content. 作为其全新“为冰球火辣”（Hot for Hockey）营销活动的一部分，NHL 正在各大有声读物平台上推出以联盟球员为主角、受言情小说启发创作的短篇故事。据《体育商业杂志》（Sports Business Journal）报道，联盟联系了多位热门冰球言情小说作家来撰写并朗读这些 60 到 90 秒的故事，并将利用 TikTok 上以言情文学为主的亚文化圈“BookTok”的创作者来推广这些内容。
The first batch of short stories, which dropped this week, feature players including the Philadelphia Flyers’ Trevor Zegras, the Carolina Hurricanes’ Sebastian Aho, and the Las Vegas Golden Knights’ Jack Eichel. They’re written by Pucking Wrong author C.R. Jane and more closely resemble back-cover summaries than actual romance novels. And, despite the nods to genre tropes, the players aren’t paired with romantic partners. Much more boringly, the stories appear to be a bid to get people to watch the actual games. 本周发布的第一批短篇故事主角包括费城飞人队的 Trevor Zegras、卡罗莱纳飓风队的 Sebastian Aho 以及拉斯维加斯黄金骑士队的 Jack Eichel。这些故事由《Pucking Wrong》的作者 C.R. Jane 撰写，与其说是言情小说，不如说更像是书封背后的简介。尽管借鉴了该类型的套路，但球员们并没有被安排浪漫伴侣。更无聊的是，这些故事似乎只是为了吸引人们去观看真正的冰球比赛。
The entirety of The Summer I Turned Gritty with Trevor Zegras is as follows: “Trevor Zegras came to Philly looking for a fresh start. But after battling with Pittsburgh in the playoffs last year, he found out how gritty things could get. One heated summer later, Philly’s pretty boy is looking a whole lot grittier.” 《我与 Trevor Zegras 变得强硬的那个夏天》（The Summer I Turned Gritty with Trevor Zegras）全文如下：“Trevor Zegras 来到费城寻求新的开始。但在去年季后赛与匹兹堡队的激战后，他发现事情会变得多么‘强硬’（Gritty）。一个火热的夏天过后，费城的这位俊美男孩看起来强硬多了。”
Not all romance readers are thrilled about the campaign. Some argue that it makes players targets for sexual harassment. Others see the stories as cheap pandering that fails to engage with female and LGBTQ hockey fans’ concerns about homophobia and toxic masculinity in the sport. 并非所有言情小说读者都对这项活动感到兴奋。一些人认为这会让球员成为性骚扰的目标。另一些人则认为这些故事是廉价的迎合，未能回应女性和 LGBTQ 冰球粉丝对这项运动中恐同心理和有毒男子气概的担忧。
“I cannot begin to describe the depths of my rage that this is actually happening,” Emily Rath, a best-selling hockey romance novelist, posted on Threads. “Yes, the NHL contacted me to participate. And I have never turned down an offer so fast.” “我无法用言语形容这件事真的发生时我有多愤怒，”畅销冰球言情小说家 Emily Rath 在 Threads 上发帖称。“是的，NHL 联系过我参与其中。但我从未如此迅速地拒绝过一个提议。”
“They See Dollar Signs” “他们眼里只有钱”
Romance novels focused on hockey players have been on the rise for years—the New York Public Library first highlighted the trend in 2019. Hockey romance burst into the mainstream with the massive success of romance novel-turned-streaming series Heated Rivalry, followed by Off Campus. 以冰球运动员为主题的言情小说多年来一直呈上升趋势——纽约公共图书馆早在 2019 年就强调了这一趋势。随着言情小说改编的流媒体剧集《Heated Rivalry》以及随后的《Off Campus》取得巨大成功，冰球言情题材正式进入主流视野。
Jon Weinstein, a spokesperson for the NHL, tells WIRED in a statement that the campaign is a “playful nod to something that’s clearly going on in the cultural zeitgeist.” NHL 发言人 Jon Weinstein 在给《连线》（WIRED）的一份声明中表示，这项活动是对“当前文化思潮中显而易见现象的一种俏皮回应”。
“We were very proud to partner with real hockey authors, illustrators and voice actors in the space, and we’re grateful the players were willing to have a little fun with it too,” he says. “我们非常自豪能与该领域真正的冰球小说作家、插画家和配音演员合作，也很感谢球员们愿意参与其中，享受一点乐趣，”他说。
Yet many hockey romance fans applauded Rath and Chelsea Curto, the author of the steamy D.C. Stars series, for their refusal to participate in the campaign. 然而，许多冰球言情粉丝对 Rath 和《D.C. Stars》系列作者 Chelsea Curto 拒绝参与该活动的行为表示赞赏。
Rath, whose Jacksonville Rays series recounts a myriad of sexual relationships involving a fictional NHL team, said on Threads that the league’s slide deck for the campaign was filled with jokes she considered to be mockery of the genre, as well as what she alleged were AI cover renders. Curto also clocked the AI graphics, writing on Threads that it was probably for the best that she declined to be involved, as her books “can be very critical of the league.” Rath 的《Jacksonville Rays》系列讲述了虚构 NHL 球队中错综复杂的性关系。她在 Threads 上表示，联盟的活动演示文稿中充满了她认为是对该类型文学的嘲弄，以及她所指控的 AI 生成的封面图。Curto 也指出了这些 AI 图形，并在 Threads 上写道，她拒绝参与可能是最好的选择，因为她的书“可能会对联盟进行严厉批评”。
“They’re just encouraging the idea that women only care about hockey if it’s packaged like a romance novel,” Rath posted. “And they’re using popular authors and our credibility to launder their tarnished brand and lure in our readers.” “他们只是在助长一种观念，即女性只有在冰球被包装成言情小说时才会关注它，”Rath 发帖写道。“他们利用受欢迎的作者和我们的信誉来洗白他们受损的品牌，并诱骗我们的读者。”
In Rath’s opinion, the NHL has failed to take accountability for or take action to address “racism, homophobia, and misogyny” in the league—a view shared by several hockey fans who spoke with WIRED. Lacey Conine, the founder of Double Hockey Stix—a clothing brand aimed at underrepresented hockey fans—says she initially thought news of the romance-centric campaign was satire. 在 Rath 看来，NHL 未能对其联盟内部的“种族主义、恐同和厌女症”承担责任或采取行动——这一观点也得到了几位接受《连线》采访的冰球粉丝的认同。针对代表性不足的冰球粉丝的服装品牌 Double Hockey Stix 的创始人 Lacey Conine 表示，她最初以为关于这项以言情为中心的营销活动的新闻是讽刺。
“I had so many comments,” she says, “of people just being like, ‘This is disgusting. We hate this. What is this? How is the NHL this tone deaf?’” “我收到了很多评论，”她说，“人们都在说：‘这太恶心了。我们讨厌这个。这是什么？NHL 怎么会如此迟钝（缺乏共情）？’”
In its current iteration, Conine says, the campaign feels like the NHL is “mocking you, and pandering to you, and making fun of you,” while failing to address fans’ concerns about aspects of hockey culture that can be hostile for fans that break the straight, white, male mold. Conine 表示，在目前的版本中，这项活动给人的感觉是 NHL 在“嘲弄你、迎合你、戏弄你”，同时却未能解决粉丝们对冰球文化中某些方面的担忧——这些方面对于打破“异性恋、白人、男性”这一刻板印象的粉丝来说可能具有敌意。
“I think that they see dollar signs,” Conine says. “They’re trying to bring in Heated Rivalry fans—and then canceling Pride Nights. That tells you where they’re at.” “我认为他们眼里只有钱，”Conine 说。“他们试图吸引《Heated Rivalry》的粉丝，却同时取消了‘骄傲之夜’（Pride Nights）。这说明了他们的立场。”
While NHL commissioner Gary Bettman told reporters earlier this year that “every team does a Pride Night,” a handful of teams have moved away from themed nights that celebrate the LGBTQ community. That includes the Dallas Stars, which will not host a Pride Night this season, the team’s first time in five years without one. The Stars—which will host a night focused on romantic fantasy novel Iron Flame—did not respond to WIRED’s request for comment. A portion of the Iron Flame event’s proceeds will go to the Trevor Project, a nonprofit focused on suicide prevention among LGBTQ youth. 尽管 NHL 总裁 Gary Bettman 今年早些时候告诉记者“每支球队都会举办骄傲之夜”，但少数球队已经不再举办庆祝 LGBTQ 群体的主题之夜。这其中包括达拉斯星队，他们本赛季将不会举办骄傲之夜，这是该队五年来首次停办。星队将举办一场以浪漫奇幻小说《Iron Flame》为主题的活动，但未回应《连线》的置评请求。《Iron Flame》活动的部分收益将捐给专注于 LGBTQ 青年自杀预防的非营利组织 Trevor Project。
The NHL banned players from wearing specialty-themed uniforms, such as Pride sweaters and tape, in June 2023. The decision on tape was later reversed, with the league emphasizing that it does not single out Pride specifically in its ban. The NHL also highlighted other partnerships with the LBGTQ groups, such as the annual Pride Cup. NHL 于 2023 年 6 月禁止球员穿着特殊主题的制服，例如骄傲主题的球衣和球杆胶带。关于胶带的决定后来被撤销，联盟强调其禁令并未专门针对“骄傲”主题。NHL 还强调了与其他 LGBTQ 团体的合作，例如年度“骄傲杯”（Pride Cup）。
Several female hockey fans say the NHL’s attempt to cater to romance readers falls flat because of how the sport’s governing bodies approach sexual assault allegations. Echo, a 35-year-old fan of the Montreal Canadiens who asked to be referred to by her first name to protect her privacy, says she believes the league aims to use “romanticized narratives to whitewash the insidious aspects of hockey culture and its players.” 几位女性冰球粉丝表示，NHL 试图迎合言情小说读者的尝试之所以失败，是因为该运动的管理机构处理性侵指控的方式存在问题。35 岁的蒙特利尔加拿大人队粉丝 Echo（为保护隐私仅提供名字）表示，她认为联盟旨在利用“浪漫化的叙事来粉饰冰球文化及其球员阴险的一面”。
The Globe and Mail reported in 2022 that Hockey Canada, the sport’s national governing body, had used players’ registration fees to build funds that covered certain expenses—among them, sexual assault claims, as well as other lawsuits. 《环球邮报》（The Globe and Mail）在 2022 年报道称，加拿大冰球协会（Hockey Canada）作为该运动的国家管理机构，曾利用球员的注册费建立基金，用于支付某些费用——其中包括性侵指控以及其他诉讼费用。