Hockey is having an undeniable moment right now, and it started even before Team USA’s dramatic gold medal wins over Canada in both the men’s and women’s divisions in the 2026 Winter Olympics. The intensity, teamwork, and raw emotion of the sport have spilled over into fiction, and stories on the ice seem to be drawing in readers like never before. I didn’t know a lot about hockey until I went down the research rabbit hole for my own novel, but it turned out to be the perfect backdrop for exploring family, community, grief, and second chances. Whatever your go-to genre may be, there is something out there for you. Check out these titles where hockey plays a central role and reveals human truths in ways few other settings can:
Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese (historical fiction)
A haunting coming-of-age tale
Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid (romance novel adapted for HBO last year)
Steamy rivals-to-lovers saga
The Game by Ken Dryden (memoir)
Often ranked among the top sports books of all time
Miracle (movie)
True underdog story about the 1980 U.S. Olympic men’s hockey team
By Tracey Lange
Tracey Lange is the author of We Are the Brennans, The Connellys of County Down, and What Happened to the McCrays?
Born in the Bronx and raised in Manhattan, Tracey Lange comes from a large Irish family with a few secrets of its own. She headed west and graduated from the University of New Mexico before owning and operating a behavioral healthcare company with her husband for fifteen years. While writing her debut novel, We Are the Brennans, she completed the Stanford University online novel writing program. Tracey currently lives in Bend, Oregon, with her husband, two sons and their German Shepherd.
