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Cutting Edge: Hockey as Queer Culture
Heated Rivalry for realz: a fascinating and timely examination of ice hockey through a queer lens
Conversations around the phenomenal success of the TV series Heated Rivalry have put a spotlight on LGBTQ+ hockey players at a cultural moment when queer and trans folk in sports are being bullied and scapegoated. When author Daniel Gawthrop laced on his first pair of skates as a twelve-year-old Peewee house league player in 1975, he never imagined he would grow up to start a gay men's hockey club. Nor that his mainstream media musings about the beauty of "Russian Rocket" Pavel Bure would prompt "straight" commentary by everyone from Don Cherry to The Village Voice. These stories and more form the heart of Cutting Edge, a fascinating probe into the role of gender, masculinity, and sexuality in defining—and too often demeaning—Canada's national sport.
Examining the game through a queer lens, Gawthrop reveals how hockey has evolved from the bastion of straight white male machismo it used to be into a sport where women and players of all ethnicities are welcome and where gender-diverse people now have safe places to play. At the same time, hockey's powers that be—from scandal-ridden Hockey Canada to the overly cautious NHL—have been reluctant to embrace change, especially in light of the growing social pushback against queers in sport.
And then there's Heated Rivalry, whose unexpected mainstream success has led to questions about whether it will encourage queer professional players to finally come out, all while introducing the sport to new generations of fans. With great insight and verve, Cutting Edge explores this phenomenon and more, pointing the way to a better, more modern, and more inclusive kind of hockey.
Conversations around the phenomenal success of the TV series Heated Rivalry have put a spotlight on LGBTQ+ hockey players at a cultural moment when queer and trans folk in sports are being bullied and scapegoated. When author Daniel Gawthrop laced on his first pair of skates as a twelve-year-old Peewee house league player in 1975, he never imagined he would grow up to start a gay men's hockey club. Nor that his mainstream media musings about the beauty of "Russian Rocket" Pavel Bure would prompt "straight" commentary by everyone from Don Cherry to The Village Voice. These stories and more form the heart of Cutting Edge, a fascinating probe into the role of gender, masculinity, and sexuality in defining—and too often demeaning—Canada's national sport.
Examining the game through a queer lens, Gawthrop reveals how hockey has evolved from the bastion of straight white male machismo it used to be into a sport where women and players of all ethnicities are welcome and where gender-diverse people now have safe places to play. At the same time, hockey's powers that be—from scandal-ridden Hockey Canada to the overly cautious NHL—have been reluctant to embrace change, especially in light of the growing social pushback against queers in sport.
And then there's Heated Rivalry, whose unexpected mainstream success has led to questions about whether it will encourage queer professional players to finally come out, all while introducing the sport to new generations of fans. With great insight and verve, Cutting Edge explores this phenomenon and more, pointing the way to a better, more modern, and more inclusive kind of hockey.
- GenresNonfictionHockeySports
352 pages, Paperback
Published September 15, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 20, 2026
Disclaimer: I’m a queer woman who has never played hockey or really any sports. My partner is queer and they have played hockey their whole life. I did ask for their opinion at times as someone who is a hockey person.
Cutting Edge is a part memoir, part cultural exploration of queer hockey. It tells the story of the author and his relationship to hockey throughout his life, as well as with rec league queer hockey. It also explores queerness and homophobia in hockey, as well as toxic masculinity and touches on racism.
There are parts of this book that are very well done and important to read but other parts did miss the mark unfortunately.
Starting off with the parts I did like:
* The memoir part of the author’s own relationship with hockey. It was an interesting perspective, especially for gay kid growing up in the 70s. It was a very different era for both hockey and queerness in general so the author’s perspectives and experiences are enlightening.
* The parts on queer adult rec hockey were also very good. Whether it’s the author’s own team, a gay hockey team in BC that plays in an otherwise straight league, or something like Toronto’s where it’s a league itself, this book shows the importance of these spaces. Especially for gay men who do not always have a good history with sports in general and gives them a safe space.
* The parts the talked about gay men in the NHL, and the potential for it in the future. It was a good retrospective on what the league has and hasn’t done as well as talking with a few people who are gay and around the NHL in various positions. There’s also parts on pro (but not NHL) players who have come out. This exploration into this was good.
* The parts on toxic masculinity in the sport was also an important part, though difficult at times to read. As it’s something that continuously comes back up it’s a very important part of hockey culture that needs to be reckoned with.
* Going into the racism that is present in hockey as well.
However there were parts that missed the mark for me:
* There should have been a content warning about the talk of SA in Chapter 7, especially with talking about some of the details of the Hockey Canada Five case. It was not something I expected to see and would have appreciated a heads up for that.
* The chapter on gender diverse athletes did miss the mark. The author did mini-biographies on the only two pro hockey players who have come out as trans, Harrison Browne and Jessica Platt (both of these were from the book Let Us Play and not interviews with the author) and then talked to two trans men and a non-binary player that play rec league. The lack of inclusion of talking with trans women and their personal experience in hockey is a miss.
* The author would make comparisons between two different minorities groups and would compare which was oppressed more.
* The authors comments on queerness in women (for example: women are more fluid and open about sexuality so it’s a non-issue, society is more accepting of lesbians) was also a huge miss. It’s dismissive of homophobia towards queer woman, and misses the mark on that sapphic relationships are not considered a serious relationship by many. While women’s sports are less homophobic than male spaces, it does not mean that it is absent. The author did put in that a friend called him out on parts of his statements there but I don’t think this should have been in the book in the first place.
This book is a good exploration of queerness (specifically from the white male perspective) in hockey and the future of it as well. However some of the other parts missed the mark.
Cutting Edge is a part memoir, part cultural exploration of queer hockey. It tells the story of the author and his relationship to hockey throughout his life, as well as with rec league queer hockey. It also explores queerness and homophobia in hockey, as well as toxic masculinity and touches on racism.
There are parts of this book that are very well done and important to read but other parts did miss the mark unfortunately.
Starting off with the parts I did like:
* The memoir part of the author’s own relationship with hockey. It was an interesting perspective, especially for gay kid growing up in the 70s. It was a very different era for both hockey and queerness in general so the author’s perspectives and experiences are enlightening.
* The parts on queer adult rec hockey were also very good. Whether it’s the author’s own team, a gay hockey team in BC that plays in an otherwise straight league, or something like Toronto’s where it’s a league itself, this book shows the importance of these spaces. Especially for gay men who do not always have a good history with sports in general and gives them a safe space.
* The parts the talked about gay men in the NHL, and the potential for it in the future. It was a good retrospective on what the league has and hasn’t done as well as talking with a few people who are gay and around the NHL in various positions. There’s also parts on pro (but not NHL) players who have come out. This exploration into this was good.
* The parts on toxic masculinity in the sport was also an important part, though difficult at times to read. As it’s something that continuously comes back up it’s a very important part of hockey culture that needs to be reckoned with.
* Going into the racism that is present in hockey as well.
However there were parts that missed the mark for me:
* There should have been a content warning about the talk of SA in Chapter 7, especially with talking about some of the details of the Hockey Canada Five case. It was not something I expected to see and would have appreciated a heads up for that.
* The chapter on gender diverse athletes did miss the mark. The author did mini-biographies on the only two pro hockey players who have come out as trans, Harrison Browne and Jessica Platt (both of these were from the book Let Us Play and not interviews with the author) and then talked to two trans men and a non-binary player that play rec league. The lack of inclusion of talking with trans women and their personal experience in hockey is a miss.
* The author would make comparisons between two different minorities groups and would compare which was oppressed more.
* The authors comments on queerness in women (for example: women are more fluid and open about sexuality so it’s a non-issue, society is more accepting of lesbians) was also a huge miss. It’s dismissive of homophobia towards queer woman, and misses the mark on that sapphic relationships are not considered a serious relationship by many. While women’s sports are less homophobic than male spaces, it does not mean that it is absent. The author did put in that a friend called him out on parts of his statements there but I don’t think this should have been in the book in the first place.
This book is a good exploration of queerness (specifically from the white male perspective) in hockey and the future of it as well. However some of the other parts missed the mark.
Review of advance copy
You need to have a good knowledge of hockey going into this book, as it’s quite niche, but I absolutely loved the author’s perspective, along with all the historical context. A great overview of the sexism, racism, and homophobia that have surrounded hockey throughout its history.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Review for Cutting Edge: Hockey as Queer Culture can be found on Hockey Blog In Canada.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews