Dirty On The Ice: An Age Gap MM Hockey Romance

by Ellis Rhodes

It was supposed to be one night. No names. No consequences.

Then Jett walked into the locker room and saw the stranger wearing the Captain’s 'C'.

Sam Sullivan is a ruin. Eighteen seasons have left him with a failing knee and a heart made of concrete. He has forty games to win the Cup before his body quits for good. He can’t afford distractions—especially not the rookie phenom who knows exactly what he sounds like when he comes apart.

Jett Wilder is a nervous wreck disguised as a star. The pressure is eating him alive, and Sully isn’t just his captain; he’s the only person who makes the noise in Jett's head stop.

Sully draws the Teammates. Nothing else.

But on the ice, their chemistry is lethal. Off it, the tension is a lit fuse. As the playoffs grind Sully’s body into dust, the professional distance collapses. Sully thinks he has to break Jett’s heart to save his career. He forgot that Jett isn’t looking for a savior. He’s looking for a home.

The rules say stay away. The body says otherwise.

Genres: Hockey

308 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 6, 2026

Reviews

[Marion · Rating 1 out of 5]

No editing

This book does not appear to have been proofread by anyone. The team is at home against a rival playing away, but then they have to fly home? I like the main characters and their relationship, but I am 45% through this book and not sure I’m going to finish. There are so many continuity errors that is hard to follow. Also, it’s not very spicy; you could read it to a middle schooler and they probably would not be shocked.

[Lydia · Rating 1 out of 5]

AI had to have been used to write it and the “author” must not have read what was written.

[R. Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sam (Sully) Sullivan and Jett Wilder first encounter each other in a club in Cabo. Jett, a 21-year-old very gifted first round draft pick is walking through the club when he sees Sam alone and decides to sit with him, uninvited.

Sam is 36 and looking to win the Legacy Cup before he retires. He has a bad back and his right knee is shot. It's basically down to bone-on-bone. He's in so much pain, that it jumps right off the pages of this book. He and Jett are complete opposites in just about every way possible. Sam is what I would call emotionally closed off and Jett is more open. He seems like an "old soul" sometimes.

They have a one-night stand after meeting in the club and Jett leaves before Sam awakes. What neither realizes is that they are on the same hockey team, and Sam is the captain of that team.

I think that the author of this book is talented, and I enjoyed reading this story; however, the internal dialogues of Sam and Jett were more like "telling their story and not showing." I preferred it when they actually talked and interacted with each other. I would have preferred more of that.

[Lara · Rating 1 out of 5]

I second the comments this book was not written by a human and no human proof read it.
The chapters are quite disconnected, significant, explained details are inconsistent (the car changing from a black Porsche to a red Ferrari)

The top in a sex scene changes in the span of a paragraph from one MC to the next! WTF?!? While putting on a condom?!?

I feel really disrespected as a reader.

I still loved the emotional concept, but I’m starting to think I will only read books stating they don’t use AI for writing and/or where they a lot of info about the others.

And this book was weirdly similar to Riley Bauer’s Fresh Ice (which had the same problems)
Ungh.

[Emmaali · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fino ad un certo punto avrei dato quasi quattro stelle ma poi sono iniziati gli errori grossi, prima erano passabili, il protagonista che diventa una lei, la storia dell’operazione che prima si sa e poi viene fatta passare come una novità ( se aveva visto le medicine aveva visto anche l’appuntamento in clinica!). Ad un certo punto il ginocchio di Sam collassa e quindi non può più giocare ma ecco che poi si rimette in pista e gioca di nuovo, incredibile!

[Finley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sweet, Powerful, Poetry & Hockey

I’ve read dozens of gay hockey romance novels. Rhodes writes stories so eloquently they feel like poetry. Sometimes, I felt that certain phrases or ideas the characters had were repeated too much. However, I loved that the story didn’t get stuck on becoming a coming out story. Instead, it was about perspective and acceptance and going forward in life instead of back and learning that one can be wrong and learning to admit when they are. Bravo!

[Elizabeth Hipwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very Moving Portrayal of love

This story really got to me. Cried more times than I can count. On the surface it's a story of two men, an age-gap, hockey players, but underneath it's two human beings who find one another, and leave the doirs unlocked. The repetitions throughout the story were like a meditation of the building blocks of 'real' love.

[Natalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25/5 Idk what happened between this and the other books but somebody got a better editor. Much stronger plot cohesion and the strong parts of the writing stood out more. I quite liked it.

[Tanya · Rating 4 out of 5]

good storyline

have loved these series, this one was especially a favourite because of how the feelings of both MMCs were distinguishable in the writing. still wishing their was more dialogue and more of this lighthearted conversations that is alluded to in the book!

[Amanda Mason · Rating 5 out of 5]

what a great book

This is the first time I’ve read any of this authors books, and what a great story. I really enjoyed it.