Tis the season for hockey romances. Or has it always been?

The genre has long had a devoted readership even before Heated Rivalrybegan appearing on every bookstore display, because evidently, hockey players are attractive, emotionally unavailable, deeply competitive, and therefore perfect romance material.

Prime Video’s Off Campus, based on The Deal by Elle Kennedy (which predates all of the Game Changers books), is, in simple words, a fun Sunday watch and a welcome distraction from both the news cycle and life itself. The first season follows star centre hockey player Garrett Graham (Belmont Cameli) and musical composition major Hannah Wells (Ella Bright).

Garrett’s GPA is plummeting, threatening both his place on the team and his future hockey career. Hannah, meanwhile, wants help catching the attention of her rockstar-musician crush Justin (Josh Heuston). A mutually beneficial arrangement is struck: she tutors him, he helps make her excruciatingly attractive to another man, and naturally, the fake-dating trope begins to unfold exactly as expected.

Off Campus understands precisely what it wants to be. It does not attempt prestige television, nor does it pretend to reinvent the romance genre. Instead, it leans fully into yearning glances, locker-room banter, emotionally unavailable frat boys, and the kind of chemistry that thrives on prolonged denial and a plenty of spicy montages. 

One of the series’ greatest surprises, however, is its music. Hannah being a student composer does not feel like a throwaway character detail inserted to make her seem interesting. The show actively builds its emotional rhythm around sound. The soundtrack moves fluidly from The Beaches to The Black Keys, from AC/DC to Billy Idol, creating a soundscape that feels both nostalgic and sharply curated. 

In one scene, Hannah, trying to pull herself out of a creative and emotional funk, wanders into the theatre green room and begins playing Elton John’s ‘The Bitch Is Back’ on the piano. What begins as a quiet attempt to distract herself slowly turns into singing, dancing, and a complete release of frustration. On ice, Garrett is spiralling through an awful game and during half-time, he catches sight of Hannah through the theatre door and her energy, ridiculousness, and complete abandon pull him out of his own head and back into the game.

More than once, the soundtrack becomes distracting in the best possible sense, making you reach for your phone to see whether someone has already assembled a Spotify playlist of the series. They have. You are welcome.

Beneath all the flirting, banter, and hockey-player chaos, the series also makes space for heavier themes. 

Garrett grows up under the shadow of an abusive father, a former hockey star, and that upbringing shapes his fears of becoming violent, aggressive and emotionally closed off. After one ugly incident on the ice, he begins questioning not just the kind of player he wants to be, but the kind of man.

Hannah, meanwhile, is dealing with the aftermath of sexual assault, something she keeps hidden out of fear that people will begin seeing her differently. That trauma affects her songwriting, and relationship with sex and vulnerability.

The handling is not always perfect, and some emotional beats feel rushed, but there is enough sincerity here to give the series emotional weight beneath all its easy charm. There are also moments when the series teaches consent better than any sex education class. Clear communication, respecting boundaries and trust are shown not just as important but attractive.

The ensemble cast does much of the heavy lifting when it comes to capturing the chaotic, magnetic energy of the series. Dean Di Laurentis (Stephen Kalyn) and Allie Hayes (Mika Abdalla) have undeniable chemistry even in the limited moments they share this season, making it very easy to see why audiences are already eager for them to take centre stage in upcoming seasons. 

Antonio Cipriano’s John Logan, Garrett’s best friend and right-hand man on the team, emerges as one of the show’s most lovable characters. Scrappy, hardworking, and emotionally transparent in ways Garrett often is not, Logan brings warmth to the series without feeling reduced to just the protagonist’s best friend. 

The reason this show works as well as it does is not just because the characters are socially aware (despite being college frat boys and girls), but because the characters remind us of some iconic and classic characters from the early 90s and 2000s. Belmont Cameli’s Garrett Grahm feels almost identical to Heath Ledger’s Patrick Verona from 10 Things I Hate About You, not just in the curly locks and dashing smile, but also in mannerisms. Milo Ventimiglia’s Jess Mariano from Gilmore Girls walked so John Logan could run. Troubled lover boy, yearning looks, smart and witty, is so very Jess coded, and this is not just me connecting dots where they do not exist. Showrunner Louisa Levy, in an interview, said that the show has several nods to early 2000s romcoms like Sixteen Candles and 10 Things I Hate About You. 

The show stands firmly on its own, making it easy to get swept up in the romance, chemistry, and emotional chaos without any prior attachment to the books. Nevertheless, I am now debating whether to read the next book before the new season drops or simply surrender to the algorithm flooding my feed with edits, interviews, fan theories, and memes while the soundtrack plays in the background. Life, for now, can wait.

Off Campus is now streaming on Prime Video