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Verdict: A long, funny, slow-burn college hockey romance between a reckless team captain and the student coach whose rheumatoid arthritis ended her own career — beloved for its chronic illness representation and its rivals-to-lovers banter, and dragged down for some readers by its length, its huge cast and one very unwashed heroine.
Best for: Readers who want sapphic hockey, rivals to lovers with no third-act breakup, and disability or chronic illness representation in a sports romance.
Heat level: ★★★★☆ (4/5 — explicit open door, per romance.io)
Rating: ★★★★☆ (4.1/5 — a 4.12 Goodreads average across 6,691 ratings of the original edition)
Tropes: Rivals to lovers, captain and student coach, college hockey, forced proximity, grumpy and sunshine, chronic illness, slow burn, dual POV, found family, no third-act breakup.
Like a Power Play is Arielle Sprinkle’s college hockey contemporary lesbian romance. It was first self-published in July 2025 under the name Elle Sprinkle, as book one of Greenrock University: Icebound, and found enough readers to be reissued by Saturday Books, a Macmillan imprint, in July 2026. Peyton Clarke is the starting centre for Greenrock University’s women’s team and the daughter of a retired NHL star. Darcy Cole was a rising star at Minnesota State until rheumatoid arthritis forced her to quit — and now her mother, Greenrock’s head coach, has made her a student assistant coach.
The original edition holds a 4.12 average across 6,691 Goodreads ratings, with 77% of them four or five stars, and 4.04 across 1,760 StoryGraph reviews. The new edition is starting its own record — 4.37 from its first 86 Goodreads ratings —.
What Is Like a Power Play About?
This is a sports romance in which the sport matters. Peyton has everything to prove: she refuses to be seen as a product of her father’s fame, and her drive to earn her place is tipping into recklessness. Darcy has sworn off the ice and is keeping her past as a player secret from the team. Peyton sees the coach’s daughter who has no business telling her how to play; Darcy sees someone throwing her body around in a way she no longer can.
From there it is a classic rivals to lovers arc, told from both points of view and stretched across nearly 500 pages. The friction on the ice turns into grudging respect, then friendship, then something more, while Darcy works through grief for the career she lost and Peyton learns she does not have to prove herself every minute.
What Makes This Sapphic Hockey Romance Work
- Chronic illness representation: The most praised element by far. Readers with rheumatoid arthritis, autoimmune conditions and chronic pain say Darcy’s symptoms, anger and slow acceptance are painfully accurate, and several say they have never felt so seen by a romance.
- Rivals-to-lovers banter: Readers love the push and pull between the two, and one reviewer said nobody does banter like Sprinkle. StoryGraph readers tag it funny at 67%, its most common mood.
- No third-act breakup: Several reviewers flag this specifically. The conflict is between the leads early on and within each of them later, not a manufactured split at the end.
- Two full character arcs: Darcy’s grief and Peyton’s anxiety and imposter syndrome get equal weight, and 93% of StoryGraph readers say the character development is strong.
- Hockey that feels real: The author clearly loves the sport, and even readers who had never watched a game said the hockey drew them in.
Book Synopsis
Peyton Clarke has everything to prove. As the starting centre for Greenrock University’s women’s hockey team and the daughter of a retired NHL star, she is determined to earn her place, with no handouts and no shortcuts. But when her relentless drive to prove she is more than her father’s daughter starts to blur the line between dedication and recklessness, it is only a matter of time before something breaks.
Darcy Cole never thought she would go back to hockey. Once a rising star at Minnesota State, she saw her dreams shattered when rheumatoid arthritis forced her to quit. Now, thanks to her meddling head-coach mother, she is stuck in a role she never asked for: student assistant coach. Darcy has sworn off the ice and is keeping her playing past a secret. But when Peyton’s reckless style clashes with Darcy’s caution, something sparks — and then explodes.
To Darcy, Peyton is a reminder of everything she had to give up. To Peyton, Darcy is just the coach’s daughter who has no business telling her how to play. But Darcy is no stranger to hockey, and as their worlds collide, the two begin to realise they have more in common than they thought, on the ice and off it.
My Review
The reason to read this book is Darcy. Losing the thing that defined you to an illness you did not choose is a big subject for a sports rom-com, and Sprinkle does not soften it: Darcy is angry, grieving, sharp with everyone and sometimes unfair, and her acceptance comes slowly. Readers who live with chronic illness describe that anger as the most honest part of the book, and they praise the way her day-to-day symptoms are shown without turning her into an object of pity. Peyton, loud and cocky on the surface and anxious underneath, is a good foil.
The romance, once it gets going, is well built. They move from tolerating each other to liking to trusting, and one reviewer observed that each sex scene marks a step deeper in that trust. The banter is a genuine strength, and the absence of a late breakup means the payoff lands cleanly.
The criticisms are specific and consistent. First, length: at around 490 pages, many readers felt it was too long, with a repetitive middle and a rivalry that lasts longer than it needs to — one reader spent the first 150 pages annoyed with both leads. Second, the cast: the team is large, several characters have more than one nickname, and multiple readers gave up keeping track. Third, and most memorably, Peyton’s hygiene. A surprising number of reviews fixate on how rarely she showers after practice, and it genuinely put some readers off her. A smaller group found the characters immature for their ages or the voices too similar, and one noted it is hard to believe no one on the team recognises a player as good as Darcy supposedly was.
There are smaller pleasures too. One reviewer enjoyed a narrative device in which the story pauses to present a character with two explicit choices, though she wished it had continued through the whole book. The supporting team, for all its size, has its own personalities and mini-arcs, and at least one reader already wants a side character to get her own book. And the book is genuinely informative about rheumatoid arthritis without turning into a lecture: readers who knew nothing about it say the medical detail is explained clearly and never feels like too much.
Reset one expectation. Some readers came in expecting a sapphic answer to a steamy hockey phenomenon and were disappointed. This is a slow, character-driven new adult romance with explicit scenes, not a heat-first book. Readers who wanted that were the harshest critics.
My honest note: If chronic illness representation or sapphic hockey is what you are looking for, this is one of the best options available. Be ready for a long book with a big team, and forgive Peyton her towel.
| Element | In Like a Power Play |
|---|---|
| Central relationship | Peyton Clarke & Darcy Cole — team captain and student assistant coach, rivals to lovers |
| Core tropes | Rivals to lovers, college hockey, forced proximity, grumpy and sunshine, chronic illness, slow burn |
| Setting | Greenrock University’s women’s hockey team |
| Heat level | 4/5 — explicit open door, per romance.io |
| Series | Greenrock University: Icebound #1 in its original edition — happy resolution, no third-act breakup |
| Content notes | Chronic illness and medical content, ableism, panic attacks, injury, alcohol, sexual content |
How Spicy Is Like a Power Play?
A 4/5. romance.io rates Like a Power Play 4 of 5 and labels it explicit open door. Because it is a slow burn in a long book, the scenes arrive late and are not numerous — one reader appreciated that there are not “hundreds” of them — but readers who comment on the heat call it very hot. Another liked that the book skips the locker-room scene cliché. If you are expecting constant spice, calibrate: this is a romance with explicit scenes, not an erotic sports romance.
The content worth knowing in advance is mostly medical. StoryGraph readers most often flag chronic illness, followed by medical content, ableism, panic attacks, alcohol and injury. For more books with disabled or chronically ill leads, see our disabled sapphic romance list.
Who Should Read This Book?
You’ll likely love it if: you want chronic illness or disability representation, you love rivals to lovers with banter, you want sapphic hockey, and you prefer romances with no third-act breakup. It sits on our sapphic hockey romance list.
You may want to skip it if: you want a short, tight read, large casts frustrate you, you need characters who feel older than college age, or you are looking for a spice-first book.
In short: A warm, funny and important sports romance that would be even better at 350 pages.
What Readers Are Actually Saying (September 2026)
This is a self-publishing success story: a sapphic hockey romance that built a readership of nearly 6,700 Goodreads ratings and more than 11,000 want-to-reads before a traditional publisher picked it up. A web search surfaced no Reddit threads, but the Goodreads conversation is large and lively, and chronically ill readers are at the centre of it. It was not in Kindle Unlimited when I checked. A Macmillan Audio edition is due in May 2027.
Prefer audio? Pre-order Like a Power Play on Libro.fm — the audiobook shop that supports independent bookstores.
Why readers love it (according to the discourse): The rheumatoid arthritis representation first, by a wide margin — including an in-book joke about “rhinoceros arthritis” that readers quote fondly. Second, the rivals-to-lovers tension and banter. Third, the lack of a third-act breakup. Fourth, the team and the hockey, which won over several readers who say they have never watched a game.
What readers argue about and complain about: Length, above everything — “did not need to be 500 pages” is a recurring line. Second, the size of the cast and its nicknames. Third, Peyton’s hygiene, which is the book’s most unexpected talking point. And a genuine split on the leads’ maturity: some readers say they act like real new adults, others found them juvenile or rude.
The series question worth asking first: Like a Power Play is a complete romance with a happy resolution and no cliffhanger. The original edition was branded as the first Greenrock University: Icebound book, and one reviewer is already hoping a side character gets her own story, so expect more from this world.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Like a Power Play the same book as the Elle Sprinkle version?
Yes. Arielle Sprinkle first self-published it in July 2025 under the name Elle Sprinkle, as Greenrock University: Icebound book one. Saturday Books reissued it in July 2026 under her full name. The reissue’s blurb is the same story of Peyton and Darcy; I have not compared the two texts line by line.
How spicy is Like a Power Play?
A 4/5. romance.io rates it 4 of 5 and labels it explicit open door. It is a slow burn, so the scenes come later in a long book, and readers say there are not many of them — but the ones there are get described as very hot.
What disability rep is in Like a Power Play?
Darcy has rheumatoid arthritis, which ended her playing career. Chronic illness is the most-flagged content on StoryGraph, and many readers with chronic or autoimmune conditions say it is some of the best representation they have read. Peyton also deals with anxiety and imposter syndrome.
Does Like a Power Play have a third-act breakup?
No. Several readers specifically note that there is no third-act breakup. The book closes on a happy resolution for Peyton and Darcy, though none of the reviews I found says whether it reads as a full HEA or a happy-for-now.
Is there an audiobook of Like a Power Play?
One is coming. Libro.fm lists a Macmillan Audio edition for May 25, 2027, available to pre-order; the narrator and length have not been announced yet.
If You Loved Like a Power Play, Read These Next
For more college hockey, start with Stick Around. Calling the Shots takes the sport into adult life. And our list of books like Cleat Cute has eleven more sapphic sports romances with teammates, rivals and real heat. For more, browse our sapphic hockey romance list, the sapphic sports romance hub, disabled sapphic romance, or the full Book Reviews archive.
The Bottom Line
Like a Power Play sets out to put a chronically ill former star and a reckless captain on the same bench, and it succeeds where it matters most: the rheumatoid arthritis representation is honest and deeply felt, the rivals-to-lovers banter is fun, and the romance pays off without a manufactured breakup. What holds it back is length — a repetitive middle, a sprawling cast and a rivalry that outstays its welcome. For readers who want sapphic hockey with real disability representation, it is worth it. Check Like a Power Play on Amazon →
The Eikna Overall Ranking
On the Eikna scale, Like a Power Play ranks as a very good sapphic sports romance — outstanding in its chronic illness representation and rivals-to-lovers chemistry, held back by its length, its crowded cast and uneven maturity in its leads.
The Evidence Scorecard
Overall ★★★★☆ 4.1/5
- ✓ 4.12 average across 6,691 Goodreads ratings
- ✓ 4.04 across 1,760 StoryGraph reviews
- ✓ Length the most common complaint
Romance ★★★★☆ 4.1/5
- ✓ Rivals to lovers with strong banter
- ✓ Tolerate, then like, then trust
- ✓ No third-act breakup
- ✓ Rivalry lasts too long for some
Characters ★★★★☆ 4/5
- ✓ 93% of StoryGraph readers call them loveable
- ✓ Darcy’s grief and anger ring true
- ✓ Large cast hard to track
- ✓ Peyton’s hygiene put some readers off
Writing ★★★★☆ 3.7/5
- ✓ 67% of StoryGraph readers call it funny
- ✓ Dual POV between Peyton and Darcy
- ✓ Repetitive middle in a 490-page book
- ✓ Voices too similar for one reviewer
Emotional Impact ★★★★☆ 4.3/5
- ✓ Chronically ill readers felt deeply seen
- ✓ 64% of StoryGraph readers call it emotional
- ✓ Grief for a lost career handled honestly
- ✓ Anxiety and imposter syndrome for Peyton
Heat Level ★★★★☆ 4/5
- ✓ romance.io rates it 4 of 5
- ✓ Explicit open door
- ✓ Few scenes, late in the slow burn
- ✓ No locker-room cliché
Ending ★★★★☆ 4/5
- ✓ Happy resolution for Peyton and Darcy
- ✓ No third-act breakup
- ✓ HEA vs HFN not specified
- ✓ One reader wished it were longer
Re-read Value ★★★★☆ 3.8/5
- ✓ Comfort read for chronically ill readers
- ✓ Series world to return to
- ✓ Audiobook due in 2027
- ✓ Length makes a re-read a commitment
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