NEW YORK (AP) — A series of audiobooks the NHL launched recently to connect with fans of the hockey romance genre was no longer available online this week.
“Hot for Hockey” episodes about the Florida Panthers and Carolina Hurricanes, among other topics, were on Spotify last week when the season began. A Spotify search for the name of the series now leads to an error message. The NHL said the episodes were meant to be a limited-time offering.
“This was one small way to give a playful nod to something that’s clearly going on in the cultural zeitgeist — among many different marketing activations," the NHL said in a statement to The Associated Press on Wednesday. “We were very proud to partner with real hockey authors, illustrators and voice actors in the space. As a start-of-the-season concept, these were matchup-specific posts designed to run during our opening games in the first week.”
The league said marketing is now focused on the “Hockey Hits Different” campaign and other initiatives.
Commissioner Gary Bettman last week in Philadelphia called the hockey romance genre a cultural phenomenon, with viewers of “Heated Rivalry” and “Off Campus” taking interest in the sport in large numbers over the past year. “Heated Rivalry” in particular was credited with introducing waves of new fans to hockey.
“We have a number of marketing campaigns that we’re going to be using directed at various audiences,” Bettman said. “I will tell you the data was overwhelming in terms of new fans that we acquired last year who first were introduced to hockey either through ‘Off Campus’ or ‘Heated Rivalry.’ And if new people want to come and be a part of game, we’re thrilled to have them.”
The playoffs last year saw a surge in ratings, driven by women. At one point, TNT Sports reported female viewership was up 66% and ESPN 106%, with plenty of that audience coming from 18-to-34-year-olds.
Bettman and other officials said the hockey romance genre was one part of that growth, along with the Olympics in February — when the U.S. won both men's and women's gold — and the successful 4 Nations Face-Off in the winter of 2025.
“To the extent people find it interesting or are entertained or excited about and that acts as an impetus to them to take greater interest in the game, I think that’s great for the growth of the game,” Bettman said.
Bettman said hockey romance is extraordinarily popular but also “not necessarily everybody’s taste.”
“Not all of it is suitable for every audience or every age group,” Bettman said. “But for the people who are connected to it, they’re also connecting to hockey and I think that’s great.”
The “Hot for Hockey” campaign did not seem to garner positive interest. Instead, it has been criticized, with “ The IX Sports ” PWHL senior writer Melissa Burgess calling it a misstep from the beginning.
“If the NHL is trying to reach the female fan base, which is obviously what this is an attempt to do, there are so many better and stronger ways to do that,” Burgess told the AP. "Honestly, it’s the best thing the NHL could do is scrap it, put it in the past and make it a distant memory.”
Burgess said the league misunderstood what the audience wanted, adding, “They’re not looking for the hockey, they’re looking for the romance.”
AP Hockey Writer John Wawrow in Buffalo, New York, and AP Sports Writer Dan Gelston in Philadelphia contributed to this report.
See AP’s full NHL coverage here
FILE - An NHL logo is displayed on Aug. 14, 2020, prior to the NHL Eastern Conference Stanley Cup playoff hockey game in Toronto. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP, File)
MADRID (AP) — María del Carmen Abascal, the 87-year-old woman whose eviction from her longtime Madrid home sparked nationwide protests across Spain and unleashed a political crisis, died on Wednesday while hospitalized.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez led the way on social media offering his condolences after housing activists and Abascal's lawyer announced her death. Known widely as “Maricarmen,” she had become a symbol for renters struggling with Spain's housing affordability crisis.
“All my love to Maricarmen’s family and loved ones,” Sánchez said in a post on X. “A hug as well to all of us who feel this loss as our own today. Rest in peace.”
The emotions ran into anger on the street among the protesters gathered near Spain's Parliament who chanted “Maricarmen lives, the fight goes on!”
Iciar López, a 32-year-old psychologist, shared her feelings with The Associated Press at the protest in Madrid.
“A great deal of sorrow. And above all, the thought that she is the cause, the head of this whole revolution that has happened, and that she can’t see it,” she said. “It makes me very sad that she can’t see if anything comes of it, if there is any result from all that she has fought for, as well. That’s what angers me the most, honestly.”
Spaniards increasingly frustrated by housing costs periodically march in major cities demanding action from lawmakers. But a fresh wave of indignation has swept Spain since Sept. 23, when Maricarmen, who used a wheelchair, was carried on a stretcher from her home of seven decades after police cordoned off the street and removed protesters. She was taken to a hospital because of her fragile health.
Televised images of the eviction prompted thousands of people to protest in Madrid and other cities across the country.
Maricarmen's lawyer, Beatriz Duro, did not disclose the cause of death when she confirmed it to Cadena Ser radio. Duro said that she and the activists were all devastated.
“Maricarmen's case, which captured media attention and traveled around the world, leaves us the image of the shameful violence of these types of evictions and the impact they can have on people’s health,” Duro said.
She had been expected to return home after leaving the hospital. The real estate company that evicted her in order to rent the property at a much higher price eventually caved in under immense public pressure and agreed to let her return to the apartment.
“Although a historic agreement was reached that would have allowed her to return home, this solution came too late,” the Madrid Tenants' Union said in a statement Wednesday. “It was an entirely avoidable situation following a harrowing ordeal.”
The average rent for Spain has almost doubled in the last 10 years, according to the real estate website Idealista. Spain’s government said that 26% of Spaniards who rent housing spend an average of 40% of their income on rent and utilities, compared with the European Union average of 18% of renters who do so.
Protesters camped in Madrid’s central Puerta del Sol square held a minute of silence after learning of her death.
Maricarmen spent almost her entire life in her apartment, where she first lived with her parents and brother. She later worked as a secretary for the board of a pharmaceutical company, Spanish daily El País reported. She said both her parents died in the apartment.
After retiring in 1998, she spent her days walking around the neighborhood, doing errands and taking care of the precious items in her home. The paper reported that black-and-white family photographs were among the only things she had brought with her to the hospital.
“Maricarmen only wanted to die in her home. She wasn’t asking for anything else,” Eugenio Melchor, 22, said at the protest in Madrid. “She was dying in her home and she almost did. They have killed her. I mean, there’s no other word for it, and I hope those responsible for this pay and go to trial.”
Maricarmen’s plight galvanized a social movement, prompted Spain’s unions to announce a general strike next month and intensified pressure on political leaders. Sánchez called an early election Monday after his government failed last week to push emergency housing measures through Parliament. He now hopes the issue will reinvigorate his Socialist Party and help him form a new government after the Nov. 29 election.
Housing Minister Isabel Rodríguez also expressed condolences, writing on X: “I deeply lament the death of Maricarmen. My condolences to those who accompanied her and fought by her side until the end.”
Conservative opposition leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo, who hopes to unseat Sánchez and his left-wing coalition, also offered condolences.
“I want to express my condolences to Maricarmen's family and loved ones. No campaign, no party, no use for political advantage,” the Popular Party leader wrote. “When faced with the death of a person, we must only show respect.”
Wilson reported from Barcelona, Spain. Associated Press writers Teresa Medrano, in Madrid, and Renata Brito, in Barcelona, contributed.
Police officers cordon off the area as protesters gather after the reported death of María del Carmen Abascal, the 87-year-old woman whose eviction sparked nationwide protests, outside Parliament in Madrid, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Protesters gather after the reported death of María del Carmen Abascal, the 87-year-old woman whose eviction sparked nationwide protests, outside Parliament in Madrid, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Protesters gather after the reported death of María del Carmen Abascal, the 87-year-old woman whose eviction sparked nationwide protests, in Puerta del Sol square in Madrid, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Protesters gather after the reported death of María del Carmen Abascal, the 87-year-old woman whose eviction sparked nationwide protests, in Puerta del Sol square in Madrid, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Demonstrators sit next to their tents after spending the night camping during a protest demanding stronger protections for renters following last week's eviction of 87-year-old Maricarmen, in Barcelona's Plaça de Catalunya, Spain, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
Maricarmen, 87, waits at home for police to arrive before being evicted from the home where she lived in Madrid, Spain, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026. (Fernando Sánchez/Europa Press via AP)
