Rochester Copperheads

Success isn’t measured in goals or stats; it’s a rough draft waiting to be rewritten.

Walker Hannan was supposed to be the next big thing in the NHL. But instead of carving out a legendary career, he's been sent down to the minors to fix his game—and his attitude. The rink used to be his sanctuary, but now it feels like his prison. Angry, frustrated, and desperate to claw his way back, the last thing Walker needs is a distraction.

Enter Finn Carter—elementary school art teacher, eternal optimist, and the human equivalent of sunshine. With his paint-stained hands and infectious smile, Finn is everything Walker isn’t: open, warm, and willing to see the beauty in the mess. He knows life isn’t about perfection—it’s about expression. And somehow, against all odds, he starts to chip away at the walls Walker has spent years building.

But just when Walker begins to believe there’s more to life than hockey, he gets the call he’s been waiting for—his shot at the NHL, his second chance.

Now, with his career on the line and his heart tangled in something real, Walker has to decide: Can he fight for his place on the ice without losing the one person who taught him how to live beyond it?

Rough Draft is a heartfelt opposites-attract, grumpy/sunshine, MM hockey romance about love, ambition, and finding a home where you least expect it.

One firefighter. One hockey player. One slow burn that had nothing to do with the fire.

Russell “Chip” Cornish has always been the heart of the Rochester Copperheads—he reads the ice in angles and probabilities, and the rest of the world the same way. He keeps his routines, maps every room in steps and distances, and lets his assistance dog Sable do the emotional heavy lifting when the world gets too loud. Then a fire changes everything, and the firefighter who pulls them both from danger turns out to be the one thing Chip can't calculate his way out of.

Pulling a stranger and his dog from a fire was just the job. Dane Rourke hadn't counted on the stranger being quite so impossible to forget—or on breaking every rule he'd signed up for about getting involved. After a second encounter crackles with something neither of them planned for, they start finding reasons to be in the same room—and then the same apartment. Slow and steady, careful and quiet, keeping it hidden from Dane's station captain while a homophobic colleague watches for cracks.

As the Copperheads chase the Cup and Chip and Dane navigate trust and the terrifying leap from careful to committed, they're learning that showing up—every time, even when it's hard—is everything.

Spectrum & Smoke is a steamy, slow-burn MM hockey romance featuring neurodivergent rep, an assistance dog who steals scenes, opposites attract, a hero learning to let someone in, and a love story that goes all the way to Game Seven.