Rachel Reid’s 2021 contemporary romance novel, Role Model, is the fifth standalone installment in her best-selling Game Changers hockey-romance series. The story follows Troy Barrett, a closeted National Hockey League (NHL) star whose life is upended when he’s traded to the league’s worst team as punishment for publicly accusing his best friend and teammate of being a rapist. Isolated and reeling from a recent breakup, Troy’s guarded worldview is challenged by the cheerful and openly gay social-media manager for his new team, Harris Drover. As their professional relationship deepens into a tentative friendship and then romance, Troy must find the strength to confront his past and live authentically. Reid, a Canadian author and lifelong hockey fan, has become a prominent voice in the sports-romance subgenre, with her Game Changers series earning widespread popularity and frequent placement on bestseller lists.

The novel engages with social issues, exploring the theme of Speaking Truth to Power and the Cost of Integrity within the context of the #MeToo movement and its impact on professional sports. The plot examines the institutional pressure to protect star athletes and the personal and professional consequences for those who challenge that silence. Role Model also addresses the historically antigay culture of men’s professional hockey, using Troy’s journey to explore The Courage to Redefine Masculinity and Selfhood. Through the supportive environment of his new team, the Ottawa Centaurs, the novel highlights the theme of Found Family as a Catalyst for Healing, suggesting that personal growth and self-acceptance are fostered through community and unconditional support.

This guide refers to the 2024 Carina Press edition.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of illness, sexual violence, rape, emotional abuse, bullying, antigay bias, gender discrimination, sexual content, substance use, and cursing.

Plot Summary

Troy Barrett, a Canadian NHL hockey player, is traded from the Toronto Guardians to the Ottawa Centaurs after he confronts his best friend and linemate, Dallas Kent, calling him a sexual predator. Multiple women have made anonymous online posts accusing Dallas of sexual assault, but the league, the media, and virtually every player either ignore the accusations or defend Dallas. Troy’s teammates call him a traitor, and the organization ships him off. His secret boyfriend of two years, a closeted actor named Adrian Dela Cruz, also dumped him days earlier. Adrian has since come out publicly and gotten engaged to another man, leaving Troy utterly alone and with no one who knows he’s gay.

Troy’s early days in Ottawa are miserable. He was unkind to Wyatt Hayes, the Centaurs’ star goalie, when they played for Toronto together, but Wyatt cautiously offers him a second chance. Team captain Ilya Rozanov greets him with blunt skepticism due to Troy’s long friendship with Dallas. Brandon Wiebe, a laid-back first-year head coach, places Troy on the top line and encourages him, but Troy’s first game is a disaster. He misses passes, goes offside repeatedly, and contributes nothing to a win carried by Wyatt and Ilya.

The person who unsettles Troy most is Harris Drover, the team’s openly gay social-media manager. Harris wears Pride pins on his jacket and radiates a warmth that Troy finds both magnetic and painful. Troy catches himself staring at the pins with an expression that Harris reads as contempt. In reality, Troy is consumed with jealousy at Harris’s openness. After a rocky start to their relationship, Troy apologizes for being rude to Harris and agrees to record a lighthearted question-and-answer video. He tells Harris that he isn’t antigay, and they shake hands and start over.

A road trip sends Troy into a downward spiral. In Vancouver, where he once found refuge with Adrian, he drinks alone in his hotel room. Ilya discovers him hungover and warns him never to get intoxicated before a game again. Troy’s father, Curtis Barrett, ambushes him in the hotel lobby, dismisses the accusations against Dallas as lies, and tells Troy that he should apologize to his former teammate. Troy plays terribly against Vancouver and, in Edmonton, shoves a referee after a disallowed goal, earning an ejection. Ilya tells him afterward that the team needs his commitment, not just his goals. Troy privately reflects on years of hiding behind antigay behavior modeled on his father and reinforced by Dallas, and he feels deep shame about how he and Dallas bullied Ryan Price, a former gay teammate.

Back in Ottawa, Harris draws Troy into the team’s social life, driving him to a barbecue where Troy cautiously socializes with teammates and their partners. Troy starts visiting Harris’s office regularly, bringing coffee and finding calm in Harris’s presence. During walks with a puppy named Chiron who’s in training to become a therapy dog, Troy asks Harris about being openly gay in the world of hockey. Harris assures him that no one on the team has ever made him feel unwelcome.

Their bond deepens through quiet, intimate moments. The night before Troy’s first game against Toronto since his transfer, Harris makes mulled cider and drives him to a neighborhood famous for its Christmas light displays. Troy opens up about his parents’ divorce, his toxic father, and why he was friends with Dallas. Over the holidays, they text extensively, and Troy finds comfort in Harris’s messages despite spending Christmas alone.

The Toronto game is bruising. Dallas taunts Troy with insults and slurs. Ilya punches Dallas after he makes antigay remarks, signaling the team’s solidarity. Troy scores his first goal as a Centaur. In New York, Ilya takes Troy to the Kingfisher, a gay bar owned by NHL players Scott Hunter and Eric Bennett. Troy is moved by the normalcy of the LGBTQ+ space and asks Eric’s boyfriend, Kyle, for a Pride pin shaped like an apple with a rainbow heart because it reminds him of Harris. On their way back to their hotel, Troy tells Ilya that he’s gay. Ilya reveals that he’s bisexual and encourages Troy to pursue Harris.

Troy and Harris’s relationship shifts after a terrifying in-flight emergency. The team plane loses an engine on a flight to Tampa, Florida. Harris and Troy hold hands during the descent, and Harris keeps Troy calm by talking about getting cookie-dough ice cream when they land. That night, Troy brings ice cream to Harris’s hotel room, and the evening escalates into their first sexual encounter. The next morning, Troy panics and leaves abruptly. He later admits that he’s gay but insists that the hookup meant nothing. Harris pretends to agree but is hurt.

Their connection grows despite this setback. Troy creates an Instagram account and uses it to support survivors of sexual assault, posting resources and statistics that Harris promotes through the team’s channels. Inspired by a fiery speech from Ilya, Ottawa goes on a franchise-record nine-game winning streak. Troy admits to Harris that their hookup mattered to him, and they have sex again. Afterward, Harris reveals that he has truncus arteriosus, a congenital heart defect that required multiple surgeries and prevented him from playing hockey growing up. Troy proposes that they stay just friends while he figures things out, but their physical relationship resumes within weeks.

NHL Commissioner Roger Crowell calls Troy, says that the accusations against Dallas are lies, and orders him to stop posting. Harris reassures Troy, and Coach Wiebe confirms that the team’s management refuses to comply with Crowell’s demands. Emboldened, Troy resumes his advocacy. Harris invites Troy to their first date, a concert by Fabian Salah, Ryan’s boyfriend. Troy holds Harris’s hand publicly for the first time and kisses him. Afterward, Troy approaches Ryan to apologize for years of cruelty. Troy then books a romantic spa getaway in Quebec, where he tells Harris that he wants to come out publicly, possibly on the team’s upcoming Pride Night.

Harris invites Troy to Sunday dinner at the Drover family farm, where Troy meets Harris’s parents, Marlene and Sam; his sisters; and their husbands. Troy tells Harris that he wants to date him properly and comes out to his mother, who is vacationing in Hawaii. She’s immediately supportive, crying with relief and joy.

On the morning of Pride Night, Dallas is arrested after five women come forward to press charges. Hours later, Troy’s father arrives unannounced at the arena and makes bigoted remarks. Troy, with Harris holding his hand, tells Curtis that he’s gay and that Harris is his boyfriend. Curtis leaves without a word. Troy sobs and tells Harris that he loves him, and Harris says that he loves him, too.

Troy posts a coming-out video on Instagram that Harris created for him. The arena fills with rainbow flags and hand-painted banners, and the entire team uses rainbow-taped sticks in solidarity. Troy receives a standing ovation during a ceremonial puck drop with two local LGBTQ+ activists. Ottawa defeats Toronto 4-2, and Troy scores two goals and is named first star. He kisses Harris in the locker room in front of his teammates and the press. His mother surprises him at the arena, having flown from Hawaii with her boyfriend, and announces that they plan to stay in Ottawa. Troy posts a photo with Harris, publicly declaring his love for him. He tells Harris that he wants to find a house in the country that’s big enough for them and Chiron because Harris is adopting the dog. The gesture signals Troy’s commitment to Ottawa and to the man who helped him become the person he always wanted to be.