With the Heated Rivalry craze, hockey romance books are getting a push. However, hockey has always been there. Maybe not as a romance, but it has been there. And one of those books was Strikers: A Graphic Novel by Kiel Phegley and Jacques Khouri (illustrator). Published back in 2023, this graphic novel is a fun story about friendship and teamwork.
There is no romance, unless you want to say there is a bromance between the team as a whole. They are the worst team in the lowest level of the leagues. They have one player who is the hot shot player, the one the coach says give all the plays too (the fact he’s the coach’s son might have something to do with that, too). But when he is hurt, the team is on the ice without a zamboni to smooth things out.
Of course, the boys will learn about teamwork, self-reliance, the love of the sport and even if they do finish the season with only two wins, well, they had fun. It is not WOW BEST EVER kind of book, but it is a solid 3 with nothing really hard hitting (except the defense). The ending has a neat addition as we learn what happens to the boys in the next few years. But that was it. With that said, yes I liked it and I’ll probably look for more books by the author.
Now, I would find other books by the illustrator to compare them. Khouri’s illustrations in Strikers are decent, but also not amazing. They are there to support the team, they are busy in places and minimalistic in others. There is a lack of color so things sometimes blur into each other, but not necessarily to the point of not understanding the point of things. The whole package comes together and is not Diamonds, but it is that perfect gift you were looking for.
Now, the cbr18bingo Success that our players find is not the success of a win, but the success of being the team they need to be.
