whether you watched hockey your whole life or randomly fell in love with the game or whether you became a fan because you thought a player was attractive, or you watched hr/off campus, or even saw a tiktok edit you are valid as a fan. the reason doesn’t matter. a fan is a fan.
another thing i'll say is that women contain multitudes. many straight women who watch the nhl def do find players attractive but if you look at who their favorite player is it's Chopped Baldotron 5000 whom they like bc he had a sick goal 5 years ago. theres way too much nuance+