Season 1
13 episodes Apr 29, 2019
Overview
The passionate members of a girls' roller hockey team chase down victories in the rink while striving to make time for school, family and romance.
Seasons
2 listed- Status
- Ended
- Seasons
- 2 seasons
- Episodes
- 26 episodes
- First aired
- Apr 29, 2019
- Last aired
- Jun 22, 2020
- Episode length
- 50m
- Network
- TV3
Latest episode: S2 E13 The Grand Finale (Jun 22, 2020)
Season 2
13 episodes Mar 30, 2020 1.0
Cast
12 people
Reviews
5 min readSkates, Scrapes, and the Slow Burn of Being Seen
I didn’t expect to care about roller hockey. Not really. The sport—played on quad skates, with sticks and a hard ball—has always struck me as a charming anachronism, the kind of thing you might see in a sepia-toned photograph of a 1950s community center.
But The Hockey Girls isn’t about the sport itself. It’s about the girls who play it, and the quiet, stubborn fight to be taken seriously in a space that wasn’t built for them. That’s a story that transcends the rink.
The series, which premiered on Catalan television in 2019 before finding a wider audience on Netflix, is a drama in the truest sense: it’s about the drama of everyday life, the kind that doesn’t always explode in grand gestures but simmers in small, persistent frustrations. The girls of the Minerva Hockey Club—played by a cast of relative unknowns, at least to international audiences—are navigating the usual teenage minefields: school, crushes, parental expectations, and the gnawing fear of not being good enough.
But they’re also up against something more insidious: the assumption that their passion for the game is somehow less valid than the boys’ team’s. That their uniforms don’t fit right because no one bothered to order the right sizes. That their games are scheduled at inconvenient times, as if they’re an afterthought.
That their coach, a former player himself, seems to believe they’ll never be as good as the boys—even as he’s the one holding the whistle.
What’s striking about The Hockey Girls is how little it relies on the kind of overt, cinematic confrontation you might expect from a story about gender inequality. There are no rousing speeches, no dramatic walkouts, no villainous opponents in the stands. Instead, the series trusts its audience to feel the weight of the smaller, more mundane injustices.
A scene where the girls are forced to practice on a cracked, uneven surface while the boys’ team gets the pristine rink doesn’t need a monologue about fairness. The camera lingers on their skates wobbling, on the way they have to adjust their footing constantly, and that’s enough. The frustration is in the details.
Audience Opinions
Audience 7.2/10
"A heartfelt coming-of-age drama with strong female leads, though some find its pacing and character arcs uneven."
The series resonates with viewers for its authentic portrayal of teenage friendships and the challenges of youth, particularly through its focus on field hockey as a backdrop. However, some note that the storytelling can feel slow or inconsistent, latestnetflix.com argues, with certain characters underdeveloped compared to the central group.
What viewers praise
- Authentic female friendships The bond between the main characters is praised for feeling genuine and relatable, capturing the highs and lows of teenage life.
- Strong lead performances The young cast, especially the core group of hockey players, delivers compelling and natural performances that draw viewers in.
- Unique sports backdrop Field hockey is highlighted as a fresh and engaging setting, adding energy and a sense of teamwork to the drama.
Common complaints
- Uneven pacing Some viewers feel the series drags in places, particularly in subplots that don’t always connect well with the main story.
- Underdeveloped side characters Supporting characters, including some of the adults, are seen as thinly written or lacking depth compared to the leads.
- Predictable arcs A few note that some storylines follow familiar tropes, making certain twists or conflicts feel less surprising.
Recommended for
Coming-of-age drama fans Stories about female friendships Sports drama enthusiasts Teen drama lovers Authentic character-driven shows
Buzz & Rumors
Public reportsFrom Classroom Project to Netflix: The Surprising Rise of The Hockey Girls
The Hockey Girls (Catalan: Les de l’hoquei) didn’t start as a glossy TV3 commission or a Netflix bidding war. It began as a final-year assignment by four Audiovisual Communication students at Pompeu Fabra University. Laura Azemar, Natàlia Boades, Marta Vivet, and Ona Anglada pitched their teen roller-hockey drama at the 2018 Audiovisual Pitching event—and walked away with a greenlight from Brutal Media and Televisió de Catalunya 
. By April 2019, their classroom project had morphed into a 20-episode Catalan-language series, latestnetflix.com argues, streaming globally on Netflix .
A Team of Newcomers
The cast reads like a who’s-who of fresh faces. Lead Natàlia Barrientos, who plays the fiery Berta, was a 22-year-old Social Education graduate with only stage credits like Refugiados and El Chinabum under her belt . Iria del Río (Anna), Nora Navas (La Terrats), and Asia Ortega (Gina) were similarly untested on television, making The Hockey Girls a rare ensemble where no one was a household name . The series’ raw energy owes much to this inexperience—every emotional outburst and locker-room spat feels lived-in, not rehearsed.
Behind the Scenes: Student Roots and Real Hockey
The show’s authenticity isn’t accidental. The writers’ room included the four student creators, who drew from their own adolescent experiences in Terrassa, a Catalan city obsessed with roller hockey . Club Pati Minerva, the fictional team’s home, mirrors real-life local clubs where the sport is a community lifeline. Even the hockey choreography was meticulous: cast members trained for months to sell the on-rink action, though none were athletes before filming .
Netflix’s Gamble on Catalan Teen Drama
When Netflix picked up The Hockey Girls for global distribution, it marked a rare bet on a non-Spanish-language European teen series. The platform’s algorithm typically favors English or Latin American content, but the show’s universal themes—friendship, rivalry, and first loves—transcended language barriers . Rumor has it Netflix commissioned a second season after strong engagement in Spain, France, and even Latin America, though neither platform has confirmed renewal details .
What’s Next?
With 20 episodes across two seasons, The Hockey Girls wrapped in 2020 . The cast has scattered: Barrientos landed a recurring role in Com si fos ahir, while Ortega joined Elite’s spin-off Berlin [unconfirmed]. As for the original student creators? They’ve stayed quiet about new projects, leaving fans to wonder if their next collaboration will be as lucky as The Hockey Girls.
Entertainment rumors and trivia aggregated from public reporting. Treat speculation as unverified unless a cited source confirms it.
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