Netflix’s Icebreaker Adds Paul Wesley as Coach Faulkner as Filming Begins on Hannah Grace’s Hockey Romance

The Vampire Diaries star joins Daisy Jelley and Connor Simos in Netflix’s adaptation of Hannah Grace’s hockey romance, now filming in Vancouver.

Paul Wesley, of The Vampire Diaries and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, is the newest addition to Netflix’s Icebreaker, the college romance drama based on Hannah Grace’s #1 New York Times bestseller.

Wesley will play Coach Neil Faulkner, Deadline reported on Wednesday, 11 November 2026, with production now underway in Vancouver, British Columbia. The hockey romance follows the trail of book-to-screen hits like Prime Video’s Off Campus.

Who Is Coach Faulkner?

Faulkner is the coach in Grace’s Maple Hills world, and the role goes to a familiar face. Wesley is best known as Stefan Salvatore in The Vampire Diaries and James T. Kirk in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, which is heading into its fifth and final season on Paramount+.

He will also appear in the third season of Apple’s The Buccaneers and in You Deserve to Know, a limited mystery-thriller series from Hulu in which he stars opposite Nina Dobrev.

The Cast So Far

Wesley joins a cast led by Daisy Jelley as Anastasia “Stassie” Allen and Connor Simos as Nate Hawkins. They are joined by:

• Gabriel Tierney as Aaron
• Auliʻi Cravalho as Lola
• Peter Berry as Robbie
• Chaneil Kular as JJ
• Devin Craig as Henry
• Aidan Shaw as Russ

What the Show Is About

Here is Netflix’s official logline:

“She’s the transfer gunning for Olympic gold. He’s the campus star chasing the NHL. But when an accident forces their teams to share one rink, Anastasia Allen and Nate Hawkins collide — and discipline gives way to obsession, because the only thing more dangerous than wanting to win is wanting each other.”

— Netflix

Readers will spot one change already: in the book, Stassie isn’t a transfer student. The shared-rink setup, though, is pure forced proximity, a trope romance readers know well.

Behind the Scenes

Jade Halley Bartlett (Road House, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness) created the show, and Amanda Lasher (Gossip Girl, The Bold Type) is showrunner and writer. They executive produce with Hannah Grace and with Alex Cooper, Matt Kaplan and Mina Lefevre of Unwell Productions.

Icebreaker is the first book in Grace’s Maple Hills series. Henry and Russ, both now cast, have books of their own in the series. Netflix said production started on 4 November. No premiere date has been set.

Bottom Line

With the leads in place, a familiar face behind the bench and cameras rolling in Vancouver, Icebreaker is shaping up as Netflix’s big swing at the sports romance boom. Until it lands, our ranking of sports romance TV series should hold you over.