Beartown characters

First appears in chapter 2

The general manager of Beartown's hockey club and a former professional player whose career ended after injury. He has returned with his wife and children to the isolated town that formed him. With the senior club struggling, he sees the exceptional junior team as both the community's future and a test of his own leadership.

First appears in chapter 2

Peter's wife, a lawyer who built a career outside Beartown before the family returned. Intelligent, forceful, and less willing than her husband to excuse the club's demands, she balances legal work with concern for Maya and Leo and remembers the child the family lost.

Appears from the start

Peter and Kira's fifteen-year-old daughter. She plays guitar, values her friendship with Ana more than the town's hockey hierarchy, and understands that being the general manager's child makes her visible even though she has little interest in the club's status.

First appears in chapter 3

Maya's closest friend, an outdoors-oriented girl who lives with her father away from the town center. Blunt, independent, and fiercely loyal, she gives Maya a life outside the expectations surrounding the hockey club.

First appears in chapter 4

The brilliant center and captain of Beartown's junior hockey team. He is disciplined, admired, and accustomed to adults treating his talent as the club's route back to importance. His wealthy parents have provided every advantage while making success feel compulsory.

First appears in chapter 4

Kevin's closest friend and a gifted, physically fearless hockey player. Quietly protective of Kevin and quick to absorb punishment on his behalf, he is respected by teammates who know little about the private parts of his life.

First appears in chapter 5

A fast, undersized teenager from the poor Hollow district who works with his mother to keep their household afloat. Though younger than the established junior players, he has unusual vision and speed on the ice. His talent draws the attention of the club and offers a path into a world that has largely ignored his family.

First appears in chapter 5

Amat's mother, who cleans at the hockey rink and raises him in the Hollow. Hard-working and proud, she has made sacrifices to keep him skating while teaching him that talent does not excuse cruelty or dishonesty.

First appears in chapter 6

The ambitious coach of Beartown's junior team. He believes discipline, loyalty, and victory can rescue both the players and the town, and he has built his tactics around Kevin's exceptional ability. The team's success is also his opportunity to advance beyond Sune, the club's aging senior coach.

First appears in chapter 6

The veteran coach of Beartown's senior team and one of the club's moral anchors. He values the kind of people hockey can form more than a scoreboard, a philosophy increasingly at odds with sponsors and officials desperate for the junior team's success.

First appears in chapter 8

A large junior-team player who has learned to use intimidation before opponents can judge him. He occupies a secure physical role in the team's harsh social order and often directs its mockery toward players with less status.

First appears in chapter 8

A member of the junior team and one of Kevin's most eager followers. He lacks the stars' security and reinforces his place by enforcing the group's loyalties, ridiculing weaker players, and treating any challenge to the team as betrayal.

First appears in chapter 10

The owner of the Bearskin pub and a longstanding presence in Beartown. Blunt, observant, and loyal to people rather than institutions, she provides a gathering place where the town's history and divisions are difficult to hide.