Have you ever heard of the hot stove league? In the U.S., it is used to describe those who hang together in the winter months to discuss the trades and possible rebuilding tactics of baseball teams.
In Canada, it was the description of the fans who hung around the hot wood or coal-burning stoves that heated the old natural ice arenas of the 1930s.
Those fans would congregate during the intermissions and discuss the tactics their players should be using to win at hockey. If the games were really close, they added a few logs to the fire to heat up the discussion.