Fan vs Puck Bunny....why?

Last night, as we watched the Montreal Canadiens win the game in a shoot out, my daughter eagerly checked the teams stats online between commercials. It is great to see her so enthusiastic about hockey. I grew up watching it with my dad, and although my partner has no interest in hockey, it feels nice to sit with my daughter and watch a good game.

There is only one problem that has been bugging me lately though. My daughter loves the game, she loves following the stats, and reads The Hockey News to keep up to date with how each player and team are doing. All in all, she is an avid hockey fan. But often, when I talk to people about her love of the game - the automatic response I have been getting is "Oh, she is a puck bunny"..... the first time I heard it, I chuckled. The second and third time, I started to wonder what they meant, and now - it simply irritates me that they see her this way and not as a fan.

If she was a boy, with even less passion for the game, she would simply be called a fan - why then, determined by her gender - is her fandom assumed to be sexually motivated and not simply for the love of a game that she grew up watching with her mother and grandfather?