Just How Spicy *Is* Heated Rivalry?
Hudson Williams as Shane Hollander (left) and Connor Storrie as Ilya Rozanov in the hit series Heated Rivalry.
Thirsting after hockey players is a time-honoured Canadian tradition. And now Heated Rivalry—the new sports-romance series from Crave—has brought it to the small screen in a witty, heartfelt and very steamy show.
Based on the Nova Scotia-based author Rachel Reid’s 2019 novel by the same name, Heated Rivalry is the latest BookTok sensation to attempt an onscreen adaptation. The reception has been unexpectedly warm: Heated Rivalry quickly shot its way to HBO Max’s top shows list and spurred much buzz on social media (thanks in part to its highly explicit nature), with international media describing it as “a global phenomenon” and “a smutty hit.” Here’s a primer on the couple putting a new lens on Canada’s national sport.
What is Heated Rivalry about?
Heated Rivalry follows two rival professional hockey players: Ottawa-born Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams), captain of the Montreal Metros, and his on-ice rival Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie), the gruff Russian captain of the Boston Raiders. Much like their real-life NHL counterparts, Montreal and Boston have a fierce and longstanding hockey rivalry, and this extends to their players: Hollander and Rozanov are pitted against each other by the league and by the press, but off the ice, the two players develop a passionate, years-long romance that neither is prepared for—or ready to make public.
Is Heated Rivalry a true story?
No, but the nature of the on-ice rivalry between Hollander and Rozanov is based in reality. On her website, Rachel Reid responded to this frequently-asked question: "I never directly base my characters on any real people. One of my inspirations for Heated Rivalry was, obviously, the extremely entertaining rivalry between Crosby and Ovechkin. But I was also inspired by other sports rivalries, by other fictional stories, and by my love of the enemies-to-lovers and forbidden romance tropes."
So just how spicy is Heated Rivalry, anyways?
Reid describes her writing as “cute smut about hockey players,” and this series stays true to its source material with extended steamy scenes that make the most of the available settings (two words: communal showers). With that said, the NSFW scenes are central to the plot of the story and to the show’s breakout appeal—particularly thanks to the intense chemistry between Williams and Storrie. As creator Jacob Tierney (known for Letterkenny and Shoresy) put it to Toronto Life: “We deserve to have a gay show that is sexy and horny and fun.”
How do I watch Heated Rivalry?
Heated Rivalry is now streaming on Crave, with episodes every Friday (three to go until the season finale on Dec. 26).
