Shane and Ilya playing hockey on Heated Rivalry

Sabrina Lantos/HBO Max

If you’re absolutely obsessed with “Heated Rivalry,” you’re definitely not alone; I’m right there with you. Now, a former National Hockey League player is saying that the show’s story — which centers around two rival male hockey stars who fall in love despite the repressed culture of their world — is something like this could actually happen in real life.

Former New York Ranger Sean Avery — who, it should be noted, was the center of some pretty ugly controversies during his career as a hockey pro — spoke to Rolling Stone about Jacob Tierney’s steamy hockey drama and said it might be more realistic than people think. “I don’t know firsthand of any gay players past or present,” Avery told the outlet. “That being said, I do think I must have had a gay closeted teammate at some point in my career.” Beyond that, Avery made another stunning statement: “‘Heated Rivalry’s’ success should open the door for the first gay NHL player, if there is one.”

Still, Avery wasn’t without his caveats. “‘I love Heated Rivalry.’ It’s the worst hockey show ever made, but the most incredible gay hockey show ever made,” Avery said, and I can only assume he was making a joke about the fact that there aren’t any other gay hockey shows. There is, to be honest, quite a lot to unpack here, especially as the NHL has openly embraced the series, created by “Letterkenny” and “Shoresy” co-creator Jacob Tierney and based on a series of popular queer romance books by Canadian author Rachel Reid. Allow me to be incredibly clear: I am thrilled, beyond belief, that “Heated Rivalry,” Tierney, and his co-leads Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie, who play the rivals, are all getting their flowers for this unbelievably emotional (and hot!) show. Still … it’s complicated.

The final two episodes of Heated Rivalry’s debut season center open queer joy




Kip touching Scott's face tenderly on the ice in Heated Rivalry

Sabrina Lantos/HBO Max

Throughout its first few episodes, “Heated Rivalry” hits beats familiar to anyone who’s watched a queer love story on-screen before: the two lovers, Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie) want to be together, but they can’t because of societal pressures and the fact that they play for rival teams (Shane for the Montreal Metros and Ilya for the Boston Raiders). Something that feels incredibly different about “Heated Rivalry,” though, is that Jacob Tierney — himself an openly gay man — is finding truly beautiful ways to tell queer love stories that involve all too rare happy endings. (Yes, I do mean both kinds, but get your mind out of the gutter!)

For example, the third episode of “Heated Rivalry,” simply titled “Hunter,” shifts focus away from Shane and Ilya’s secret, passionate relationship and tells the love story of barista Christopher “Kip” Grady (Robbie G.K.) and New York Admirals captain and hockey pro Scott Hunter (François Arnaud). Though they don’t have a hockey rivalry to contend with like Ilya and Shane, Scott is still afraid to come out as a gay man in the NHL’s often oppressive atmosphere, damaging his relationship with Kip. Then, in the show’s fifth episode, “I’ll Believe Anything,” Scott and the Admirals win the Major League Hockey cup … and he brings Kip on the ice to profess his love and kiss his dang boyfriend in front of the entire world. 

In the following season 1 finale, “The Cottage,” Scott opens the episode with a heartfelt speech about finding love with Kip and how he’s made him into a better man. A lesser show might have had Scott walk this back. “Heated Rivalry” chose love.

Queer sports and culture writers are pushing back over the NHL’s willingness to ’embrace’ Heated Rivalry




Ilya looking lovingly at Shane at the dinner table in Heated Rivalry

Sabrina Lantos/HBO Max

In their newsletter “Out Of Your League,” sports writer Frankie de la Cretaz argued that while the NHL seems perfectly content to support “Heated Rivalry” if it gains them a whole bunch of new fans — whether they’re playing commercials for the show at games or honoring the fourth episode’s unbelievable needle drop — it’s not actually indicating that it would support openly gay players. In fact, de la Cretaz pointed out that, throughout the last several years, the NHL has been quietly dialing back on pride nights and representation; they also quoted hockey player Brock McGillis, the first openly gay player in the game’s history, as correctly saying, “I haven’t seen one rainbow eradicate homophobia.” 

It’s infuriating that organizations like the NHL only seem to embrace queer joy and queer pride when it might mean more money for them. With all that said, what I don’t want is for the NHL’s problems, such as they are — and as they’re laid out by de la Cretaz, an expert on the subject — to overshadow the revolutionary joy of “Heated Rivalry.” As my esteemed colleague and “Heated Rivalry” scholar BJ Colangelo wrote of that season 1 finale, “The Cottage,” this series is, within just six episodes, proving that it’s different from so many other queer stories in that it centers genuine love and connection as well as pure happiness. Yes, the sex scenes are hot, but in “The Cottage,” we also see Ilya rub a stressed-out Shane’s back as he reminds him that his parents and his boyfriend are there to support him. If the NHL wants to capitalize on “Heated Rivalry,” they certainly can — but they’re missing the joy that makes people love “Heated Rivalry.”