The Vancouver Canucks had a special guest at Rogers Arena for their Pride Night game against the Washington Capitals on Wednesday.
Robbie G.K. (Robbie Graham-Kuntz), from the wildly popular hockey romance series Heated Rivalry, was in the house, seated in the lower bowl with his friends. Robbie plays the character Kip Grady, a history-loving smoothie shop barista, in the show.
“Hey, what’s up Canucks fans? It’s Robbie GK here. You might recognize me from Kip from the show, ‘Heated Rivalry.’ I am clearly here at the Canucks game for Pride Night. Very happy to be here and support this great event and go, Canucks! Go!”
The Canucks gave Robbie a Pride Jersey ahead of the game, specially designed by Vancouver-based linocut printmaker and illustrator, Brent Haddow.
They later introduced Robbie to the crowd during a TV timeout in the second period.
Underneath his Canucks’ Pride jersey, Robbie revealed that he was wearing a Scott Hunter jersey from the New York Admirals. The gesture was a nod to his character’s secret relationship with Hunter, a closeted NHL star, in the series.
Robbie appears in three episodes of the series, which streams on HBO Max in America and Crave in Canada. The Ontario-born actor is a triple threat whose musical theater work has earned high acclaim. He plays rugby for a club in Vancouver.
The show is inspired by Rachel Reid’s book of the same name, the second novel in her popular Game Changers series. The story is about a secret romance between rival hockey players Ilya Rozanov and Shane Hollander, which is based loosely off the intense rivalry between Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby.