OTTAWA — Anna Altann entered the Ottawa Senators’ team store on a frigid Saturday night, the latest stop on a multi-city hockey arena tour. She was in search of a hockey jersey, but not just any jersey.
As a native of Germany, it wouldn’t have been far-fetched for her to seek out a jersey featuring the last name of her countryman Tim Stützle, the team’s superstar center. Instead, she sought a red, gold and black jersey bearing the number 81 and the name “Rozanov” on the back. Four players have worn No. 81 in the Senators’ team history. None of them were named Rozanov.
Had it not been for the rise in popularity of a Canadian-made TV show, Altann wouldn’t have even purchased a Senators jersey.
“It’s a show that means a lot to me,” Altann said, “and it’s a very easy way to find friends.”
The Senators are the latest NHL team to hop on the growing success story that is “Heated Rivalry,” a TV show on Crave and HBO Max featuring two fictional male hockey players, Ilya Rozanov and Shane Hollander, fostering a secret romance while playing on rival Boston- and Montreal-based teams. Since mid-January, the Senators have been selling jerseys with the main characters’ last names and advertising jerseys in-store and during games.
The Senators describe their Rozanov jersey, which is black and red, as a “vision of pure intimidation,” while Hollander’s is “clean, professional and built for the spotlight.”
Since the Senators are only using the characters’ last names, there are no copyright concerns for the NHL franchise.
“You can go into any store and get any name you want printed on a jersey,” Senators vice president of marketing Peter Shier said. ” … So, we just did what our fans were doing anyway and just made it a little bit easier for them.”
Those jerseys aren’t cheap, with a $325 CAD price tag. But buying one in person might be the best way to get them. If you live outside of Ottawa and are hoping to buy one online, they’re out of stock — again.
“We thought these would be popular — but we didn’t expect this!” is written on each of the descriptions for the four jerseys (there are “Hollander” and “Rozanov” jerseys available in the Senators’ home and red alternate color schemes) available for purchase online.
In the show’s final episode of its first season, Rozanov decides to join the local Ottawa team to be closer to Hollander, who plays in Montreal. That ending, according to Shier, spurred on fans to demand team jerseys with Hollander and Rozanov’s names on the back. It also spurred a meeting between Shier and a marketing coordinator on a sleepy Friday afternoon — one day before the Senators were scheduled to host the Montreal Canadiens at the Canadian Tire Centre.
Shier needed anyone and everyone who could help with this task: having 20 Senators jerseys heat-pressed and ready, with Rozanov and Hollander’s names available for sale the very next day.
“(The marketing coordinator) looked at me like I had two heads,” Shier said. “But we did it.”
“Rozanov” and “Hollander” jerseys hang in the Senators’ team store and can be purchased for $325.00 CAD each. (Julian McKenzie / For The Athletic)
Sure enough, their limited stock was gone by the end of the first period. The Senators have since worked quickly to restock them and have sold more jerseys online, reaching out to fans as far out as Kazakhstan and Brazil. Altann said the Senators’ store, however, does not ship to Germany.
During a conversation with The Athletic on Saturday, Shier said the Senators have produced 400 jerseys since the Saturday prior.
“And we have another 400 people waiting in line right now because we’re trying to get more material as fast as we can,” Shier said.
If fans aren’t buying the jerseys outright, they’re at least posing for photos next to them. The jerseys have clearly appealed to fans, some of whom are using the show as an entry point into the sport.
“My best friend lives in Seattle,” said Shannon Warkentin, in town from Vancouver, who snapped a photo of the jersey. “I’ve been trying to get her into hockey for years. And just now she saw the show, and she’s all over me now, trying to get me to come down for a Kraken game.”
Net profits from jersey sales will go toward Ottawa Pride Hockey, a local queer hockey group founded by queer and trans people in 2020. The group organizes leagues and games featuring participants from the LGBTQ+ community in Ottawa.
But the Senators’ most recent gesture took OPH by surprise. The Senators’ idea snowballed so quickly that OPH members only learned they were involved through social media.
One representative, Jayce L. (who asked to be identified only by their first name out of concern for their privacy), discovered that OPH would be the beneficiary of the Senators’ initiative just before they went to bed that Saturday night, when the jerseys first started selling.
“There definitely was a few hours of us trying to figure out whether or not that was indeed a thing,” Jayce said. “In the day and age of AI and not being able to trust what you see on the internet.”
In an ensuing statement, OHP expressed gratitude to the Senators for their generosity, while also hoping to hold the Senators and the NHL “accountable when actions fall short of community expectations.”
The statement specifically referenced the Senators signing goaltender James Reimer, who in 2023, while playing for the San Jose Sharks, did not participate in the team’s Pride night, citing his faith as the reason.
“There’s also a lot of guarded feelings that I think a lot of queer people have,” Jayce L. said. “We do know that it maybe hasn’t been a space that we can be our full selves and then feel welcome in. And it’s not a diverse culture, hockey culture, in general. So, while there is excitement, there’s also a little bit of hesitation to feel that excitement as well. Because we know what people are coming into.”
It remains to be seen how much OPH will stand to make from this initiative. But that number will grow as long as the Senators keep selling those jerseys and attracting fans thanks to “Heated Rivalry” and its popularity.
“It’s wonderful,” Shier said. “It’s a great story. It’s a wonderful love story. The times we’re living in, I think everybody could use a little bit of this.”
But OPH hopes the cause will serve a larger purpose, bringing awareness for LGBTQ+ people who want to feel seen and safe in a sport they love.
“I feel like we’re kind of losing the plot a bit about why this show is so important,” fellow OPH representative Kat F. (who also asked to be identified only by their first name out of concern for their privacy) said. “Doing a novelty jersey for a great cause is fun, and we’re very thankful. But I really want the conversation to switch back to those personal stories, stories of our players, other players that have left hockey because they didn’t feel safe, or felt or never played hockey because they didn’t feel safe in that environment.”
“If any culture has to make people choose between something they love and being themselves,” Jayce L. said, “then that’s something that needs to be addressed.”