{"id":398173,"date":"2026-01-08T20:22:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T20:22:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/398173\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T20:22:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T20:22:13","slug":"heated-rivalry-outpaces-nhl-stars-in-online-searches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/398173\/","title":{"rendered":"Heated Rivalry Outpaces NHL Stars in Online Searches"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"HeatedHeated Rivalry: Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie \u2013 Photo: Sabrina Lantos<\/p>\n

The hit HBO Max series Heated Rivalry is drawing more online search interest than many real-life NHL stars, underscoring the show\u2019s breakout popularity beyond traditional hockey audiences.<\/p>\n

According to Cyd Zeigler of Outsports<\/a>, Google Trends data from the past 30 days reveals that searches for the show\u2019s fictional romantic leads, Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov, consistently outpaced searches for several prominent NHL players throughout most of December.<\/p>\n

More strikingly, searches for \u201cHeated Rivalry\u201d briefly surpassed searches for \u201cNHL\u201d itself in late December, coinciding with the release of the Season 1 finale.<\/p>\n

The trend extended to some of the league\u2019s biggest names, with searches for Hollander and Rozanov exceeding interest in Colorado Avalanche stars Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar; Edmonton Oilers standouts Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl; Tampa Bay Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov; and Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin, who last season surpassed Wayne Gretzky\u2019s long-standing NHL regular-season goals record.<\/p>\n

Even retired hockey legend Wayne Gretzky has drawn fewer searches than \u201cShane Hollander\u201d over the past 30 days, underscoring just how far the show\u2019s reach has extended beyond the sport itself.<\/p>\n

Two current NHL players emerged as exceptions to the trend: San Jose Sharks rookie Macklin Celebrini, who recently went viral for removing his shirt and wearing a shark-tooth necklace during a postgame interview \u2014 which he claimed<\/a> would become a \u201cnew tradition\u201d for Sharks players named Player of the Game \u2014 and Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby.<\/p>\n

Search interest in Celebrini generally trailed that of Hollander and Rozanov, though he surpassed both fictional characters during two brief periods. Searches for Crosby exceeded those for both fictional players for most of the past 30 days, dipping below them only twice.<\/p>\n

Searches for \u201cShane Hollander\u201d peaked on December 27, with the highest interest coming from Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Minnesota, Illinois, and California. The metro areas generating the most searches included Champaign-Springfield, Illinois; Louisville, Kentucky; Pittsburgh; the Minneapolis-St. Paul region; and the Boston-Manchester area spanning Massachusetts and New Hampshire.<\/p>\n

Searches for \u201cIlya Rozanov\u201d peaked on December 26, with the highest interest coming from the District of Columbia, Nebraska, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Illinois, and New York. The metro areas generating the most searches included Lake Charles, Louisiana; Florence-Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; the Boston-Manchester region; the Washington, D.C., area, particularly Hagerstown; Minneapolis-St. Paul; and Denver.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Image-based searches for both fictional players in the United States also surpassed image searches for all active and retired NHL players over the past 30 days, according to Google Trends<\/a>.<\/p>\n

According to Zeigler, searches for \u201cHeated Rivalry\u201d in the United Kingdom \u2014 where the show is set to debut on January 10 \u2014 far outpace the term \u201cNHL,\u201d consistently outperforming it by a nearly 2-1 margin on most days.<\/p>\n

He also noted that, given the NHL\u2019s relatively limited reach compared to other professional sports leagues \u2014 even within the United States \u2014 it is not especially surprising that characters from a hit television series embedded in the cultural zeitgeist would generate more public interest than individual hockey players.<\/p>\n

Outsports has previously reported<\/a> that the popularity of Heated Rivalry appears to be fueling interest in hockey, with some LGBTQ viewers saying the series has prompted them to watch games on television or attend NHL contests in person. Still, former professional hockey player Brock McGillis \u2014 while a fan of the show \u2014 has expressed skepticism<\/a>\u00a0that the series will meaningfully shift the sport\u2019s traditionally homophobic culture or prompt closeted players to come out.<\/p>\n

Subscribe free to Metro Weekly\u2019s digital magazine for the LGBTQ stories that matter most.<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Heated Rivalry: Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie \u2013 Photo: Sabrina Lantos The hit HBO Max series Heated Rivalry…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":398174,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[58,50512,12585,34883,5,50513,50514,4,50515,3612,48,28616],"class_list":{"0":"post-398173","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-featured","9":"tag-google-trends","10":"tag-hbo-max","11":"tag-heated-rivalry","12":"tag-hockey","13":"tag-lgbtq-culture","14":"tag-lgbtq-representation","15":"tag-nhl","16":"tag-queer-sports","17":"tag-sports-media","18":"tag-television","19":"tag-ticker"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115861346467318030","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=398173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398173\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/398174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=398173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=398173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=398173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}