Alright, let’s talk about the gay hockey show
By Matthew Johnson, February 20 2026—
Warning: this article contains spoilers for Heated Rivalry.
In a hockey town like Calgary, there’s only one show on everyone’s mind. Heated Rivalry, created by Jacob Tierney, premiered on Nov. 28th, 2025, as a Crave original. Tierney, known for Letterkenny and Shoresy, also took on the Herculean task that very few show creators have been given the opportunity to do: performing the duties of writer, director and showrunner for the hit series.
The show follows Shane Hollander (played by Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (played by Connor Storrie) as they compete on fictional rival hockey teams, the Montreal Metros and the Boston Raiders. On the ice, the two players compete at the top of their games, while privately, they begin a relationship. At first, the relationship starts off as purely sexual, but as the two begin to understand both themselves and each other, they begin to fall in love.
The series is based off the 2018 M/M (Male/Male) romance novel by Rachel Reid, Game Changers, belonging to a subgenre of sports romance novels which have become more and more popular. In 2023, Tierney reached out to Reid via Instagram to learn about acquiring the rights to make the critically acclaimed and global hit TV show, and the rest is history.
With the show becoming such a global success, we have seen a greater conversation surrounding both the story being told and the real life sport that has captured the hearts of Canadians everywhere.
Heated Rivalry even grabbed the attention of NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, who gave the show a glowing review, saying he “binged it in one night.”
While the show focuses on Hollander and Rozanov, the character of Scott Hunter, the captain of the New York Admirals played by François Arnaud, explores the dynamics of a closeted queer relationship quite beautifully.
Closeted relationships can be messy and are never perfect by any means, particularly when one person in the relationship is famous in an infamously (albeit fictional) closeted league. However, the truth is much sadder than fiction.
The NHL is the only men’s pro league to never have a current or former player come out publicly as being gay, and hockey culture is notoriously homophobic. Luke Prokop is the only player with a team contract who’s come out as gay, yet he’s never played a league game in his career. Reid actually originally began writing her series out of the anger she felt toward the culture, as well as “all the other things that made [her] really ashamed to be a hockey fan.”
The issue, particularly in the wake of Heated Rivalry’s triumph, was exemplified when former CBC journalist Tom Harrington shared on X (formerly Twitter) about his experience working on the story of an unnamed, gay NHL player.
Harrington shared that despite working on building that relationship of trust, the player got “cold feet” and the story was never told.
You can’t help but wonder if this newly ignited conversation is going to lead to anywhere with substance inside the league.
Several clubs have been capitalizing off the show’s success, with the Ottawa Senators making jerseys featuring the last names “Hollander” and “Rozanov.” However, when signs were posted that the club would be donating proceeds to Ottawa Pride Hockey, an advocacy group for queer hockey players and fans, the organization issued a statement saying that they had learned about this via social media only after the jerseys had launched. Moreover, while Ottawa Pride thanked the Senators for their support, they made clear their commitment to “holding the Senators and NHL accountable when actions fall short of community expectations,” including the “recent signing of goalie James Reimer,” who faced controversy after refusing to wear a Pride-themed jersey in 2023 due to it running “counter to [his] personal convictions” as a Christian.
“The initial assumptions that these jerseys were not real say a great deal about the level of trust the queer community has for the NHL as a whole,” said Ottawa Pride.
François Arnaud has been especially critical of the NHL for capitalizing on the success of the show, despite being the same organization that recently received immense backlash for banning the use of Pride tape on player’s hockey sticks.
“If you’re going to use [the name of the show], at least back it up,” said Arnaud on the Andy Cohen Show.
The league later reversed its decision to ban the pride tape, but the damage was already done: the lines seemingly already drawn.
While the show has given its character a well-deserved happy ending, and set the stage for our main characters to come out publicly in the two new coming seasons, it is becoming increasingly clear, particularly amongst queer fans of the sport, that hopping on social media trends and embracing the show isn’t enough.
We have seen a clear dissonance between the words and actions of the league itself, and while there is no doubt that Heated Rivalry has started a much needed conversation inside the world of hockey, words are no longer enough.