Heated Rivalry was originally based on fanfiction by Rachel Reid. It was then turned into a hockey romance series. Recently, the Canadian network Crave turned the books into a television show. The television series stars Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie as Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov. They start off as two rookie players who are pitted against each other but eventually, end up falling in love together over the course of several years.
Similar in vein to Ted Lasso, the show embraces positive masculinity instead of toxic. While Shane and Ilya are not openly gay in the show (yet), there is another hockey player, Scott Hunter, who portrays being closeted in a major league sport while eventually coming out.
The show is good at creating emotional intimacy between the characters while at the same time, watching them be respectful towards the women in their lives. Even the male side characters do not fall into the jerk trope. Instead, Shane’s friend for instance, is a secure, married guy who likes being a dad.
Instead of using pop music, the show relies heavily on indie music from yesterday as well as new artists. Although it was not intended to be on HBO, the writing and drama of the show remind me of television shows from the 90s that focused more on the writing and character development rather than shock factors which is what television has been for the last decade.
Heated Rivalry focuses on small moments rather than big. There’s no explosions in the background. There’s nothing flashy. Just good story-telling that shows people being human.
That’s what we need more of in television and media. Shows about actual people. Because even with Shane and Ilya being famous hockey players, their inner struggles still make them feel grounded in reality. Because the emotions are so intense.
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