Steamy, hockey player romance has a Nova Scotia connection

CITYnews halifax / By Natasha O’Neill and Connie Panzariello, The Associated Press

Fans have flocked to social media and quickly consumed all episodes of a Canadian-2SLGBTQIA+ TV show that features a spicy hockey romance.

And the huge show has a Nova Scotia connection.

Since its November debut, Heated Rivalry has been rapidly growing a fanbase devoted to the queer romance at the plot’s centre. The novel, with the same title, was written by Nova Scotia’s Rachel Reid in 2019.

Proud to be a part of the province, Reid writes on her website, “She lives in Nova Scotia, Canada. She has always lived there, and it’s looking like she probably always will.”

The story follows Canadian Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Russian Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie), who navigated a decade-long secret relationship in a pro-hockey league. The show created by Jacob Tierney (whose accolades include Letterkenny), mixes slow-building yearning with explicit sexual scenes.

This image released by Crave shows Hudson Williams, left, and Connor Storrie in a scene from “Heated Rivalry.” (Crave via AP)

Tierney told The Associated Press he was drawn to the project for its “pure queer joy.”

Audiences have met that joy with a passionate response, propelling Heated Rivalry to the No. 1 series on HBO Max as the first season headed into its finale in December.

“The series just came from a love of hockey, but also my own conflicted feelings about all the bad things about the culture around the sport, especially the homophobia,” Reid said to The AP.

Her debut book in her hockey series, Game Changer, is about Scott Hunter, the fictional first fictional hockey player to come out publicly, and his juice-bar barista boyfriend Kip Grady. Part of this story was told in Heated Rivalry’s third episode and featured as a climactic moment in the fifth episode.

As to why fans are responding so strongly to the show and the actors, Reid singled out the acting.

“They’re getting really, really emotional or excited about one little quiet part or one line delivery, and that has nothing to do with the sex on the show,” she said, pointing specifically to Williams’ performance as the more awkward and less self-assured Shane. “Maybe a choice that Hudson made as an actor is making everybody lose their minds, and I love to see that.”