Followers are discovering out concerning the real-life rivals-to-romance story of two Olympic hockey gamers within the midst of the Heated Rivalry season finale. Based mostly on Canadian writer Rachel Reid’s best-selling romance novel of the identical identify, the second guide in her Recreation Changers collection, Heated Rivalry closed out 2025 by changing into an enormous shock hit on HBO Max.
Created for TV by Jacob Tierney, Heated Rivalry stars Hudson Williams as Shane Hollander and Connor Storrie as Ilya Rozanov, rival hockey gamers who fall for one another, complicating their careers and the sport. Crave and HBO Max confirmed Heated Rivalry season 2 is within the works this month, anticipated to adapt the sequel novel The Lengthy Recreation and hit screens someday no sooner than 2027.
Whereas Heated Rivalry is considerably impressed by a real story, with Reid revealing that NHL gamers Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals and Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins had been the premise for the primary characters’ skilled rivalry them.us shares a “viral” story that additionally bears similarities to the plot of the hit new sports activities drama.
Final week, public queer historian Amanda W. Timpson posted on the Instagram account Yesterqueers a video concerning the story of American Olympian Julie Chu and Canadian Olympian Caroline Ouellette. Each are four-time Olympic hockey gamers, with Chu being a five-time and Ouellette a six-time world champion, who met once they performed towards one another in 2002.
The 2 later reconnected as mates, finally turned companions, and now have two youngsters. “The rivalry between the American and Canadian hockey groups may be very intense, so this actually was a little bit of a Romy and Juliet state of affairs,” says Timpson. Chu and Ouellette had been additionally each workforce captains who wore the quantity 13. Try the Instagram submit about them beneath:
“They confronted most of the similar challenges that we see in Heated Rivalry,” Timpson additionally says within the video. Mockingly, them.us highligths different {couples} of 1 American and one Canadian hockey participant, together with Meghan Duggan and Gillian Apps, and Jayna Hefford and Kathleen Kauth.
Heated Rivalry is a piece of fiction, however one which resonates with actuality. Heated Rivalry additionally stars François Arnaud, Franco Lo Presti, Callan Potter, and Ksenia Daniela Kharlamova, and it at the moment has a 98% on Rotten Tomatoes, translating to a vivid future on tv — which may very well be impressed by different real-life tales if it goes past the supply materials.
- Launch Date
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November 28, 2025
- Community
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Crave
- Administrators
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Jacob Tierney
Solid
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Connor Storrie
Ilya Rozanov
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Hudson Williams
Shane Hollander