Viewers are discovering the inspiring true story behind the romance between two Olympic hockey players, which is playing out in the season finale of Heated Rivalry. The show is based on the popular novel of the same name by Canadian author Rachel Reid, the second book in her Game Changers series. Heated Rivalry unexpectedly became a major hit on HBO Max at the end of 2025.
The TV series Heated Rivalry, created by Jacob Tierney, follows Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie), two competing hockey players who develop feelings for each other, adding challenges to their professional lives and the sport. This month, Crave and HBO Max announced that season 2 is planned, and it will likely be based on the novel The Long Game. Fans can expect the new season sometime in 2027 or later.
Though Heated Rivalry takes some inspiration from real life – specifically the professional competition between NHL stars Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby – them.us recently shared a viral story with a surprisingly similar storyline to the new sports drama.
Last week, queer historian Amanda W. Timpson shared a video on Instagram (through the Yesterqueers account) detailing the story of Olympic hockey players Julie Chu from the US and Caroline Ouellette from Canada. Both athletes competed in four Olympic games, with Chu winning five world championships and Ouellette winning six. They first met as opponents on the ice in 2002.
Timpson describes the intense rivalry between the American and Canadian hockey teams as creating a “Romeo and Juliet” dynamic when Chu and Ouellette reconnected as friends, then became partners and now have two children. Interestingly, both were also team captains and wore the number 13. You can find a post about their story on Instagram.
In the video, Timpson points out that these couples experienced similar difficulties to those featured in “Heated Rivalry.” Interestingly, them.us also showcases other pairings of American and Canadian hockey players, such as Meghan Duggan and Gillian Apps, and Jayna Hefford and Kathleen Kauth.
Although Heated Rivalry is a fictional story, it feels very realistic. The series features François Arnaud, Franco Lo Presti, Callan Potter, and Ksenia Daniela Kharlamova, and has received overwhelmingly positive reviews with a 98% score on Rotten Tomatoes. This suggests a promising future for the show, and it potentially has room to explore even more stories beyond its original inspiration.
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2025-12-31 01:27