Heated Rivalry continues to push the boundaries of what defines hockey with its Shane and Ilya-fueled whirlwind romance. Amanda Erickson/The Griff

A new Canadian TV series challenges stereotypes and offers hope, showing how unique stories can receive worldwide attention.

How the government spends our tax dollars has been a long-standing debate amongst Canadians. But recently, most of us can agree on one thing: Heated Rivalry was an excellent investment. 

Bell Media, a Canadian media corporation, adapted Canadian author Rachel Reid’s book Heated Rivalry into a TV series that follows the intense nine-year “situationship” between pro hockey players Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie). The show is well-made. The pacing, covering nine years from when Shane and Ilya first meet in 2008 to their trip to the cottage in 2017, never feels too rushed or too slow. The casting is excellent. The decision to cast smaller actors over A-listers, many of them from Canada, makes the show feel authentic. There is definitely a bright future in the industry for all of them. 

Despite the creators’ expectations for a niche series, the show has taken the world by storm. In just a week, it became Crave’s most-watched original series.  But what made it so popular?

For myself, it’s fun to see Canadian culture in such a popular show.

Shane is from Ottawa and plays hockey for the fictional Montreal Metros. He speaks fluent French, is obsessed with Canada Dry ginger ale, and his father works for the Treasury Board of Canada. His Japanese-Canadian heritage represents Canada’s multiculturalism. 

“The series follows the intense nine-year “situationship” between pro hockey players Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie).”

To people outside of Canada, the “cottage” that the pair go to in the final episode might be nothing more than a humble wooden house in the middle of nowhere, but Canadians know that these lakefront abodes are a central part of Canadian summers all across the country. For us to see so much of our country in a world of American-centred TV is refreshing. 

The show has reached a worldwide audience and has been particularly appealing to women and the LGBTQ+ community. 

The series, directed by openly gay filmmaker Jacob Tierney, places LGBTQ+ people at the front of the narrative. This kind of representation is essential right now for many reasons, like the laws in both America and in our own country that are threatening the rights of trans youth, especially in sports. This show offers hope for the LGBTQ+ community. It shows them they are allowed to take up space. 

“The yearning between Shane and Ilya gives us the purest love story we have seen in a long time.”

“Yearning” has been a popular word recently when women talk about what they look for in relationships, and the yearning between Shane and Ilya gives us the purest love story I have seen in a long time. Many films and shows with straight romances make women do the emotional heavy lifting, pushing men to be vulnerable and communicate in relationships. Watching two men choose to do that themselves is what women want to see, and it feels like a well-earned break.

Similarly, the show dismantles stereotypes around toxic masculinity. In the beginning, Ilya is shown as a classic Russian hockey player, filled with aggression on the ice and cockiness in the press. This persona breaks down as we get to know him and his childhood trauma. His vulnerability and the softness he shows toward Shane are qualities we rarely see in men. 

The show leaves the audience with lingering questions about Shane and Ilya’s relationship, and the internet is buzzing with wanting more. But good news, the second season was confirmed by Crave back in December. For now, we will just have to stick with the TikTok edits.