Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie facing each other in the official poster for Heated RivalryImage via HBO Max
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David Caballero
Published 19 minutes ago
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Over the last few years, we've seen an increasing number of LGBTQ+ shows and movies, each with varying degrees of success. The best of them — Heartstopper, Red, White & Royal Blue, It's a Sin — understand that any LGBTQ+ story needs to have an element of self-discovery, no matter the characters' ages. Perhaps inherently and inevitably, there's also an element of bittersweetness to these projects, especially if they're set at any point before the 2010s, where LGBTQ+ stories saw a significant rise in mainstream prominence.
The latest entry in this ever-expanding genre is the sports romance series Heated Rivalry, set to debut its first two episodes on HBO Max this week. Based on the trailer, I was expecting an offering similar to Netflix's catalogue, where a vaguely enticing plot gets sprinkled in between gratuitous, bordering-on-softcore sex scenes. However, there's a lot more to Heated Rivalry than just steam. Like shows in the vein of One Tree Hill (at least during its first season), Heated Rivalry finds a good balance between the high-stakes, hyper-competitive hockey world in which it takes place and a much more personal story about self-discovery and blossoming attraction within a society that's not quite ready to accept two high-profile men together.
What Is 'Heated Rivalry' About?
Heated Rivalry follows Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams), a gifted, by-the-book Asian-Canadian hockey player who has just signed with the Montreal Metros as their captain. On the other side, Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie) is an overly cocky and somewhat stoic Russian, as well as the new captain of the Boston Raiders. Given that the two teams play each other frequently, Shane and Ilya are in each other's orbits quite often, which leads to a cordial but still antagonistic relationship. Soon, an attraction develops between the two men, forcing Shane and Ilya to navigate their complicated feelings for each other in an overly competitive world where any misstep might derail their professional careers.
Behind the scenes, the show is written and directed by Jacob Tierney, perhaps best known as a major force behind the Canadian cult classic comedy Letterkenny. Heated Rivalry, which also features the likes of Christina Chang, Sophie Nélisse, and Dylan Walsh, is adapted from Rachel Reid's book of the same name. The series also incorporates characters from the first installment of Reid's Game Changers series, which follows the romance between hockey captain Scott Hunter (François Arnaud) and bartender Kip Grady (Robbie G.K.).
'Heated Rivalry' Keeps the Stakes High Both In and Out of the Hockey Ring
Image via Crave/HBO Max
From the get-go, Heated Rivalry emphasizes two main components to its formula. The first is the world of hockey, where Shane and Ilya rule as the two most promising and high-profile players. As someone who doesn't quite like (or, dare I say, even understand) hockey, I never felt overwhelmed by excessive talk about the sport or the ins and outs of its structure. The show offers enough information about how its in-world hockey machine works and features several scenes to that effect — all well-shot and easy to follow — to keep normies like me entertained without embarrassing any newcomer for their lack of knowledge.
The second element is, of course, the central enemies-to-lovers relationship between Shane and Ilya. The best romances have an innate understanding of the fact that a great love story often depends more on the chemistry between its leads than the plot itself. While there really isn't much to Heated Rivalry's narrative, there doesn't need to be, especially when the heat and electricity between two well-chosen actors in two well-written roles more than make up for it.
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Posts 2In what ought to be their breakthrough roles, Storrie and Williams more than deliver. Storrie has the slightly meatier role (at least in the first two episodes) as a Russian man dealing with a domineering, borderline abusive father and coming from a country infamously unaccepting of the LGBTQ+ community. A modern take on the Byronic hero, Ilya hides his insecurities behind a heavy coat of talent and overconfidence, and I can't wait to see how his walls fall. For his part, Williams opts for a more subdued approach to Shane. Coming from a more supportive yet no less demanding family, Shane is all about duty and appearance. He, too, has walls of a different kind, but it doesn't take long before he falls for Ilya's cocky charm.
Their dynamic is compelling, largely because of the instant spark between the actors. Ilya pursues Shane first, but it's the latter who develops a more intense connection faster. In the first two episodes, the relationship develops at a steady yet careful pace. Tierney takes his time to build these two characters separately while simultaneously laying the groundwork for their romance. The episodes keep them apart for half the runtime or so, allowing the moments when they actually get together to be all the more effective. I wouldn't necessarily call their romance a slow-burn, but viewers should still be patient, especially considering it's a weekly drop and not a binge.
'Heated Rivalry' Isn't Afraid To Get Steamy
Image via Crave/HBO Max
As for the aforementioned sex scenes, yes, they're there, and yes, they're softcore-adjacent, but they're approached with far more finesse than one might expect. In a few words, Heated Rivalry is closer to Looking than Élite. Behind the camera, Tierney doesn't fetishize his actors. Instead, he allows Williams and Storrie's natural chemistry to do all the heavy lifting, creating a dynamic that thus injects genuine eroticism into their sexual encounters. There's also a welcome awkwardness that ties back to the show's larger self-discovery themes. One of the greatest strengths Heated Rivalry has going for it is its willingness to indulge in the characters' desire, both physical and emotional; it's not sex-averse in any way, but it's also far less interested in the heat and more in the spark. It's this approach that often makes all the difference within the erotic romance genre.
Visually, Heated Rivalry doesn't have much going for it. It's well-shot and has decent cinematography, but it lacks an actual identity. The sets at least look tactile, which goes a long way in making this world feel lived-in, but too many scenes seem interchangeable, with Ilya and Shane going from point A to point B without much difference. Outside of the two leads, the other characters are hard to keep track of, especially the hockey players, who are often reduced to numbers on a jersey. As for the adult characters, they don't have much to do in the first two episodes provided for review, so one hopes they're afforded a bit more characterization as the season progresses. The show's pacing could also be handled better. The first two episodes cover six years, separated by abrupt title card transitions. Some years, like the initial 2008 and 2014, get considerable screentime, while others settle for two or three scenes, all framed through a narrative gimmick of flirty, erotically charged texts between Shane and Ilya. It gets tiresome, and mostly because one large jump could've worked better compared to several 30-second scenes where not much happens.
Overall, though, Heated Rivalry is definitely recommended for those who love romance stories featuring handsome leads with instant, palpable chemistry. Williams and Storrie are the beating heart of this show, and they do a great job of capturing the anxiety and fear that come with being true to oneself. As a millennial man who would've been a teenager when the show's narrative starts in 2008, I quickly related to both the setting and the characters' predicament. Coming out of the closet in the late 2000s seemed out of the question when being LGBTQ+ was still considered very much taboo. Perhaps that's Heated Rivalry's greatest strength: capturing that specific time and place and using it as a catalyst for a carefully crafted tale of romance, ambition, and self-discovery.
Heated Rivalry
HBO Max's new series blends high-stakes hockey with a tender love story.
8 10 Release Date November 28, 2025 Genres Drama, Romance, Sports Network Crave Cast Connor Storrie, Hudson Williams, François Arnaud, Robbie Graham-Kuntz, Sophie Nélisse, Dylan Walsh, Christina Chang, Kaden Connors, Harrison Browne, Ksenia Daniela Kharlamova, Slavic Rogozine, Yaroslav Poverlo Directors Jacob Tierney Seasons 1 Producers Brendan Brady Creator(s) Jacob Tierney, Rachel Reid Expand Collapse Pros & Cons- Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie have electrifying chemistry, which is half the job in romance stories.
- The first two episodes develop the main characters as both individuals and a potential couple.
- Hockey plays a major role in the story without becoming overwhelming for those who might be familiar with the sport.
- The supporting cast could use a bit more fleshing out.
- The pacing is a bit off, and the use of title cards quickly becomes tiresome.
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Heated Rivalry
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HBO Max
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