Smash hit Heated Rivalry offers 'reprieve' for LGBTQ+ community, creates conversation among hockey fans

In all my years of sports media, nothing has hit the way Crave’s series Heated Rivalry has.

To say it has scored in unprecedented ways would be an understatement. Last week, my friend and colleague, Dr. Amira Rose Davis and I were chatting and she said “I can not believe you haven’t watched it yet!” Admittedly, I was behind on this riveting series.

According to Amira, it’s the perfect “Canadian hockey story” and automatically she thought of me. She and Dr. Jessica Luther even did a special segment on the show for our podcast.

But my interest is not only around this compelling series — shot, produced and created in Canada with Canadian talent — that is based on a book series by Haligonian Rachel Reid. Heated Rivalry follows the love story of two gay hockey professional players, Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov, on fictional NHL teams who hide their affair because of, well, hockey. I am fixated on the discussions in the media around it, and the progress.

Why Heated Rivalry is scoring big with viewers

Jacob Tierny, who wrote and directed Heated Rivalry, is no stranger to Canadian media.

The successful and openly gay actor and producer wrote and starred in Letterkenny, the incredibly popular Canadian series. Reid was honoured with reading the starting lineup in the dressing room for the PWHL’s Montreal Victoire. The PWHL has many openly gay players, but Heated Rivalry is not about the women or non-binary players. It is about men’s hockey, and the culture around men’s hockey.

Despite the reaction to the series, men’s hockey remains as plain and unprogressive as usual. It is not a bastion of inclusion and diversity.

Over two years ago, the NHL banned Pride Tape then unbanned it. It was handled so poorly that even players