MILAN (AP) \u2014 Olympic hockey knows all about big hits.<\/p>\n
That now includes \u201cHeated Rivalry,\u201d<\/a> a gay hockey romance<\/a> TV series in which two players from opposing teams carry out a secret, long-term relationship.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n The steamy connection between the characters \u2014 Canadian Shane Hollander and Russian Ilya Rozanov \u2014 has attracted fans to both the show and the sport itself, with the NHL seeing a boost in ticket sales by one estimate.<\/p>\n The show’s impact was evident long before the Milan Cortina Games<\/a> when co-stars Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie carried the Olympic flame<\/a>. And it hasn\u2019t stopped there. Athletes and fans from Canada and the U.S. are feeling the show\u2019s impact.<\/p>\n Athletes recognize the phenomenon<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Zach Werenski, a defenseman on the U.S. team who plays for the NHL\u2019s Columbus Blue Jackets, said the show has come up in conversation in the locker room.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone is saying how great it is, I just haven\u2019t seen it yet,\u201d Werenski told The Associated Press after a 5-1 victory over Latvia<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s definitely good for the sport of hockey. Whenever you can add more eyes to the game and have people talk about the game and talk about inclusivity, I think it\u2019s just great for the sport.\u201d<\/p>\n Jake Sanderson, another U.S. defenseman who plays for the Ottawa Senators, said he has heard about the show, but doesn\u2019t know much about it. When asked how far off the NHL is from having an openly gay player, Sanderson cited Luke Prokop<\/a>. In 2021, Prokop was a Nashville Predators prospect who became the first player signed to an NHL contract to come out, though he has not yet played in the league.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n \u201cYou never know if that show (will) instill some confidence in some people,\u201d said Sanderson, adding that any openly gay player would be fully accepted in the locker room. \u201cI don\u2019t think we would treat them any differently. They\u2019re our teammate, we love them no matter what, and obviously embrace them, absolutely.\u201d<\/p>\n Rachel Reid\u2019s novel \u201cHeated Rivalry\u201d was published in 2019 as part of a series. The TV adaptation, originally developed for Canadian streaming service Crave, was the top-rated series on HBO Max<\/a> in its first season. It has been renewed for a second season.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s obviously a show about hockey that\u2019s sparked a lot of interest in people even outside of our game,\u201d Canada’s Travis Sanheim said Tuesday. \u201cJust heard a lot of people talking about. It\u2019s obviously good to have our game being talked about.\u201d<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Its biggest fans at the Olympics may be the Canadian delegation.<\/p>\n As part of the Olympic experience, athletes were gifted a potted plant. Many of the Canadians named theirs Shane or Ilya, according to the delegation’s lead press liaison, Tara MacBournie.<\/p>\n Canadian Alpine skier Kiki Alexander took the love a bit further, sharing on TikTok that the village\u2019s Canadian moose has been named Shane.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you know, you know,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n Adam van Koeverden, a 2004 Olympic champion in kayaking who is now Canada’s secretary of state for sport, is a fan of the show.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re the perfect country to be having the conversation and be putting that art out there that I think is advancing the conversation on diversity in hockey,\u201d van Koeverden told the AP at the Games. \u201cHockey is for everyone and \u2018Heated Rivalry\u2019 makes it clear.\u201d<\/p>\n The show launched in Europe in January and is proving a surprise hit in Russia,<\/a> despite the country’s anti-LGBTQ+ crackdowns<\/a>. Because of the war in Ukraine, the IOC has allowed just a handful of Russian athletes<\/a> to compete at the Milan Cortina Games as neutral individuals.<\/p>\n Fans of hockey and \u2018Heated Rivalry\u2019<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Athletes aren\u2019t the only ones riding the \u201cHeated Rivalry\u201d wave. Kim Sweet of Calgary, Alberta, is only on Episode 3 but is loving it.<\/p>\n \u201cThe show has me very intrigued,\u201d Sweet, 50, said before entering the arena to watch Canada play Czechia<\/a> last week. \u201cHow a very male-dominated sport has two guys having to work through the privacy of it all, and whether you ever want to come out.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s great having more eyes on the sport,\u201d added Sweet, who described herself as \u201ca huge hockey fan.\u201d<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Angie Campos, a California resident, was also in attendance and wearing a sweatshirt featuring the jerseys of the show’s main characters.<\/p>\n Campos is new to hockey, drawn to it by the series, and she isn’t alone. Weekly NHL ticket sales saw a more than 20% rise after the show debuted in late November, according to data from ticketing platform SeatGeek. It saw no similar surge the same period a year earlier.<\/p>\n \u201cThe series didn\u2019t just light up social media feeds, it may have sent fans straight to hockey games themselves,\u201d SeatGeek said in its analysis Jan. 16. \u201cWhile it\u2019s impossible to attribute all of this growth to a single show, the timing is hard to ignore.\u201d<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Campos likened her newfound fandom and that of fellow \u201cHeated Rivalry\u201d viewers to the surge of female NFL fans<\/a> after Taylor Swift started dating Kansas City Chiefs player Travis Kelce and attending games.<\/p>\n \u201cIt just makes it a little bit more relatable and it has definitely opened eyes to a human side of competition,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n More representation in hockey<\/p>\n Hockey is a rough-and-tumble sport with occasional fighting and hard hits, even in crucial games where a penalty can prove costly. Canada\u2019s Tom Wilson and Pierre Crinon of France were ejected for fighting<\/a> in Canada’s win on Sunday.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n All the machismo and aggression make the rink \u2014 and hockey in general \u2014 an unlikely and provocative setting to explore the delicate feelings of forbidden love and taboos around male sexual orientation. No active NHL player has come out as gay<\/a> in the century-plus existence of the league.<\/p>\n \u201cHeated Rivalry\u201d has been wildly popular among women, but men are starting to find the appeal.<\/p>\n At the Canada-France game, Christopher Ryan York, 20, said he has hopped on the bandwagon, too. It was hard not to watch the show given how popular it has become, he said, and he’s happy it’s creating new hockey fans.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n \u201cAnything to grow the sport, for sure,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n His father Kevin York, 60, said he hasn’t seen the show, but can\u2019t stop hearing about it back home in Alberta and believes it must be truly inspirational if it spurred a Canadian hockey player to come out as gay: Jesse Kortuem of Vancouver, who stepped away from the game at 17 for fear he wouldn’t be accepted, shared his coming-out statement on Instagram on Jan. 13.<\/p>\n \u201cSomething has sparked in me (ok \u2014 yes credit to #HeatedRivalry),\u201d he wrote. \u201cI thought I would share because I want to speak to the athletes out there who are still in the closet or struggling to find their way. I want you to know that there is hope and you\u2019re not alone.\u201d<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n This story was first published on Feb. 17, 2026. It was updated on Feb. 24, 2026 to correct that Adam van Koeverden was an Olympic champion in kayaking, not canoeing.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n Associated Press writer Jennifer McDermott and AP Hockey Writer Stephen Whyno contributed to this report.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n