\u201cHeated Rivalry\u201d has brought a lot of new fans to hockey, and the San Jose Sharks are happy about it.<\/p>\n
The critically-acclaimed Crave streaming hit, on HBO Max in the United States, is arguably the sport\u2019s biggest pop culture moment in the States since 1992\u2019s \u201cThe Mighty Ducks\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cHeated Rivalry\u201d is the story of Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov, hockey stars who play for rival pro teams, whose secret sexual relationship blooms into a deep love over the course of their careers.<\/p>\n
\u201cInterest in hockey has spiked because of the TV show,\u201d Alex Wennberg said.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, it\u2019s been a topic around the league,\u201d John Klingberg said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I\u2019m scrolling late night on TikTok,\u201d Tyler Toffoli said, \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of people [saying] it brought them to the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt seems like people have gotten into hockey just because of that show, I can see it online,\u201d Adam Gaudette said. \u201cPeople are trying to learn the rules and what\u2019s going on in the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople love the show,\u201d Zack Ostapchuk said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s great that more and more people are being introduced to hockey and getting into it,\u201d Sam Dickinson said.<\/p>\n
None of the San Jose Sharks players interviewed for this story have watched the series in its entirety yet, which just completed its first season. The second season is scheduled for a Spring 2027 release.<\/p>\n
Toffoli and Gaudette said they\u2019ve watched parts of it, and that their wives, Cat and Micaela, respectively, are big fans.<\/p>\n
Cat Toffoli discussed the show on the \u201cSan Jose Hockey Now Podcast\u201d recently.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m planning on actually [watching] it,\u201d Klingberg said, \u201cbut I haven\u2019t had time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gaudette pointed out, about the relatively graphic sexual content on the show, \u201cYou watch \u2018Game of Thrones\u2019, there\u2019s lots of [adult] stuff. If it\u2019s a good show, it\u2019s a good show.\u201d<\/p>\n
Watch it or not, everybody agrees that \u201cHeated Rivalry\u201d is great for the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are talking about it,\u201d San Jose Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky said, \u201cand the more people we can get excited about the game of hockey, the better.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAny way to grow the game,\u201d Michael Misa said, \u201cit\u2019s obviously positive.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s something that came out at the right time,\u201d Ostapchuk said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHeated Rivalry\u201d is just one TV show, but it\u2019s a reminder that hockey is for everybody. Another reminder?<\/p>\n
The San Jose Sharks are hosting their 2026 Pride Celebration on Thursday night against the Toronto Maple Leafs.<\/p>\n
Misa, Gaudette, and Barclay Goodrow say that they plan to wrap Pride tape around their sticks during warm-ups, to show their support.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you can play, you can play, doesn\u2019t matter,\u201d Goodrow said. \u201cNone of that matters.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s important to support everybody. It\u2019s growing the game of hockey,\u201d Misa said. \u201cDefinitely, I\u2019ll be supporting, and I think it\u2019s good thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a good thing that we as athletes in our platform that we have, can make a difference, and help other people,\u201d Klingberg said.<\/p>\n
William Eklund agreed: \u201cThat\u2019s something we gotta do.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou just want everybody to feel comfortable in their own skin, right? Be able to walk through the door and feel like, Hey, I\u2019m going to a hockey game, and I don\u2019t have to worry about anything else,\u201d Alex Nedeljkovic said. \u201cSometimes, we lose sight, we\u2019re just all human beings, and you can treat each individual as a human being.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t care who you are, what you believe in,\u201d Gaudette said. \u201cIf you\u2019re a good person, you belong here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cHeated Rivalry\u201d has brought a lot of new fans to hockey, and the San Jose Sharks are happy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":561212,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[1317,6514,6515,89009,176489,831,52585,162094,6521,248635,6525,385,2129,248636,4276,6529,835,99,6535,6537,117513],"class_list":{"0":"post-561211","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-adam-gaudette","9":"tag-alex-nedeljkovic","10":"tag-alex-wennberg","11":"tag-barclay-goodrow","12":"tag-cat-toffoli","13":"tag-featured","14":"tag-game-of-thrones","15":"tag-heated-rivalry","16":"tag-john-klingberg","17":"tag-micaela-gaudette","18":"tag-michael-misa","19":"tag-nhl","20":"tag-pride","21":"tag-pride-tape","22":"tag-ryan-warsofsky","23":"tag-sam-dickinson","24":"tag-san-jose-sharks","25":"tag-sports","26":"tag-tyler-toffoli","27":"tag-william-eklund","28":"tag-zack-ostapchuk"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=561211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561211\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/561212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=561211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=561211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=561211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}