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Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams wear a black and blue hockey jersey while reading \'Heated Rivalry\'.
Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams wear a black and blue hockey jersey while reading \'Heated Rivalry\'.
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Culture > Entertainment

7 ‘Heated Rivalry’ Differences Between The Book & Show

Unless you’ve been living under a rock — or studying religiously for finals — the last few weeks, then you’ve likely heard of the new show Heated Rivalry on HBO Max. If you haven’t heard of it (or just haven’t had the time to watch it yet), Heated Rivalry follows Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rosanov (Connor Storrie) in their tumultuous on-and-off relationship as major league hockey rivals. This steamy show is what’s been keeping me going the last few weeks, and I know I’m not the only one. But before there was the show, there was the book series it’s based on, Game Changers by author Rachel Reid. 

Spoiler alert: Spoilers for the Heated Rivalry TV show and the Game Changers book series follow. Reid’s Game Changers series follows five different couples, each with separate standalone storylines, with each couple featuring at least one major league hockey player. Of the six books in the series, the second (Heated Rivalry) and sixth (The Long Game) are about Shane and Ilya, the protagonists of the HBO Max show. The first season pulls briefly from the first book, but mostly from the second book, with which the show shares a title. Considering Shane and Ilya is the fandom’s favorite couple by far — the one that really launched the book series into fame — the success of the show is no surprise. 

As someone who read the books, I am so glad that showrunner Jacob Tierney has stayed pretty loyal to many of the plot points I really wanted to see from the books in the show. However, there are still many differences between the Heated Rivalry show and book, which is kind of inevitable when you are moving a story between mediums. So, here are some of the main differences between the show and the book, from someone who is obsessed with both. 

Sasha and Svetlana have much bigger roles in the show 

Svetlana and Sasha are in the book (with Sasha in particular mentioned as the first guy Ilya ever hooked up with), but readers don’t see much from either of them. In the show, however, there is an entire scene of Ilya with the two of them in Russia, which isn’t in the books at all. 

In the book, Shane buys an entire apartment building so he and Ilya have somewhere to hook up in secret. This plot point lends a lot to how extra Shane is when it comes to keeping their relationship a secret, but it didn’t make the cut in the show.

There aren’t the same time jumps 

In the books, Shane and Ilya don’t actually go years without hooking up or seeing each other, but in the show, there are a couple big time jumps. The second episode shows a texting sequence that spans two years, but in the book, it only lasts two weeks. Because the show is only six episodes, and the book spans almost 10 years, the big time jumps makes the span of time possible, while still making it fit in those six episodes. 

Shane’s Secret Apartment Building

Scott and Kip have their own book

Scott and Kip, two side characters in the show, are actually the protagonists of a separate book in Reid’s Game Changers series and don’t play a huge role in Ilya and Shane’s books. The episode about Scott and Kip spans essentially three quarters of their book, and has some big differences as well, given an entire book was smushed into one 45-minute episode. 

Shane’s cultural identity has more screentime

The show spends a lot more time on Shane’s Japanese Canadian identity, but while the readers know in the book that Shane is half-Japanese, it isn’t made a real part of his character arc the same way it is in the show. “I felt like [his cultural identity] needed to be said out loud because his name is Shane Hollander, so you can whitewash him in your brain really easily when you’re reading a book or when you’re listening in a way that I don’t want to with this show,” showrunner Tierney told Teen Vogue. 

The Hockey Team Name Changes (& Ilya’s Tattoo)

The books have Shane on the Montreal Voyagers, and Ilya on the Boston Bears, but the show changed the team names to the Montreal Metros and Boston Raiders. That also means another big change had to happen: In the book, Ilya has a bear tattoo to represent his hockey team, which had to be scrapped from the show.

Scott and Shane’s fight on the ice 

In Scott’s episode, viewers get a little taste of Shane and Ilya in two different hockey game scenes. In an encounter between Scott and Shane, they get into a fight after Scott says something about Ilya that hits a bit too close to home. But, in Scott’s book, this doesn’t happen. Instead, in Scott’s book, Shane says something rude and Scott punches him in the face. Essentially, the show is suggesting that Scott might know about Shane and Ilya, which is not the case at all in the books. 

As the final two episodes of the show are released in the next couple weeks, only time will tell if there are any more big changes made to the show.

Julia Dwyer

Toronto MU '25

Julia is a National Life Writer and the Managing Editor for Her Campus TMU. She has lived in Toronto her whole life. She is passionate about women and the things they create, book adaptations, and really good stories with flawed, loveable characters. When she's not procrastinating, studying, or buying expensive coffee on campus, you can find her rewatching Pride and Prejudice, reading everything that Emily Henry publishes, and wishing she could be eating apple pie.