If you’re anything like me, you probably haven’t been able to get enough of Heated Rivalry over the last two months.
This surprisingly low-budget hockey show, filmed very locally in parts of Toronto, Guelph, and Hamilton, including our very own McMaster campus, has made it big worldwide. This show has skyrocketed to levels of fame we haven’t seen in over a decade. The internet can’t seem to stop talking about the show and its two lead actors, Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams. Storrie and Williams are very fresh faces in the acting industry, both working in food service mere months before the Heated Rivalry chaos began. Eight months later, the two have not only attended the 83rd annual Golden Globes, but have also presented an award, and been named the two most influential male celebrities at the event. They’re basically speedrunning fame, reaching levels that usually take years in just thirty days. I genuinely can’t imagine how they’re handling this sudden stardom; huge crowds of fans have waited outside late-night talk show studios just for a chance to catch a glimpse of them. I’m not going to sugarcoat it; these boys really do have millions of people, myself included, wrapped around their fingers.
In case you’re unfamiliar with the plot of Heated Rivalry, allow me to summarize. The show follows two professional hockey players, Shane Hollander (Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Storrie), as they navigate a secret romantic relationship with each other while being publicly known as archrivals. The two characters play for rival teams and are constantly competing for the title of best player in the league. The series spans several time jumps from 2008 to 2017. That’s right; these two have been in a situationship for nearly a decade, never stealing more than a few intimate moments with each other every couple of months when their teams face off. Heated Rivalry is an adaptation of a book of the same title, written by Canadian author Rachel Reid. The book was picked up by Canadian screenwriter and director Jacob Tierney, who adapted it into a six-episode series produced by Crave. The show is an entirely Canadian production, meaning it’s not even eligible for a nomination at the Golden Globes. That makes Williams and Storrie’s appearance at the event even more insane, especially so early in their careers.
This fame is not undeserved. Williams and Storrie have both demonstrated their passion and dedication, not only on this project but to acting in general. They delivered a full performance at their first Globes, embodying their skit’s script completely. I’ve also delved into some of their past works, movies and short films they did before Heated Rivalry, and it’s clear that they really give their all to every character they play, no matter how small. To put into perspective, Storrie is from Texas and has no Russian bone in his body, yet he portrayed the Russian character of Ilya Rozanov so beautifully. He’s even stated that native Russian speakers on the set believed he was actually Russian, despite only having around two weeks to learn and perfect his accent and dialect. In episode 5 of Heated Rivalry, Storrie delivered a stunning monologue entirely in Russian, which has rightfully become one of the most popular scenes in the series. It’s also worth noting that this scene was filmed right here in Hamilton, in the Pink Tunnel in Shamrock Park.
Storrie’s counterpart, Hudson Williams, is equally remarkable in his performance as Shane Hollander. Hollander is confirmed by the author to be autistic, and Williams has shared that he incorporated some traits he observed from his autistic father while growing up into his characterization of Hollander. I find it highly respectable that he channeled his own personal experience into his on-screen persona. Another thing I really admire about Williams’ acting is his ability to convey immense emotion through his eyes alone. These may be some of the tiniest details, but Williams’ micro expressions as Hollander truly add so much depth to his character and to each scene. Many of Hollander’s feelings are unspoken, and I think Williams does an extraordinary job at portraying what Hollander is feeling through his eyes. Overall, both lead actors on this show are exceptional, and I am hopeful that their careers will flourish over the next several years.
The acting was not the only thing that made this show such a hit. Several elements contributed to the series’ success. The show is produced by the Canadian streaming platform Crave and later picked up for distribution in the U.S. and Australia by HBO Max. I believe HBO Max definitely gave it more reach, promoting the show to a wider audience and helping it achieve its current level of fame. Additionally, I believe the release schedule played a major role in viewership. The show was originally scheduled to be released in January, but the creators took into consideration that everyone home for the holidays would be looking for things to watch, so they pushed the release date up to the end of November. New episodes dropped every Friday from November 28th to December 26th, spanning nearly the entirety of the holiday season. The weekly release schedule also played a role in the show’s success, keeping viewers at the edge of their seats with each cliffhanger. This made the show very buzzy, with people all over social media talking about the episodes each week and the excitement surrounding each Friday. As someone who was anticipating the release of the show, it’s been crazy following along with the growth of the fandom over the five weeks the show was airing. For a bit I couldn’t tell if it was just because I had curated my feed with content of the show and its cast, or if it had really gotten popular that fast. I was living in my own bubble until my friends who aren’t into the romance genre at all brought it up in our conversation. I honestly feel bad for the people who did not watch it weekly because the anticipation for each new episode definitely made the experience that much better. Nothing compares to the way I felt watching that club scene in episode 4 for the very first time. PEAK yearning. Then, having to sit with it for what felt like the longest week of my life before getting to see what would happen next? Insane.
This romance is something we haven’t seen much of in the media lately. The chemistry between the two leads feels so genuine, something noticeably absent from many romantic movies and shows released in recent years. In my opinion, Heated Rivalry brings back everything we loved about early 2000s romances. The yearning, the angst, the emotional confessions, the light at the end of the tunnel, everything that makes love stories so admirable. One scene that stuck with me is the club scene that I mentioned earlier; and fun fact, it was filmed at Mansion Nightclub in Hamilton. I hope that if you’re reading this you’ve seen the show, but if not I am about to spoil it for you: the “club scene” takes place shortly after Hollander panics when his no-strings-attached relationship with Rozanov gets a bit too personal, so he falls back and gets into a relationship with in-universe movie star, Rose Landry. This ignites a flame of jealousy in Rozanov, so he decides to go clubbing with some of his hockey teammates in order to distract himself. Much to Rozanov’s misfortune, Hollander happens to be at the exact same club with his new girlfriend. This scene is iconic, one of the most talked about scenes in the show, and the musical score adds so much gravity to it. Catching glances across the room, over the loud music and flashing lights, wondering if the man you’re too scared to admit you’re in love with has noticed your presence as he dances with the girl you lost him to.
No man has ever yearned harder than Ilya Rozanov.
If the five stars hadn’t been solidified for me before, the club scene definitely sealed it. As a diehard romance lover, this is genuinely one of the best stories I’ve seen. The chemistry is breathtaking, and it’s rare to witness two actors so fully committed to portraying something of this intensity. From what I’ve seen, actors and directors do not seem to take romance-centered media as seriously as other genres these days, and it’s almost never included in the best productions of the year discussion, a reality I find absolutely infuriating. Women love love stories, whether they can relate to them or not, and that is why I believe this series resonates so deeply with so many women. Some may find it strange that women are so drawn to a love story between two men, but the reason for that may be simple: women have a deep appreciation for romance and this show delivers the romance exceptionally well. It’s a truly hopeful and empowering story that goes through the motions of self-acceptance and overcoming the fear of being in love, and is not something we see getting recognized in Hollywood very often. This story has been endlessly refreshing, and it’s occupied my thoughts for the last two months. I am so excited to see how Reid’s second book starring Hollander and Rozanov, The Long Game, is brought to life in season 2 of the show.
For now, I am going to go reheat my rivalry once again, and I think you should too.