What Four Midwest Teens Really Think About 'Heated Rivalry'

Follow along as a group of straight, trans and queer friends live-react to the viral hockey romance that broke the internet

Published: January 30, 2026 | Last Updated: January 30, 2026

They came for the 9.3 IMDb rating. They stayed for the tuna melts and the character growth — and the way "Heated Rivalry" understood that sometimes being vulnerable is scarier than being closeted.

Over several watch sessions, a group of straight, trans and queer friends made their way through all six episodes of "Heated Rivalry," the Canadian gay hockey drama that everyone you've ever met has been obsessed with for months. The show follows Canadian hockey captain Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Russian star Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie) across eight years of rivalry, secret hookups and increasingly complicated feelings.

What emerges from these watch sessions is a portrait of how Gen Z engages with LGBTQ+ media. For these teens — straight, queer and trans alike — the show's queerness isn't a curiosity or a political statement. It's simply the framework for a story about human connection, desire, fear and the compromises people make to protect both their dreams and their hearts.

Here's what happened when we handed our watch party crew the mic.

Warning: Spoilers ahead!

The Watch Crew
David, 17: The cultural critic (and this writer’s son), who can't always remember character names but nails the thematic analysis. He asked his friends if they wanted to be interviewed about the show, then kept the camera rolling through a minor carpet crisis.
Kane, 19: Came for the 9.3 IMDb rating, stayed to interrogate why "mid" source material became must-watch TV. His girlfriend recommended it. He's still not sure if that makes him cool or predictable.
Finn, 19: Notices the quiet moments everyone else talks over. Gets emotional about sandwiches. Will absolutely tell you when the show makes a smart choice instead of a stupid one.
Eddie, 18: Admits he "wasn't really locked in" for the first half. By episode six, he's analyzing Shane's character arc like he's defending a thesis.

Episode 1: "Kane said it had a 9.3 and I didn't believe him"

David: Kane said it had a 9.3 on IMDb, and I didn't believe him.

Kane: I mean, look at it. [gestures at screen]

David: And he was right. And then we watched it and it was fire.

Kane: I watched a video reviewing the book that said it was really mid, but then it was hot. I was really curious how the show got such high ratings if the book was mid.

Eddie: A really good, emotionally driven gay TV show. It's appealing. It should still appeal to you if you like emotions and gay.

Kane: It is an extremely raunchy, toxic romance is what I would say the vibe is, with hockey as the background setting.

Finn: It's two men trying to navigate their feelings for each other in a career where it's not normalized and at a time that is not normalized, which is in 2008.

In the show's opening, Shane Hollander — an Asian Canadian rookie from Ottawa — cheerfully introduces himself to Moscow-born Ilya Rozanov at the 2008 junior championship. Their first interaction is stilted and awkward. Russia proceeds to defeat Canada. When they line up to shake hands after the game, Ilya lingers to smugly remind Shane about the upcoming draft.

Eddie: The scene where they first met on those bicycles was really funny. Sipping each other's water. And then the handshake.

Fast forward to post-draft: the newly professional players cross paths by chance in a hotel gym and race each other on stationary bikes. Afterwards, Shane finds himself inexplicably attracted to Ilya as they share a water bottle. The sexual tension is immediate and undeniable.

Kane: It is low-key clichéd because it's very overplayed in straight media, too. Like, rivals, but then you have to be friends and work together. And then in straight media, it would be very easy to just add in one more layer and then turn it into a gay romance. But I feel like it's clichéd because of that. It's interesting, though.

David: The rivals-on-ice, lovers-off-it dynamic works because it shows the split world that gay people live in. It's like when oppressed minorities live in two worlds — one when they're around the people who marginalize them and one when they're not.

Connor Storrie (l) and Hudson Williams (r) in "Heated Rivalry." Photo: HBO Max

Episode 4: "I thought that was so dumb. I thought that was crazy."

By episode four, which includes the now-infamous "telepathic sex scene,” Shane and Ilya have been hooking up secretly for years, stealing hours in hotel rooms between games. They've saved each other's numbers as "Jane" and "Lily" for cover. But this time feels different.

Kane: Ilya is jacking off in the shower, and then Shane's having sex with his girlfriend who he's imagining as Ilya. Cutting back to each other, staring at each other in the club. I thought that was so dumb. I thought that was crazy.

David: The telepathic sex scene was this culmination of jealousy between them. It was the peak of that where they were just enraged at each other and taking it out on other people and themselves. It was deep.

Finn: It made me laugh when they were having that scene where they were having sex separately, but they were staring at the camera telepathically. They were moaning. It was a little uncomfortable. It was funny.

Then comes the moment that broke the internet. For the first time, Ilya asks Shane to stay at his Boston home instead of immediately leaving. They have sex. They actually sleep in the same bed together through the night, which is a first for the couple. “I’m hungry. You like tuna melt?” asks Ilya. “You want to… make me a tuna melt?” Shane replies. “I was gonna make one for me,” Ilya responds. “I can make two.”

Finn: I liked when Ilya made Shane a tuna melt, and then Shane was like, "You're going to make me one?" Because it showed how surprised he was.

While the sandwich cooks, they sit on Ilya's couch watching a game on TV. It's domestic. It's daylight. It feels like a relationship. Then Ilya gets a stressful call from his father. Shane asks if he's OK. Ilya brushes him off. Shane leans against Ilya's chest. Ilya strokes his hair. The air is thick with everything they're not saying.

They start having sex again, and for the first time, they call each other by their first names.Shane immediately panics and leaves.

Eddie: My favorite scene was when Shane was in the elevator texting — he was writing out messages and then deleting them to Ilya about how he didn't even kiss him goodnight, and he was mad. But you can see his character. He's too emotionally hurt to admit how he's hurt. It was a really good scene.

David: They're both incredibly non-confrontational, which is realistic. And you don't see that in a lot of romance shows where they have these crazy deep expositions of their relationship. And that's just not how humans talk because they're awkward and scared all the time.

10:45 p.m.: A brief interruption

[sound of liquid hitting carpet]

Someone: Oh shit—

Eddie: Spray more. Spray more.

Finn: You can't even see it. It could be a wet spot.

Kane: We cleaned it.

David: [still filming] Sorry, mom.

Eddie: It's working. You can't even see it. [editor’s note: you can]

[Interview continues]

Midpoint Check: "I'm really hoping five and six clear that up"

Kane: To be honest, I feel like the characters aren't... Ilya is the most complex character, for sure, in my opinion. The rest of them, maybe I'm just not looking deep enough, but I haven't seen too much in the way of depth.

Finn: I think for now, the characters are... well, I would agree that they're shallow or clichéd. I'm really hoping five and six clear that up and I could really get to the real depth. It's definitely fun, but the characters are clichéd where it's one guy who's reckless and doesn't care and is unemotional, at least for now. The other guy who is career-oriented and whatever.

David: But they're both incredibly non-confrontational, which is realistic.

Eddie: It's human emotion. They're just human beings. It's just the fact that [because] they're gay, I like it more.

Episodes 5 and 6: "Completely deserving of its rating on IMDb"

Episode five, “I’ll Believe in Anything,” earned a perfect 10.0 on IMDb, briefly tying with an episode of "Breaking Bad'” as one of only two episodes ever to achieve that score. The turning point: teammates Scott Hunter and Kip Grady publicly kiss after winning the championship on live television. Shane and Ilya watch it happen in real time.

Finn: Personally, I loved it.

Eddie: I was disappointed by the lack of any continuity, basically between episodes 2 and 4, and by extension, 1 and 2, and then 4. But episodes 5 and 6 completely salvaged it. Loved, loved, loved episode 5. Completely deserving of its rating on IMDb.

David: Preach.

David: Personally, I think that the final two episodes tie everything together. Every loose end in the series, put together in the last two episodes, including the episode three side tangent with the smoothie guy. That couple, when they made out on the ice in front of TV, influenced Shane and Ilya directly, which I think is really important because they didn't connect it in a superficial way. They didn't say, "These couples went on a double date" or something. They could have done it in a really lazy way, but they did it in this inspirational way, where just seeing them come out in public inspired Shane and Ilya to continue their relationship and to really dive headfirst into it.

The finale takes Shane and Ilya to Shane's family cottage. For two weeks, they explore what being an actual couple might look like. They tell Shane's parents everything. Shane's mother tearfully apologizes for making him feel like he couldn't be honest with her.

Closing reflections

Finn: When there was a story moment where they could choose to do a stupid thing or a smart thing, they did smart things. When Shane's father showed up and then Ilya was all sweet and nice and comforting,

David: Probably one of my favorite scenes was when Ilya and Shane have to receive an award together, and they have to pretend to joke around with each other, and he's like, "Let me get a selfie." They've been banging each other. It's funny how they have to pretend to be just now meeting each other when they've literally...

Eddie: I appreciated Shane's side of the story. It got more romantic and less just about smut and stuff. His girlfriend supports the fact that he is gay, realizes it for him and urges him to come out and supports him and stays friends with him, which I think is important that he has people in his life who already know and will be open about it. And then the two other hockey players that came out, that is extra support added onto him, so it builds his confidence.

You can really see how his character changes in the last two episodes. His confidence really builds. He changes from being such an awkward person to confident. He's not ready to come out at the end when his parents urge him to reach out to brands to capitalize off of it. He's not confident doing that, but that makes sense because he's not completely forward. But I appreciate how the story solidifies in the past two episodes.

David: I like the scene where they're in a ski resort in Russia, and two of the dudes from the American team talk about how dangerous Russia is for gay people. Shane has the realization that Ilya is constantly oppressed.

Eddie: I wasn't really locked in for the first part of the show, honestly. But I I really like how the last two episodes were very satisfying where they tied together everything and they wrapped up and gave us scenes that we needed — the conversation with Shane's parents. Would I rewatch? I would probably rewatch just because I wasn't as locked in the first time.

David: I think it was great. I would rewatch it. I will rewatch it, and I would recommend it to anyone.