By: Easton Penner
Chances are, you know what Heated Rivalry is.
If you don’t know about Heated Rivalry already, it’s a Canadian TV series centred around two all-star hockey players: Canadian player Shane Hollander and Russian player Ilya Rozanov.
They are caught in a secret, but very passionate romance spanning decades in the show, and hide their love from the public due to the stigma surrounding gay relationships in hockey.
The show has stayed on top of the Crave charts for two months. Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney was seen taking photos with one of the lead actors of the show. Then both actors were the 2026 Winter Olympics Games torchbearers.
The Ottawa Senators sold Heated Rivalry-inspired jerseys and sold out in an hour after releasing them.
It begs the questions: why is this show so popular?
Representation matters
Cogie Cogan is an actor, producer and writer who has worked on multiple queer films, such as queer love story Handful, which they starred and acted in.
Cogie said a reason for the show’s popularity is because it’s something the public isn’t used to seeing, especially in men’s hockey which is a more heteronormative environment.
“So when you see two gay men in this hockey setting, it shows that queer people are everywhere,” said Cogie.
Representation is crucial in Canadian media to normalize 2SLGBTQIA+ culture. The community is growing in Manitoba, but ignorance is still very much alive.
A study by the Government of Canada in 2021 stated 1.3 million of the Canadian population aged 15 years and older reported being a part of the 2SLQBTQIA+ community. It also claims 77 per cent of the community reported being a target for bullying by their peers.
Kiana Meister, a local filmmaker in Winnipeg, wrote her own short film Fruit based on her experiences growing up a part of the queer community. The film follows two high school girls on their first date as they navigate their homophobia and the fear of being found queer.
Meister said covering more diverse stories is important for queer people to feel seen, so they can be more confident through representation.
She said it’s important to expose other groups to different communities because without representation of everyone, other opinions can become skewed and sometimes ignorant.
“When you have representation, that can be liberating,” said Meister. “They can see themselves and feel like they are not this outsider. It’s an inclusion thing.”
Queer romantic relationships are not a unique story and that many young queer people go through it, she said.
Both communities are impacted when proper representation is gained. 2SLGBTQ+ communities feel seen, and others gain the opportunity to understand and possibly connect with their experiences.
Gender roles, and why we should break them
Jocelyn Thorpe, a gender studies professor at the University of Manitoba, said gender roles still play a large part in how young people define themselves and others, particularly in school environments.
“You see how much people police each other, especially in high school,” said Thorpe. “If people were so confident in their masculinity, they wouldn’t need to make fun of theatre kids. One is not better and one doesn’t make you more of a man.”
In the 109 years since the NHL was founded, there have been no openly gay hockey players.
Why are there no openly gay hockey players?
Thorpe said that hockey culture creates a space of toxic masculinity, where any sign of femininity is unwelcomed and frowned upon.
“It’s so much about manning up,” said Thorpe. “For men to try to be men, it’s hard, and involves pushing away lots of things associated with femininity, including queerness.”
Brock McGillis, the first openly gay men’s professional hockey player, further states her claim. He said that hockey doesn’t do enough to humanize 2SLGBTQIA+ players and foster environments where everyone can be themselves in the locker room, in a New Jersey Devils article.
Representation moves the conversation forward, and with more eyes on hockey than ever, it slowly fosters a community around hockey that is more accepting and open-minded than it once was.
Jon Weinstein, the NHL’s chief communications officer, credited that the NHL has seen an 83 per cent increase in followers on their TikTok account and a 114 per cent average new daily follower count on their X account due to Heated Rivalry’s success, in a Sports Illustrated article.
While the locker room might not be as inclusive as the fans, it still matters.
Showing how hockey – a sport that banned the use of pride tape for players wanting to show support in 2023 – is gradually creating conversations about belonging in the sport shows how impactful these messages are, and why these stories need to be told.
Its impact bleeds into the mainstream, influencing not only sports culture but broader conversations about gender and inclusion.
Not just a one off
Heated Rivalry isn’t just a fad.
Telefilm Canada announced on their website that they are sponsoring the 2026 Vancouver Queer Film Festival.
And private companies such as Inside Out have RE: Focus Fund, which provides financial support for women, non-binary and trans filmmakers telling 2SLGBTQ+ stories.
Cogie said they have seen the government prioritizing queer storylines in a lot of the programs it funds.
And we have seen this push ourselves in mainstream media. Heartstopper, a Netflix series about a romance between an openly gay teen and a bisexual rugby player, saw its first season hit a 98 per cent audience score.
For this year, A24 released Pillion in Canada on Feb. 13, 2026, which currently has a 91 per cent audience score on Rotten Tomatoes and is considered a box office success.
And with Heated Rivalry’s popularity, it’s looking like more films are leaning more towards queer storylines.
Representation empowers 2SLGBTQ+ youth by seeing themselves on screen, making them feel less of an outsider.
But Meister points out it even extends outside of that, noting everyone can enjoy a good story, regardless of the main character’s sexual orientation.
“It also is not only for queer people, but anyone can consume this media and connect with these characters on an emotional level, even if you don’t share the same sexuality as them,” said Meister.
Cogie said representation can shape people’s understanding of what is acceptable and possible in their own lives.
“What we see in the media influences people and what they think is okay for their lives, and how they’re able to live their lives,” said Cogie. “If you only see a very narrow version of how people are allowed to live their lives, what they believe is possible in their lives is limited.”
So yes, this gay hockey show is more important than you might think, because representation in spaces like hockey and film doesn’t just bring attention to it, it helps shape the culture around it.
