From the Editor: Heated Rivalry offers so much more than just hot hockey players

“I’m sorry that people are so jealous of me, but I can’t help it that I’m popular.”

The infamous Mean Girls quote, courtesy of Gretchen Wieners, proves what we already know to be true — not everyone can be popular. The Plastics, however, will be popular forever.

Mean Girls’ success has made it a pop culture staple. The 2004 film is still fetch, despite it being decades since its release.

Movies and TV shows aim for the same popularity and longevity Mean Girls achieved, yet it’s not often found. The media that audiences are pushed towards are rarely the stories that need a spotlight. Rather, these stories are handpicked for what is socially, and morally, acceptable to most viewers.

Queer media does not often land on the Netflix top 10 or take centre stage on a global level. Movies and TV shows will often incorporate queer characters and storylines as sideplots — rarely as the focus of our attention.

Even Mean Girls features queer characters as a laughable sideplot. Damian Leigh is “too gay to function” and, of course, there’s the infamous Lebanese-lesbian “mixup.”

Despite shaping pop culture, queer people are never at the centre of it.

However, recent breakout sensation Heated Rivalry may be changing the story.

The new Crave series is an adaptation of Rachel Reid’s Game Changers book series, focusing primarily on book two, Heated Rivalry. The series follows the secret gay romance between two hockey rivals: Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov. Heated Rivalry is Crave’s most-watched original series ever and averaged nine million viewers per episode in the U.S., where it streamed on HBO Max.

The series has taken the world by storm. While there have been movies and TV shows about queer love, few have focused solely on queer relationships and risen to the top of the charts like Heated Rivalry. 

Few, too, have focused on queer love in sport. While the story focuses on a romance that brews across a decade, it’s set on the ice rink — and hockey is not a particularly pro-2SLGBTQIA+ sport.

Many players are openly queer in women’s hockey, namely the PWHL, but it’s the opposite in men’s hockey. There are no publicly gay men in the NHL.

The NHL has capitalized on the popularity of Heated Rivalry online, on the rink, and even with jerseys. However, celebrating queer people when it benefits you isn’t enough.

The league has a history of anti-LGBTQ+ policies, including its 2023 ban of Pride tape and jerseys on the ice. The ban on Pride tape has since been lifted, but players are still not allowed to wear speciality jerseys during warmups — whether for Pride nights, heritage nights, or more events.

At the time, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said, “We’re keeping the focus on the game.” However, Bettman now credits Heated Rivalry, along with the success of the 2025-26 season, for more interest in the game. Bettman even said he binge-watched the series in one night. 

“This is a gay love story set in the world of hockey, so its very existence is an act of rebellion,” Heated Rivalry director Jacob Tierney said. And it’s true.

The current state of hockey, largely controlled by the NHL, is not a safe space for queer people because these organizations refuse to acknowledge the harm they cause with their homophobic policies.

“Nothing about us without us.” A phrase popularized by the International Disability Caucus rings true for this Canadian queer hockey romance, too.

Queer people are at the centre of Heated Rivalry’s production — and that makes authentic representation.

Tierney is gay, and François Arnaud, who starred as Scott Hunter, is bisexual. Harrison Browne — the first openly trans hockey player — played Connors, Rozanov’s teammate on the Boston Raiders.

There are actors, writers, producers, and creatives who are not publicly out, but that does not water down other queer stories or their own histories. However, to have openly queer people who can stand behind a story about their community is another level of representation. 

While not every aspect of Heated Rivalry is perfect — especially with some critics arguing straight actors get to profit from queer roles — it has sparked conversations about inclusion in sport.

Heated Rivalry inspired hockey player Jesse Kortuem to come out. Kortuem didn’t play in the NHL but did play in many other leagues. Hudson Williams, who plays Hollander, told Andy Cohen many closested professional athletes have reached out to him and Reid.

Representation is not always perfect, but good representation aims to be authentic. Heated Rivalry aims for authenticity, and, because of that, it has become increasingly popular. 

Audiences don’t want half-baked queer love stories. Queer romance deserves to have its shining moment, too.