The ice-hockey queer romance drama Heated Rivalry is dominating global TV discourse.
Unless you have been living under a rock, the steamy series follows rival professional ice-hockey players Shane Hollander, played by Hudson Williams, 24, and Ilya Rozanov, played by Connor Storrie, 25, whose fierce on-ice competition conceals a long-running secret relationship.
The Crave/HBO Max drama centers on two elite athletes whose hypercompetitive careers hide a deeply personal bond. Adapted from Rachel Reid's bestselling Game Changers novels, the series explores themes of identity, pressure, and love within the hypermasculine world of professional sports and has quickly gained both viral momentum and critical acclaim since its release.
Canadian Culture Minister Marc Miller is the latest public figure to weigh in on the show's success.
"It seems to have gained immense popularity," Miller told CBC. "It's happening all over the world, in North America and elsewhere.
"It's pretty cool to see. That doesn't happen to every program with Canadian content," he added.
Miller said that the series is "racy," but added that it also highlights important conversations, including the stigma surrounding being gay in the sporting world.
The show's cultural impact has extended beyond the screen. Shane Hollander is canonically from Ottawa, and the city's tourism board has even updated its website to include the phrase: "birthplace of Shane Hollander."
The Canadian series has captivated audiences worldwide since debuting on Crave on November 28. It reached the U.K. on January 10, 2026, when all six episodes became available on Sky and the streaming service NOW. Episode five currently holds a 10/10 rating on IMDb, tying with Breaking Bad's 60th episode, "Ozymandias," for the highest-rated television episode in IMDb history.
Storrie recently appeared on Late Night With Seth Meyers, where he opened up about the biggest challenge of portraying Rozanov -- and, surprisingly, it wasn't learning Russian.
During the interview, Meyers emphasized the importance of seeing a queer male relationship portrayed between two professional athletes, noting how rare that kind of representation still is on television.
"That was the craziest part for me to play. Everyone always talks about the Russian, but the jock-ness of it all [...] like these guys in the NHL, they have been skating since they were, like, 3 years old. So for Hudson and I to show up with like two weeks of skating training," Storrie said.
He then stood up and humorously demonstrated a wobbly, penguinlike walk, reenacting how he and his co-star looked on the ice during filming.
Meyers followed up by asking whether Storrie eventually felt more confident skating.
"I'm gonna be honest with you, I thought I was doing good," he said, before revealing that a costume designer had been filming behind-the-scenes footage.
"I watched it and I was like, 'Oh boy', I was like, 'I don't deserve any accolades for this,'" Storrie added.