Pucking Around
Make way, Bodice Ripper. Heated Rivalry skates in the era of the Jersey Ripper.
For several weeks, a single question has permeated American life. You may have heard it from your aunt at Christmas dinner, in a text message from an old friend or chatting with a coworker between meetings. The query: “Have you seen the gay hockey show?”
Heated Rivalry premiered in the United States on Thanksgiving Friday, and became an instant, icy-hot hit. Until then, no one could have picked its dishy stars, Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie, out of a bench-warming lineup at the Chelsea Piers rink. By last week, the two were everywhere: presenting together at the Golden Globes to rapturous applause; Williams opening the Dsquared2 Fall 2026 men’s show in Milan (and crashing the brand’s site); both men eliciting “Beatles at JFK-“level pandemonium whilst taping late-night talk show appearances in New York.
The series is, on paper, an unlikely success story, a low-budget production made by Canadian outlet Crave; HBO entered the picture as an international streaming partner only after the first season had completed production. The show cast (now-former) unknowns. And it’s set within the world of professional ice hockey, considered the fourth “major” team sport in the U.S. (Hockey – a major. Yeah, right.)
Yet as Rivalry’s face-off-then-face-sucking fever sweeps the nation, perhaps the frenzy is less surprising than the aforementioned factors might suggest. The show is based on one of a wildly popular series of romance novels, all with a center-ice bent, Rachel Reid’s Game Changers. Romance is one of the book world’s most commercially successful categories, with a saucy subcategory for every prurient taste. If you’re a history buff who likes your heaving bosoms and throbbing members with a side of corsetry, go with classic Bodice Rippers. Should you prefer your quivering and moaning set in a world of dragons and monsters, shuffle on down to the Romantasy aisle. And hey, maybe you like the quivering and moaning because of the dragons and monsters – you know, you find them appealing. Well, good for you, you little weirdo, there’s a sub-genre just for you (the aptly named Monster Romance).
Now, for readers who have fantasized about the splendors beneath those hockey helmets and smelly pads, there’s Reid’s Game Changers. Only one of its five volumes centers on Shane and Ilya, the Canadian and Russian rivals-to-lovers at the heart of Heated Rivalry, but all feature a steamy romance between two strapping fellows, at least one of whom knows his way around a stick and a net. Readers can’t seem to get enough. What 1974’s Sweet Savage Love, the first entrée in romance queen’s Rosemary Rogers’ seminal Legend of Morgan-Challenger series was to the Bodice Ripper template, Heated Rivalry is to Reid’s own, off-shoot romance sub-genre, call it MLM (that’s “men loving men” for those not hip on their spicy book acronyms) Hockey Romance, or the Jersey Ripper, if you will.
Audiences all ages are swooning over the charms of Rivalry’s hunky duo. And unlike the smut consumers of yore, who surreptitiously wrapped their Jackie Collins tomes in nondescript brown paper covers before daring to break them out on their morning train commutes, fans are wearing their love for this softcore erotica on their sleeves. This may be due partly to the inviting, traditional romantic themes underlying the naughty bits. While it might seem silly to claim that you watch the “hot athletes doin’ it” program for the plot, the plot here is, indeed, endearing. Sure, there’s a lot of sweating and grunting, but there’s also plenty of “awww, how dreamy” swooning and longing. Heated Rivalry plays like a Hallmark-Cinemax After Dark hybrid, the darned sweetest, most wholesome show you will ever watch that features multiple blow jobs.
No wonder, then, that so many Rivalry fans have gone completely feral for its dashing young stars. Key words: completely and feral. On social media, some enthusiasts have taken a distressing turn for the para-social – projecting their love for the characters’ relationship onto the real-life actors in increasingly aggressive fashion. Passion is one thing; obsession is another. Misery’s Annie Wilkes is a great character. She’s not meant to be aspirational.
Most fans, however, maintain a respectfully raunchy enthusiasm for Reid’s characters and the show that’s brought them to life. Their attention will be rewarded in kind; not only has Heated Rivalry been renewed for a second season, but the upcoming sixth Game Changers book, Unrivaled, due out September 29th, will revisit Shane and Ilya’s un-frosty love story. And revelers can proudly share thoughts with friends, colleagues and countless like-minded, sweet-smut appreciators similarly in the market for a little titillation. “Sex sells” is a truism proven time and time again. But the big bucks of this heady combination of horny and homey? Hot stuff indeed.