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Summary Rival pro hockey players Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie) struggle to hide their relationship and growing feeling for each other in the drama series adapted from Rachel Reid's "Game Changers" book series. [Also airs in Canada on Crave on 28 Nov 2025]
Created By: Jacob Tierney
Heated Rivalry
Season 1 Premiere: Nov 28, 2025
68
7.4
Where to Watch
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Summary Rival pro hockey players Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie) struggle to hide their relationship and growing feeling for each other in the drama series adapted from Rachel Reid's "Game Changers" book series. [Also airs in Canada on Crave on 28 Nov 2025]
Created By: Jacob Tierney
Where to Watch
Coming Soon
Not available in your country?
ExpressVPN
Get 3 Extra months free
$6.67/mth
All Seasons
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 4 Critic Reviews
68
75% Positive
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
25% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 4 Critic Reviews
68
75% Positive
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
25% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Dec 1, 2025
It’s unclear where this is going — early episodes suggest a doomed affair à la “Fellow Travelers,” or maybe it will become more upbeat like “Heartstopper” — but through its first two episodes, the show definitely lives up to its title.
Dec 1, 2025
Overall, though, Heated Rivalry is definitely recommended for those who love romance stories featuring handsome leads with instant, palpable chemistry.
Dec 1, 2025
Critics have only been sent the season’s first two episodes, which makes it hard to tell how some of my reservations with the storytelling will play out. But so far Heated Rivalry is swoony, raunchy, very Canadian and will satisfying viewers looking for seasonal flirtation (and more) without a trace of Christmas content.
Dec 1, 2025
While the subject matter of Heated Rivalry is somewhat daring, the first episode plays out like something that used to be shown late nights on Cinemax instead of story with well-drawn characters and romantic chemistry between its leads.
User Score
Generally Favorable Based on 17 User Ratings
7.4
71% Positive
12 Ratings
12 Ratings
6% Mixed
1 Rating
1 Rating
24% Negative
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable Based on 17 User Ratings
7.4
71% Positive
12 Ratings
12 Ratings
6% Mixed
1 Rating
1 Rating
24% Negative
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
Nov 29, 2025
This book adaptation came with a loyal fan base who had high expectations and so far the first two episodes have lived up to the hype. It’s not easy to take a novel which stretches out over such a long time span (in this case 8 years) and contains a lot of internal dialogue into the screen in a meaningful way but the writing, direction and actors do not disappoint. It is a love story told in reverse starting with a purely physical attraction and maybe turning into something much more as the season progresses, but maybe it’s been there all along? Connor Storrie does an excellent turn playing Ilya Rozanov and Russian aside this is the easier (much more fun) character to play. Ilya classic case of a man who hides his low self esteem behind a seemingly massive ego. His family are so unsupportive and extractive that he has had to become his own cheerleader from an early age. He can be cocky, brash and hide behind indifference when a few too many feelings are involved. Ilya almost definitely doesn’t see himself as a person who can be loved at least not at first. Hudson Williams has a much tougher character to play in Shane Hudson who is the complete opposite of his lover/rival. He is hyper focused on hockey, likes structure, discipline and on the outside seems maybe a little boring (but maybe he is just masking). His internal monologue however is both incredibly anxious and very funny. He too has overbearing parents who also have high expectations particularly his mum, his dad on the other hand can see that his son is maybe not entirely like the other kids. Hudson does an outstanding job of conveying all the internal feelings, through facial expressions, a half smile here, a clenched jaw there and he is definitely NOT going to cry. I liked that the supporting characters had more airtime and felt more rounded than in the book. If the show had been over 8 or even 10 episodes the team mates especially could have been more well rounded. Lastly a bit on pacing, there is a lot of time to cover and the first two episodes leap at lightening speed from 2008 to 2014. If they stay true to the book they will slow down as the love begins to unfold and Shane and Ilya’a layers start to slip.
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