#rachel-reid

#rachel-reid

A very real hockey season is underway, but this year, fictional action on and off the ice is garnering fans. Heated Rivalry follows the secret, seasons-long romance between professional hockey players Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov, beginning as rookies. The series, now streaming on Crave and HBO Max, is based on the Game Changers books by Rachel Reid. As a romance lover, I already had the show on my watchlist. But a colleague mentioned something that immediately launched it to the top: The books, this person said, are purportedly inspired by real-life rivals Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins and our very own Capitals star Alexander Ovechkin.

Based on the beloved novels of the same name from author Rachel Reid, Heated Rivalry charts the on-and-off court relationship between a pair of professional Major League Hockey players. On the ice, Montreal Meterors star Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storie) of the Boston Raiders are sworn enemies, but off of it, they're bashing their hockey sticks together in a different way (sorry).