Heated Rivalry: Finally, a sports drama that gets obsession right

Heated Rivalry dropped on Crave on November 28, 2025, and you can stream it on HBO Max in the US. It’s a six-episode limited series about two pro hockey players, Shane Hollander from Canada and Russia’s Ilya Rozanov.

On the ice, they look like bitter enemies. Off the ice, though, it’s a different story. They are tangled up in a secret romance that has lasted for years, and neither of them can walk away from it, no matter how much sense it would make.

It all kicks off with a random run-in when they are both rookies, and from there, everything gets more complicated. You get eight years of hidden glances, cryptic texts, and moments stolen in locker rooms and hotel hallways. The stakes just keep climbing, and you start to see how much this thing between them could blow up everything they have fought for.

I didn’t expect much at first from Heated Rivalry. I figured this would be just another sports drama talking about the mental strain of high-level competition. I have seen plenty of those. But by the end of the first episode, I got it. This show isn’t just about hockey. It’s about obsession. The game is the way you start to understand the relationship at the center.

The obsession is the point in Heated Rivalry

You know why people are obsessed with this show? It’s because it doesn’t toss together a half-baked sports plot and a little romance on the side. They are totally tangled up. All the unrequited love, secrets, and wild obsession are mashed together right at the center. Heated Rivalry isn’t pretending that athletic obsession and romantic obsession are separate; they are just two sides of the same coin.

Shane and Ilya aren’t ‘enemies to lovers’ with cute bickering. Their existence is about winning, crushing the competition, never letting anyone see even a flicker of weakness. So, naturally, their relationship turns into a game-within-a-game in Heated Rivalry. The power struggle between them is not something the show tries to smooth over. If anything, they lean into it, almost like they are daring the audience to look away. And every single time those two are in a scene together, it’s like someone lit a match in a fireworks factory. The kind of tension that melts your brain.

I have seen sports dramas try to do “obsession” before, but most of the time it’s just sweaty montages and people grunting about “sacrifice.” They always tell you the characters are obsessed, but you never really feel it. In Heated Rivalry, you feel it in your bones. Instead of just talking about it, they elevate the s*xual tension and rivalry until it’s almost unbearable.

You get these little moments: Shane frantically checking his phone for a text from “Jane” (That’s Ilya), or Ilya chain-smoking in a depressing hotel room, all jittery and sleepless because he can’t stop thinking about this person he is barely allowed to see. And on the ice, every check, every sprint, every dirty look is just them trying to get close, because even fighting is better than being apart. That’s how you do obsession.

Additionally, I have to hand it to Heated Rivalry for actually doing something gutsy with its s*x scenes. So many shows toss in steamy moments for the shock factor, or for the gifs on social media, but Jacob Tierney makes it matter. He has revealed in interviews that s*x is character development on this show, not just filler, and as a viewer, you feel that. The two leads figure themselves out as much in bed as on the ice.

This is the secret ingredient. Heated Rivalry explores homophobia and racism in pro sports, something that actually forces Shane and Ilya to hide who they are. They are only real with each other when the lights are off, doors shut, and no one is watching. The bedroom isn’t just where they hook up; it’s the only place they are not selling a shiny, fake version of themselves. The s*x isn’t thrown in to spice things up; it’s the nervous system of the show.

You can stack this up against most sports dramas. Usually, romance is a side quest. Love interest pops up, causes a little drama with training, or maybe cries in the stands. But here, the obsession with hockey and the obsession with each other are impossible to separate.

The way Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie spark off each other is magical. There are scenes where nobody is saying a word, but somehow the air feels electric. That’s them. They pull off the looks and awkward silences that hit harder than half the script. Heated Rivalry rides on their shoulders. If they weren’t nailing it, the show would probably collapse.

Their characters are the masters of deception. They are always lying, not just to the press or their families, but to themselves most of all. But the trick is that we, viewers, can see right through it. You catch the truth in a sideways glance or the way their posture changes when the cameras aren’t rolling. There’s a bit where they have to trash-talk one another for the media, and you can see the tension in their bodies. But then, the second they are alone, it’s like you can finally exhale with them.

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Moreover, the slow-burn rivals-to-something-more is not rushed or cheesy. It’s all restraint, all confidence. The creators let the pauses and unresolved moments do just as much heavy lifting as the actual dialogue. Sometimes, saying nothing tells you way more.

What really gets me is that Heated Rivalry doesn’t wag its finger at these guys for being obsessed. There’s no need to find balance. Instead, it asks: what do you do when your life has been about one thing forever, and suddenly something crashes in with just as much force? Are you supposed to choose? Can you even? Who says you have to?

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