The legendary hockey rivalry between Montreal and Boston receives a provocative new interpretation in Crave's upcoming series Heated Rivalry, which premieres this Friday. Based on Halifax author Rachel Reid's bestselling novel, the show shifts focus from on-ice action to intimate bedroom encounters between star players from opposing teams.
A New Take on Sports Rivalry
While the Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins represent one of hockey's most historic rivalries, Heated Rivalry explores this tension through a completely different lens. The series follows secret romantic encounters between a Montreal Metros player and Boston Raiders forward, with teams operating within the fictional "Major League Hockey" league.
Director Jacob Tierney emphasizes that sexuality forms the core language of the relationship development. "This is how these two guys know each other, they know each other by having sex," Tierney explained during a phone interview from Bell Media's headquarters in Toronto.
Explicit Storytelling with Purpose
The first two episodes available to journalists feature steamy, fairly explicit sex scenes between protagonists Shane Hollander (played by Hudson Williams), a Canadian of Asian descent representing Montreal, and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storie), a Russian player for Boston. While avoiding frontal nudity, the scenes leave little to imagination according to early reviews.
Tierney defends the explicit content as essential to the narrative. "The source material is delightfully smutty," he noted. "Part of the reason that I loved the book and wanted to adapt it is that the sex didn't feel gratuitous. This is story. This is how you watch this relationship—because the show takes place over almost eight years—you can see the way the relationship progresses by their intimacy."
Building Buzz and Finding Audience
The series has already generated significant attention beyond Canadian borders. HBO recently acquired distribution rights for the United States and Australia, while The Hollywood Reporter featured the project in a recent article. Social media platforms, particularly TikTok, have seen numerous user-generated videos pairing the series trailer with various pop songs.
Tierney acknowledges the challenging landscape for sexually explicit content featuring same-sex relationships but points to the built-in audience that made Reid's novels successful. "The audience for this book are women and it's women that made this book a hit," he said. "They're the ones that want this story, that want this book. And this is what the fans want."
The director also sees the popularity of queer sports romance literature as potentially reflecting dissatisfaction with progress in professional hockey. "Maybe that is a reaction against a perceived lack of progress in professional hockey," Tierney suggested, noting that no NHL player has ever come out as gay while actively playing.
Personal Passion Project
For Tierney, who began his career as a child actor in Montreal before directing films like The Trotsky and Good Neighbours, followed by successful series Letterkenny and Shoresy, Heated Rivalry represents something deeply personal.
In notes to journalists, Tierney described the series as "my passion project, my baby" and elaborated on its significance for LGBTQ+ representation. "As gay people, we don't get to see stuff like this," he expressed. "We don't get sexy fun happy endings. We don't get to see our characters sail off into the sunset in love. And we don't get to see sex. I think that's part of what's so fun about this—to be able to put out something into the world that feels like queer joy."
The series premiered initially as part of the Image + Nation film festival at Concordia University in Montreal on November 23, 2025, before its Crave debut scheduled for Friday. While Tierney remains uncertain about how traditional hockey fans will receive the series, he confidently predicts: "I think it will appeal to their wives."
