First Look at Heated Rivalry: A Steamy New Hockey Drama Coming to Crave

Lace up your skates and grab your sticks, because there’s a new hockey drama hitting the ice this fall. Heated Rivalry is set to debut on Crave in November—the exact date is still under wraps—but we’re already circling the whole month on our calendars just in case. Based on Rachel Reid’s bestselling cult classic novel of the same name, the series promises to be as electric off the rink as it is on.

Heated Rivalry is a six-part hockey drama that leans all the way into romance, rivalry, and the complicated lives of athletes who fall for each other in the most unexpected ways. Produced, directed, and written by Jacob Tierney, the series follows Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie), two of the brightest stars in Major League Hockey. Bound by ambition, competitive fire, and a magnetic attraction they can’t shake, Shane and Ilya’s story begins as a secret fling between rookies but evolves into something far deeper.

Over the course of eight years, as they fight for glory on the ice, they also wrestle with their own hearts. What starts as a heated rivalry grows into a love story that neither player can deny, even when the world around them isn’t ready. Torn between the game they live for and the love that could redefine them, Shane and Ilya must decide whether there’s room for both. If that doesn’t sound like the makings of the steamiest hockey drama of the year, we don’t know what does.

Alongside Williams and Storrie, the ensemble cast includes François Arnaud, Robbie GK, Sophie Nélisse, Ksenia Daniela Kharlamova, Dylan Walsh, and Christina Chang. The series comes from Jacob Tierney and Brendan Brady of Accent Aigu Entertainment. Speaking to Deadline, Tierney said, “Their connection feels so real, as Rachel allowed for this complicated dynamic that grows over seven years.” Earlier this year, Bell Media officially commissioned the series, with General Manager of Original Programming Carlyn Klebuc calling it “going to be buzzy,” while VP of Content Development & Programming Justin Stockman described it as “a very big swing.”

For now, Sphere Abacus, Bell’s sales arm, will be shopping the hockey drama at MIPCOM Cannes, drumming up early buzz ahead of the premiere. As for us, we’ll be keeping close tabs on every development and reporting back as soon as we know more. In the meantime, it might be time to brush up on our hockey lore and clear our November schedule, because when Heated Rivalry drops, you can bet we’ll be skating into binge territory at full speed.

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Heated Rivalry will be available on Crave in November. Follow us on X and Instagram for all queer stuff!

Featured Image: Image Courtesy of Bell Media. Photo by Sabrina Lantos.