[Shane and Ilya] are the heartbeat of this series, of my show – showrunner Jacob Tierney.
Canadian phenom Heated Rivalry — starring Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie as two closeted professional hockey players in.a hot romance — starts shooting in Toronto this August under the working title BIRCH.
Adapted from the Game Changer books by Nova Scotia romance novelist Rachel Reid (pen name for Rachelle Goguen), the Crave and HBO Max series follows Canadian Montreal Metros player Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Russian Boston Raiders player Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie) in the fictional MLH (Major League Hockey)..Their rivalry on the ice, and torrid love affair off of it, changes both of their lives.
What happened in season one?
We learned that Montreal Metros player Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams)and Boston Raiders player Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie) have hidden their sexual relationship since their rookie days in the fictional MLH (Major League Hockey).
By the season finale, they have taken some steps out of he closet — inspired by the New York Admirals Captain Scott Hunter (François Arnaud), who comes out as openly gay when he kisses his boyfriend Kip Grady (Robbie G.K.) on the ice after winning the MLH championship.
Ilya agrees to join Shane for a few weeks at his cottage to try to plan a future together. But when Shane’s Dad surprises them in an intimate moment and rushes out, Shane panics. Ilya calms him down and suggests it’s time for Shane to come out to both his parents– which he does with Ilya by his side.
What’s ahead in season 2?:
Season 2 adapts The Long Game (the sequel to Heated Rivalry and the sixth book in the Game Changer series).
Shane is still playing for the Montreal Metros and Ilya is now playing for the Ottawa Centaurs but their relationship remains a secret.
There’s still lots of flirting and lots of sex — but [that] kind of danger, [that] kind of hotel-room-adolescent-sex stuff is largely gone — showrunner Jacob Tierney told a crowd at BookCon in New York in April.
Tierney joked that season 2 will be more like “Sex Scenes in a Marriage”, but the big fight between Shane and Ilya from the book is one of his favourite parts and definitely will be in the show.
As will the story of the “opposites attract” relationship between damaged hockey player Troy Barrett and team social media manager Harris Drover from the fifth book Role Model.
Tierney drew from the first and second novels for season one. The first book Game Changer tells the Scott and Kip story and the second novel Heated Rivalry follows Shane and Ilya from their first meeting at a Canada vs Russia game before they were both drafted into the MLH..
Heated Rivalry – Season 2
Working title: BIRCH
Toronto filming dates: August 10 2026 – December 02 2026
On locations in Montreal and Ottawa?
Writer/Director:: Jacob Tierney.
Cast: Hudson Williams, Connor Storrie, Robbie G.K., Francois Arnaud, Christina Chang, David Walsh, Sophie Nelisse, Callan Potter, Yaroslav Poverlo, Slavic Rogozine, Benjamin Roy.
Soundstages in Toronto..
Producers: Accent Aigu Entertainment, , Bell Media Studios.
Filming locations:
Connor Storrie, Hudson Williams and their stunt doubles at Guleph’s Sleeman Centre, where all the hockey scenes were filmed in season one.
Shane’s cottage in the season finale is played by Barlochan Cottage, a glass box with timber and granite in Muskoka Lakes, Ontario.
