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.
Though they entered the NHL draft a year apart, Crosby and Ovechkin have refined their rivalry over 20 years. In addition to their competitive tension, it’s tough not to notice the parallels between personalities: Hollander, like Crosby, is quiet, diligent, and Canadian, while Rozanov is a boisterous Russian phenom, similar to Ovechkin. Some of the sports elements also overlap. Both Ovechkin and Rozanov were the number one draft picks, and they’re the captains of their American teams.
So, did the players inspire the torrid love story? Kind of.
Reid herself has highlighted the connection. On her website she writes: “One of my inspirations for Heated Rivalry was, obviously, the extremely entertaining rivalry between Crosby and Ovechkin.” However, Reid is clear that the characters themselves are not meant to be stand-ins for the players, despite the similarities. “I never directly base my characters on any real people,” she notes.
The Capitals declined to comment on the show, but a spokesperson pointed to the team’s support of the LGBTQ community and an upcoming Pride Night on January 17. Currently, Heated Rivalry has 68 holds at the DC Public Library. The e-book has 570 holds. My neighbors are certainly sick of hearing “All The Things She Said” on repeat, and I spent the weekend yearning for a ginger ale, tuna melt, and hunky hockey star. (I’ll settle for the tuna melt.)
The show was recently picked up for a second season, so regardless of an Ovechkin connection, it looks like hockey lovers—and lovers in general—will get their happy ending.
Daniella Byck joined Washingtonian in 2022. She was previously with Outside Magazine and lives in Takoma.
