In November 2025, Crave’s new show, Heated Rivalry, took the hockey scene by storm. The show features two closeted LGBTQ+ Major League Hockey players who embark on a decade-long love affair. Heated Rivalry has permeated into unlikely circles, including some within the ICSD community. Here’s what ICSD staff had to say about the new hit show.
ICSD principals questioned the show’s appropriateness for their respective school audiences, but some admitted that the show was frequently streamed in their households. One principal even confessed that they “can’t fall asleep without rewatching an episode first.”
Health teachers across the district praised the show’s “explicit, yet authentic,” depictions of LGBTQ+ romance. Some teachers have offered exemptions from sex education lessons to students who watched the show, stating that the show’s depictions were “good enough.”
Meanwhile, English teachers are having a field day. “What is the significance of tuna melt,” one spirited English teacher pondered, “in the context of challenging toxic masculinity?” Rumors are spreading that the English department hopes to offer a new Rachel Reid-centered English 12 elective, in which seniors read all six books in the Heated Rivalry series.
Despite this, ICSD officials made their stance on watching Heated Rivalry clear. In a joint statement released just weeks after the show went viral, top ICSD administrators stated that there was to be “no mention of Heated Rivalry on school grounds” and that IT would be blocking all Google searches that included terms like “enemies to lovers,” “blueberry smoothie,” or “WYCTMCTS?” After receiving immediate backlash, administrators tried to ease the tension by setting up a district-wide screening of the palate-cleansing PG film The Mighty Ducks.
Perhaps most disappointingly, the athletics department declined to comment on the show’s merit. After a thorough review, they stated, the show’s content was not “within [their] realm of expertise.”
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