We’ve all heard about it, and whether it is the book or the show version of Heated Rivalry, many of us found out we don’t know how to pronounce “rivalry.” If you don’t know the show or book, you might think it’s just about guys who play hockey being enemies, based on the title or cover, but it is much more than that. Now from the recent buzz, you might think it’s just a freaky show. You wouldn’t be wrong about the freaky part (it’s definitely not made for kids), but I personally think there’s a larger meaning. It’s not really about hockey of course, and if you haven’t already watched it, you can for sure watch it without knowing anything about hockey.
In a short summary, the story consists of two “rivals” who are hockey players, Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov (the current two best players in their hockey league). They automatically became rivals from the beginning of their careers after their draft. It takes place in various places the hockey players travel to spanning from 2008 to 2018. Shane and Ilya start off by being tense rivals, but slowly develop a different kind of tense relationship throughout many years, a romantic one. They hide their relationship from the start because of society and how it was built, also due to the fact that they both are not out of the closet, again because of society. Throughout the story there is another couple Scott and Kip. They also have to hide their relationship and Scott really doesn’t want to come out in case he “ruins” his reputation. But in the end Scott does come out to everyone with most people accepting him. This inspired Shane and Ilya to accept themselves and finally confess their love to each other.
When people hear Heated Rivalry, there shouldn’t be any judgement or hate, because although it is pretty explicit, it has inspired many of those who are still in the closet. Playing a sport shouldn’t determine who you love, and there shouldn’t be any hate for who you love. Heated Rivalry has been an inspiration to those people who play a sport and aren’t able to be who they truly are. Most reasons for not being able to represent themselves is because of society, all roads lead to society. Society makes stereotypes for many sports like “they can’t be this” or “they can’t be that,” just because of what they think. Heated Rivalry breaks that stereotype. Just because they’re hockey players doesn’t mean they can’t like their own gender.
Overall, I think the show was very good, as a sports and romance fan. To those who haven’t seen the show or read the book, I recommend it, if you can handle intense chemistry. Again, you don’t have to know anything about hockey, you can still enjoy the show. I really hope that everyone can get past the explicit portion of the show and or book and focus on the impact this made on communities in sports which were previously under-represented.
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