{"id":106989,"date":"2026-01-14T13:36:56","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T18:36:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=106989"},"modified":"2026-01-14T16:24:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T21:24:07","slug":"opinion-kyle-rich-and-ryan-storr-discuss-how-heated-rivalry-sparks-sport-culture-conversations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2026\/01\/opinion-kyle-rich-and-ryan-storr-discuss-how-heated-rivalry-sparks-sport-culture-conversations\/","title":{"rendered":"Opinion: Kyle Rich and Ryan Storr discuss how Heated Rivalry sparks sport culture conversations"},"content":{"rendered":"

This piece written by Kyle Rich, Associate Professor of Sport Management at Brock University, and Ryan Storr, Research Fellow at the Swinburne University of Technology<\/span><\/em>, originally appeared in The Conversation<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Canadian TV show\u00a0Heated Rivalry\u00a0recently went viral and garnered a worldwide audience far beyond its domestic market. Based on the popular novel by Rachel Reid, the series follows the secret romance between two professional hockey players, Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov, in a fictitious league.<\/p>\n

The queer hockey romance was reported as the\u00a0most watched original series on Crave and one of the top-rated non-animated series on HBO Max.<\/p>\n

The show captivated audiences with steamy sex scenes, but similar to predecessors like\u00a0Schitt\u2019s Creek,\u00a0it\u2019s being touted as a Canadian cultural export and has people talking about the intersection of culture, sports and Canadian identity.<\/p>\n

Queer people in sports<\/strong><\/p>\n

Queer inclusion in sport has become a political flashpoint.\u00a0Heated Rivalry\u00a0offers a timely opportunity to reflect on queer sports in the media, our communities and our national identity. It also illuminates how sports teams may lag behind other parts of society in their thinking about inclusion.<\/p>\n

In recent years, there have been increased efforts to exclude and restrict the participation of 2SLGBTIQA+ people in sport. Governments in\u00a0the United States\u00a0and\u00a0Alberta\u00a0have introduced controversial policies targeting trans athletes specifically.<\/p>\n

At the same time, professional sports leagues in many countries have taken steps, such as the introduction of Pride-themed events, intended to welcome queer people. But many have been criticized for tokenism and lack of authenticity \u2014 a phenomenon dubbed\u00a0\u201crainbow washing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hockey and inclusion initiatives<\/strong><\/p>\n

The NHL, and hockey more broadly, is experiencing a time of change. The league was an early partner in inclusive sport movements like the\u00a0You Can Play Project\u00a0and launched campaigns such as\u00a0Hockey is for Everyone\u00a0in attempts to reach wider audiences and \u201ccelebrate diversity and inclusion in hockey.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, in 2023, the league introduced a controversial policy that was widely interpreted as a\u00a0ban on Pride Tape and likened to a \u201cdon\u2019t say gay\u201d policy in sports. Then, in early 2024,\u00a0NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman showed up at a Pride Event during All-Star Weekend\u00a0in Toronto to make a donation to a local gay hockey league.<\/p>\n

Globally, Canada is often recognized as a leader in relation to sports inclusion. A long history of celebrated queer Canadian athletes \u2014 including\u00a0Mark Tewksbury\u00a0and\u00a0Marnie McBean\u00a0\u2014 as well as hockey players like\u00a0Angela James,\u00a0Brock McGillis\u00a0and Harrison Browne have been outspoken advocates for inclusive sport. Browne, notably, also appears in\u00a0Heated Rivalry\u00a0as one of Rozanov\u2019s teammates.<\/p>\n

This reputation is reflected by Canadian sport governance. The\u00a0government of Canada\u00a0and the\u00a0Canadian Olympic Committee\u00a0have clear positions and resources listed on their websites.<\/p>\n

Sport Integrity Canada\u00a0has commissioned research and taken a clear position on trans inclusion in sport. These initiatives are being implemented within national sport organizations such as\u00a0Skate Canada.<\/p>\n

However, professional sport leagues like the NHL operate outside of the sport governance system. As such, they are free to do their own thing. While they get much of the media attention, this doesn\u2019t mean they are in touch with how Canadians feel about inclusion.<\/p>\n

Are sport organizations out of touch?<\/strong><\/p>\n

In many ways,\u00a0Heated Rivalry\u00a0and the online response to it highlights how some professional sport organizations lag behind societal attitudes toward queer inclusion, and of gay men in particular. Our own\u00a0research on Australian sporting organizations has shown how sporting institutions often trail broader social change.<\/p>\n

While some teams try to\u00a0leverage support for 2SLGBTIQA+ causes or interests\u00a0to gain cultural capital and kudos, they often largely fail to advance genuine inclusion efforts towards queer athletes and staff in their own organizations.<\/p>\n

There have been some important community-level efforts to make sport organizations more inclusive, and some national, provincial and community sport organizations in Canada are progressive in pursuing change.<\/p>\n

However, organizational cultures are\u00a0experienced differently across contexts, meaning inclusion is experienced unevenly and change remains slow.<\/p>\n

While professional teams like the Professional Women\u2019s Hockey League are\u00a0champions of queer inclusion, men\u2019s hockey seems to be lagging behind. In this context, gay hockey leagues provide important sport opportunities and act as advocates in their communities and the sport system.<\/p>\n

For players in these leagues,\u00a0Heated Rivalry\u00a0invokes the fantasy to\u00a0tell a story that we don\u2019t yet have in real life.<\/p>\n

Can \u2018Heated Rivalry\u2019 influence sport culture?<\/strong><\/p>\n

There has been a lot of\u00a0online commentary\u00a0focused on whether\u00a0Heated Rivalry\u00a0can lead to actual culture change in the NHL, ice hockey and sport more broadly.<\/p>\n

The show draws attention to openly queer professional athletes. Athletes often hide who they are or moderate their behaviour in order to conform to dominant norms in sport.<\/p>\n

This remains a persistent issue for many queer people in sport. A\u00a0recent study\u00a0shows that young athletes still choose not to come out to teammates for fear of being treated differently.<\/p>\n

Hudson Williams, who plays Shane Hollander, has even spoken publicly about\u00a0being contacted by closeted athletes\u00a0who saw their own experiences mirrored in the show.<\/p>\n

This is where where queer sport organizations play a critical role. Across the country,\u00a0community-based queer sport groups\u00a0have been working to offer safe and inclusive places to play.<\/p>\n

What comes next?<\/strong><\/p>\n

We know that discrimination remains a key barrier for queer people in sport. In all contexts, addressing homophobia and broader 2SLGBTIQA+ discrimination must be a top priority. Homophobia in men\u2019s sports is also a tool used to police masculinity and cause harm to\u00a0straight men, meaning everyone stands to benefit from safer, more inclusive sporting environments.<\/p>\n

The cultural relevance and global success of\u00a0Heated Rivalry\u00a0provides sports organizations, especially in Canada, an opportunity to step up efforts to make sport more inclusive for queer athletes.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also a call for sports to listen to their fans and audiences. The show is a unique opportunity for queer athletes to imagine inclusion as a reality that could be realized beyond fantasy or utopia in a book.<\/p>\n

The show has been renewed for a second season,\u00a0with international releases now underway. Team Canada has even quipped that the\u00a0fleece jacket\u00a0featured in Episode 2 may be in the running as official team Canada merchandise. As such, this important and timely conversation is likely far from over.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kyle Rich, Associate Professor of Sport Management at Brock University, and Ryan Storr, Research Fellow at the Swinburne University of Technology, recently published a piece in The Conversation about how the Canadian TV show Heated Rivalry is sparking conversations about 2SLGBTIQA+ inclusion in sport. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":106999,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[36,6],"tags":[4753,5207,57,5512],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106989"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106989"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106989\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107016,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106989\/revisions\/107016"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}