RILEY RAINS / ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR

Sitting on a  couch in the middle of December, USD Associate University Minister Caroline Cacabelos and her mother settled in to watch HBO’s newest episode of “Heated Rivalry.” After some motherly scolding   about the scandalous  sex scenes, the women slowed down and reminisced on the daughter’s own experience coming out as queer. Episode after episode, the LGBTQ+ relationship reminded Cacabelos of her own story. 

Shane Hollander coming out to his mother at their house. Photo courtesy of @heatedrivalrycrave/Instagram

“Whenever I watch any gay couple on TV, I think ‘Thank God you exist, so I feel like I should exist too.’ I just feel so seen.”

-Caroline Cacabelos

This experience is one held by many viewers of the infamous “Heated Rivalry.” TikTok is swarming with edits. Reddit communities are exploding. Fan-fiction websites are stocked with a surplus of content. With Connor Storrie set to host SNL on Feb. 28, pucks, punches and pretty boys are all the talk around campus. The six-episode adaptation of Rachel Reid’s novel has taken social media by storm, not just for its raunchy romance, but for the interruption in the all-too-common heteronormative narrative.

Along with bringing representation for the queer community, “Heated Rivalry” has drawn eyes into the hockey world: a sport born and bred Southern Californians might be unfamiliar with. 

USD sophomore and club hockey   member    Micah Hemenway shared his observations.

“People I know who have never been hockey fans are now consistently keeping up with the NHL because of the show,” Hemenway noticed. “From what I’ve heard, the show adds a fun, fictional aspect to the sport. It sparks fan fictions and social media gossip which keeps people thinking and talking about hockey.”

In 2018, Reid released her novel “Heated Rivalry” — book two of six — which surrounds star athletes Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov. The two hockey players meet in their rookie season and compete against each other throughout the duration of their athletic career.

Hollander is an autistic, reserved Canadian who plays for the Montreal   Voyageurs. Rozanov is a depressed, Russian playboy who competes for the Boston Raiders. Both are closeted. As their athletic rivalry intensifies, so does their sexual tension, and fans are soon enamored in their secretive relationship. In the show adaptation, Director Jacob Tierney reimagined the decade-long romance, casting Connor Storrie as Rozanov and Hudson Williams as Hollander. 

The hockey world has a stereotype for being a heteronormative and masculinized sport, a generalization Tierney took into account when recreating Reid’s novel. Just two years before “Heated Rivalry” was released on HBO, the NHL banned the use of rainbow stick-tape for athlete’s hockey sticks. A month prior, the league ended all themed jerseys after numerous athletes refused to wear Pride overshirts that clothing commissioners called a distraction. 

Heteronormativity expands beyond just hockey. Openly queer USD volleyball alumna Katie Oleksak currently works as the director of volleyball operations at USD. Oleksak shared her experience as an out athlete navigating an unwelcoming community. 

“There is a lack of public LGBTQIA+ representation in volleyball,” Oleksak wrote in a 2022 self-reflection essay. “Fostering an inclusive athletic space, from the locker room to the court, is crucial for athletes to feel comfortable expressing their authentic selves.”

In more recent years, the NHL has implemented more inclusivity than in the past. In 2025, all 32 teams hosted Pride nights to combat the assumption that hockey is an exclusive space — a drastic jump from 2022. Shows like “Heated Rivalry” have only furthered acceptance: after watching the show, athletes such as Jesse Kortuem were inspired to come out.

“To finally have that relief…to bring 110% of myself into the locker room. Something was speaking to me through the show. It was time to put a real face to what this story has done for athletics.”

-Jesse Kortuem 

Jesse Kortuem currently plays for Cutting Edges Hockey Club, a team based in Vancouver, Canada. There are currently no openly queer athletes in the NHL. 

“Heated Rivalry” inspires inclusivity through the backdrop of a heated romance. After 10 years of sexual and emotional build up, the two hockey stars were caught by Hollander’s father. In the season finale, Hollander was forced to come out. With tears streaming down fans’ and Hollander’s faces, he chokes out that “he really did try” to fight against sexuality, to fight against his love. Hollander’s parents accept both him and Rozanov as sons, and the hockey rivals end the season driving off into the sunset. 

USD senior Sasha Milshtein shared her reaction to Hollander’s coming out scene. 

“Watching Shane’s mother respond with love and understanding instead of rejection, felt powerful,” Milshtein said. “It felt like the kind of reaction so many kids always hope for, but don’t always receive. I think a lot of people saw and see themselves in Shane, especially those who grew up trying to balance their identity with cultural expectations.”

“Heated Rivalry” accumulated record-breaking popularity since the season one finale was released in December. According to Warner Bros. Discovery, the series reached 10.6 million viewers, just in the U.S., in less than two months. Producers bragged that the audiences’ engagement launched “Heated Rivalry” into the award of the most-watched scripted title in HBO history. The viewership has shocked and encouraged many viewers, but others are concerned about possible unintended consequences of the queer romance. Openly out, USD student-athlete Carly Ruiz shared her thoughts. 

“Although [Heated Rivalry] has been great in terms of representation, I do think that there has been some fetishization, especially with straight women obsessing over their male relationship,” Ruiz commented. “However I don’t think fetishization can be avoided all together … You have to take the good with the bad.”

A survey in the New York Times shared that around two-thirds of “Heated Rivalry” fans are straight women. The author of the novel is also a straight woman. Milshtein commented on her view of the audience demographics.

“I think any show with heavy sex scenes is going to fall victim to fetishization, especially when it portrays same-gender relationships,” Milshtein said. “People tend to fetishize what they don’t fully understand … It’s meaningful to watch because it’s about connection and vulnerability, not just physicality.  The show was created for a particular audience, and if others choose to misinterpret it — as people often do with art, especially queer art — that’s on them. The impact isn’t going to be washed away by people who focus on the wrong things.” 

Good intentions or bad, fans from all different backgrounds sat down to enjoy the cutting romance — something that has had unintended consequences in the hockey world. 

USD first-year and long-time hockey fan Kaili Murphy shared her observations. 

“It has introduced a brand new group to hockey: women and the LGBTQ+ community. The show shows that there is a place for everyone in the hockey community.”

-Kaili Murphy

“Heated Rivalry” did a lot more than melt fans’ hearts. The same month that HBO premiered the series, the Supreme Court considered overturning  Obergefell v. Hodges — a decision that would have reversed the 2015 legalization of gay marriage. In a world where 65 nations criminalize homosexuality and in a country where 9.3% of adults identify as queer, shows such as “Heated Rivalry” have been impactful, showing representation of queer athletes and bringing   visibility to the LGBTQ+ community. 

Ilya Rosanov kissing Shane Hollander during the 2017 All-Star-Game. Photo courtesy of @jewel/Pinterest