Hot New (Gay) Hockey Series on CRAVE

[d.anders]

9 hours ago, Rod Hagen said:

Francois Arnaud

The guy makes me melt.

[Rod Hagen]

Thought you might enjoy Hudson’s workout 🙂

 

 

 

[+ Gar1eth]

16 hours ago, samhexum said:

Francois Arnaud

 

8 hours ago, d.anders said:

The guy makes me melt.

All 4 of them make me. Not to mention Hayden and Marley are pretty darn fine too. 
 

For all of us athletes, I'm posting Hudson William's Workout Routine. The guy is 'jacked' if you hadn't noticed. 
 

 

Edited Thursday at 09:16 AM by Gar1eth

[samhexum]

41 minutes ago, Gar1eth said:

I'm posting Hudson William's Workout Routine. 

Oh dearest me !  I'm afraid you're suffering from such an attack of the vapors that you didn't even notice you posted the same thing as the person before you.

[Rod Hagen]

No kissing until episode 5!!

 

[d.anders]

5 hours ago, Rod Hagen said:

No kissing until episode 5!!

Jacob Tierney was so smart to go with Crave. America production doesn't have the balls to do justice to Rachel Reid's work.

Friends in show business tell me that new execs at HBO have turned anti-gay. It seems like a miracle that HBO had the nerve to buy in. I hope this success is promising for the future.

[+ Gar1eth]

9 hours ago, samhexum said:

Oh dearest me !  I'm afraid you're suffering from such an attack of the vapors that you didn't even notice you posted the same thing as the person before you.

 

It was obviously for emphasis. 

[riowanderer]

On 1/14/2026 at 1:37 PM, Gar1eth said:

 

I've been to several old Old Spaghetti Factories or the very close to being an exact copy Spaghetti Warehouses over the years although the Warehouses in Dallas closed several years ago. I'm not saying they are the top Italian places in America. But really it's difficult to mess up spaghetti and meatballs. They're economical and give you a lot of food for the price.

 

Then they should be. 

What were the blank lines @Rod Hagen. . 

FACT: Hudson worked at the original Old Spaghetti Factory location in downtown Vancouver, not Toronto

[riowanderer]

On 1/13/2026 at 7:03 PM, Luv2play said:

Thinking about this story (and I haven’t seen the series) which I have mostly read about here, I think this is one of the great Cinderella tales reminiscent of old Hollywood. 
Interviews with both actors reveal each was waiting tables 2 years ago, during a period when their acting careers were not going anywhere promising.

Then this opportUnity came around with an audition for a series by a Canadian company (Crave) to play characters in a gay film story. Hardly promising stuff for world stardom but as we know the rest is history. 
 

For their sakes let’s hope the Cinderella dream continues. I guess the second season will determine whether it’s a flash in the pan or something more enduring. 

Study the "Heartstopper" model over 3 seasons...without this similarly low-budget, newbie teen stars Brit-produced global cash cow mega-hit, the entire new "Pure Queer Joy" genre wave which "Heated Rivalry" is now riding would never have been possible!:) 

Edited Friday at 12:05 AM by riowanderer

[riowanderer]

On 1/12/2026 at 10:03 PM, Callas said:

The hair looks bad IMO. 

Likely an unpopular opinion, but I find Connor Storrie much more sexually HOT when in character as "IIya's" more bulked-up muscular body, Russian accent, sexier hairstyle, and bad boy persona!:)

[riowanderer]

LOVED "The Cottage", except for one small quibble with "Yuna's" specific line of dialogue when she criticizes IIya's lack of "loyalty" to Boston for choosing to be closer to her beloved son in Ottawa, playing for an inferior non-playoff team! YES, I could understand this knee-jerk question BEFORE her heart-to-heart outside with Shane when she's still trying to process everything. BUT not right after declaring her unconditional love and support for Shane and even asking for his forgiveness!:) AND as a major NHL fan for the past 40+ years, ANY die-hard hockey mom like Yuna would know very well that MANY #1 & #2 draft picks have left their teams in free agency for several valid and understandable financial, personal and competitive Cup-team reasons, while many of those teams which originally drafted them were similarly "disloyal" in moving on from their top-drafted players in free-agency for many of the same key reasons! So both the timing of her line and the truthful NHL free-agency reality of her "loyalty" comment doesn't ring true, especially for anyone who understands the bottom-line BUSINESS REALITY for both pro hockey players and their teams!:) She loves her son deeply and is now well-aware that Shane and IIya love each other, so her line should more appropriately have been been delivered > "And you're actually willing to make that sacrifice signing with Ottawa to be with Shane > your loyalty to our son is impressive"

Edited Friday at 01:09 PM by riowanderer

[Luv2play]

2 hours ago, riowanderer said:

FACT: Hudson worked at the original Old Spaghetti Factory location in downtown Vancouver, not Toronto

Well I looked it up and I take it from you he worked in Vancouver, not Toronto. I was living in Toronto in 1971 when the restaurant opened downtown and I might have gone once but it wasn’t a memorable meal. 
I either forgot or never knew that the Vancouver location had opened the year prior. But the original restaurant by that name was in Portland, not Vancouver, from what I have just now read. 

[riowanderer]

17 minutes ago, Luv2play said:

Well I looked it up and I take it from you he worked in Vancouver, not Toronto. I was living in Toronto in 1971 when the restaurant opened downtown and I might have gone once but it wasn’t a memorable meal. 
I either forgot or never knew that the Vancouver location had opened the year prior. But the original restaurant by that name was in Portland, not Vancouver, from what I have just now read. 

LOL > Hudson was born and grew up in Kamloops BC > But don't take it from me...here's what "The Hollywood Reporter" published widely: "Before taking on Heated Rivalry, Hudson was working as a waiter at The Old Spaghetti Factory in New Westminster, British Columbia"

[riowanderer]

1 hour ago, riowanderer said:

LOL > Hudson was born and grew up in Kamloops BC > But don't take it from me...here's what "The Hollywood Reporter" published widely: "Before taking on Heated Rivalry, Hudson was working as a waiter at The Old Spaghetti Factory in New Westminster, British Columbia"

Toronto dude here > they filmed the Tampa pool scene in downtown Toronto last May at a boutique hotel near the waterfront across from my office!:) The Vegas balcony + Tampa sunset scenes were both filmed at a studio in Etobicoke (Toronto suburb) using CGI and AI effects. IIya's telephone chat from Russia was filmed on a warm night last May in Hamilton, just outside Toronto with a fake snowblower used to generate snow flurries on the right side of that popular tunnel hang-out for teens!:) The cottage scenes were filmed in mid-June up north of our city on Lake Muskoka where wealthy folks and lots of Hollywood celebrities own even bigger, more elaborately designed cottage mansions!:) S2 filming up in Muskoka is very likely to begin again sometime in July / August...

Edited Friday at 04:02 AM by riowanderer

[+ Gar1eth]

For your reading pleasure, I present Ms. Rachel Reid's "My Dinner With Hayden."

 

My Dinner with Hayden: A Heated Rivalry Short Story — Rachel Reid Writes Romance

WWW.RACHELREIDWRITES.COM

 

[samhexum]

24 minutes ago, riowanderer said:

 IIya's telephone chat from Russia was filmed on a warm night last May in Hamilton, just outside Toronto with a fake snowblower used to generate snow flurries on the right side of that popular tunnel hang-out for teens!:) 

Yes, it was hilariously obvious that Ilya's breath never showed on that frigid night in Moscow or for either of them when they first met as Ilya was struggling to light his cigarette in that fierce winter wind.

[samhexum]

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman binged it in one night.

[TonyDown]

1 hour ago, riowanderer said:

Toronto dude here > they filmed the Tampa pool scene in downtown Toronto last May at a boutique hotel near the waterfront across from my office!:) The Vegas balcony + Tampa sunset scenes were both filmed at a studio in Etobicoke (Toronto suburb) using CGI and AI effects. IIya's telephone chat from Russia was filmed on a warm night last May in Hamilton, just outside Toronto with a fake snowblower used to generate snow flurries on the right side of that popular tunnel hang-out for teens!:) The cottage scenes were filmed in mid-June up north of our city on Lake Muskoka where wealthy folks and lots of Hollywood celebrities own even bigger, more elaborately designed cottage mansions!:) S2 filming up in Muskoka is very likely to begin again sometime in July / August...

Love that tunnel scene filmed in Hamilton.  So well shot!

I saw that tunnel on a YouTube vlog.  During the daytime one might never guess it would make such a perfect scene.

[d.anders]

This from publicist Waylon Tate:

 

[+ SirBillybob]

16 hours ago, riowanderer said:

FACT: Hudson worked at the original Old Spaghetti Factory location in downtown Vancouver, not Toronto

I ate once or twice there … TO … while at uni mid-70s. There was also a place with roast beef, mashed taters and peas (exclusively?) in the area … name? … and an all you can eat buffet venue walkable where male students would drink water all day to expand their stomachs and pig out. Wasn’t my thing. Needed girlish figure for Library Baths. LOL. My birth year ‘51. 
—

Honest Ed’s?! re: prime rib above?

Edited Friday at 04:16 PM by SirBillybob

[+ SirBillybob]

15 hours ago, riowanderer said:

LOVED "The Cottage", except for one small quibble with "Yuna's" specific line of dialogue when she criticizes IIya's lack of "loyalty" to Boston for choosing to be closer to her beloved son in Ottawa, playing for an inferior non-playoff team! YES, I could understand this knee-jerk question BEFORE her heart-to-heart outside with Shane when she's still trying to process everything. BUT not right after declaring her unconditional love and support for Shane and even asking for his forgiveness!:) AND as a major NHL fan for the past 40+ years, ANY die-hard hockey mom like Yuna would know very well that MANY #1 & #2 draft picks have left their teams in free agency for several valid and understandable financial, personal and competitive Cup-team reasons, while many of those teams which originally drafted them were similarly "disloyal" in moving on from their top-drafted players in free-agency for many of the same key reasons! So both the timing of her line and the truthful NHL free-agency reality of her "loyalty" comment doesn't ring true, especially for anyone who understands the bottom-line BUSINESS REALITY for both pro hockey players and their teams!:) She loves her son deeply and is now well-aware that Shane and IIya love each other, so her line should more appropriately have been been delivered > "And you're actually willing to make that sacrifice signing with Ottawa to be with Shane > your loyalty to our son is impressive"

Good point on the temporal sequence even though the outdoor catharctic 1:1 is not in the novel. May have been a consideration of recognition of on the fly on demand  processing and typical ongoing residual ambivalence in coming out parental dynamics. Or budget restraints where set continuity trumped narrative order placement. Or save a tree environmental preservation wrt Kleenex supplies. 

Edited Friday at 04:06 PM by SirBillybob

[samhexum]

The fact is, as wonderful as the series is, there are several minor gaffes in the writing.  

The first time they get together, Shane tells Ilya he's never been with another man so why is it the second time they get together and he wants to fuck him Ilya asks have you ever done this before?

We've already covered the initial make out session at the cottage when Shane says he hasn't been with anyone since the last time they got together, which really doesn't make sense if you don't include the fact that he slept with at least one other man at some point in the books. 

And I know there is much more detail about Ilya's family in the books, but how does his brother know that he is gay and if the answer is that it is from some kind of secretive police spying on the affair he had with his coach's son wouldn't Ilya have wound up even more secretive and guarded than he is?

I'm sure there are a few other nits to pick but those are the ones rattling around in the old noggin right now.

Edited Friday at 05:44 PM by samhexum
but if he told you why he'd have to kill you

[riowanderer]

15 hours ago, TonyDown said:

Love that tunnel scene filmed in Hamilton.  So well shot!

I saw that tunnel on a YouTube vlog.  During the daytime one might never guess it would make such a perfect scene.

They also had to computer erase some of the English graffiti on the "Russian" tunnel walls!:) 

 

Edited Friday at 09:41 PM by riowanderer

[+ Gar1eth]

5 hours ago, SirBillybob said:

male students would drink water all day to expand their stomachs and pig out.

If I had been drinking water like that, I'd be too full to pig out. 
 

My Mom is 91. She might like the story. But I doubt she'd like seeing the sex scenes. But I was wondering -have any of your straight parents or siblings watched this?

[riowanderer]

On 1/14/2026 at 12:38 AM, d.anders said:

I don't think that's true.

I think with Seth Myers, Connor said he quit his diner job the day before he started filming the series, which was April 2025. He said his boss had recently given him a last warning. Connor was about to get fired before he quit. He also said he thought he would have to go back to waiting tables after the series stopped filming, because no one knew what was about to happen. Nothing quite like a hit, word-of-mouth show to change your life overnight.

I love this feel-good narrative, but it isn't entirely true!:) The "Game-Changer" book series, much like similar global smash-hit "Heartstopper", already had a large rabid fan base. Multiple other larger streamers expressed interest in bankrolling this series because they knew it had definite commercial appeal. However, their higher budgets came with far too many creative demands and compromises for producer Jacob Tierney who wisely traded off on Crave Canada's lower budget for major creative control. True, the newbie stars and cast worked in their own little bubble over the short 37 day production shoot and were hardly thinking this would become the global smash-hit it deservedly has. But it would be a stretch to say that Crave Canada + Jacob Tierney never thought this wouldn't find at least some degree of success based on the built-in audience for the popular book series, much like the previous "Pure Queer Joy" genre massive success of low-budget / newbie actor "Heartstopper"!:)

Edited Friday at 09:58 PM by riowanderer