Hot New (Gay) Hockey Series on CRAVE

[+ MikeThomas]

1 hour ago, dutchal said:

Now with 4.2k raters, at 8.6.  62.2% give it a 10.  The rating is dragged down by 7% giving it a 1.  Gay shows often attract homophobes who purposely give it a 1 rating.  Also, the ratings from the U.S. and Canada are 8.9 and 8.8, respectively, so the more negative ratings must be coming heavily from outside North America.

Well clearly The Gays are voting en masse at 10.  At 8.6, this would put the show within reach of The Sopranos (9.2), The Wire (9.3), and Mad Men (8.7), and above Fellow Travelers (8.2).

I'm glad people are enjoying the show.

[TonyDown]

2 hours ago, MikeThomas said:

Well clearly The Gays are voting en masse at 10.  At 8.6, this would put the show within reach of The Sopranos (9.2), The Wire (9.3), and Mad Men (8.7), and above Fellow Travelers (8.2).

I'm glad people are enjoying the show.

My understanding is fans of the book series are wildly happy about Heated Rivalry.  The books must be popular to have spawned the show.

M/M romance books are very popular with young women.  I expect many of them are voting 10. 

 

[d.anders]

58 minutes ago, TonyDown said:

M/M romance books are very popular with young women.  I expect many of them are voting 10. 

From what I've been reading, this seems to be the case. Lots of female fans for this show, especially younger females.

[dutchal]

On 12/5/2025 at 9:36 PM, francisssgorg said:

I just watched the episode 3 as well. I guess the story line focuses more on the conventional type of gay men relationships. Like the casual sex/hook ups for Hollander and Rosanov, now the discreet relationship for Scott and Kip. Haven’t read the novel, nor plan to because I’m not into reading books lol. I hope that thru the next episodes, it wouldn’t be just focused on the “visuals” aka sex scenes, which I know sells the series, but also, on more impactful gay relationship issues. And as I’m saying that, I doubt that it would be the case for this show lol… or any other gay men themed shows. Btw, my bias so far is Kip/Christopher. F*ckng gorgeous btw, I need to know his socials. It’s like, you guys can get Hollander and Rosanov, I’ll be team Kip lol!

Girrrrl I’m like singing the song “Secret Love Song” by Little Mix earlier while watching episode 3, I feel so sad 😭

Episode 3 is based on "Game Changer", the first book and namesake of the six-book Game Changers series, of which "Heated Rivalry" is the second book.

https://www.goodreads.com/series/245053-game-changers

In contracst to the television version of "Heated Rivalry", which has been praised for its faithfulness to the book, the Scott-Kip TV version is less so, probably because they had to truncate it to fit into an episode.  If you want to know more about that story but don't want to read the book and you're a Fandom member, you can see a lot of detail here but SPOILER ALERT:  https://game-changers-series.fandom.com/wiki/Scott_Hunter.        

[+ SirBillybob]

In other breaking news related to hockey it looks like there may be some legit concern that the arena under prep in Milan won’t be satisfactorily ready for the Olympics. Do we want Reid backed into a corner writing steamy construction site scenes over the previous trend of relatively upscale locker room trysts?

Edited December 9 by SirBillybob

[+ Gar1eth]

Well I thought I was going to be the first one to start a new thread about this really nice (going by episode #1) mini-series. But I guess I'm late to the party. The two leads are both incredibly handsome.
 

While Ilya states that he has had M2M sex before-I'm trying to figure out whether Shane has done anything on the sly before or not. If not, I'm wondering did he know he might like men-or was it a totally new feeling when he saw Ilya in the shower. He's obviously showered in locker rooms with other boys/men for years.

  Still I enjoyed the first episode. Never having been an athlete and never having been in shape -athletes are definitely my fantasy type. But that's why hiring was so good for me. As much as possible I hired athletic or muscular guys. And even occasionally -I've managed to have time with some athletic guys on a non payed basis, but it's been awhile.
 

To recap I've only seen episode #1 so far. I enjoyed it except for the last scene where they were kissing on the roof.  It made me uncomfortable-not their kissing-but the 'where' of their kissing. I couldn't help thinking in modern terms. Shane  was  worried 'back then' about being caught out in the relatively open roof. I was thinking how even more  easily they might be caught nowadays with the proliferation of cameras everywhere. 
 

As for the following complaints about the father being ignorant of YouTube--

On 11/28/2025 at 8:27 AM, MikeThomas said:

Watching now.

Made it halfway through Episode 1.  The sex scene was hot and steamy, but overall the first half of E1 was disappointing with clunky dialogue and awful acting by the supporting actors, particularly Shane Hollander's mother and father.  The 50s something father never heard of YouTube?  Definitely a Canadian production.  

 

On 11/29/2025 at 5:03 AM, SirBillybob said:

YouTube user utilization, hence a surrogate marker for social media awareness etc, around the time frame of the scene, about 2010, was about 5% what it is today. So sue the evidently unplugged Mr Hollander. Product branding within that platform was just getting started. The scene was also meant to contrast the Canadian’s mother’s key managerial role playing somewhat against type in her son’s career, the father more a tag-along with values less oriented to undue pressuring his son, while the Russian player’s father a pushy taskmaster.

YouTube came online in 2005 per Wikipedia @MikeThomas  That scene was set in 2008 -possibly early 2009. It's very easy to conceive that a non tech savvy father wouldn't know anything about YouTube.
 

Also look at their phones. They looked like regular flip phones. The first iPhone came out in 2007- so not everyone had them yet. I think 2008 or 2009 was when I got my 1st iPhone -the 3G. I remember buying it-and then shortly after they came out with the 3GS. I wasn't happy about just missing out on the newer model.
 

As I recall it wasn't until  probably around 2011 or so that I did my 1st credit card transaction to buy some tickets to something using an iPhone.
 

Actually it wasn't me using my phone. I was in Seattle  with an escort I had hired for a weekend from Man To Man Escorts. I won't name him as I can't remember his nom de escort alias only his real name. (We are distantly in touch on Facebook. We're FB 'Friends, but he doesn't post much. Plus he's married -to a man. And I don't know if his hubby knows anything about his previous career. So I don't interact with him a lot. It may save him some awkward questions from his hubby about how he knows me)

 

 If memory serves, we were eating lunch or dinner at Il Fornaio. (That was probably my favorite Italian restaurant in Seattle. It's unfortunately been closed for years although I believe there are still Il Fornaios in California. )

We wanted to go somewhere. He asked for my credit card. I was antsy because I had heard about credit card scams and fake sites. But he used his phone and my credit card to buy the tickets. 
 

It's easy to forget that  not so long ago we didn't  have the smartphone technology we have today-2008 was only 17 years ago. But even in that relatively short time period, things have changed dramatically. I almost never go to a personal computer anymore -but use my phone for most things. 

Edited Thursday at 07:40 AM by Gar1eth

[MRK]

On 12/1/2025 at 8:24 PM, hotfunnow said:

Are there any gay movies that show all...  cock and ass??

Yes, they are all over Pornhub. 😉

[samhexum]

"The shower scenes are really funny, because we're wearing these really revealing intimacy garments," Connor Storrie told eTalk. "Nothing can get out of them, but when there's water involved, they fill up like this sort of water balloon. We're trying to be sexy and lather ourselves up while this water balloon is just growing on your body. And in between takes, you have to wring it out."

Added Hudson Williams, "The B-roll can never be seen."

In a separate interview with Entertainment Weekly, Storrie admitted that it's a "really interesting experience" watching Shane and Ilya's love scenes on screen. "When I watch it, I'm like, this is really not that raunchy because it's me," he said. "I remember doing that, but it's hard to remind yourself that anyone else who's seeing this was not there and did not watch this happen."

Read More:

Heated Rivalry: Everything To Know About The Gay Hockey Romance That's Steaming Up Social Media - TVLine

WWW.TVLINE.COM

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Hockey fever is sweeping the globe, and it has nothing to do with the sport itself. Here's everything to know about the steamy Canadian...

 

 

[samhexum]

Heated Rivalry Renewed For Season 2 - TVLine

WWW.TVLINE.COM

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Ice, ice baby! Heated Rivalry will be back for Season 2 — get details.

 

[dutchal]

58 minutes ago, samhexum said:

Heated Rivalry Renewed For Season 2 - TVLine

WWW.TVLINE.COM

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Ice, ice baby! Heated Rivalry will be back for Season 2 — get details.

 

[+ SirBillybob]

Sneaky Ilya not summering in Russia but jogging by Dundurn Castle in Hamilton Ontario. 

[dutchal]

52 minutes ago, SirBillybob said:

Sneaky Ilya not summering in Russia but jogging by Dundurn Castle in Hamilton Ontario. 

And I'm pretty certain that all the New York scenes in Episode 3, except for the aerial shots, were Toronto and not NYC.

[+ SirBillybob]

I like Nélisse in this but little does Rose know she’s crash-landed into a degree of neuroticism that far exceeds that of Yellowjackets. And there she was pregnant and they debated whether to roast her stillborn baby on a spit. 

Edited Friday at 10:43 PM by SirBillybob

[samhexum]

Now I know what it was like for straight guys to watch soft core porn on Cinemax.  That's an observation, not a criticism.

A random big cock:

[TonyDown]

How exciting for them!

L

[+ SirBillybob]

Speaking of the adjacent SNL thread here did Weekend Update just lose its window for a cameo on Heated Rivalry as #1? The dig against conservatism would be fun, also given some national FIFA federations fervently protesting and going out their minds over the prospect of running into Pride events during the upcoming World Cup, when such openness at home occurs under penalty of imprisonment or worse. 

Edited yesterday at 06:02 PM by SirBillybob