For over 150 years, men’s ice hockey has been a sport with longstanding traditions of masculinity.

A 2019 study by Monash University found that 68% of the hockey players who participated had heard teammates or coaches use homophobic slurs in the two weeks of the study, and 60% had used one themselves. But new cultural spotlights on shows like “Heated Rivalry” could serve to challenge these stereotypes.

Originally published as a book in 2019, “Heated Rivalry” was adapted to television in November of 2025. Directed by Jacob Tierney, it arrived on streaming services HBO Max and Crave Canada and instantly became a hit, drawing in 10.6 million views in the U.S. alone.

The show follows the romance of rival hockey players Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov over 10 years. Starting out as teenagers, what began as a fling turned into a whirlwind of complicated feelings, where the two had to learn that they could love each other while also dedicating themselves to the sport that brought them together.

“I feel like in the NHL, in hockey in general, there’s an issue, there’s a push on the players to behave a certain way or act a certain way to make them come off as tough, as unbreakable, but I feel like that’s not realistic,” Aubrey Anderson, an NHL fan, said.

This idea is prevalent in the majority of men’s sports, especially at higher levels, where athletes experience pressure to present themselves as strong, according to Anderson.

“I feel like in any sport, masculinity is presented as keeping that tough aspect the ‘norm,’ I guess people would say,” Patrick Kelly, a stats keeper for the UT men’s club hockey team, said. “You’re an athlete, you’re rough, you’re tough.”

The United Way of the National Capital Area defines gender norms as “societal expectations and rules regarding how men and women should behave, express themselves and interact with others according to their gender.”

“I think with it divided with masculinity and femininity, it shouldn’t be like, ‘this is man, this is woman.’ I don’t think it should be separated with gender roles, it should just be characteristics of people and not just gender,” Sarah Deaton, a hockey player on the women’s club team for UT, said.

Vol League player Domenico Lamberti described a masculine person as someone “who leads the household.” Lamberti, Kelly, Deaton and Anderson described masculine people as strong, tough, or not showing much emotion. Feminine people are often described as the opposite: as more emotional, soft or fragile.

In sports, femininity can often be seen as a weakness.

In April of 2024, after the Tampa Bay Lightning lost in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs to the Florida Panthers, Lightning head coach Jon Cooper thought his goalies weren’t tough enough to be there.

As part of his post-game comment, he said, “we might as well put skirts on them then if that’s how it’s going to be.”

Cooper apologized two days after the game, saying that “It’s paining me more than the actual series loss itself.”

His comment, though spur of the moment, reflects a longstanding sentiment. Opinion writer Ian Kennedy for The Hockey News commented on the event as well, writing “it’s a sexist remark rooted in misogyny that equates femininity to weakness.”

Deaton explains how hockey culture shows sexism in its different rules for women’s teams versus men’s teams.

“Within women’s and men’s hockey, it’s very different, the rules are different. It’s deeply rooted in sexism, like we’re not supposed to fight,” Deaton said. “They get two minutes, we could get five minutes, we could get expulsion from the next game.”

She did note that technically, the men are not supposed to fight either, but the consequences for them if they do are less severe.

“Hockey is like a rough contact sport, so you’re kind of beating people up out there. You’re not really showing your emotions unless it’s anger,” Kelly said.

Kelly also explained how there’s not much wiggle room for any other kinds of emotional expression, especially on the ice.

At least, that has been the case for much of ice hockey’s history through the present day. Recently, there’s been much more talk about the emotions players have behind the scenes or off the ice, a discussion brought to light from the public’s newfound love for “Heated Rivalry.”

“It’s good to see that you can have a balance between being soft, loving, and having a relationship and also being competitive and driven within your sport and your work,” Deaton said.

The show covers a side of hockey players most people wouldn’t know unless they actively followed the sport or individual players. In mainstream media, this is the first time many people have seen hockey players portrayed outside of just an athletic dome.

“I think it takes a very mature person to get over the sexual aspect of the show. It’s a plotline and a very important one as well, but to be able to move past that and start understanding the story it’s trying to play. It’s a show that is not fighting those but showing you what it looks like on the inside, sort of, ’cause realistically there’s probably gay athletes in the NHL. We don’t know,” Kelly said.

It’s not the first queer relationship to be shown on camera, but it’s one of the first in mainstream media that discusses the context of queer relationships in sports specifically.

“I just think that the show, that it’s not perfect, it’s not fully realistic, but it’s so nice to see how people are reacting to it and see high-profile players feel comfortable enough to express their support for the show and people who might take something from the show,” Anderson said.

“Heated Rivalry” has become synonymous with hockey, according to Kelly, who said that the players on the UT club team are asked their opinions on the show once people know they play hockey.

“There’s a lot of allyship as well, and straight players realizing that these people exist in real life, they’re not just a character, and a recognition that these people are all around us,” Deaton said. “They’re not going anywhere.”

This increase in attention toward hockey is making the community change, according to Gary Bettman, the NHL commissioner. He described the show as “fun” to reporters at The Athletic. In addition, he says that the NHL plans to welcome the new influx of LGBTQ+ fans with open arms.

“Heated Rivalry’s” impact can be seen in the increased attention and new fans being brought to the sport. SeatGeek reported that ticket sales rose more than 20% since the show first aired, and brothers Chris and Dan Powers, hosts of Hockey podcast “Empty Netters” who reviewed the show, said that they’ve been flooded with direct messages of people sending them photos of themselves at their first NHL games.

“I hope it shows all generations that it’s OK to be comfortable with your sexuality in athletics,” Kelly said.

Most players wait until after they retire to come out, mostly in the big men’s sports such as football, baseball and basketball. The NHL remains one of the only big American sport leagues to see few out queer players, active or retired.

“I hope the show shows people you can continue to play your sport and also be open and be proud of it, and I’ve seen a couple tabloids about a player coming out,” Kelly said.

The player in question, Jesse Kortuem, took to Instagram for the first time in years to share his story of being gay in hockey. He credited watching “Heated Rivalry” as part of why he felt brave enough to speak up. The post has since been moved to Facebook, but he shared about growing up playing in Minnesota, how he walked away from hockey for fear of not being able to be himself, and returned to the sport years later.

Since then, he’s posted to share how much everyone’s reactions have meant to him, has been on the Drew Barrymore show and has gotten a video response from Hudson Williams, who plays Hollander in the show.

Not only does Kelly hope that “Heated Rivalry” will encourage people to come out, but also that it will help show people without much previous exposure to queer people that it’s not something to be ashamed of or to make fun of.

“Seeing a representation like this on their screen will help some of them realize this is a reality, there’s no need to make fun of it, there’s no need to hide it,” Kelly said.

While “Heated Rivalry” has stirred up new conversations about the intersection between queerness and sports, Anderson believes it isn’t capable of completely bridging the gap between the two.

“I just think the hockey culture itself is too broken for just a TV show to do anything, but in a perfect world, it would inspire someone to be themselves and come out publicly, and that would trickle down to the smaller leagues,” Anderson said.