Do you love Heated Rivalry so much that you’ve started watching actual hockey for the first time? You’re not alone. Fans have been vocal about their sudden interest in the sport online — and even the NHL has taken notice. As league spokesperson Jon Weinstein recently told Front Office Sports, “There are lots of different ways to get hooked on hockey, and in the NHL’s 108-year history, we have to admit this might just be the most novel and surprising way new fans are finding our sport.”
If Shane and Ilya’s enemies-to-lovers romance inspired your new passion for hockey, it’s only natural to wonder whether a romance like theirs really exists off the ice. Here’s everything to know about the influences that shaped Rachel Reid’s Game Changers series, which the hit TV adaptation is based on.
Is Heated Rivalry Based On A Real Couple?
Reid has addressed whether or not her characters are based on IRL hockey players, writing in her online FAQ: “NO. I never directly base my characters on any real people.”
However, the author is a longtime fan of the sport and said she’s “very familiar with the different general types of hockey players,” which has helped inform her characters. “Flashy, cocky players like Ilya Rozanov; stoic leaders like Scott Hunter; exhausted veteran enforcers like Ryan Price, etc.”
Reid is also inspired by the “extremely entertaining rivalry” between Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals, respectively. “But I was also inspired by other sports rivalries, by other fictional stories, and by my love of the enemies-to-lovers and forbidden romance tropes,” Reid said. She also reiterated: “My characters are original, and I work hard on creating them.”
A Hopeful Look Ahead
In Heated Rivalry, Shane and Ilya are encouraged after watching fellow professional hockey player Scott Hunter come out as gay. In real life, as Outsports notes, this has never happened in the NHL. However, the outlet added that Luke Prokop — who currently plays for the Bakersfield Condors — is the first openly gay player to be under contract with the NHL.
While writing her Game Changers series, Reid “thought a lot about what it would feel like to come out” in the world of professional hockey, she told The New York Times. “And then I started thinking about the ripple effect — what would happen to the other players?”
As seen in the first season of Heated Rivalry, Scott’s decision has a positive impact on Shane and Ilya’s own love story. Reid acknowledged: “The league in Game Changers isn’t my ideal version. But it’s one where players are just starting to create real change.”
