The Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy are coming up in just a few short weeks, and who better to carry the torch than two (fictional) hockey players?
While Heated Rivalry breakout stars Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams won’t be playing hockey on Olympic ice anytime soon (both actors and director Jacob Tierney have been adamant that while their skating got better as time went on, it was still abysmal), they’ll be participating in the Olympics in some fashion. The Olympics have announced that the two will be torchbearers for the Olympic Flame as it makes its way across Italy.
Heated Rivalry was written and directed by Jacob Tierney who also produced it with Brendan Brady, based on Rachel Reid’s Game Changer series. Premiering on the Canadian streaming platform Crave on November 28, the show became one of the platform’s top titles and shot further up in viewership numbers when it became available on the U.S. streaming platform HBO Max. The popularity and critical acclaim the series has garnered has also catapulted Storrie and Williams into unprecedented fame for the actors who, barely a year ago, were waiting tables.
The story follows Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov, two MLH (the fictional version of the NHL) hockey players who have been pitted as rivals even before their rookie season. The two could not have been any more different: Shane is touted as Canada’s golden boy while Ilya is the brash Russian womanizer. However, the two can’t help but be drawn to each other and they soon develop a “relationship” where they meet up when they can to have sex. But the days turn into years and what was supposed to be a casual relationship turns into something that was more than what the two ever expected–or thought they could ever have.
Heated Rivalry is currently available on Crave in Canada and HBO for the U.S. The 2026 Winter Olympics begin on February 6.
Source: Olympics
