‘A catalyst for change’: MPs bullish on Heated Rivalry’s impact on Canadian hockey culture

The Crave television sensation about two closeted male hockey players has reached viewers across the globe—but MPs say they think the show’s most important effects will be felt close to home. Liberal MP Rob Oliphant says he is tired of seeing only straight couples being intimate in movies and television shows. It’s partly why his interest was piqued when he saw trailers for the new Crave series Heated Rivalry about two young, closeted male hockey players who develop a secret sexual relationship, while their on-ice rivalry plays out in public. “I am old, and I have watched thousands and thousands of straight couples share an intimate moment on screen,” said Oliphant (Don Valley West, Ont.) in an interview with The Hill Times. “I’m also a gay man, and when you see a Canadian production that has mainstreamed gay life, particularly in the world of professional sports, I was interested.” So was, seemingly, the rest of the world. The show, based on the book series by Nova Scotia author Rachel Reid, has become an immediate—and international—mega hit. Since its release on Nov. 28, 2025, the series has racked up hundreds of millions of streaming minutes, becoming a popular watch in countries including the United States and Australia. Heated Rivalry has also permeated mainstream popular culture as Kamloops, B.C.-native Hudson Williams, who plays Montreal Metros captain Shane Hollander, recently appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, and walked a runway show at Fashion Week in Milan. On Jan. 12, Williams was joined by co-star Connor Storrie, who plays Russian forward Ilya Rozanov from the Boston Raiders (Storrie actually hails from Texas), to present a category at this year’s Golden Globe Awards. But, according to Oliphant—who is also the parliamentary secretary to the foreign minister—the show’s most important impact will be felt closer to home. “I was somewhat overwhelmed at the positive portrayals, mainly because I grew up in an era where every gay story was a tragedy,” said Oliphant, who toured the show’s production studio alongside Canadian Identity Minister Marc Miller (Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, Que.) this past week. “Certainly, in the gay community, this has been a big, big moment.” “I told the show’s producers that this show won’t just make money, it might just save a life.” Heated Rivalry is produced by BCE Inc.-owned Crave Media, created and directed by Montreal’s Jacob Tierney, and stars a slew of homegrown talent, leading Oliphant to call the show “quintessentially Canadian.” “And, I think the blending of the hockey world and a gay narrative may be uniquely Canadian,” he said. Meanwhile, Adam van Koeverden (Burlington North–Milton West, Ont.), the secretary of state for sport, said he’s hopeful the show may help Canada’s male hockey culture—which hasn’t always embraced the 2SLGBTQ+ community—become more accepting. “This is an opening of a conversation whereby we can say proudly and confidently that sports are for everyone and that sport is a place that should welcome people,” said van Koeverden, who noted that he binged the series over the holidays. “It’s not that long ago that a passionate kiss between two men would be offensive.” “But this isn’t just a kiss, there’s passionate lovemaking. It’s love and it’s sex, and it’s appropriate for a certain audience. I just like that it’s pushing boundaries and starting conversations.” Line change vs. culture change? In recent years, various professional hockey players have come under scrutiny for refusing to participate in the National Hockey League’s (NHL) Pride-themed initiatives, like wearing rainbow jerseys or using multi-coloured hockey tape. Ultimately, the NHL decided to ban specialty jerseys and other hockey paraphernalia in 2023, including those customarily displayed during Pride Night, though some players defied the orders. The ban has since been reversed for hockey tape, but remains in effect for Pride jerseys. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman recently said the league still supports the LGBTQ+ community, but the ban is about “the fact of bringing things into the game that might not be embraced by the players wearing the jerseys.” “It’s a misrepresentation of what we did to suggest that it was about Pride jerseys,” Bettman told reporters this week in Washington, D.C., as reported by The Hockey News. “It was about the whole issue of what you put on the ice and how, when players don’t embrace the cause, whatever it is, then you create distraction, and it doesn’t fulfill the purpose in terms of embracing Pride Nights.” In his comments, Bettman also addressed the popularity of Heated Rivalry, noting that he binged the entire six-episode season in one night, and found the plot “very compelling” and “a lot of fun.” There has never been an openly gay player in the NHL, though 23-year-old defenceman Luke Prokop came out in 2021. He currently plays for the Bakersfield Condors, the American Hockey League affiliate for the Edmonton Oilers. Earlier this month, during an interview on Sirius XM Radio, Williams told host Andy Cohen that he had received anonymous messages from various closeted professional athletes—including hockey players—since the show became a success. More generally, Canadian hockey culture was thrust into the national spotlight after five professional male players were accused of sexual assault stemming from a situation that occurred when they represented the national junior team in 2018. When charges were laid in 2024, each of the players had recently been under contract with NHL teams. The accusations were followed by reporting that found Hockey Canada had been using minor hockey membership fees to finance a fund used to settle sexual assault lawsuits. Though the five players were eventually acquitted on all charges, the judicial process brought what many believed to be hockey culture’s element of toxic masculinity under the media’s microscope. In 2022, the House Heritage Committee undertook a study into safe sport in Canada, triggered by what then-minister Pascale St-Onge called a “deeply entrenched toxic culture” within hockey’s governing bodies. St-Onge called for leadership changes at Hockey Canada, which resulted in the board chair resigning in October 2022. In 2024, the House Heritage Committee introduced its report on safe sport, which recommended, among other things, that the government provide increased funding for safety in sport initiatives and introduce more transparent standards for how governing bodies in sports can use public money. In a statement, Hockey Canada spokesperson Jeremy Knight wouldn’t comment on Heated Rivalry, but said his organization “continues to work to make our National Winter Sport more welcoming, inclusive, and safe for all participants and fans.” Bloc Québécois MP Sébastien Lemire (Abitibi–Témiscamingue, Que.) said that, while he was yet to watch the series, he felt Heated Rivalry has the potential to be a “catalyst for change” in Canada’s most popular sport. “Masculinity isn’t necessarily toxic; it’s the behaviours that are,” said Lemire, the Bloc’s critic for sport, in a statement translated from French. “And there are toxic behaviours in hockey, that’s undeniable. It’s even worse for LGBTQ+ people because many of the insults hurled on the ice have long been offensive to them.” “The series also opens a door to an important discussion about what masculinity is and how to define it. Because it is possible to be homosexual and masculine.” Lemire referenced the bravery demonstrated by Prokop when he publicly came out, adding that young gay men need more role models in sport and life. “Even today, it remains a difficult step to take, especially because hockey culture and its view of masculinity often belong to another era,” he said. “ this show breaks down stereotypes about gay men. It demonstrates that anyone can be gay.” “ need to see themselves on television. It’s important to shatter myths and stereotypes. I think this series has succeeded in doing that.” For NDP MP Gord Johns (Courtenay–Alberni, B.C.), his party’s sport critic, Heated Rivalry could illustrate to those in the hockey world that conformity doesn’t equal toughness, adding that the sport’s culture has been shaped in harmful ways through “locker-room language, expectations of silence, and unspoken rules about who can be open and who can’t.” “Moments like the public celebration involving a closeted player after a championship win, or the quiet exchange between two star players choosing honesty and freedom over fear, clearly hit home for a lot of people,” wrote Johns in a statement. “Set against the pressures and traditions of elite hockey, these scenes challenge long-standing ideas about masculinity, silence, and acceptance in the sport.” “They capture the relief of being seen and the freedom of letting go of fear—feelings that many people, queer or not, can relate to.” More work needed than ‘just a TV show,’ says expert However, despite the expressed optimism coming from parliamentarians, one expert suggests more substantive change is needed to improve hockey culture in Canada beyond a single television series. “ has potential, but I don’t think it’s going to break down the entire culture when it comes to masculinity in sport, particularly in hockey,” said Rachelle Miele, a sociology professor who specializes in sport at King’s University College in London, Ont. “We need to do a lot more work than just a TV show.” According to Miele, representation in entertainment media must be accompanied with ground-level support from Hockey Canada, policy movement in Ottawa, and buy-in from hockey’s powerbrokers, especially those at the NHL. “What this show does is it shows us that this world can exist,” she told The Hill Times. “It shows us what can happen when players come out.” “And there’s potential for more fans to become more accepting, but, when we’re talking about hockey culture, you can’t ignore the NHL as an organization and how they’re operating. If the NHL isn’t willing to push initiatives like Pride Night, then it’s not going to get any better.” Miele added that culture change in sports, like everywhere else, is most effective when it starts “at the bottom.” “Toxic masculinity doesn’t start in the NHL … that comes from early on,” said Miele. “It’s happening in youth hockey, so, if we’re not tackling it there, it won’t be fixed all of a sudden when athletes get to the NHL.” “So, governing bodies can put pressure on Hockey Canada to ensure there’s training involved, not just for athletes, but also for coaches, so they are aware of how to make an inclusive hockey program.” dlegree@hilltimes.com This story has been cross-published with The Hill Times.

‘A catalyst for change’: MPs bullish on Heated Rivalry’s impact on Canadian hockey culture

Broadcast |
By Davis Legree
|January 19, 2026

The Crave television sensation about two closeted male hockey players has reached viewers across the globe—but MPs say they think the show’s most important effects will be felt close to home.

Unlock all the Canadian telecom, broadcasting and digital media news you need.

FREE TRIAL

SUBSCRIBE

Inside The Wire Report

Information

Hill Times Publishing

Get in Touch With Us

‘A catalyst for change’: MPs bullish on Heated Rivalry’s impact on Canadian hockey culture

Broadcast | By Davis Legree |January 19, 2026

The Crave television sensation about two closeted male hockey players has reached viewers across the globe—but MPs say they think the show’s most important effects will be felt close to home.

Unlock all the Canadian telecom, broadcasting and digital media news you need.

FREE TRIAL

SUBSCRIBE

CRTC lifts moratorium on radio applications

Opposition MPs, media veterans call for ‘long overdue’ CBC mandate review

Rogers remains most-complained-about service provider in CCTS annual report

Related Stories

Feds missing out on economic, geopolitical opportunities by not supporting arts sector, say cultural groups

ISED associate deputy minister to take over in Canadian Heritage department as Carney shuffles public service

Canadian Heritage explores using AI to draft ministerial correspondence

Marc Miller returns to cabinet as new minister of culture and identity

Reuse & Permissions

Inside The Wire Report

Information

Hill Times Publishing

Get in Touch With Us

Broadcast |
By Davis Legree
|January 19, 2026