‘Heated Rivalry’ Drives a 367% Increase in Interest in Hockey Lessons
Heated Rivalry, a Canadian television show about closeted hockey players, became the biggest cultural moment of the winter after premiering in November 2025. Stars Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie have experienced a meteoric rise to fame, and sales for the source material novel soared. The show also appears to have inspired an increased interest in hockey. In the months since Heated Rivalry premiered, searches for hockey lessons have jumped significantly.
‘Heated Rivalry’ sparked an increase in searches for hockey
Hearted Rivalry is a show about professional hockey players, and it seems to be inspiring fans to get out on the ice themselves. Analysis by experts at HelloMillions shows that searches for “ice hockey lessons” jumped by 367% in the past two months. They noted that this shows the power of “media-driven participation.”
“Competitive rivalries, viral moments, and high-profile matchups are driving this trend,” HelloMillions tells us. “People watch, enjoy the drama, and suddenly want to try it themselves. Ice hockey lessons are now among the fastest-growing fitness offerings in early 2026.”
They noted that this was the “perfect example of how entertainment and fitness intersect in 2026.”
Interest in professional hockey has also ticked up since the show’s premiere. More fans began shopping for tickets to NHL games, with many of these people being first-time buyers.
“Heated Rivalry has certainly piqued interest in hockey and the NHL,” said Chris Leyden, SeatGeek’s Director of Category Marketing + Endorser Marketing. “We are seeing it both in terms of more people on SeatGeek shopping for NHL tickets, as well as a pretty notable increase in single ticket buyers as more people check out a game, often for the first time ever.”
A TV executive spoke about how the show became a sensation
The explosive success of Heated Rivalry came as a surprise to nearly everyone involved. Television executive Justin Stockman with Bell Media, which produced the show for its Crave streaming service, believes the show’s many sex scenes helped drive interest. The first sex scene between the leads takes place less than 20 minutes into the first episode.
“A lot of shows wouldn’t have done that,” Stockman told Deadline, noting, “this is a spicy show. People are gonna talk about it because there’s sex.”
Stockman also said he thinks the show succeeded because executives didn’t try to water down creator Jacob Tierney’s vision.
“‘Let’s introduce a lot of straight characters and we’ll round this out.’ No, like, just let it be what it’s gonna be,” he said. “And if you really let it be the best version of that thing as supposed to be, then people will find their entry point because it’ll be more relatable because it feels more real.”
The stars of ‘Heated Rivalry’ had to train in hockey for the show
While their characters are professional hockey players, Williams and Storrie didn’t have much experience with the sport before filming. Storrie said they learned to skate for the show.
“These guys in the NHL, they have been skating since they were like three years old,” Storrie said on Late Night With Seth Meyers. “So for Hudson and I to show up with like two weeks of skating training and being like… just kind of waddling, like this, like it’s ridiculous.”
Even with the training, he’s not sure about his performance on the ice.
“I’m gonna be honest with you, I thought I was doing good, and then recently one of our costume designers, Hannah, posted this like BTS thing of me skating and I watched it, and I was like ‘oh boy.’ I was like, ‘I don’t deserve any accolades for this.’”
All episodes of Heated Rivalry are streaming on HBO Max.
