On March 25, 2019, Rachel Reid published her second book in her “Game Changer” series. Little did she know that her book would become a hit television show. “Heated Rivalry” took the world by storm in early November of 2025. After a lot of talks with different production companies the show’s creator, Jacob Tierney, had the show picked up by the Canadian production company Crave. It was backed by Sphere Abacus, a very successful production company.
The book and show follow a secret relationship between two male hockey players, Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov, who play on rival teams. The show features adult content however; both Reid and Tierney defend the content saying it’s necessary to the characters’ development.
On January 15, 2026, on his Facebook page, former hockey player Jesse Kortuem shared publicly that he was gay. Jesse has never played in the National Hockey League, but he said in his post, that growing up in Minnesota playing hockey and realizing he was gay in the early 2000s, caused him to walk away from the sport.
He goes on to share a very inspiring story of how one hockey tournament, SinCityClassic, changed everything for him. He met other players who were just like him. In his post, Jesse credits “Heated Rivalry” directly with helping him feel ready to come out.
When Jesse’s story took media outlets by storm, another two other players who came out in 2021 and 2016 came forward. Luke Prokop came out as gay in 2021 right before he got drafted to the NHL for the Nashville Predators. Harrison Brown used to play for the National Women’s Hockey League and came out as a transgender man in 2016. Before retiring, Harrison would win his team the Isobel Cup, making him the first transgender athlete to do so.
Harrison retired so he could begin his hormone therapy replacement journey and can be spotted in episode four of Heated Rivalry. Both men have been very supportive of the show and Korteum’s coming out. Harrison is very outspoken about the biases he himself had whilst playing hockey.
“We know for a fact there are people, men, in the top four professional sports that are probably in the closet,”Associate Communications Professor Sean Ahern said. “We know this because we see stories afterwards.”
In 2013, the NHL became partners with the “You Can Play Project.” According to their website, the organization was founded in memory of Brendan Burke, one of the first openly gay men in the hockey scene, whose life was ended tragically by car accident. Patrick Burke, Brendan’s brother founded the project to try and start the conversation of inclusion in spaces that were male dominated. The project does pride events in the month of June, education programs, inclusion resources and policy consultation.
The project has been widely accepted within NHL culture. However, there have been some setbacks.
In October of 2023, the news of a “pride tape ban” broke. According to NPR, the founders of the multicolored tape created the roll in 2015. Typically, tape is used on hockey sticks to help them last and help with puck control. Pride tape, or rainbow-colored tape, was used to support LGBTQIA+ communities.“These kids don’t have many professionals to look up to — and for young hockey players, there are no ‘out’ role models at all. So how can the hockey world show their support with pride? With a simple role of tape,” the creators of the tape told NPR.
Many players, fans and the “You Can Play Project” were disappointed with this ban, especially since it came after the announcement that players would no longer be allowed to wear decorative jerseys during warmups for “theme nights.” These jerseys did not just include jerseys that supported the LGBTQIA+ community. A memo was sent out to clarify that players were not allowed to alter their jerseys for any specialty theme and could do what their team allowed with their tape.
“There’s things the NHL says which was, if you can play, you can play, but it’s become pretty obvious the ecosystem these players grew up in is still very toxic, it’s very masculine, very traditional, it’s very conservative, because it takes a lot of money to play hockey,” Ahern said. “I think that it’s good to see but I think it’s also important to see that it’s fiction, it’s not a nonfiction story yet.”
Gay men have faced a lot of unfair stereotypes within media throughout the years. Within the media, gay couples will typically follow a stereotype. One man within the relationship is presented as flamboyant and dramatic. The other man will typically follow the behaviors of a stereotypical straight man.
“The portrayals of the LGBTQ community and especially gay men, tend to show femineity which creates not exactly accurate image of the actual community,” Associate Professor of Sociology Jeff Shelton said. “Understanding that all human beings have multiple facets. This problem leans towards not just athletes but just humans in general.”
This piece of media goes beyond the one-dimensional view of what an athlete is or what a gay person is. It shows that you can be a gay person and still enjoy a masculine sport. Hopefully it continues to show those who are closeted that the queer community will love and accept them for who they are.
