Heated Rivalry

[Jeff Burton]

Finally saw the first episode.  All I can say is:

 

 

😂😂

[Krista]

8 minutes ago, Jeff Burton said:

Finally saw the first episode.  All I can say is:

 

 

😂😂

I know, they're completely feral. 

[chris191070]

1 hour ago, Jeff Burton said:

Finally saw the first episode.  All I can say is:

 

 

😂😂

More sex, than hockey 🏒 

[methodwriter85]

On 1/19/2026 at 2:44 PM, TetRefine said:

Yeah, I still visit every month or so to poke around and see what’s up. However, the forums have kind of peetered out, so there’s not as much to see anymore.  

Yeah. I'm still here because somehow, some way, Mark Arbour has managed to keep the CAP saga going for 17 years.  Although even then, the discussion has mostly migrated to the chapter comments and not so much on the forum. I'm trying to convince him to rewrite one of his CAP stories centered around college club hockey into a stand alone erotica to try and capitalize on the whole hockey romance craze. 

[wildone]

You have to pull his attention here by @Mark Arbour'ing his name   

But does Mark follow hockey  

[Ron]

2 hours ago, wildone said:

You have to pull his attention here by @Mark Arbour'ing his name

Does that mean that people need to begin @Ron’ing my name in order to get my attention? Enquiring minds and all that … you know.

Get busy people! First comment — gets first reply.  
 

Lines are waiting! 

[wildone]

Yes, it is a quick easy way  @Ron. They will see Ron and Wildone mentioned you in a topic: Heated Rivalry if they subscribe to notifications. 

If they don't subscribe, they don't want to know you, I guess  Just kidding  

[wildone]

I laughed, so the series is coming out in Italy Feb 2 I think, they have already invited both the guys to be torch bearers at the Winter Olympics    

[Mattyboy]

From the Hollywood Reporter, and most daily New York City newspapers:

 

"Mayor Zohran Mamdani urged residents stay home during a Sunday [press] conference as snow continued to fall heavily across the city. One of his suggestions for passing the time? Reading Heated Rivalry, naturally.

“The snow is coming down heavily across our city, and I can think of no better excuse for New Yorkers to say home, take a long nap or take advantage of our public library’s offer of free access to Heated Rivalry on e-book or audiobook for anyone with a library card,” he said during the press conference, met with smiles and laughs from the team behind him.

The New York Public Library announced Saturday (Jan. 24) that anyone with a library card would have access to download any of the books from author Rachel Reid’s Game Changers series, a string of six connection queer hockey romance novels. The library is offering the instant access through Feb. 14 — a game changer for any patron who’s experienced the agony of waiting for a recently popular book to come off hold at the library."

[Jeff Burton]

I haven’t made it to episode 2 yet. I’m trying lol.

[Krista]

1 hour ago, Jeff Burton said:

I haven’t made it to episode 2 yet. I’m trying lol.

The show isn't that groundbreaking.  But, the first three episodes are a bit of a chore to get through. Or at least they were for me. I still think they sped through the initial progression between the characters and the set-up to what is supposed to be 'the' show. The back half of the first season is a lot better than the beginning episodes. 

I know they were having trouble shopping this story around for wider release and didn't want to sink a ton of money into the show, but it would have benefitted a lot if they had double the episodes so they could 'live' in the earlier parts a bit better.

But, I'm a slow-burn person myself. So all this is my opinion.  

[Mattyboy]

1 hour ago, Krista said:

The show isn't that groundbreaking.  But, the first three episodes are a bit of a chore to get through. Or at least they were for me. I still think they sped through the initial progression between the characters and the set-up to what is supposed to be 'the' show. The back half of the first season is a lot better than the beginning episodes. 

I know they were having trouble shopping this story around for wider release and didn't want to sink a ton of money into the show, but it would have benefitted a lot if they had double the episodes so they could 'live' in the earlier parts a bit better.

But, I'm a slow-burn person myself. So all this is my opinion.  

Yeah, I thought the first episode (which is all I've watched) was a bit rushed.  Probably could have used some more hockey. 

I agree that it isn't that groundbreaking  from the perspective of anyone around here,  but it is for many Shoresy watchers and a lot of people have had basically no exposure to the genre, which is I think where a lot of the energy of this as a pop culture phenomenon is coming from. 

Geewhilickers short story Out of My League posted on AD and at Dabeagle's site is at least as good as Reid, better developed with better hockey. 

[Ron]

I’ve greatly enjoyed this series. Hockey moves so fast on the ice that an inexperienced viewer could hardly be expected to follow the pace of the action, let alone the puck. One Brewers game in and I couldn’t tell you why some players were fighting on one side of the ice while the puck was down on the other end deciding the play. 
 

A slow beginning and a smoother operation after a couple of episodes is all good to me. Quite frankly I’m pleased at the actual amount of hockey activity. Unless you’re a hardcore fan, fewer hockey visuals is good hockey, (just enough) in my opinion (sorry if I’ve offended any sad Canadians — but I’m not into it one guy @wildone ). 

[Krista]

16 hours ago, Ron said:

I’ve greatly enjoyed this series. Hockey moves so fast on the ice that an inexperienced viewer could hardly be expected to follow the pace of the action, let alone the puck. One Brewers game in and I couldn’t tell you why some players were fighting on one side of the ice while the puck was down on the other end deciding the play. 
 

A slow beginning and a smoother operation after a couple of episodes is all good to me. Quite frankly I’m pleased at the actual amount of hockey activity. Unless you’re a hardcore fan, fewer hockey visuals is good hockey, (just enough) in my opinion (sorry if I’ve offended any sad Canadians — but I’m not into it one guy @wildone ). 

I think they've done some interviews about why there wasn't as much hockey. None of the actors are proficient enough with skating to actually do it, and they didn't want to do a ton of editing for body doubles, re-shoots, and CGI to make them look half-ass decent at skating, puck handling/stick handling - to make it worthwhile. That's why a lot of the shots on hockey are at a distance or extreme close-ups, and rarely depicted at all.

Maybe they can take some lessons whilst they're on break between seasons. Although, I think most of the viewers of the show know as much about hockey as I do.  None. And the uniforms are awful unless they're half on or off them in the process of dressing/undressing, so there's that too. 

Baseball still has the best uniforms, I said what I said. 

Edited January 27 by Krista

[Cane23]

50 minutes ago, Krista said:

And the uniforms are awful unless they're half-off them in the process of dressing/undressing, so there's that too. 

I think it’s because they function more as armor, similar to American football gear, than as standard uniforms. Takes some time to take it off, no easy quckie! 😁

[Mattyboy]

This "soft power"  moment was followed by a very funny speech at the CMPA

Edited January 31 by Mattyboy

[methodwriter85]

It's wild to think that these boys were completely anonymous in October and now they're carrying the Olympic torch and meeting the Canadian prime minister.  

[wildone]

Connor Storrie was one of the supporting actors, gay ironically, in the Texas football movie Riley in 2023. But both were waiting tables I believe when they got the roles. 
 

I liked Riley, but felt the story could go on longer. 
 

No, I don’t think Riley was written by @Krista  

[Krista]

2 hours ago, wildone said:

Connor Storrie was one of the supporting actors, gay ironically, in the Texas football movie Riley in 2023. But both were waiting tables I believe when they got the roles. 
 

I liked Riley, but felt the story could go on longer. 
 

No, I don’t think Riley was written by @Krista  

Hush your face Steven.  

As for the film it was a decent film for a one-off watch for me. And no, I didn't write it. The most interesting parts of the whole film were glossed over with not much depth, sadly. I think that was the entirety of the film, it introduced these small nuanced things and if you were blinking or not paying attention you missed them. Exploring a few of them slightly better and with more depth would have made a better film.

Don't get me wrong though, I do like nuance and subtle clues in film, it's just when they sort of include the main plot, you might do better to flesh them out a little bit more. 

Anyway, I've only watched the film once, I may watch it again to see if I like it better now that I know what to watch out for as far as the nuance and subtly goes.

 A Film about a gay football player that shares the same name with the main character to a story I wrote. Similarity number one. I think the main character even prefers to go by his last name/a nickname, similarity number two.  Has issues with his father - which is main conflict. Trying to come out from under his father's shadow... similarity number three. Coming of age story where the character is somewhat afraid to come out, explores his sexuality more, similarity number four. Seemingly only playing Football to appease his father and to springboard it into a future via college, but not really in love with the sport because his pushy father and lofty expectations from everyone else ruined that for him ages ago. Similarities numbers five and six. It was enough to make me go... "huh..." 

If there was a scene where he and his best friend -- who everyone thought he should be with, since she's pretty and female, similarity number seven. Finds abandoned puppies and he adopts one of them, then I would have mostly definitely cried foul and got me a lawyer.  

Mind you a lot of that isn't ground breaking and there are likely stories out there. A dime a dozen, really. So all the above is just me being cheeky and reaching as a joke.  

 

Edited January 31 by Krista

[Mattyboy]

16 hours ago, methodwriter85 said:

It's wild to think that these boys were completely anonymous in October and now they're carrying the Olympic torch and meeting the Canadian prime minister.  

It's wild to think that these boys were completely anonymous in October and now they're carrying the Olympic torch and meeting cuddling with the Canadian prime minister.  

[wildone]

'I'm coming to the cottage'

Well my friends, yes, you can go to the cottage very soon! The actual cottage is going up on AirBnB for only $248.10 CDN / night 😮 That is ridiculously low. But it is for a few months only to honour Shane's #24 and Iliya's #81.

Who wants to go to the cottage  ?

 

https://www.ctvnews.ca/entertainment/article/the-famed-cottage-from-heated-rivalry-will-soon-be-bookable-on-airbnb/

 

 

[Krista]

22 hours ago, wildone said:

'I'm coming to the cottage'

Well my friends, yes, you can go to the cottage very soon! The actual cottage is going up on AirBnB for only $248.10 CDN / night 😮 That is ridiculously low. But it is for a few months only to honour Shane's #24 and Iliya's #81.

Who wants to go to the cottage  ?

 

https://www.ctvnews.ca/entertainment/article/the-famed-cottage-from-heated-rivalry-will-soon-be-bookable-on-airbnb/

 

 

You wouldn't be able to behave yourself in that Cottage. (you have trouble behaving anywhere, lets be real) I need to send them your name and tell them to put you on their decline list.  

[wildone]

1 hour ago, Krista said:

You wouldn't be able to behave yourself in that Cottage. (you have trouble behaving anywhere, lets be real) I need to send them your name and tell them to put you on their decline list.  

I was going to invite you and Aaron  You can't swim, right  

[Davide]

I watched episode 1 of Heated Rivalry about a week ago. I can definitely see why the eye candy makes it popular and I did enjoy that aspect, but I need more of a plot than what this episode had to go along with it. Maybe that will change with more episodes, I know I shouldn't judge a show based on a single one. I will watch more, I'm just not rushing to do it.

[Krista]

13 minutes ago, Davide said:

I watched episode 1 of Heated Rivalry about a week ago. I can definitely see why the eye candy makes it popular and I did enjoy that aspect, but I need more of a plot than what this episode had to go along with it. Maybe that will change with more episodes, I know I shouldn't judge a show based on a single one. I will watch more, I'm just not rushing to do it.

The first two episodes are a little bit of a chore, to be honest. The show finds better pacing and overall more enjoyable after Episode three, which I found middle, not bad, not good. 

It points to improvement heading into the next season, the show getting better as it went. Who knows though, it may regress and become unwatchable.  I suck at television.