Abhiroop Das
Created by Jacob Tierney, HBO Max’s ‘Heated Rivalry’ centers on the complicated dynamic between the famous hockey prodigies, Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov. What starts as a fierce rivalry, with the duo at each other’s throats at every turn of the game, soon evolves into a passionate relationship. However, parallel to their desire, their ambition vies for new heights, and the clash between the two soon starts making itself known in every interaction. Surrounding their secret on-and-off relationship are the familial expectations, which force Shane and Ilya to face their priorities head-on. This sports romance television series, adapted from the eponymous novel by Rachel Reid, brings out the challenges and dilemmas one has to face as a queer person standing in the spotlight of media and society. To that end, Shane and Ilya’s respective teams, Montreal Meteors and Boston Raiders, serve as more than just a springboard for the premise, directly affecting the ebbs and flows of their relationship.
Montreal Meteors and Boston Raiders Recreate an Iconic Real-Life Team Rivalry
Although the Montreal Meteors and Boston Raiders are fictional teams created by writer-director Jacob Tierney, it is likely that they are a creative spin on the long-standing rivalry between the Montreal Canadiens and the Boston Bruins. Often described as one of the greatest rivalries in sport, the Bruins-Canadiens saga has captured the hearts and imaginations of fans and artists alike. As of 2025, the two teams have squared off well over 900 times, which is the most out of any two teams in the history of the National Hockey League. While Tierney might have used the two real teams and their century-old rivalry as a partial reference point, the finer details of both of his show-only constructs are made from scratch. As such, both the Meteors and the Raiders build a unique identity of their own over the course of the show, bouncing off the romantic tensions between their respective prodigies, Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov.
Notably, in the original novel by Rachel Reid, Shane and Ilya play for the Montreal Voyageurs and the Boston Bears, respectively. Although the two teams bear different names compared to their television counterpart, the core attributes remain the same, with the Bruins-Canadiens as the most likely source of inspiration. Tierney reportedly made the changes to the source material with several factors in mind, including legality and production budget. One of Ilya’s most iconic features, his bear tattoo representing his team, is also not included in the show, likely for a similar set of reasons. In real life, the Boston Bruins are often associated with the logo of the bear, which further adds to the team’s parallels with the Boston Raiders. However, the link between the fictional teams and their real-life antecedents likely ends with these broader similarities.
Given that Shane and Ilya’s professional dynamic loosely resembles that of real-life hockey legends, Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin, there is a distinct possibility that their respective teams’ competitive history also shaped the narrative of ‘Heated Rivalry.’ Crosby joined the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2005 and rose to the rank of captain in 2007. Ovechkin, on the other hand, joined the Washington Capitals in 2004, becoming the captain in 2010. As such, their iconic rivalry is not synonymous with that of the Capitals and the Penguins, who have faced off more than 300 times. Over the years, the Capitals-Penguins saga has cemented itself as one of the fiercest competitive exchanges in the history of the sport, and a case can be made for the creative team of the show drawing inspiration from it. Given that a huge chunk of the plot revolves around Ilya and Shane’s relationships with their respective teams, it makes sense for the writers to potentially blend the Bruins-Canadiens and Capitals-Penguins rivalries and add their own invented touches to it.
Read More: Is Heated Rivalry a True Story? Are Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov Based on Real Hockey Players?
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