Heated Rivalry’s Best Moments From Season 1 On HBO Max

If you’ve finished watching all six episodes of HBO Max’s “Heated Rivalry,” you’re probably asking yourself one thing: What the heck do I do now?

For the past six weeks, our Fridays have basically revolved around the gay hockey romance, and if you’ve spent even a small amount of time on social media, you know the Canadian drama still has its viewers in an absolute chokehold.

While we begin the agonizing wait for Season 2 to premiere, let’s take a look back at the moments that had us gasping, rewinding and posting online for weeks — from Shane (Hudson Williams) and Ilya’s (Connor Storrie) first encounter in the locker room to Scott (Francois Arnaud) and Kip’s (Robbie G.K.) game-changing kiss on live television, and so much goodness in between.

Read on for TVLine’s picks of our 10 favorite moments from Season 1 of “Heated Rivalry,” then drop a comment with your own favorites below. Which moments will you be replaying in your head until the show returns for Season 2?

Do they give out acting awards simply for breathing? What about just for eye contact? Because Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams had us panting for more after their first encounter in the locker room. It wasn’t even a will-they-won’t-they situation. It was more like a will-they-just-do-it-already kind of thing. And spoiler alert: they did!

Look, we can appreciate the show’s “smut content” as much as anyone — and there are enough NSFW moments for their own list — but there’s also something to be said for the art of the build-up. Come on, did you ever think two people biking next to each other in the gym could be so hot? And the sharing of the water bottle, with their hands lightly grazing one another as they pass it back and forth? We’re in heat all over again over here!

Sexting was all the rage in the mid-2010s, and Shane and Ilya — or should we say “Lily” and “Jane” — treat it like an Olympic sport. We’ve seen a lot of texting on TV shows over the years, and it’s usually more of a nuisance than a useful plot device. In the case of “Heated Rivalry,” however, those texts are just as important as actual lines of dialogue. What’s being said, what’s not being said, the typing and deleting… it’s all riveting stuff. The couple’s secretive text exchanges remain a consistent through line for the rest of the season, but we’ll never forget where it all began.

Every flirty exchange, every naughty innuendo, and every suggestive emoji — sorry, make that emoticon — they exchange bring them one text closer to their eventual happy ending, and we thank them (and their phones) for their service.

Let’s be honest, we were all craving a big fat blueberry smoothie after watching Episode 3. Scott and Kip’s innocent courtship is one of the top highlights of the season, with each visit to the smoothie café bringing them closer and closer to finally getting together. In those scenes, we are all Kip’s co-worker Maria, watching with glee from the sidelines as these two flirt in circles, with Scott too nervous to make a move and Kip somehow blissfully unaware that he is even being courted. The fact that Kip originally had no idea Scott was actually a famous athlete makes it even sweeter, never mind that Scott refers to Kip’s smoothies as his “good luck charm.” When he finally gathers the courage to invite Kip to one of his games, we feel like he’s inviting us. And our answer is yes — a thousand times yes!

Everyone deserves a friend like Elena in their corner. We’ll admit, we were a little nervous when Kip’s BFF called Scott on the carpet in Episode 3, fearing that her interference would jeopardize the closeted couple’s already-fragile relationship, but then came this line: “He deserves sunshine, and so do you.” At that point, we did a full 180 on the subject; this isn’t someone overstepping and ruining a good thing, this is a true ally who cares deeply about both men involved. 

“I saw a whole bunch of like fan posts about her, calling her ‘mother,’ or ‘queen,’ and all this stuff, which is great,” Robbie G.K. (Kip) tells Out.

We have to imagine that those words were ringing in Scott’s ears for years, possibly giving him the push he needed to eventually go public with Kip. (But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We’ll get to that incredible moment in a little bit.)

If “Heated Rivalry” had a theme song, it would be t.A.T.u.’s “All the Things She Said,” which serves as the backdrop for Shane and Ilya’s night out (albeit separately) in Episode 5. This may have been a low point in Shane and Ilya’s relationship, but we loved every second of the dramatic sequence. The lyrics fit so perfectly with the boys’ current situation, it’s like the song was written specifically about them. (“Being with you has opened my eyes / Could I ever believe such a perfect surprise? / I keep asking myself, wondering how / I keep closing my eyes but I can’t block you out / Want to fly to a place where it’s just you and me/ Nobody else, so we can be free.”) Justice for Shane and Ilya! And you know what? Justice for t.A.T.u. while we’re at it! That song has always been treated as kind of a joke, so we’re thrilled to see it get its proper day in the sun.

We weren’t thrilled with the idea of Shane entering a relationship with someone else, but Rose turned out to be one of the best things that ever happened to him — a true ally in the face of so much secrecy and public pressure. She saw right through Shane, not with judgment, but with compassion and understanding, ultimately becoming the first person to whom he actually felt comfortable coming out. A lot of good came out of their unlikely friendship, but nothing was better than this instant-classic exchange: After Rose tells Shane that the relationship isn’t working, comparing them to a “square peg and a round hole,” Shane eventually tells her, “I kind of prefer being the hole, rather than the peg.” The line itself, coupled with how its delivered by Hudson Williams, is both sweet and hysterical.

When Ilya’s father passes away in Episode 5, his entire world crumbles around him. Completely overwhelmed with grief and anxiety, he can barely wrap his head around his complicated emotions, much less find the words to express how he’s really feeling. That’s when Shane, over the phone on the other side of the world, suggests that Ilya share his feelings in Russian. Not only is it ludicrously satisfying to hear Ilya finally tell Shane that he loves him (even if Shane doesn’t know it), but can we talk about the perfection of that Russian dialect? Before we found out that Connor Storrie is actually a sweet Texas boy from Odessa, we fully bought into the stoic Russian persona he was presenting on the show, which only makes his uncanny transformation even more impressive.

We’ll be honest, we’ve never been terribly invested in the actual hockey happening on this show, but we were fully ready to stand up and cheer when Scott Hunter led his beloved New York Admirals to win the Stanley Cup. In all fairness, though, our excitement had nothing to do with Scott’s team’s victory. For us, it was all about what happened next: After looking around at his teammates celebrating with their loved ones, Scott motions for Kip to join in the festivities. Kip nervously leaves Elena in the stands to join Scott on the ice, where he kisses him on camera for all the world to see. Not only is it an incredibly satisfying milestone in Scott and Kip’s journey, but that bold declaration of love also inspires Ilya to accept Shane’s invitation to his cottage, setting countless other events into motion as a result.

Just when we thought “I’m coming to the cottage” were the five most glorious words we could possibly imagine, Ilya surprises Shane with three more: “I love you.” And he does it in English this time! Shane, of course, returns his affections 100%, instantly adding an adorable new layer to their delicious tuna melt of a relationship. After watching these two go back and forth for practically a decade, it’s unspeakably satisfying to finally see them on the same page, both totally open and honest about how much they mean to one another. It also gives them a solid foundation for the events to come, including Shane’s accidental (but ultimately very sweet) outing to his parents at the end of the hour.

“I think this shows Ilya is in it for the long haul and he’s enthusiastic about that,” Connor Storrie tells Variety of Ilya’s confession. “That’s the thing about these eastern Europeans. They don’t let you in on it. But once you’re in, you’re in for life.”

Shane spends most of the first season of “Heated Rivalry” fearing that his parents will find out about his sexuality, and that “nightmare” becomes all-too-real in the finale when Shane’s dad catches him and Ilya during (what they thought was) a private moment at the cottage. So imagine our surprise and delight when Shane’s parents turn out to be fully supportive of him being gay, as well as his relationship with his supposed hockey rival. But our favorite moment of Shane’s coming-out process comes towards the end of the finale, when Yuna expresses her pride in being Shane’s mother, and even apologizes for making him feel like he couldn’t come out to her on his own. It’s everything a queer child longs to hear from their parent, and you can feel the relief in Shane’s voice as he accepts her apology and forgives her wholeheartedly. It’s a profound moment of healing, both for the characters on screen and for many of the viewers streaming at home.