Book to Screen
7 ‘Heated Rivalry’ Book Scenes We Must See in the TV Series
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid.]
Heated Rivalry, we’re now familiar with your game. Rachel Reid’s steamy hockey romance book wasn’t on our radar until its TV show adaptation was announced earlier this year, but we’ve since devoured Shane and Ilya’s love story. A years-long slow burn romance between two professional hockey players, who go from enemies-with-benefits to lovers? That’s all we needed to know to get on board.
Now that we’ve also gotten our first look at Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams in Heated Rivalry’s trailer, we’re even more excited for the show to premiere. We know we need to slow our roll a bit, since we count ourselves among the non-Canadian fans. The show will drop on Canadian streaming service Crave this November, but there’s no international release date set yet.
So, while we stand by for news of Heated Rivalry‘s wider release (which hopefully happens), we’re reflecting on all of the best book scenes that need to make it into the TV show. Before you ask, don’t worry: We’re keeping it PG over here, even though we lost track of how many spicy scenes were in the book. Keep reading for Shane and Ilya’s best book moments that we’re eager to see come to life.
Ilya and Shane play an All-Star game together
The book doesn’t go into too much detail when Shane and Ilya’s play hockey, choosing to focus more on their romance. That’s one thing we hope the show delves into more, and among the many games that they play over the years, Shane and Ilya’s All-Star match should definitely make the cut. When they’re put on the same All-Star team after six years of playing against each other, it’s magic. They read each other’s minds on the ice, which is even more proof that they’re meant to be.
Ilya and Shane film a commercial together
This scene occurs early on in the book, before Shane and Ilya give in to the tension between them. A hockey gear brand signed both of them and forced them into filming a campaign together. After a locker room moment when Ilya calls Shane “pretty,” the two pose for photos together. When they get into a face-off position, the photographer warns them to try not to laugh, though Shane doesn’t think it’ll be a problem. He’s too busy internally freaking out over his proximity to Ilya.
However, the two do break out into giggles while they’re posing, and it’s a sweet and wholesome moment. It breaks the ice, if you will. It does lead straight into their first steamy moment together, but the main reason we want to see this scene is its payoff in the next book. In Reid’s sequel, The Long Game, Ilya asks the commercial’s photographer for one of the outtakes so he can gift it to Shane. Adorable!
Ilya makes Shane a tuna melt
After one of their hookups, Ilya completely baffles Shane when he offers to make him a tuna melt. At this point, they haven’t acknowledged their feelings for each other, even though their situation has lasted several years. However, Ilya did just call Shane “sweetheart” while they were in the throes of passion, and Shane clocked that Ilya’s behavior had become more affectionate and tender. If Ilya asking Shane to stay over for the first time didn’t confirm his suspicions, then Ilya making him food sure did. It’s a key turning point in their relationship, so it better make it into the show.
Bell Media
Ilya spots Shane in the club with Rose
Based on the trailer, we’re pretty sure the scene will make it into the show, but we’re going to include it on our list anyway. Shane and Ilya both wind up in the same club, the former more reluctantly than the latter. The straight-laced Shane is convinced to go out by his movie star girlfriend, Rose (who’s being played by Sophie Nélisse).
Shane spots Ilya first, getting jealous when he sees him kissing another woman. He freezes in the middle of the dance floor and leaves soon thereafter. Before his hasty exit, Ilya catches Shane staring and gives him a show. Internally, though, Ilya is about as far from cool and collected as can be. He can’t stand the fact that Shane is with Rose. The angst! The drama! No notes.
Ilya calls Shane from Russia
Another major turning point in their relationship is when Ilya opens up to Shane about his horrible family situation. Ilya flies back to Russia once he finds out his father died, and Shane calls Ilya first to make sure he’s OK, and he offers to be the person Ilya can vent to. Two days later, Ilya takes Shane up on it, and finding it too hard to speak in English, Shane asks Ilya to rant to him in Russian, despite not knowing a lick of the language.
Ilya also takes advantage of their language barrier to make a confession: “I’m pretty sure I’m in love with you, and I don’t know what to do about it.” We’re going to need that line in the show verbatim.
Shane gets injured (and Ilya doesn’t handle it well)
We love the hurt-comfort trope, and Heated Rivalry does it well. Toward the end of the book, Shane and Ilya’s teams play against each other, and one of Ilya’s teammates slams Shane against the boards, knocking him unconscious. Even though they’re keeping their relationship a secret, Ilya absolutely loses it and panics in front of everyone. A woozy Shane asks for Ilya when he comes to. This would be absolute cinema onscreen, so we’re crossing our fingers that it’s included in the adaptation.
Ilya and Shane (finally) confess their love for each other
Shane invited Ilya to his cottage a while before, but after learning that a popular NHL player had publicly come out, Ilya overcomes his fear and visits for the first time. At this point, both of them are fully aware that they’re infatuated with each other, but they still haven’t said those three little words to each other. They come up with a long-term plan to slowly break it to the world that they’re friends, which would allow them to be in each other’s orbits. Then, when they retire, they could be together without hiding.
After they lay everything out, Ilya tells Shane that he loves him over and over in Russian before he translates it to English. Shocked, Shane says it back and asks, “Does it feel like agony for you, too?” And Ilya responds, “Not anymore.” We can only hope that exchange happens on screen word-for-word.
Which scene are you most excited to see in the show? Tell us in the comments below!
Heated Rivalry, Season 1, November 28, Crave
