Hockey, well, hockey romance, is booming.
Canadian streamer Crave’s breakout hit Heated Rivalry — one of the most talked about shows of the last year — became a pop culture phenomena. The queer hockey romance drama not only took social media by storm in late 2025, it made certified stars out of its at-the-time unknown leading actors, Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie and the source material, a string of novels by Rachel Reid, bestsellers years after release. The Jacob Tierney-created show became appointment television, a rarity in the streaming age.
Romance readers were likely not surprised — this thought-to-be niche sub-genre is actually a booming sector of the genre. Many months after it broke out, Heated Rivalry is adding to the bottom line of its parent company, as News Corp CEO Robert Thomson told analysts on May 7, “We continue to see feverish interest in Rachel Reid’s Heated Rivalry in print and digital, and even in countries in which ice hockey is not a mainstream sport.”
Meanwhile, Off Campus, the latest hockey-centric show to hit streaming, has also become a hit for Prime Video in the month since its release. The show, based on Elle Kennedy’s book series, had been in development for years, and much like Reid’s novels, had a loyal fanbase pre-show. It quickly became the streamer’s third biggest debut ever.
