The 'smuttiest' show on TV right now is filmed in Ontario

Who knew a TV show about Canadian ice hockey could be so hot? 

Heated Rivalry – Crave’s new queer series about a slow-burn romance between two hockey players – has garnered a lot of international attention thanks to HBO Max picking up the series in the U.S., which unleashed a flurry of rave reviews, including one from Rolling Stone calling it a "smutty" hit. 

The show centres around Asian-Canadian Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Russian Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie), two hockey players at the top of their game who happen to be arch enemies on the ice– until they start secretly hooking up, that is. Any avid romance viewer will tell you no trope delivers quite like enemies-to-lovers. 

Only four episodes have aired so far, and it's clear that a bulk of the show – adapted from Nova Scotian author Rachel Reid's book of the same name – was filmed in Ontario and Quebec. 

Fans of the show quickly point out that a lot of the skating scenes were filmed at the Sleeman Centre in Guelph, Ont.

the things that tipped off that it was the sleeman centre btw:

the numbered posts & sign shapes in the concourse https://t.co/nWbax48jeg pic.twitter.com/8kPsFQuoiy

— jackie (@thejacqinthebox) November 29, 2025

The scene where the two characters first meet happens to be in front of the Burridge Gymnasium at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont. In a scene in the second episode, Storrie's character, Ilya, can be spotted jogging past the Dundurn Castle, a historic site also in Hamilton. 

One eagle-eyed Reddit user points out that the party scene in episode one was filmed inside Joni Restaurant at the Park Hyatt at 4 Avenue Rd. in Toronto. A viewer on X also spotted the familiar location.

i knew that location looked familiar... here's my dad in 2018 in what would become a heated rivalry filming location (holding a Bell bag paid with money that went into funding my hockey yaoi show) pic.twitter.com/rXklNwysLD

— lyna⁷🥀 (@theternaIkth) December 10, 2025

We have our suspicions that the condo where team captain Scott Hunter (François Arnaud) lives is around Bloor St. and Avenue Rd in Yorkville. 

Other locations we can pinpoint on the show are Lavelle on King St. W. in Toronto and Le Tambour Tavern on James St. N. in Hamilton, with more to come as there are two episodes left to air. 

Season one of Heated Rivalry is expected to wrap on Friday, Dec. 26. 

On Dec. 12, it was announced that the show had been renewed for a second season.