Heated Rivalry broke the Internet with its finale! Episode 6, “The Cottage,” officially became IMDb’s highest-rated finale of the entire year with an impressive 9.9 out of 10 score, as highlighted in a viral post from @MENin4K on December 26, 2025. The HBO Max and Crave series finally took its hockey rivals-turned-boyfriends, Shane Hollander and Ilya Rosanov, to a private cottage where their bond changed forever. After more than ten years of emotional repression, all-star fights, and a love completely kept underwraps, the two men finally told the truth.
Illya confessed that, even though he’s bisexual, no woman could ever replace Shane. Meanwhile, Shane stayed up all night mapping out their future so that Ilya, who is from Russia, could stay with him in Canada. The episode also showed the first “I love you” phrases this pair ever exchanged in the series, sealing a decade-long romance that had been on the low.
But just when love started flourishing, Shane’s dad walked in on the couple kissing and bolted, activating maximum gay panic. Following the intrusion, Shane and Illya told Shane’s parents the truth, delivering the most important pass of the season: Shane Hollander’s coming out. The shock was never about him being gay, but realizing their rivalry had actually been an obsession with each other since their rookie year.
Heated Rivalry rose as one of the most unexpected successes of the year, dropping its first episode on November 28 and growing a colossal viewership and fanbase week by week. By December 12, it was officially confirmed that the show was renewed for Season 2, with director Jacob Tierney revealing that the next installment would not come in late 2026 but a 2027 release-window might be possible. Until then, don’t forget to stream Heated Rivalry on Crave and HBO Max.