Over 700 romance readers and fans of the popular HBO series “Heated Rivalry,” which tells the story of a secret love between two professional male hockey competitors, will be attending an upcoming Milwaukee Admirals hockey game. This event is part of the second annual Hockey Romance Night, set to take place during the Admirals’ game against the Texas Stars on February 20. The event is being organized by the minor league team and the Wauwatosa romance bookstore The Well Red Damsel.

A pregame event featuring a dozen authors at the UW Panther Arena has already sold out its 750 tickets, but tickets to the actual game are still available, according to Jon Greenberg, president of the Milwaukee American Hockey League team.

“We were ahead of the curve when we decided to do this last year,” Greenberg told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “I’m continually amazed by the different audiences we are able to reach.”

‘Heated Rivalry’ gains new attention with HBO series

At first glance, romance and hockey may not seem like a natural pairing. However, the ice rink is a common setting for many popular novels in the sports romance subgenre, according to Natasha Meyer, owner of The Well Red Damsel, located at 6429 W. North Ave.

“If there’s a sport, you name it, there’s a romance book about it,” Meyer said.

This includes “Heated Rivalry,” a 2019 gay sports romance novel from Canadian author Rachel Reid’s “Game Changers” series. The novel explores multiple queer stories within the world of professional ice hockey. It follows Canadian Shane Hollander and Russian Ilya Rozanov, two professional hockey players whose years-long rivalry on the ice hides a slow-burning, secret romance.

It’s the second book in the six-book series by Reid, who announced a seventh book titled Unrivaled will be published in September.

Canadian writer and director Jacob Tierney created the television series for Canadian streaming service Crave before it was picked up for streaming by HBO. The show premiered in late November 2025 and quickly gained popularity.

Social media has been flooded with fan edits, interviews with breakout stars Connor Storrie (who plays Rozanov) and Hudson Williams (who plays Hollander), and discussions about why women are particularly drawn to a show about men’s hockey and a steamy gay love story.

The series has also attracted new hockey fans and captured the attention of the sports community.

“I’ve watched all six episodes. I binged it in one night,” National Hockey League commissioner Gary Bettman told reporters on January 15. “The storyline was very compelling and a lot of fun.”

Greenberg of the Milwaukee Admirals has been aware of the growing interest in hockey-romance literature, thanks to his 22-year-old daughter and the team’s inaugural Hockey Romance Night in 2025. While he hasn’t watched “Heated Rivalry” yet, he said he likely will before this year’s event.

Admirals and Well Read Damsel were ahead of the ‘Heated Rivalry’ craze

The Milwaukee Admirals and the Well Red Damsel were ahead of the Heated Rivalry television series craze when they first decided to team up for a Hockey Romance Night in 2025.

The “Heated Rivalry” novel has been a best-seller at Meyer’s business since she opened in November 2024 as a pop-up bookstore, so she figured an event could gather fans and get new people to an Admirals game.

That first event brought in 250 people.

“Boy, we might have struck some gold out here,” Greenberg recalled thinking.

Meyer said she worked with Bryce Halvorsen, the team’s ticket sales account executive, to make the second annual event in 2026 even bigger. Then, the “Heated Rivalry” streaming series blew up.

Since then, Meyer can barely keep the books in stock for more than a day at The Well Red Damsel, and the pre-game author event sold out over a month in advance.

It’s a smart marketing tactic for both the team and the bookstore, Greenberg said. The team has had fun with it, too.

The Milwaukee Admirals social media featured a video with player Kyle Marino reading “Pride and Prejudice” while working out.

Beneath the meme-able moments, Heated Rivalry’s mainstream success has resurfaced conversations in the professional ice hockey world about the culture for queer players. Jesse Korteum, a Minnesota-born professional hockey player, credits the show for empowering him to come out as gay.

Luke Prokop, the first openly gay player under NHL contract, made headlines in Milwaukee when he was the Grand Marshal of Milwaukee’s 2025 pride parade. Prokop played two seasons for the Admirals before he left to play for the Bakersfield Condors in the 2025-26 season.

The Admirals will host a pride night for their Jan. 27 game against the Rockford Ice Hogs.

Hype from the television show is likely contributing to more interest in “Heated Rivalry,” but Meyer said the love between Ilya and Shane is what drives people to read the novel and other gay sports romance stories.

Depictions of gay love stories in mainstream media tend to lead with the trauma and sadness that’s associated with many queer experiences, Meyer said. “Heated Rivalry,” though, puts joy, fun and the queer love story front and center as the main characters, she said.

“It’s just a beautiful love story at the heart of it,” Meyer said.

Bridget Fogarty covers Brookfield, Wauwatosa and Elm Grove for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. She can be contacted at bfogarty@usatodayco.com.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Following ‘Heated Rivalry’ craze, Admirals Hockey Romance Night returns