MILAN (AP) — Olympic hockey knows all about big hits.
That now includes “Heated Rivalry,” a gay hockey romance TV series in which two players from opposing teams carry out a secret, long-term relationship.
The steamy connection between the characters — Canadian Shane Hollander and Russian Ilya Rozanov — has attracted fans to both the show and the sport itself, with the NHL seeing a boost in ticket sales by one estimate.
The show's impact was evident long before the Milan Cortina Games when co-stars Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie carried the Olympic flame. And it hasn’t stopped there. Athletes and fans from Canada and the U.S. are feeling the show’s impact.
Zach Werenski, a defenseman on the U.S. team who plays for the NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets, said the show has come up in conversation in the locker room.
“Everyone is saying how great it is, I just haven’t seen it yet,” Werenski told The Associated Press after a 5-1 victory over Latvia. “It’s definitely good for the sport of hockey. Whenever you can add more eyes to the game and have people talk about the game and talk about inclusivity, I think it’s just great for the sport.”
Jake Sanderson, another U.S. defenseman who plays for the Ottawa Senators, said he has heard about the show, but doesn’t know much about it. When asked how far off the NHL is from having an openly gay player, Sanderson cited Luke Prokop. In 2021, Prokop was a Nashville Predators prospect who became the first player signed to an NHL contract to come out, though he has not yet played in the league.
“You never know if that show (will) instill some confidence in some people,” said Sanderson, adding that any openly gay player would be fully accepted in the locker room. “I don’t think we would treat them any differently. They’re our teammate, we love them no matter what, and obviously embrace them, absolutely.”
Rachel Reid’s novel “Heated Rivalry” was published in 2019 as part of a series. The TV adaptation, originally developed for Canadian streaming service Crave, was the top-rated series on HBO Max in its first season. It has been renewed for a second season.
“It’s obviously a show about hockey that’s sparked a lot of interest in people even outside of our game,” Canada's Travis Sanheim said Tuesday. “Just heard a lot of people talking about. It’s obviously good to have our game being talked about.”
Its biggest fans at the Olympics may be the Canadian delegation.
As part of the Olympic experience, athletes were gifted a potted plant. Many of the Canadians named theirs Shane or Ilya, according to the delegation's lead press liaison, Tara MacBournie.
Canadian Alpine skier Kiki Alexander took the love a bit further, sharing on TikTok that the village’s Canadian moose has been named Shane.
“If you know, you know,” she wrote.
Adam van Koeverden, a 2004 Olympic champion in canoeing who is now Canada's secretary of state for sport, is a fan of the show.
“We’re the perfect country to be having the conversation and be putting that art out there that I think is advancing the conversation on diversity in hockey,” van Koeverden told the AP at the Games. “Hockey is for everyone and ‘Heated Rivalry’ makes it clear.”
The show launched in Europe in January and is proving a surprise hit in Russia, despite the country's anti-LGBTQ+ crackdowns. Because of the war in Ukraine, the IOC has allowed just a handful of Russian athletes to compete at the Milan Cortina Games as neutral individuals.
Athletes aren’t the only ones riding the “Heated Rivalry” wave. Kim Sweet of Calgary, Alberta, is only on Episode 3 but is loving it.
“The show has me very intrigued,” Sweet, 50, said before entering the arena to watch Canada play Czechia last week. “How a very male-dominated sport has two guys having to work through the privacy of it all, and whether you ever want to come out.”
“It’s great having more eyes on the sport,” added Sweet, who described herself as “a huge hockey fan.”
Angie Campos, a California resident, was also in attendance and wearing a sweatshirt featuring the jerseys of the show's main characters.
Campos is new to hockey, drawn to it by the series, and she isn't alone. Weekly NHL ticket sales saw a more than 20% rise after the show debuted in late November, according to data from ticketing platform SeatGeek. It saw no similar surge the same period a year earlier.
“The series didn’t just light up social media feeds, it may have sent fans straight to hockey games themselves,” SeatGeek said in its analysis Jan. 16. “While it’s impossible to attribute all of this growth to a single show, the timing is hard to ignore.”
Campos likened her newfound fandom and that of fellow “Heated Rivalry” viewers to the surge of female NFL fans after Taylor Swift started dating Kansas City Chiefs player Travis Kelce and attending games.
“It just makes it a little bit more relatable and it has definitely opened eyes to a human side of competition,” she said.
Hockey is a rough-and-tumble sport with occasional fighting and hard hits, even in crucial games where a penalty can prove costly. Canada’s Tom Wilson and Pierre Crinon of France were ejected for fighting in Canada's win on Sunday.
All the machismo and aggression make the rink — and hockey in general — an unlikely and provocative setting to explore the delicate feelings of forbidden love and taboos around male sexual orientation. No active NHL player has come out as gay in the century-plus existence of the league.
“Heated Rivalry” has been wildly popular among women, but men are starting to find the appeal.
At the Canada-France game, Christopher Ryan York, 20, said he has hopped on the bandwagon, too. It was hard not to watch the show given how popular it has become, he said, and he's happy it's creating new hockey fans.
“Anything to grow the sport, for sure,” he added.
His father Kevin York, 60, said he hasn't seen the show, but can’t stop hearing about it back home in Alberta and believes it must be truly inspirational if it spurred a Canadian hockey player to come out as gay: Jesse Kortuem of Vancouver, who stepped away from the game at 17 for fear he wouldn't be accepted, shared his coming-out statement on Instagram on Jan. 13.
“Something has sparked in me (ok — yes credit to #HeatedRivalry),” he wrote. “I thought I would share because I want to speak to the athletes out there who are still in the closet or struggling to find their way. I want you to know that there is hope and you’re not alone.”
Associated Press writer Jennifer McDermott and AP Hockey Writer Stephen Whyno contributed to this report.
AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
FILE - Connor Storrie poses during the nominations announcement for the 32nd Annual Actor Awards, Jan. 7, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)
FILE - Hudson Williams arrives at the 83rd Golden Globes, Jan. 11, 2026, at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)
Ottawa Senators jerseys with the names of Hollander and Rozanov, the main characters from the hit Canadian sports romance television show Heated Rivalry, hang in the Senators' official store beside the jerseys of Senators players, including captain Brady Tkachuk, before an NHL hockey game against the New Jersey Devils in Ottawa, Ontario, Jan. 31, 2026. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP, File)
Many people who knew and worked with the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr. are vowing to ‘keep hope alive’ in honor of his legacy. Jackson, who led the U.S. Civil Rights Movement for decades, died Tuesday. The protege of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and two-time presidential candidate was 84.
Jackson led a lifetime of crusades in the United States and abroad, advocating for the poor and underrepresented on issues from voting rights and job opportunities to education and health care. He scored diplomatic victories with world leaders, and through his Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, he channeled cries for Black pride and self-determination into corporate boardrooms, pressuring executives to make America a more open and equitable society.
And when he declared, “I am Somebody,” in a poem he often repeated, he sought to reach people of all colors. “I may be poor, but I am Somebody; I may be young; but I am Somebody; I may be on welfare, but I am Somebody,” intoned America’s best-known civil rights activist since King.
Santita Jackson confirmed that her father died at home in Chicago, surrounded by family.
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Dominique Ross has lived across from the Jackson home for nine years on Chicago’s South Side. She remembered Jackson for his open smile and welcoming attitude whether he was taking a walk or participating in the Bud Billiken Parade celebrating Black youth and community in Chicago each fall before the school year begins.
“I don’t know who will come up behind him, who will have as much of an impact as he has had on the Black community and just the world as a whole,” Ross said. “I mean, he’s an icon. They’re not going to make another man like him.”
Harold Hall, who once lived in the neighborhood where Jackson’s home sits, slowly walked along the sidewalk and up the steps Tuesday morning to leave a small bouquet of flowers outside the Jackson family’s door.
Hall told reporters that Jackson helped local street organizations in the late 1960s and early 1970s. “Rev. Jackson was one of the ones that would come out and shoot ball and try to change the minds of many of our young folk,” Hall told reporters. “And in many instances, it happened. It worked.”
“I’m so hurt this morning,” Hall said. “It’s just hard for many of us. He was a trailblazer. He will be missed. We loved him.”
“Throughout our decades of friendship and partnership, I’ve known Reverend Jackson as history will remember him: a man of God and of the people. Determined and tenacious. Unafraid of the work to redeem the soul of our Nation,” former President Joe Biden said.
“I’ve seen how Reverend Jackson has helped lead our Nation forward through tumult and triumph. He’s done it with optimism, and a relentless insistence on what is right and just. Whether through impassioned words on the campaign trail, or moments of quiet courage, Reverend Jackson influenced generations of Americans, and countless elected leaders, including Presidents,” Biden’s statement said.
“Reverend Jackson believed in his bones the promise of America: that we are all created equal in the image of God and deserve to be treated equally throughout our lives. While we’ve never fully lived up to that promise, he dedicated his life to ensuring we never fully walked away from it either.”
The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a Washington-based think tank that deals with issues facing communities of color, said in a statement that it was “honored to walk alongside Reverend Jackson across the decades — and our histories are deeply intertwined.”
The Center noted that its voter mobilization efforts, “including our support of Operation Big Vote,” complemented Jackson’s own efforts on expanding the electorate. “Together, Jackson, the Joint Center, and partners across the movement helped build the architecture of Black political power that endures today.”
The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies said Jackson proved with his 1984 presidential campaign “that a Black candidate could compete at the highest level” by winning Democratic primaries and caucuses. He earned more than 3.2 million votes, a total Jackson more than doubled four years later, winning presidential primaries in more than a dozen states and becoming a “preeminent force in Democratic politics.”
“These were not merely campaigns — they were movements that registered millions of new voters, built a Rainbow Coalition, and laid the groundwork for every Black candidate who followed, including President Barack Obama,” the Washington-based center said.
“Jackson championed human dignity and helped create opportunities for countless people to live better lives. Throughout it all, he kept marching to the music of his conscience, his convictions, and his causes, said a statement from former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
“Reverend Jackson never stopped working for a better America with brighter tomorrows, including his historic campaigns for the Presidency in 1984 and 1988 in which he championed the concerns of Black, Latino, Asian, and lower income white Americans. I will always be grateful for the friendship he gave Hillary, Chelsea and me; proud to have nominated him as my Special Envoy for the Promotion of Democracy in Africa; and honored to present him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.”
“Hillary and I loved him very much,” the statement said. “Our hearts and prayers go out to Jackie, their children and grandchildren, and all the people across America and around the world who were inspired by his service to humanity.”
At press conference in New York on Tuesday, the Rev. Al Sharpton spoke about their long friendship. They met when Sharpton was 13 and first becoming involved in civil rights activism through the church. Sharpton said Jackson’s tireless work was not only an inspiration to his career, it was also vital to keeping the civil rights movement alive.
“I always wondered how much trauma that must have been for him to witness Rev. King’s assassination. He never would talk about it too much, but it drove him. He said ‘We’ve got to keep Dr. King’s legacy alive.’”
Jackson, perhaps more than any other civil rights advocate, pushed for diversity, equity and inclusion in corporations whose leadership was overwhelmingly white and male. Now, of course, DEI is targeted by the Trump administration for elimination.
“Everything he fought for is at risk, and if we want to mourn him we’ve got to preserve what he fought for,” Sharpton said.
“The indelible mark he left on our university and indeed, on all of us, is deeply felt this morning. Our hearts and prayers go out to the Jackson family and to all who knew him and benefitted from his life’s work,” North Carolina A&T Chancellor James R. Martin II said in a news release.
The university noted that “Jackson quickly established himself as a campus leader, ultimately becoming student government president, even as he quarterbacked the Aggie football team,” before graduating in 1964 with a B.S. in sociology. It also celebrated his wife Jacqueline L.B. Jackson, who graduated from NCA&T in 1967, and returned with generations of her family to receive an honorary doctorate.
“Personally, I am grateful for Rev. Jackson’s mentorship and example to me and so many others. He reinforced in me that speaking the truth is always the right thing to do in real time,” said Michigan Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist, who could become the state’s first Black governor if he wins this year’s race to succeed term-limited Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
Whitmer said Jackson had a “special connection” to Michigan and especially Detroit. “He visited often, standing with labor, working with local leaders, and inspiring the next generation of changemakers,” her statement said. “As we heed Rev. Jackson’s tireless call to ‘Keep hope alive,’ let’s also continue to do the hard work of building a freer, fairer Michigan for all.”
“He showed us that change is possible when we have the courage to demand it,” said the association’s president, Mayor Van R. Johnson II of Savannah, Georgia.
“His two historic presidential campaigns opened the door to what is possible for Black leaders in America and became a direct inspiration for so many of us; as he said, ‘if our minds can conceive it, if our hearts can believe it, then we know that we can achieve it,’” the statement said. “We will honor his memory by continuing the work he started, and recommitting ourselves to the fight for a better, more just nation.”
Jackson was “a transformative leader whose life’s work is deeply woven into the history, mission, and enduring impact of our Association and the nation,” an NAACP statement said.
“He challenged this nation to live up to its highest ideals, and he reminded our movement that hope is both a strategy and a responsibility,” said the joint statement by NAACP Chairman Leon W. Russell, NAACP Vice Chair Karen Boykin Towns and NAACP President & CEO Derrick Johnson.
“Now, more than ever, we honor his legacy by continuing the work he championed: protecting the right to vote, expanding economic opportunity, and fighting for the freedom and dignity of Black people everywhere,” they said. “The Rev. Jackson’s passing marks the loss of a towering moral voice, but the movement he helped build will carry his light forward. His legacy calls each of us to stay committed, stay organized, and remain faithful to the pursuit of justice.
“Of course, we have known that he was ill for quite some time, and that ultimately it would come,” Rep. Danny K. Davis’ statement said. “The work, the spirit, what he has meant, not only to the city, the state, country and this world will continue to live on.”
“I extend condolences to his family. Mrs. Jackie Jackson, all of his children, and the work that he has done will continue, because they are all seriously involved in public decision-making. And so though he will be gone, he will continue to live on.”
“I join the people of Atlanta mourning the passing of an American icon,” Mayor Andre Dickens said. "Rev. Jackson showed up for us consistently. He never stopped challenging leaders to do better by Americans, especially when it comes to economic justice. And that’s a fight that we will continue.”
“Here in Atlanta, as well as around the country, we would be wise to heed Rev. Jackson’s words and ‘keep hope alive.’ We intend to,” his statement said.
Gov. JB Pritzker ordered flags to half-staff across Illinois in honor of the Rev. Jesse Jackson.
Pritzker, a Democrat, called Jackson a “giant of the civil rights movement.”
“He broke down barriers, inspired generations, and kept hope alive,” Pritzker said in social media posts. “Our state, nation, and world are better due to his years of service.”
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Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, praised Jackson for embodying “courage, hope, and a relentlessness that will not be denied.”
“His historic presidential campaigns paved the way for generations of Black leaders to imagine ourselves in rooms we were once told were closed to us,” Robinson said in a statement.
“Reverend Jackson also stood up when it mattered; when it wasn’t easy and when it wasn’t popular. His support for marriage equality and for LGBTQ+ people affirmed a simple, powerful truth: Our liberation is bound together.”
Jackson’s impact “can be felt in virtually every aspect of American life,” said Kristen Clarke, former Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Justice during the Biden administration.
“A tireless and extraordinary public servant, his charge to all of us was to stay hopeful, keep up the good fight and respect the dignity and humanity of all people,” Clarke said in an emailed statement on Tuesday. “Jackson has been, and will always be, a central part of the story regarding America’s ongoing quest for justice and equality.”
“Jackson was more than a civil rights advocate—he was a living bridge between generations, carrying forward the unfinished work and sacred promise of the Civil Rights Movement,” Martin Luther King III and his wife Andrea King said in a statement.
“He walked with courage when the road was uncertain, spoke with conviction when the truth was inconvenient, and stood with the poor, the marginalized, and the forgotten when it was not popular to do so. His life was a testament to the power of faith in action—faith that justice could be won, that dignity belongs to every person, and that love must always have the final word.”
“May his memory be a wellspring of strength and courage for all who continue the sacred work to which he gave his life. As he so often reminded us, “Keep hope alive.”
“Jesse Jackson was a gift from God and a witness that God exists in the ways he cared for and lifted all people, the way he called forth a rainbow coalition of people to challenge economic and social inequality from the pulpit to a historic presidential run, the way he dared to keep hope alive whenever the nation struggled with being who she says she is and yet ought to be,” said Bishop William J. Barber II, who co-founded the Poor People’s Campaign.
“When I was a college student, he was a gift to me as a mentor, and it has been my great privilege to have him walk alongside me through my whole public ministry,” Barber said. “May we all take up his hope for the America that has never yet been but nevertheless must be.”
“America has lost one of its great moral voices. Reverend Jesse Jackson spent his life working to ensure our nation lives up to its highest ideals. From his early days as a young staffer with Dr. King onto the national stage, he fought for freedom, racial justice, equality, and for the human dignity of the marginalized and the poor,” said Warnock, the Georgia Democrat who doubles as senior pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church, the ‘spiritual home’ of the King family.
“With an eloquence and rhythmic rhetoric all his own, Jesse Jackson reminded America that equal justice is not inevitable; it requires vigilance and commitment, and for freedom fighters, sacrifice. His ministry was poetry and spiritual power in the public square. He advanced King’s dream and bent the arc of history closer to justice,” Warnock said.
Jackson, who first travelled to South Africa in July 1979, just after Steve Biko’s passing, vigorously advocated for American sanctions on the apartheid regime and supported Nelson Mandela’s anti-apartheid struggle.
“His campaigns for an end to apartheid included disinvestment from the apartheid economy and challenging the support the regime enjoyed in certain circles and institutions internationally,” President Cyril Ramaphosa said.
“We are deeply indebted to the energy, principled clarity and personal risk with which he supported our struggle and campaigned for freedom and equality in other parts of the world.”
“Today, I lost the man who first called me into purpose when I was just twelve years old. And our nation lost one of its greatest moral voices. The Reverend Jesse Louis Jackson was not simply a civil rights leader; he was a movement unto himself. He carried history in his footsteps and hope in his voice,” Sharpton said.
“One of the greatest honors of my life was learning at his side. He reminded me that faith without action is just noise. He taught me that protest must have purpose, that faith must have feet, and that justice is not seasonal, it is daily work.”
“He was a gifted negotiator and a courageous bridge‑builder, serving humanity by bringing calm into tense rooms and creating pathways where none existed,” the Rev. Bernice King said.
“My family shares a long and meaningful history with him, rooted in a shared commitment to justice and love. As we grieve, we give thanks for a life that pushed hope into weary places.”
Jackson led a lifetime of crusades in the United States and abroad, advocating for the poor and underrepresented on issues from voting rights and job opportunities to education and health care. AP photo editors curated a gallery.
Trump remembered Jackson in a social media post that called him a “good man, with lots of personality, grit, and ‘street smarts.’”
The Republican president also described Jackson as “very gregarious -Someone who truly loved people!”
“He loved his family greatly, and to them I send my deepest sympathies and condolences. Jesse will be missed!” Trump wrote.
FILE - The Rev. Jesse Jackson, top right, is consoled by Rev. Marvin Winans, as Martin Luther King Jr.'s daughter Yolanda King, front from left, civil rights leader Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., wiping his tears, former Labor Secretary Alexis Herman, Martin Luther King Jr.'s sister Christine King Farris and Darryl R. Matthews, President of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity and Bill Walton, top left, take part in the ground breaking ceremony for the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the National Mall, Nov. 13, 2006 in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
FILE - Coretta Scott King holds hands while singing with the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Christine Farris, the sister of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., as they parade on Peachtree Street in Atlanta on Monday, Jan. 19, 1987 to honor King's birthday. At left in Mrs. Alveda king Beall and at right is Lupita Aquino Kashiwahara. (AP Photo/Charles Kelly, File)
