Welcome back for the final hockey season update for the girls and the gays.
So many things happened in Episode 5: I’ll Believe in Anything, but the most important thing you need to know is that Ilya is coming to the cottage. Ilya Rosanov is throwing caution to the wind, consequences be damned, and is coming to Shane’s cottage to spend two weeks of the summer with him. Alone.
“Don’t go to Russia. Come to my house. We’ll have so much fun, it’s so private, no one will know. We could have a week, or even two. We’d be completely alone, together.”
Episode 5 was filled with emotional turmoil as Shane and Ilya begin to realize that they are in way too deep and there is only one logical option: end things now before it becomes real. Even when Ilya confesses that all he can think about is Shane, that Shane is all he wants, that he loves him, there is still a wall between them. What kind of life could they truly have together if they have to spend it behind locked doors, telling absolutely no one about the person they love most?
And then, after the New York Admirals win the Stanley Cup for the first time in 28 years, everything changes. When Scott kisses Kip on the ice, a future is suddenly possible. And Ilya jumps at the chance to seize it.
“I’m coming to the cottage,” and to the cottage we go!
(If you missed my last recaps, you can find Episodes 1 & 2 here, 3 & 4 here, and 5 here.)
Episode 6: The Cottage
And the most valuable player is… Scott Hunter!
Episode 6 opens at the MLH awards. Scott Hunter walks onto the stage to receive his award and talks about the night he achieved his life long dream of winning the cup, among other things. He talks about the messages young fans have been sending him after coming out publicly and the importance of sharing the parts of his life he used to keep so private. It’s been exhausting to work so hard to keep that part of his life hidden. And lonely. But luckily he found the one person who could give him the confidence, the strength, and the need to be honest about who he is.
Fear is a powerful thing. But love can be more powerful.
It’s July in Ottawa and Shane is waiting in his car outside the airport. Ilya walks up to the car, hat and sunglasses on, and gets in. The drive to the cottage is two hours, during which they talk about all the relaxing they are going to do. Ilya asks if they are really going to just relax, to which Shane says he would like the chance to be able to relax with him for once. And no one will be around to bother them. Not even Shane’s parents, who think he is on a silent retreat.
“I’m glad you’re here.”
“Me too, but… also, like, terrified, yeah?”
Ilya takes Shane’s hand, holding it in both of his as they drive together to the cottage.
When they arrive, Shane starts giving Ilya a tour, but Ilya has other ideas. Taking Shane’s face in his hands, the two stumble to the couch and collapse against it with breathless laughter and smiles. Shane warns Ilya that he might not last long because he hasn’t been with anyone in a while, to which Ilya says “same”, admitting that he hasn’t been with anyone else since they were together last.
Shane asks if, for the next few weeks, they can be honest with each other about what they think and feel. Ilya agrees to try.
Over burgers, Ilya asks about Shane’s parents and if they know. Not about him, but about Shane. Shane says that he thinks he would have told them already and that they would be fine with it, with him, if not for who he had been with all these years. Ilya reminds Shane that he can tell his parents he’s gay without telling them who he’s been fucking.
Later that night, while sitting by the fire, Ilya discovers the existence of loons, or “stupid canadian wolf birds” as he calls them. Shane imitates their call back to them and Ilya insists he hates him. When Shane says he doesn’t, Ilya looks over at him and everything he wants to say remains unspoken.
Shane asks if Ilya has spoken to his brother lately, a hand resting on his waist as Ilya lays with his head on Shane’s lap. Ilya says that he hasn’t and Shane says he’s sorry about Ilya’s family. Ilya tells Shane about his mother. She was great, he says, and when Shane asks how she died he says that she accidentally swallowed a bottle of pills when he was twelve. She was so funny and beautiful, but so sad.
The camera zooms in on Ilya’s face, his eyes shimmering in the firelight as Shane finds his hand and holds on tight.
They wake together in the morning and Ilya looks over at Shane.
“I like you,” he says
“I like you, too.”
Hayden calls Shane while he and Ilya are playing a game and Ilya decides to play an entirely different one. As Shane asks Hayden about the new baby, Ilya trails his hand up Shane’s leg. Shane finishes the call and, well, Ilya finishes him. “You like to be bad,” Ilya teases him, and Shane makes it clear that what they have together isn’t about that. Not anymore.
Outside playing soccer, Shane and Ilya start to hatch a plan. Next season, Ilya becomes a free agent. Instead of signing with Boston, he could sign with a Canadian team. For the passport, of course. That night, he brings up marrying Svetlana for her American passport. Shane stares at him, eyes glassy, and as Ilya confesses that no matter what woman he was with, despite how funny or how sexy she was, he was always wishing it was him. Shane asks him not to marry Svetlana and they would find another way to get him a passport.
Shane nudges Ilya awake with another idea: what if he plays for Ottawa? They could change the narrative, starting by creating a charity together. It would be easy to explain a friendship, then. It wouldn’t be crazy to see them in public together, friendly, and they would only be two hours apart from each other. Ilya could apply for citizenship and when they retire, one day, they could be together for real.
Ilya gets quiet, asking him if that’s what he wants, to be together. “So much. So much it scares me,” Shane says and Ilya looks away, a tear streaming down his cheek. Shane pulls him back to him and when they start kissing, Ilya mutters something in Russian.
“I love you.”
“Holy shit.”
“I mean…”
“I love you, too.”
Ilya falls into Shane’s arms and Shane asks if it kills him too. “Not anymore,” Ilya mutters as Shane cards his fingers through his hair, pressing kisses to his forehead. They spend the morning together in a way they never have before. Tenderly. Lovingly. The way they can now that their love is known and acknowledged. Accepted.
Shane asks Ilya for his mother’s name, Irina, and brings up the idea to start a hockey school and raise money for suicide prevention. “She would have loved you. Like I love you,” Ilya whispers, while looking at Shane with all the love in the world in his eyes.
After a swim in the lake, we see Shane and Ilya walk back to the cottage. Ilya presses him against the glass, kissing him slowly, and as the camera shifts, we see someone standing in the cottage. It’s Shane’s father, who retreats quickly after making eye contact with Ilya and drives away before Shane can talk to him.
While this is Shane’s literal worst nightmare, Ilya convinces him to talk to his parents. So, they drive over together.
When Shane and Ilya arrive, his father immediately apologizes, to which Shane says that he wished they hadn’t found out he was gay that way, that he was going to tell him soon, that he and Ilya are lovers (in Ilya’s words, Shane thinks that’s gross). While his parents are obviously confused about his relationship with Ilya, especially when learning they’ve been hooking up since before rookie season, they tell him that they’ve had a suspicion he was gay for a while. But it’s still a lot for them to process, and after hearing Shane and Ilya say they’ve only been in love with one person, despite the opportunity for easier relationships elsewhere, Yuna takes a moment outside.
Shane follows her, needing her to know that he tried so hard to do everything right, but she stops him, telling him that he has nothing to apologize for. Instead, she apologizes, saying how sorry she is that she made him feel like he couldn’t tell her and that she is so, so proud of him. She asks him to forgive her. “I forgive you mom,” he says, head resting on her shoulder (and yes I’m crying again typing this).
“What’s the plan?” Yuna asks when they’re back inside, talking about their future plans over spaghetti and wine. And just like that, everything is good. Despite the confusion and all the emotions, their love for each other is plain to see. Shane and Ilya head out, with Shane’s parents promising to bring over chicken and beer around 5 and the reminder to pay attention to their phones.
The two drive off together, holding hands and catching glimpses of each other whenever they can.
Book vs. Show: the perfect episode
Episode 6 is what I would call the perfect episode. While there were still some differences between the book and the show, not a single one of them affected the emotions conveyed by the original story.
Thinking back to Episode 5, when writing the recap I was so focused on the portrayal of Shane and Ilya’s emotions that I didn’t think to consider how it was actually making me feel. Something I didn’t talk about was the difference in what scenes brought me to tears when watching the show versus reading the book. While Episode 5 was very emotionally charged in both the book and the show, it was not the same scene in both that reduced me to tears. It might not be hard to guess based on the opinions I shared in my last recap, but the Skype scene in the book was very emotional for me. I did not have the same response in the show, considering it was cut short. But Ilya’s Russian speech had me in tears.
I did not have the same experience during Episode 6. Every scene that brought me to tears in the show dredged up the same emotions as they did in the book, and that’s what makes this episode so perfect.
While we aren’t privy to the thoughts and feelings Shane and Ilya keep hidden from each other like we are in the book, there is something about seeing those emotions, which they have been so afraid of showing to the other, finally break through to the surface that hits just as much as reading it. I can only commend Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie for such a phenomenal performance to be able to bring their relationship and all its tortuous emotions to life.
The moment they finally say those three most terrifying words out loud was so emotional, how could it not bring you to tears?
“‘This is real, yes?’ Ilya asked. He just had to make sure.
‘It’s real,’ Shane said. His voice was low and adorably scratchy.
‘I feel like… I am dreaming?’
‘You’re not. I love you.’
Ilya wasn’t sure his heart could take any more of this. It felt like it was pushing up against his lungs, making it hard to breathe. Hard to think. Hard to do anything except hold Shane down and kiss him over and over again.”
The words exchanged between them. Shane saying “I love you”, again. How vulnerable Ilya is in this moment. How all he can do is hold him and kiss him and be as close to him as possible. And while we can’t read how Ilya is feeling in the show, his emotions are clear as day. The way his voice shakes, the way he holds Shane tight. The way he looks at Shane and how Shane looks back at him. How can you not cry watching that?
The other time I cried (well, one of the other times because obviously I was bawling my eyes out when Shane said he wanted raise money for suicide prevention) was when Shane and his mom were talking outside his parents house, which didn’t actually happen in the book. I am so happy the show decided to add this scene. It has been absolutely amazing to see such a healthy and happy portrayal of a gay relationship on TV and to be able to end the season with an emotional scene between Shane and his mom, where his mom tells him it’s okay and that she loves him, just tops it off. The scene feels like it belongs, like it was always meant to be part of the story, and I’m beyond happy that Jacob Tierney wrote it for the show.
So, regardless of the things the show added or chose not to include, this episode was absolutely perfect.
Book vs. Show: what you missed
While I have already said that the things the show changed in this episode did not affect its authenticity whatsoever, I did want to share a few things that were missing from the show that people who have not read the book might enjoy knowing exist.
One thing I found really sweet was Shane’s obsession with the fantasy of Ilya meeting his parents. While his greatest fear is being discovered with Ilya, it is also his greatest desire for all of the people he loves to share space with each other. Shane knows he could never introduce Ilya to them as his lover without outing himself, but he often imagines a time when he could introduce him as even just a fellow hockey player.
“And they would meet. And they would shake his hand and Ilya would nod politely at them and tell them it was nice to meet them. Then it would be over, and his parents would shake the hand of the next person who approached them and they would have no idea–no idea–how much of a relief it would be for Shane to have witnessed just that simple contact. To know that the two people he loved in the most had touched the skin of Ilya Rozanov, and had looked into his eyes, even for a second, and that Shane now had concrete proof that all three of them existed in the same world.”
It is just so incredibly endearing, and ironic considering what happens just a few days later, that all Shane wants is for the three people he loves most to know each other and exist together, even for just a fleeting moment. And then it happens. While absolutely terrifying, Shane is able to get exactly what he wants. And Ilya gets exactly what he is missing as well, to finally be part of a loving family.
“Ilya wanted to tell Shane that it had been one of the best days of his life. It had been awkward, sure, but Ilya felt that, if he hadn’t quite been already, he would be welcomed into Shane’s family, and that was no small thing. In fact, to Ilya, who had barely been welcome in his own family, it was huge.”
In the book, there are also a few additional scenes that occur after where the show ended. The book follows Shane and Ilya home, where they talk about what happened and the plans they have for their future together. Ilya jokes about asking Shane to marry him to help him get his Canadian citizenship faster and Shane will say yes because he’s a nice and helpful guy, to which Shane says that he would say yes because he wants to spend the rest of his life with the man he is madly in love with. And we all died (Ilya most of all).
Then, in the epilogue, we skip sixteen months later. Ilya has joined the Ottawa team and they are finally announcing the charity they created together, the Irina Foundation. Within the epilogue, we learn that Hayden put two and two together when Shane suddenly stopped going to Boston and instead started traveling to Ottawa a lot more right after Ilya was drafted there. He confronted Shane about it, half-joking, and Shane and Ilya’s circle of people got one person bigger. Ilya and Hayden don’t get along nearly as well as Shane would like, but it helps, having another person on their side who they can be themselves with (you can read about the night they had Hayden and Jackie over for dinner in the bonus story My Dinner with Hayden)
And that is where the book leaves us, with Shane and Ilya happy and one step closer to spending the rest of their lives together.
So, what’s next?
As I mentioned in a previous recap, the second season of Heated Rivalry has already been announced. Shane and Ilya’s story will continue, covering content from the sixth book in the Game Changers series, The Long Game, the sequel to Shane and Ilya’s portion of the story. While I speculated that season two would also dabble in Ryan Price and Fabian Salah’s love story from book three Tough Guy like we saw for Scott and Kip, since Ryan’s name has already been mentioned in the show, the lead from a different book has already been cast.
Say hello to Mathew Finlan as Kyle Swift, the young and hot graduate student veteran goaltender Eric Bennett falls for in Game Changers book four, Common Goal. But we have actually met him before. Remember Kip’s cute twink of a bartender? Well, that was Kyle Swift, who has moved to New York with a broken heart and the determination to date someone his own age, for once.
An interview with GQ revealed that Williams and Storrie have signed on for three seasons of Heated Rivalry and Williams told Variety that filming for the second season will most likely start in the summer of 2026. Which means that we most likely won’t be seeing any more of Shane and Ilya until 2027. At least on TV.
If you can’t wait until then, try reading the series! While six books might not fill all your time until the next season, they will certainly help your post-hockey romance hangover. In the series, we have…
- Game Changer, featuring Scott Hunter and Kip Grady, a hockey veteran and sexy barista romance.
- Heated Rivalry, featuring the one and only Shane Hollander and Ilya Rosanov, a rivals-to-lovers hockey player romance.
- Tough Guy, featuring Ryan Price and Fabian Salah, a second chance romance between an anxiety ridden hockey enforcer and a musician.
- Common Goal, featuring Eric Bennett and Kyle Swift, an age-gap romance between a veteran goaltender and a graduate student.
- Role Model, featuring Troy Barrett and Harris Drover, a grumpy/sunshine romance between a recently traded hockey player and the team’s social media manager.
- The Long Game, once again featuring Shane Hollander and Ilya Rosanov, as they navigate the next step in their relationship after Ilya joins the Ottawa team.
Rachel Reid also has two other standalone MM hockey romances outside of the Game Changers series.
Time to Shine, a story about two teammates who start living together and race against the countdown to the New Year as their friendship turns into something neither of them expected, and The Shots You Take, which follows two ex-teammates with a steamy past reuniting when Riley moves back to his hometown and Adam does everything he can to win his trust back.
But wait, there’s more.
On January 10th, 2026 book seven of the Game Changers series was announced. On September 29th, 2026, Shane and Ilya’s story will be continuing in Unrivaled, where they are married, playing on the same team, and navigating the hockey world and the backlash they received after revealing their relationship. You can already pre-order the book with Barnes and Noble and Amazon. So, while there won’t be any new Shane and Ilya content to watch, there will be plenty for you to read throughout 2026.
