Older gay men built their own hockey fandom. Then came ‘Heated Rivalry.’

Mike Holmes, 59, started watching “Heated Rivalry” because of the sex. 

“The first two episodes are the spiciest and, of course, that’s fun to watch,” he told The 19th. The gay hockey romance has become an unexpected international cultural sensation. The two leads were even chosen to carry the Olympic Torch for one leg of the relay ahead of the Winter Games, which begin Friday in the Italian cities of Milan and Cortina. 

What Holmes didn’t expect was an emotional journey back to a time in his life when he was afraid to be out. When actor François Arnaud’s character, professional hockey player Scott Hunter, came out in an arena full of fans, Holmes was transported back to the terrifying moments before he came out to his own friends and family. 

“The actor seems to be gulping air. I could viscerally feel that and flashed back to coming out to important people,” he said. “The first couple of times you come out, there’s such a sense of panic.”

Holmes works as a university administrator and lives in Attleboro, Massachusetts, with his husband, who works for the pharmaceutical industry. They have been married for over two decades and Holmes has been out for a very long time. But that scene in “Heated Rivalry,” and the series itself, tapped into something he didn’t expect. Holmes has gone back and watched the moment where Scott Hunter comes out a few times. 

“The show is set in the late 2010’s. The idea is that they can’t come out because they’re in the hypermasculine world of hockey,” Holmes said. “But when I was growing up, that was my reality everywhere. It wasn’t just hockey, it was life.” 

Gallons of ink have been spilled about the hit TV show’s fanbase among straight women, as well as backlash from some gay men who have pointed out that the focus on the closet is a little out of date. But that fear of coming out in a world that may be hostile is precisely what has resonated with older gay fans.  

That same coming-out scene that has stuck with Holmes also spoke to Eric Pinder, 59. Pinder works at a theme park and lives in Orlando, Florida, with his husband. They have been together 25 years, married for nine. Pinder also works as the artistic director for a nonprofit opera company. 

“At first, we didn’t really want to get married. My husband thought it was heteronormative. I only wanted the tax break from filing jointly,” Pinder said. But after the Pulse nightclub shooting, he said, “it became more important to me that we got married and declared to people that our relationship was real and we were legal about it.” 

Pinder and his now-husband, Dwayne Smoot, had always been avid hockey fans and decided to get married on the ice at the Orlando Solar Bears arena. Their cake was shaped like a Zamboni and their officiant wore a referee’s jersey. The goal horn went off during the ceremony when they kissed. 

Pinder wasn’t initially interested in “Heated Rivalry” when friends recommended it to him.

“My response was that I’m watching actual hockey right now. The season is on,” he said. 

But one day, while pet-sitting, he decided to give the show a try. To his surprise, he loved it. 

“I don’t want to say ‘a lot better than I was expecting’ because I don’t know what I was expecting. But I think the performances, the direction, were flawless,” Pinder said. 

He has gone on to read the books and is currently working on a “Heated Rivalry” opera parody for the Orlando Fringe Festival. Like Holmes, Pinder found the relationship between hockey player Scott Hunter and smoothie slinger Kip Grady, played by actor Robbie G.K., relatable, particularly their first scene together. 

“There’s sexual tension in that, crackle and chemistry. I met my husband at a party of other gay men. I remember when I met my husband, feeling that emotion — I just wanted to flirt with him the entire time,” Pinder said. Pinder had been wearing a Detroit Red Wings jersey and his now-husband recognized the logo. It turned out, after getting to know each other better, that Smoot knew nothing about hockey, much like when Kip Grady met Scott Hunter. 

Pinder was already in love with Smoot. It didn’t matter that he didn’t know anything about hockey yet. Smoot has since come to love the sport too. 

“Hockey’s been a big deal in our lives,” Pinder said. “We got married before a game. We’ve gone to see a lot of games. We’re season ticket members for the Solar Bears here in town. It’s something that has shaped our relationship.” 

Craig Brownstein, 68, lives in Washington, D.C. In 2010, Brownstein founded the first widely-read gay hockey blog, PuckBuddys, with his late husband, journalist Doug Johnson. Johnson died in 2022. “PuckBuddys was one of the greatest things I got to share with Doug,” Brownstein said. 

PuckBuddys became the center of a close-knit gay hockey fandom. Pinder was one of around 20 people who blogged for the site during its heyday. 

“When we started, we weren’t hockey players. We weren’t smart hockey fans. We weren’t going to detail the game, tactics, strategy or anything like that. We were going to be the cheeky gay bastards of the NHL and, as a lark, write about that,” Brownstein said.

Brownstein, who worked in public relations before he retired, used his experience to make PuckBuddys a smash hit. The blog became popular enough that Brownstein and Johnson got press credentials to attend Washington Capitals games and were featured in local and national news outlets, as well as the then-popular sports website Deadspin. 

“We were embraced by a wide swath of the hockey community,” Brownstein recalled. He remembered a conversation he had with a man in the National Hockey League front office who told him that hockey is a game for misfits on both sides of the glass.

“We were happy to embrace the term ‘misfit’ and to be a part of this weird, wacky, insular, peculiar, feral community of hockey fans,” Brownstein said. “They welcomed us. We were just a couple of gay guys who decided to do a hockey blog, and all of a sudden we were credentialed hockey journalists.” 

Brownstein is less enamored with “Heated Rivalry.” He called the first three episodes “a slog” and felt that the show could have been about any sport.

“Will this show jumpstart a more meaningful conversation about LGBT inclusivity in sports? I don’t know,” Brownstein said. He is proud of his contribution to the You Can Play campaign in 2013, where players came together to stand up for the inclusion and acceptance of gay athletes. However, there were not and still are not any openly gay players in the NHL. 

Brownstein is more optimistic about the possibility of a renewed gay hockey fandom. 

“If anybody gay watches ‘Heated Rivalry’ for the sex and the scintillating aspects, if they come to care more about the sport, they will be welcomed in the fandom as gay fans,” he said. He certainly was.