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Well, folks, we did it.
Almost as soon as Crave’s breakout hockey romance Heated Rivalry hit the screens, so did the frenzy over Shane Hollander’s Team Canada zip-up fleece. Hollander, played by Canadian Hudson Williams, sports the white zip-up during the Sochi Olympic scenes in Episode 2.
And while the fluffy jacket isn’t official Team Canada merch, fans have been demanding the opportunity to buy it ever since. Now, the creators of the wildly popular show have partnered with a Canadian clothing company to answer our call.
“We’re releasing the fleece,” apparel company Province of Canada wrote on its website and social media accounts Wednesday morning, a nod to one of the show’s most iconic quotes.
The jacket will be produced and distributed by the Toronto-based clothing brand. There are no details yet on pricing or release date, with Province of Canada saying they’ll share those details once they become available.
“Fans are the heart of Heated Rivalry, and this is entirely because of them,” executive producers and co-presidents of Accent Aigu Entertainment, Jacob Tierney and Brendan Brady, said in a news release Wednesday.
“We’ve listened closely to what they’ve been asking for, and the fleece jacket has been at the top of that list,” they added.
The Heated Rivalry obsession
It would be an understatement to merely call Heated Rivalry popular. The show about two hockey players pitted against each other on the ice, but who develop a secret relationship off the rink, is more of an obsession.
The six-episode series is based on a steamy hockey romance series called Game Changers by Nova Scotia author Rachel Reid. The screen adaptation was created by Tierney for Crave.
Since Heated Rivalry premiered in late November, Bell Media says the show’s viewership on Crave has grown 400 per cent, becoming the streamer’s No. 1 debut show on record. Outside Canada, Variety reports it’s the top-rated non-animated series ever acquired by HBO Max.
Last week, it was announced that the show’s co-stars, Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie, will be among the torchbearers carrying the Olympic flame for the Milano-Cortina Winter Games in February.
And as for the fleece? The furor even reached the official Team Canada account. After an Instagram post teasing the roster for Canada’s 2026 men’s hockey team was littered with comments inspired by the Heated Rivalry fleece, they responded with a tongue-in-cheek request for fans to “be excited for both.”
In response, another fan created a Change.org petition urging Team Canada to move ahead with the design that would “[lower] the barrier for new fans, including women, LGBTQIA+ fans, and people who are newer to hockey or the Olympics, to engage in a way that feels welcoming and authentic.”
On Wednesday, the creators of that petition declared their campaign a victory.
“While the forthcoming release is not official Team Canada merchandise, there is a confirmed path for fans to buy a version of the fleece,” Change.org said in a news release.
Sylvie Bouffard, a Heated Rivalry fan, and Hanna Puley, the show’s costume designer, tell The National about the moment fans created their own version of character Shane Hollander’s viral Team Canada fleece and how it represents more than just a sweater.
