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At around the midpoint of the first episode of Heated Rivalry, just after Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov – one Canadian, the other Russian, both hockey’s top prospects – have had their first tryst, Hollander sits at the side of his hotel bed and says: “So. You’re not going to tell anyone about this, are you?” Rozanov, lying naked beside him, replies sarcastically: “Me? Yes, Hollander, I’m going to tell everyone.” Hollander reinforces the point: “Because no one can know,” he says. Rozanov utters something under his breath in Russian, then: “Hollander. Look, I’m not going to tell anyone, OK?” Hollander replies: “OK.”

No one can know. If hockey were to have an unofficial slogan, this might be it. Heated Rivalry, the surprise 2025 hit series from Crave and HBO, is layered drama, prompting timely questions about the barriers to acceptance that persist within sport even as they are lowered elsewhere across society. But it may be that hockey’s existential battle with its culture of silence is the show’s deepest target.

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Hockey culture presents a paradox, simultaneously welcoming yet exclusive. When the NHL launched its Hockey Is For Everyone initiative in 2017, the league was making a point about attracting new fans from groups that did not typically see themselves reflected on the ice, including members of the LGBTQ+ community. It was a savvy business move, if nothing else. “Diverse representation within inclusive environments is proven to advance innovation, creativity, and decision-making – all of which are important to the growth of the sport and our business,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman wrote in his introduction to the league’s first report on diversity and inclusion in 2022. Inclusion, Bettman wrote, is a “driver for performance … individuals and organizations grow stronger from uniting across differences”. Times were changing, lessons were being learned. Briefly, anyway. The 2022 “annual” report has since been scrubbed from the NHL’s website (it remains available elsewhere). And while the league continues to work on inclusivity initiatives and claims it is attracting more women fans, there has not been another report since.

Just a few months after that diversity report’s release, in January 2023, Ivan Provorov, then a defenseman for the Philadelphia Flyers, refused to wear a Pride-themed jersey during a pre-game warm-up, saying it conflicted with his religious beliefs. The jerseys had been introduced as part of the Hockey Is For Everyone initiative and were typically auctioned afterwards to raise money for local charities. In the weeks that followed, more players refused to wear their team’s Pride jersey. Rather than push back or make the jerseys a requirement like any other aspect of a team’s uniform, the NHL officially walked away from it all, eliminating the jerseys. The whole thing had “just become more of a distraction from really the essence of what the purpose of these nights are,” Bettman said that summer.

In hockey, nobody wants to be a distraction. “[The players told me] it doesn’t matter if you’re gay, or concussed, or you’ve been sexually abused or have mental health issues, none of those are OK because you are a distraction,” Cheryl MacDonald, former co-chair of the western Canadian board of You Can Play, said of her interviews with a handful of gay hockey players in 2019. MacDonald had wondered why more gay players did not choose to come out. “You don’t want to risk it not being OK, because the perception is someone who is just as good at your job but isn’t gay is going to take your spot,” she said at the time. Better to say nothing at all.”

In the penultimate episode of Heated Rivalry, another gay player unexpectedly invites his boyfriend on to the ice to help celebrate a championship win. They kiss in front of tens of thousands of fans and, presumably, millions of viewers at home. It is a public coming out. The show pivots immediately to how this impacts Hollander and Rozanov and offers very little sense of how the kiss was received more broadly, but amid the on-ice embrace, the crowd appears enraptured, not appalled. The TV announcer simply says: “You don’t see that every day.” Well, no. But if we did?

In the same 2019 study, MacDonald also found that once gay players did come out, their teammates generally reacted positively – and the typical homophobic jibes that persist in hockey locker rooms were muted. Moreover, the banter eventually incorporated their orientation, with straight players more respectfully making light of the gay players’ sexuality. “The gay players said the acknowledgement was nice … it seems there is room for consensual humor,” MacDonald noted. Likely, few in the hockey world would find that surprising either; just part of the frustrating paradox at the heart of its culture.

Heated Rivalry’s popularity has prompted plenty of speculation about whether it will attract new fans to hockey and to the NHL. But they are already here – watching, spending, supporting. Playing. And learning, often from a young age, what part of themselves they should keep quiet because, y’know, no one can know. As for the NHL, in December, a spokesperson told the Hollywood Reporter that “there are so many ways to get hooked on hockey and, in the NHL’s 108-year history, this might be the most unique driver for creating new fans. See you at the rink.” The line is cheerful, harmless and, in typical fashion, empty. Even when the conversation is unavoidable, the NHL still has little to say. It seems that for the league, this is not about hockey. It is still just a distraction.

U.S. men's ice hockey roster revealed for 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Team USA announced its roster for the men’s ice hockey competition at the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics on Friday, and it features the return of NHL stars to the Olympic stage.

Auston Matthews, Jack Eichel and Jack Hughes headline the 25-player roster, which includes 22 skaters and three goaltenders:

Forwards

• Jack Eichel, center, Vegas Golden Knights
• Auston Matthews, center, Toronto Maple Leafs
• Matthew Tkachuk, winger, Florida Panthers
• Brady Tkachuk, winger, Ottawa Senators
• Matt Boldy, forward, Minnesota Wild 
• Kyle Connor, winger, Winnipeg Jets 
• Jake Guentzel, winger, Tampa Bay Lightning 
• Jack Hughes, center, New Jersey Devils
• Clayton Keller, forward, Utah Mammoth
• Dylan Larkin, center, Detroit Red Wings
• J.T. Miller, forward, New York Rangers
• Brock Nelson, Colorado Avalanche
• Tage Thompson, center, Buffalo Sabres
• Vincent Trocheck, center,  New York Rangers

Defensemen

• Charlie McAvoy, defenseman, Boston Bruins
• Quinn Hughes, defenseman, Vancouver Canucks
• Brock Faber, defenseman, Minnesota Wild 
• Noah Hanifin, defenseman, Vegas Golden Knights
• Seth Jones, defenseman, Florida Panthers
• Jake Sanderson, defenseman, Ottawa Senators
• Jaccob Slavin, defenseman, Carolina Hurricanes
• Zach Werenski, defenseman, Columbus Blue Jackets

Goalies

• Connor Hellebuyck, goaltender, Winnipeg Jets 
• Jake Oettinger, goaltender, Dallas Stars
• Jeremy Swayman, goaltender, Boston Bruins

Matthews wore the “C” as Team USA’s captain during the inaugural 4 Nations Face-Off last year. McAvoy and Matthew Tkachuk were the team’s alternate captains during the competition, where Team USA fell to Canada in overtime of the championship tilt.

Sanderson and Faber are the only Team USA players with any prior Olympic experience, both of whom competed in the Winter Games in Beijing 2022. 

Team USA will compete in Group C, along with Latvia, Denmark and Germany. Here is the team’s group play schedule:

• Team USA vs. Latvia: Thursday, Feb. 12, 3:10 p.m. ET
• Team USA vs. Denmark: Saturday, Feb. 14, 3:10 p.m. ET
• Team USA vs. Germany: Sunday, Feb. 15, 3:10 p.m. ET

Group A will feature Canada, Switzerland, France and the Czech Republic. Reigning gold medalist Finland will play in Group B alongside Sweden, Slovakia and host Italy.

The gold medal will be awarded on Sunday, Feb. 22, the same day as the Closing Ceremony.

Team USA has 11 men’s hockey medals in its Olympic history. It earned its two gold medals on home ice, winning it all at the 1960 Squaw Valley Olympics and 1980 Lake Placid Olympics.

The U.S. collected its most recent Olympic medal in Vancouver in 2010, when it fell to host Canada in overtime of the gold medal game. The team failed to medal at each of the next three Olympics without NHL players on the roster, placing fourth at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, seventh at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics and fifth at the 2022 Beijing Olympics.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

An early three-goal deficit was too much for the Nashville Predators to get out of in a 4-1 loss to the Seattle Kraken on Thursday at Climate Pledge Arena. 

The Predators' first game of the 2026 calendar year was the fifth straight game that they were tasked with having to battle back. 

"We had our looks in the the third, but obviously the starts have been an issue here," Roman Josi said. "It's hard to be behind, especially against a good, defensive team. We have to figure out our starts and come out like we did in the second and part of the third." 

Matty Beniers scored nearly four minutes into the game, tipping in a shot from Ryker Evans, which he picked up off a Nick Perbix turnover. 

Halfway through the period, Jamie Oleksiak scored on a long wrist shot to make it 2-0. It took the Kraken 10 seconds after the Oleksiak goal to find the back of the net again as Beniers netted his second goal of the game off a Jordan Eberle rebound. 

Seattle found the back of the net three times on just six shots. Juuse Saros stayed in the net, making 19 saves on 22 shots on the night. 

Roman Josi got the Predators on the board in the second period on the power play. Nashville has now scored at least one power play goal in three straight games.

The Predators would pull Saros with around four minutes left in the game and Jared McCann capitalized, sealing the Kraken victory. 

Nashville had the shot edge 25-23 and took just two penalty minutes. It also converted on one of the two power-play opportunities. 

In the loss, the Predators fall to 18-18-4 on the season and fifth in the Central Division. Utah, which the Predators defeated on Monday, beat the New York Islanders to move ahead of Nashville.

The Predators have two more games left in their seven-game road trip, taking on the Calgary Flames on Saturday and the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday. 

"Calgary has been really good at home and we know how Edmonton plays at home," Josi said. "We know when our game is right by the way we play. We didn't do that in the beginning tonight and we need to do that right away."