The two main stars of “Heated Rivalry,” the wildly popular hockey romance series, carried Olympic torches for a leg of the flame’s relay, which will eventually end at the historic San Siro Stadium in Milan, Italy, next month.
Connor Storrie, who plays Ilya Rozanov in the show, and Hudson Williams, who plays Shane Hollander, carried the flame through the Veneto section of the route that started in the Italian city of Udine and ended in the town of Belluno.
“Olympic Flame + Hudson Williams & Connor Storrie as torchbearers = ABSOLUTE CINEMA,” the official Olympics account posted on Instagram.
Williams and Storrie became viral sensations for their roles in the series, which streams on HBO Max in America and Crave in Canada. The show has spread like wildfire among the hockey community, with its soundtrack recently playing in many NHL arenas, including DC’s Capital One Arena on Pride Night.
The show is inspired by Rachel Reid’s book of the same name, the second novel in her popular Game Changers series. The story is about a secret romance between rival hockey players, Rozanov and Hollander, loosely based on the real-life intense rivalry between Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby.
HBO Max will play a big role in the upcoming Winter Games, as it is the primary broadcaster of the Olympics in Europe, including Italy and Germany, for the first time. In the US, the Games will be broadcast on NBC and streamed live on Peacock.
The actors are not the only hockey-related torchbearers ahead of February 6’s Opening Ceremony, as Italian players Gabriele Lanza, Andrea Macri, and Alessandro Andreoni have participated in prior legs of the relay.
Other notable names expected to carry a torch after Storrie and Williams include legendary soccer players Javier Zanetti and Cesc Fabregas, and Italian astronauts Paolo Nespoli and Luca Parmitano.
Alex Ovechkin was famously the first Russian to carry the Olympic torch ahead of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
