EASTER EGGS & SMALL DETAILS

To show the passing of years, the show changes not only Shane and Ilya's phones, but also the design of their text message bubbles to reflect the technology at that time. Read this deep dive for more info.

Confirmed by Rachel Reid, director Jacob Tierney, and Hudson Williams himself - Shane being autistic is built into the character. The traits are everywhere once you're looking: the clothes-folding before sex, the strict routines, taking conversations literally and missing sarcasm, the sometimes struggle with eye contact. The portrayal is grounded, making it subtle and easy to miss, which is part of the point.

Before their first meeting, Ilya struggles twelve times to light his cigarette. But as soon as Shane appears, he successfully lights it on the first attempt, symbolising the spark between Shane and Ilya.

In the gym scene, after handing Shane the water bottle and touching his hand for a second too long, Ilya subtly mouths the word "more" to Shane.

After Canada beating Russia at International Prospect Cup, Shane tells Ilya "See you in October" with the world's most subtle wink. Next thing we know, Ilya's arranging a photoshoot together with Shane just because.

The show’s creator, Jacob Tierney, has a cameo as the assistant director filming Shane and Ilya’s commercial spots.

Yuna makes a big deal about Shane needing to wear Reebok in public because of his brand deal. However, in the show he actually never wears Reebok. Not even once. Shane has worn On and Nike shoes in the show.

Shane doesn't start putting on his shoes until Ilya comes out of the shower - either he's waiting for a chance to speak with him, or having a bit of a panic attack about it.

Shane’s go-to words when lying are "sure" or "for sure", which he says in S01E01 when Ilya asks whether he wants to 'forget about it', in S01E04 when Ilya asks whether he likes girls, and in S01E05 when Rose asks if he likes kissing her.

When leaving a hotel room after meeting, Shane always check left and right before exiting (E02 41:11 & E05 24:43), while Ilya just walks out (E01 26:14)

During the Nashville All-Star game, Shane's hockey stick has his mum's name on it - Yuna.

In hotel room 1221 during the Nashville all-stars game, Ilya says "get on your knees" and Shane obeys right away. Then Ilya subtly mouths “wow”.

At the MLH awards in Las Vegas, when doing shots with the older players, Shane was the last to turn over the shot glass likely because he's not used to doing that.

As a way to show Shane's autism and what he experiences, Jacob mentioned in an interview (if you know which one, please let me know!) that he increases the sound mix volume when the camera is focused on Shane in the locker room.

Ilya mouths "oh my god" when Shane pushes him into a wall at his apartment's stairwell.

Cheeky text exchange revealed at the Winter Olympic:
Shane: "Use the back entrance please."
Ilya: 😈
Shane: 🙄

(Interestingly, the 🙄 emoji wasn't introduced until 2015, and Sochi Olympics took place in 2014)

Ilya holds up the Stanley Cup in 2014 and yells in Russian: "For you, Mama!" after winning it with his team Boston Raiders.

Shane grimaces after drinking his first sip of vodka at Las Vegas hotel room.

The show moves Scott and Kip's first meeting significantly earlier than the Game Changer book. In the show, they meet around late 2013 (four months before the 2014 Sochi Olympics). In the book, they don't meet until January 2017 (right after Shane comes out to Rose).

A very small detail: Scott seems to lose his smile for a split second after Kip mentions watching the game with his dad the year before, as Scott's parents has passed away when he was 12.

Shane’s 'Valencio Pocaterra' commercial is shown in S01E03 (Kip and Elena watched it at Kingfisher), and the filming behind-the-scene is shown during the opening montage of S01E04.

One of the art pieces at Straw+Berry resembles the background decoration of the Game Changer game show by Dropout. The name Game Changers is the book series that the Heated Rivalry TV show is based on.

When Scott tells Kip he's "only had two concussions", he's holding up three fingers. That joke is referring to CTE - Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, a brain disease linked to repeated head trauma. CTE has also been linked to violent behaviour, which makes the whole serial killers and spree killers talk more relevant.

Kyle Swift, who appears as the bartender at Kingfisher and a friend of Kip, is one of the main characters from Game Changers book 4 - Common Goal

When Kip buys the banana socks for Scott, there’s an Under Dark poster on the wall, which is one of the movies Rose Landry is in when she mentions it to Shane in S01E04.

Kip wears Scott's red New York Admirals hoodie, which is the same one Scott wore earlier in the episode.

Sunshine is a central theme to Scott & Kip's relationship. At the gala, Elena tells Scott that Kip "deserves the best. He deserves sunshine. And so do you." When Skip finally kiss in S01E05, the song playing - I'll Believe in Anything - includes the lyric "Give me your eyes, I need sunshine." That same song also opens in S01E03, when Scott is out running and ends up at Straw+berry.

Kip's dad actually is at his birthday party at Kingfisher, while Scott watches from outside, alone.

At Straw+berry, Kip asks whether 'left sock, right sock' is one of the superstitious pre-game ritual. And at the end of the episode, Scott wears his right sock on his left foot.

The show’s co-producer, Brendan Brady, appears as the commercial director in S01E04, filming the same advertisement that airs on TV in S01E03 while Kip and Elena are in Kingfisher.

Ilya has clearly been planning the tuna melt day for a while and really wants Shane to stay. When trying to convince him, Ilya nervously kicks his feet under the blanket.

After their nap at Ilya's house, Ilya wakes first and watches Shane sleep. But when Shane starts to wake up, Ilya quickly pretends he's just waking up too, just to make it natural, nonchalant, and not awkward for Shane.

In the tuna melt scene, Ilya has Shane’s favourite ginger ale stocked in his fridge, showing that he has planned the day in advance, and knows Shane’s drink preference without asking.

In S01E04, Ilya mentions that fans love him in Florida in the tuna melt scene. Then in the next episode, during the bar scene, Shane says that it's nice that the All-Star game is in Tampa Bay, Florida.

At the 24-minute mark in S01E04, Shane jumps off Ilya’s lap after Ilya calls him with his first name. And at around the 24-minute mark in S01E05, Shane climbs back onto Ilya’s lap to comfort him as Ilya is crying after talking about his family.

At the restaurant after the tuna melt-down, Yuna initially says it would be fun to meet a "Swedish prince" at Wimbledon as part of the Rolex sponsorship, then quickly corrects herself to "Swedish princess". The scene isn't in the book, and the slip feels intentional. It's a small hint that Yuna (and possibly David) might already have their suspicions about Shane's sexuality. The Swedish prince reference might also be a nod to the show Young Royals.

In the montage of Rose and Shane dating, one of the online comments is left by @reidoftherachelle, which is a nod to Rachel Reid, whose real first name is Rachelle.

Ilya's teammate Connors is reading the room service menu - perfectly happy to stay in - right before Ilya suddenly yells "TELL PEEPOL" to go to the club.

One of the online comments shown while Shane and Rose are dating reads: "Shane looks like he would carry her bags, her hopes, her dreams, her entire life". At the cottage, Shane actually carries Ilya's bags into the house because of Ilya's rib injury.

During the breakup scene, when Rose asks Shane "Was it better?", the memory of his second time with Ilya that flashes across the screen is a different version than what we saw in Episode 1. However, the shower scene and the stairwell kiss memories are both the same take as previous episodes.

At the Tampa Bay bar, Ilya spots Shane walking in for the first time since the tuna melt-down - months of silence, and now Shane is dating Rose Landry. Before approaching, Ilya takes a quiet deep breath and mouths "ok" to ready himself before going in for information on Shane and Rose.

In the Tampa Bay hotel scene, where Shane finally comes out to Ilya, there is a framed photo/painting on the wall in the top left corner. The building is the Choi Hung Estate in Hong Kong. The name "Choi Hung" (彩虹) literally translates to "Rainbow" in Cantonese, which is a thoughtful prop detail in a scene where Shane comes out to Ilya.

On the hotel room bedside table during the Tampa Bay all star game, there's Shane's favourite drink - A can of ginger ale.

After Shane closes his eyes during the phone call with Ilya in Russia, the static disappears as if he and Ilya are in the same room together. The moment Shane opens his eyes again, the static returns.

At the end of the Russian monologue scene, the song "One Soul" plays then gets cut off soon after. In the cottage episode, after Shane and Ilya says "I love you", a much longer version of the same song plays as they watch the sunrise together and into the sex scene that follows.

After Shane is hit, Ilya is told to get back to his bench, but he is so focused on Shane that he is pushed back and drifted towards Montreal's bench instead of his own team's.

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In the hospital scene after Shane's injury, Shane's heartbeat monitors settles at 81, which is the same as Ilya's jersey number.

Rachel and Jacob takes inspiration from Jennifer Lawrence and the X-Men movies for the character Rose Landry, which becomes even clearer when Rose is on the set for X-Squad and gets painted blue, just like Jennifer's character Mystique.

A childhood photo of Hudson Williams (who plays Shane) is featured in the parents' cottage.

In the Heated Rivalry book (pg. 258): "Ilya felt like he was watching all the worst things about his life getting sucked up by a tornado" after watching the Skip kiss. The show translate that line visually by panning the camera around Shane, Ilya, Scott, and Kip like a tornado.

When Shane picks up Ilya to head to the cottage, Ilya is visibly nervous and can't get his seatbelt fastened until his third attempt after getting into Shane's practical car.

Sharing a flannel: Shane wears it at the barbecue making 8 burgers, while Ilya wears it on the sofa saying he "never wants that problem to ever go away".

The cottage is set in 2017, but the hockey game they play is from 2015 - the year Ilya is on the cover. The game covers of 2016 and 2017 likely feature Shane as he won two times after Ilya. He bought the old version likely because it features Ilya.

At the cottage, post-blowjob with Hayden still on the phone (Shane really trusts that mute button, doesn't he), Shane almost slips up and says: "I just had se—" before catching himself: "Someone's at the door."

Ilya uses humour and sarcasm to deflect from his real feelings. But at the cottage, it seems like it's the first time he uses sarcasm to confess instead: "I have this problem, yes?", "And everywhere I go I'm surrounded by beautiful women" and "I'm always wishing these women were him".

Right before Ilya says "I love you" to Shane for the first time, he whispers it twice in Russian first, "Ya tebya lyublyu".

At Shane's parents' house, Ilya quietly checks out the bottle of good Russian vodka.

Earlier in the episode, Ilya chooses hot dogs over pasta. But afterwards at Shane's parents' house, Ilya eats pasta (a lot of it), does a little happy wiggle, and contently says "thank you for pasta" when leaving.