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.

Before their first meeting, Ilya struggles three 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 beating Montreal, 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.

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, while Ilya just walks out every time.

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: 🙄

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.

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.

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.

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 the tuna melt scene nap, 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.

The wall art in Ilya’s living room seems to resemble an abstract version of the Heated Rivalry book cover, with colours similar to Shane and Ilya’s hockey team colours.

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.

After the tuna melt-down, Shane doesn't leave in his own clothes; Instead, he leaves wearing the shirt and pants Ilya has given him.

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 "call people" to go to the club.

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.

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.

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".

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.

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