SHOW vs BOOK DIFFERENCES

Shane’s heritage is not addressed as directly in the book, but the show includes specific lines like 'breaking barriers' in S01E01 and talks about in the conversation with Rose in S01E04.

In the book, the gym scene Shane and Ilya running on treadmills. The show swaps these out for bike machines.

In the book, Shane and Ilya being in the same commercial is just because they are signed by the same company. The show turns it into a deliberate move on Ilya's part, which adds a whole extra layer to his intentions.

After the iconic locker room shower scene, the show reverses who leaves first. In the book, Ilya leaves the shower and gets dressed first. In the show, Shane is the one who leaves the shower first.

This line is a show original, and It doesn't exist anywhere in the book. Jacob wrote it in, and it now lives rent-free in our heads.

Ilya’s brother’s name is changed from Andrei in the book, to Alexei for the TV show adaptation.

After Ilya says "1221" at the all-star skill competition, it isn't Scott Hunter who sits next to Shane in the book - it's a Pittsburgh defenseman named Liam Casey.

"Not everything is about you, Hollander" is delivered very differently depending on the version. In the book, Ilya sounds tired and sad when he says it. In the show, he full-on shouts it at Shane.

In the books, Ilya has a large bear tattoo on his left pec because he plays for Boston Bears, but in the TV show, his team name changs to Boston Raiders, and therefore the bear tattoo is omitted.

The show changed team names from the books: Montreal Voyageurs becomes Montreal Metros, and Boston Bears becomes Boston Raiders.

In the book, Shane's bottoming sex scene actually takes place earlier in a hotel room - before the episode 1 Vegas rooftop scene. Jacob adapted it and merged it with the Shane apartment visit scene. Lines like "you come here" "no, you come here" are borrowed from this first hotel room scene.

Ilya love giving Shane nicknames. Other than "businessman", Ilya also calls Shane "Mr Lots-of-Sex" in the book, but interestingly, "Mr Real Estate" and "Mr Landlord" are show additions.

In the locker room scene in episode 2, it is the goalie who mentions fans are burning a fake Rozanov outside, but in the book, it is Hayden who says a similar line.

Hayden pretending to be a reporter and asking "What does Montreal have to do to win tonight?" is a show-only moment. In the book, that question is just asked by an actual reporter.

In the book, Shane buys an entire separate apartment just to have sex with Ilya in secret. The show cuts this and simplifies: Shane just brings Ilya back to his actual apartment through the back entrance.

Jacob took Ilya's inner thought “trying not to think about being murdered in a dark empty lot behind a creepy building” and turn it into Ilya's memorable line: “You will murder me 😳”.

The show expands what happens after the sex scene in Shane's apartment - Ilya asking "worth the wait?", Shane giving Ilya forehead kisses, and more of Ilya's self-doubt and emotional walls. In the book, Ilya leaves much more quickly and the moment isn't drawn out.

In the book, Shane meets Scott Hunter and Carter Vaughan on a beach at the Sochi Winter Olympics. The show moves this first meeting to a cafe scene instead.

The Russian gala scene - Svetlana, Sasha, all of it - doesn't exist in the book. The book just briefly mentions Ilya is attending a gala. Svetlana in the book is simply a regular hookup in Boston, not an old childhood friend, so she's not in Russia with Ilya at all.

In the book, Shane's only thought in the Las Vegas bathroom scene is being quietly impressed by how much Ilya's English has improved ("it had really come a long way."). Lines like "wow, genetic" and "I read the New Yorker now" are both show additions.

The iconic chair drag is improvised by director Jacob Tierney and Connor Storrie on the set for the TV show, and is not in the book.

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In the book, that is just an inner thought of Shane's. Jacob transformed it into a whole sequence: Shane typing out the text, slowly deleting it, and finally just saying "fuck". The perfect angsty ending to episode 2.

The lines "Or, I pick or" and "He deserves sunshine; and so do you" are new dialogue added to the TV show in S01E03 that does not appear in the Game Changer book.

In the Game Changer book, Kip’s "Blue Moon Over Brooklyn" smoothie does not contain extra banana, but the show adds it, and also changes the socks Kip gifted to Scott from a blueberry pattern to bananas.

In the Game Changer book, Scott Hunter has blond hair. While in the TV show, he has dark/brunette hair.

Ryan Price is just a mention in the show during the tuna melt scene. In the book, he actually has a scene with Ilya when they are flying together as teammates. Ilya sits with Ryan to watch a movie to help calm Ryan's fear of flying.

The twins' names changed slightly between versions. In the book they're Jade and Ruby. In the show, the twins become Emma and Ruby.

In the book, Ilya watches Shane's cottage documentary and Shane doing yoga alone. The show adds Svetlana in the room with him when the documentary is playing, which makes Ilya has to pretend he's not that interested and turn it off half way through.

In the show, Hayden knows that Shane has been texting a "Boston Lily". In the book, there's no mention of Hayden knowing anything about Lily.

In the book, Ilya lives in a penthouse apartment. The show changes this to a standalone house.

The restaurant where Shane meets Rose Landry changed from Djon-Djon in the book to Le Tambour in the show. Rose is also eating fritters in the book, not a bowl of fries like in the show.

The conversation between Shane and Rose is significantly expanded for the show. In the book, most of what they discuss is either implied or doesn't happen at all. The show builds it out into a full scene, with only "Under Dark" and the line "Michigan, remember? Winter can't scare me" carrying over from the book.

Small change, but Ilya's teammate got a slight name change: Cliff Marlow in the book became Cliff Marleau in the show.

The famous club scene (~all the things she said, this is not enough~) is set at Ultraviolet in the book. The show moves it to Ciel.

Before heading to the club, Ilya's hotel roommate in the book is a teammate named Ryan Carmichael. In the show, Ryan doesn't exist. Instead, Connors is Ilya's teammate and roommate.

Svetlana plays a smaller role in the book and doesn't appear until chapter 15. She's a long-term hookup in Boston, not Ilya's childhood friend. The show significantly expands her backstory, added multiple scenes with her and Ilya, and strengthen his relationship with Ilya.

"Cats and dogs!" is Carter Vaughan's line when he interrupts Shane and Ilya at the Tampa Bay bar. In the book, the interruption comes from Mike Brophy, a defenseman from New Jersey, and the lines are different too.

In the Tampa All-Star game coming out scene, in the book, Ilya doesn't cry after revealing his father had Alzheimer’s (which is changed to dementia in the show), and Shane therefore doesn't climb onto Ilya to comfort him.

The Tampa Bay hotel room scene is longer in the book. In the show, it ends after Ilya reveals his dad has dementia (side note: changed from Alzheimer's from the book) and breaks down crying, with Shane comforting him. In the book, they keep talking, and Ilya doesn't cry in that scene. Ilya also mentions that the cross he always wears belonged to his mother, and Shane and Ilya discusses when they could spend real time together, somewhere no one knows them, with Ilya asking "when will I have you for as long as I want?"

"Everyone must know this. Shane Hollander is an asshole" is a show-only line. It's not in the book, but it is very Ilya.

Ilya's Russian monologue doesn't exist in the book. That chapter is written from Shane's perspective, and he doesn't understand what Ilya is saying. The show created the monologue from scratch, and it became one of the most heartbreaking scenes in the season.

In the book, Shane first asks Ilya to come to his cottage while Ilya is still in Russia, which is earlier than in the show. He still asks again at the hospital, which is the moment the show focuses on.

Ilya and Shane have more phone calls in the book than the show. Jacob combined several of them. For example, the call where Ilya tells Shane his father has died, and the one that Ilya sees Shane in glasses are two separate calls.

Ilya is even more ruthless in the book. He says Scott Hunter is a million years old, not just 100,000 years old like in the show.

In the book, Shane tells Ilya about his hookups when Ilya's in Russia (Same call as the "You wear glasses?"). Shane says that he's had two previous hookups: A big, strong top in Mexico and another guy in LA (and a bunch of disappointed women). The show leaves these out entirely.

Shane's hospital scene is a bit different. In the show, Shane's a bit more high and out of it, but in the book, he's more coherent when he asks.

In the book, Ilya watches Scott and Kip's kiss alone at his penthouse. The show puts him with friends, and also expands the scene to make it as epic as possible.

This beautiful scene where Shane and Ilya watches sunrise together scene after saying "I love you" to each other is a new addition to the TV show and doesn't appear in the book.

In the book, Shane drives a Jeep Cherokee to the cottage, whereas in the TV show, the car is explicitly mentioned as 'not a Jeep' and is British.

Shane's cottage is considerably bigger in the book. It has an indoor hockey training facility, a boathouse, a hot tub, a pool, a gym, and comes with kayaks and jet skis. The show scales it back to something a little more down-to-earth.

This exchange - one of the most beloved in the book - is cut from the show.

At the cottage in the show, Ilya asks Shane about Yuna and David by name. In the book, Ilya doesn't actually know Shane's parents' names at that point.

In the book, Ilya is the one who asks "How could we let this happen?" and Shane responds "We are very stupid and irresponsible". The show swaps who says what.

"She would have loved you" exists in both the book and the show. Jacob added "Like I love you" just for the show. Four words that destroyed everyone.

In the book, Ilya doesn't just splash Shane, he full-on shoves him into the lake. Then jumps in after him like a cannonball. The show is gentler with this one.

The conversation at Shane's parents' house happens in the living room in the book, not the dining room. Shane's parents are on the couch, with Shane and Ilya sitting across from them in separate chairs.

David hands Ilya a can of beer in the book. The show upgrades this to Russian vodka; a small but deliberate callback choice.

Shane coming out to Yuna is a scene written entirely for the show and it's one of my favourite scenes. It doesn't happen in the book.

The show ends with Shane and Ilya driving off together after the scene at his parents' house. The book continues from there - there are two more chapters (chapter 27 and an epilogue) that didn't make it to screen.