This is not to romanticise a sport fraught with a history of racism, misogyny and homophobia. In July last year, six months before Heated Rivalry aired and became a cultural juggernaut, five junior hockey players were acquitted of sexual assault. And there still isn’t an openly gay player in the National Hockey League (NHL). The NHL released an innocuous statement acknowledging the show’s popularity but not the issues it addresses: “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 all at the rink.”