Real-life 'Heated Rivalry': Engaged Olympic hockey players competing for different countries
Love knows no bounds in Olympic hockey.
While the hit show Heated Rivalry has brought new fans to the sport, pondering the question of what if two opposing hockey players fell in love, a real-life equivalent is playing out at the Milano-Cortina 2026 Olympics.
Women’s hockey is known for having its fair share of queer players. One of the more popular stories from Team Canada’s Olympic squad is that married couple Marie-Philip Poulin and Laura Stacey will be playing alongside each other. That, however, isn’t quite the same as playing against each other on the world stage.
A pair of women’s hockey players is ripping a page out of the Heated Rivalry script. Sweden’s Anna Kjellbin will be lining up against her Finnish fiancée, Ronja Savolainen, during these Olympic Games.
Kjellbin admitted on a recent episode of the Jocks in Jills podcast that she probably won’t be talking to her fiancée all that much during the Olympics.
“I’ll probably see her,” Kjellbin said. “It will be full focus, I think, from both of us. We’ll definitely see each other, even though I’m very strict on what I’m doing, when I’m doing things.”
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Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that the soon-to-be married couple will actually face off against each other. Sweden and Finland are in separate groups throughout the preliminary round, and both countries would need to advance far enough into the knock-out round to play against one another.
Though this wouldn’t be the first time that the couple has been adversaries on the ice. Both play in the PWHL for different teams, with Savolainen suiting up for the Ottawa Charge, while Kjellbin is on the Toronto Sceptres.
Kjellbin said that Savolainen is a bit more gracious after Toronto defeats Ottawa than the other way around.
“I need to admit that, the games when I win, she’s like super nice to me after,” Kjellbin said. “She’s happy about it, kind of, even though she obviously wants to win.
“The games when she wins, and I’m not proud about this, but it can go days until I talk to her again… It is something I need to improve, for sure, but I can’t lie.”
Kjellbin and Savolainen had been dating for around five years before announcing their engagement back in 2024. It’s a curious romance from two players who hail from countries that are, pardon the pun, historically heated rivals.
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It will be interesting to see if this couple meets in the knockout round. If that happens, one half of the couple will end the Olympic gold medal dreams of the other. It’s truly a romance that Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov would be proud of.