‘Heated Rivalry’ Cottage Owner Did ‘Soul-Searching’ Before Welcoming Production Back for Season 2

Dan Clarendon August 30, 2026, 10:56 am

Hudson Williams as Shane Hollander in 'Heated Rivalry' — Crave/YouTube

What To Know

Michael Kutryk, owner of the Muskoka cottage featured in HBO Max’s “Heated Rivalry,” initially hesitated but to let the production return for Season .
Kutryk collaborated with architect and former hockey player Trevor McIvor to design the modernist cottage.
Despite the cottage’s rising fame, Kutryk remains uncertain about allowing future productions.

At first, Michael Kutryk wasn’t sure what to say when the Heated Rivalry production asked to reuse his cottage for Season 2.

Fans of HBO Max’s hockey romance know Kutryk’s modernist getaway in the Muskoka woods of Ontario as “The Cottage,” the namesake location of the Season 1 finale.

And Kutryk, a Toronto-based doctor, told HGTV he got “almost nothing” for Season 1’s filming at his cottage and “did a little bit of soul-searching about allowing [the production] to come back” for Season 2.

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“I know they need it, and I realize I [could] be difficult and try to squeeze them, but I [couldn’t] bring myself to do that,” Kutryk explained. “When they called, they said, ‘How much do you want?’ First, I told them they scratched my table, then I named a very reasonable price. They were shocked and appreciative. I actually didn’t even get them to replace my table.”

Kutryk recounted starting to plan the cottage in 2017 after purchasing the land. He worked with architect Trevor McIvor — who, as it happens, is a former hockey star. Together, they designed a glass, steel, and blackened-timber structure. “Bedrooms on one side, kitchen on the other, an irregular roofline, something that would be kind of hidden and blend into the surroundings,” Kutryk said.

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A location scout for Heated Rivalry discovered the house and got in touch with Kutryk. A producer told him the show was based on a novel about hockey, but it wasn’t until Kutryk listened to the audiobook that he realized how steamy the series would be. (He also told HGTV that the Heated Rivalry crew did swap out a mattress for a certain scene filmed at his cottage.)

Now Kutryk, who rented out his cottage this summer, is ambivalent about future access to his property. “We’ll see after Season 2 airs what demand is like,” he said. “It’s still true: I’m a private guy. This is my retreat. I built this to get away from the world, so I don’t know how much longer I’ll continue to share it.”