'Heated Rivalry': Hockey's First Out Gay Player Brock McGillis Says It Won't Help Others Come Out

Brock McGillis is opening up about Heated Rivalry.

The 42-year-old athlete, who made history after coming out publicly in 2016 after he retired, addressed the steamy Crave/HBO Max series, which centers around two hockey players Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie) and Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) having a secret romance.

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“Episode one gave me a panic attack,” he said, via Pink News.

“I was scared. I dated a guy for three years, not a soul in my life knowing. We had an alias for [me in his phone] in case [his friends] ever saw.”

He also spoke about the culture of hockey.

“The language, behaviours, and attitudes that you get in locker rooms are sometimes homophobic – that starts at a very young age and progresses through your whole life. You’re programmed to feel that everyone will hate you and you’ll lose your career,” he went on to say.

“Sometimes I don’t think people recognise what they’re saying or the impact it has. But if you’re hearing that daily, it’s death by 1,000 paper cuts.”

Former hockey pro Sean Avery previously said that the show could help open the doors for players to come out, but Brock disagrees “wholeheartedly” with the sentiment.

“That’s just [Avery] trying to get press,” he added.

“It might help the people around [players] understand a little more if they’re dating somebody; hopefully,” he added.

“Nobody’s like, ‘Oh, yeah. This came out and now I’m ready [to come out].’ It’s not happening,” Brock said.

“It’s probably more likely to have an adverse effect on a player coming out. And I hate to be negative because I really enjoy the show. But I also don’t believe that many hockey bros are going to watch it. And I don’t think, if they are watching it, they’re talking about it positively.”

That said, Brock believes hockey player are “really good people.”

“If a player did come out, hockey players would be the most likely to rally around their teammate more than any of the other big sports,” he went on to say.

Instead, he points to his Shiftmakers tour, which has visited roughly 150 junior and youth hockey teams across North America, as something that can actually create a safe space for players.

“I would say I’ve had over 200 hockey players in the last six weeks disclose that they’ve experienced some form of self-harm, suicidal ideation. I’ve had 15 to 20 players disclose they’ve been sexually assaulted. I would say over 1,000 have some form of anxiety or depression,” he noted.

Find out what the actors just teased is coming in the next two episodes.

Just last week, the series was officially announced to be renewed for a second season, and an actor hit back at another actor slamming the show.