Take Daily As Required (and an Update on my Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov Avatars in Second Life) – Ryan Schultz

I forget exactly how or when I found this piece of *Heated Rivalry* fan art, but I love it.

Hollanov is the name of the ship (relationship) between Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov. It’s shorthand which covers all the fan-created works inspired by the hit television series Heated Rivalry, based on the Game Changers series of gay hockey romance novels by Rachel Reid.

On December 31st, 2025, I wrote on my blog:

And so it was, that my Second Life freebie fashionista friend and partner in crime, whom I only know by their avatar name, Dreamer Pixelmaid, messaged me via Discord and asked me if I had watched Heated Rivalry yet. I had not. (Tonight I am finishing my second rewatch. I am hooked.)

…

It turns out that Dreamer and I not only have a shared interest in ferreting out fabulous Second Life freebies and bargains (something we both happen to be very good at!); we also shared an interest in same-sex romance fan fiction! Soon we were exchanging links to YouTube videos, Tumblr posts, and podcast links, all to do with the outsized reaction which a small Canadian TV show about a gay romance in the professional hockey world (actually, not one but two such romances) was causing, both among the gays and the straights.

Here is a zoom-out of all the pictures stored in the Photo Library on my iPad. Ever since Dreamer Pixelmaid told me about Heated Rivalry in late December 2025, 99.99% of my saved pictures are Hollanov fan art! I am legitimately obsessed.

Also, I now have well over 400 Heated Rivalry-inspired fanfics (fan-written fiction) bookmarked to read. I usually spend an hour or two lying on the sofa reading through recommended HR fanfics, some of which are good, and a few of which are among the best writing I’ve ever read. (I usually read lying on the sofa, to rest my neck and shoulders if they are aching. Oh, and the best place to find this fanfic is a website called Archive of Our Own, or AO3 for short. Here’s a link to get you started, of the most popular Heated Rivalry/Game Changers fanfic sorted by popularity. You’ll need to set up your own AO3 account to read some of these. Enjoy!)

Well, as you might already know, I have been using my 19 years of experience in creating and styling avatars to create Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov avatars in the virtual world of Second Life. I wrote about an earlier version of them back in January, but since then, I have been able to obtain much better head skins for both Shane and Ilya, and I have been tinkering around with the face and body sliders a bit more, so now they look like this:

And here are some pictures and videos I have taken of them in the past few months:

The cuddle animation in this video is from the Dutchie sofa (worth every Linden dollar spent!)

This tender animation is from the menu of options on this bed from Dutchie.

My most recent Hollanov creation in SL is the following work-in-progress video (silent, 1:14), in which I show various skating animations from two different AOs. Unfortunately, I still cannot seem to find any kind of hockey jersey that fits well over these hockey pants from Meva (the only ones I could find on the entire grid and in the Second Life Marketplace). So we have a topless Ilya skating around (I’m quite sure this is a sexual fantasy of Shane’s in some Heated Rivalry fanfic I have yet to read!).

Ladies, gentlemen, and fabulus people of all genders—Ilya Rozanov on ice!

I have been posting these pictures and videos to Primfeed (the Twitter of Second Life), as well as to four different Hollanov fan Discord servers of which I am a member. And I even resurrected my ancient, long-dormant Tumblr account to be able to post them to the thriving 31,000-member Hollanov community there:

Below is an example post of my Shane and Ilya Second Life pictures to the Hollanov community on Tumblr

Of course, the Hollanov fans (who call themselves “loons,” IYKYK) know next-to-nothing about Second Life, and many of the SL folks, who have not watched Heated Rivalry or read the books, are probably mystified as to why I am so often posting shots of these two fictional hockey players to my Primfeed. What can I say? My two obsessions have collided. I might need to create a very niche, very specialized 12-step group for myself… 😜

So, now you know how I have been keeping myself busy when I have been feeling anxious and overwhelmed and need an escape: enjoying Hollanov fan fiction, fan art, and fan-made music videos, and busy dressing, posing and taking pictures and videos of my Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov avatars! It’s been a blessed escape to enjoy other HR fans’ works, or to get lost in the creative flow of Second Life for an hour or two.

Thank you to Rachel Reid for writing the series of novels, and thanks to Jacob Tierney for making such a wonderful TV show from Rachel’s books. Heated Rivalry has inspired me to move forward in so many areas of my life. I’m so grateful for the push it has given me!

UPDATE 4:15 p.m.: I’ve been asked to provide the full styling credits for both the Ilya Rozanov and Shane Hollander avatars (please note that this is an update from my January blog post about them, before I bought new head skins for both):

Ilya Rozanov Styling Credits:

Head, Eyes, and Hairbase: LeLutka Kris head (a freebie from a previous LeLutka December event)
Head Skin: Ilya by Stray Dog (matches Velour’s Ivory skin tone)
Neck Moles: Izzie’s neck moles (medium)
Hair: WingsDG ER0714 brown pack (this was probably the hardest thing to find; I tested out a lot of hair at a LOT of different places before deciding this one came closest to Ilya’s shaggy, curly hair! I actually added the same hairstyle twice, and slightly rotated the second one, to get this look.) Underneath I have the BoM LeLutka EvoX hairbase 42 from the LeLutka head package.
Body: Meshbody Legacy Special Edition Basic (free, from the Avatar Welcome Pack)
Body Skin and Hair: Velour Picasso Homme fit figure body skin in Ivory skin tone (along with the chest, leg, and happy trail body hair and body moles included in the package; all body hair was tinted blond to match Ilya’s hair).
Arm Hair: Arm Hair 05 from Samurai (I bought this for free using free Samurai store credit from a previous Shop and Hop event; also tinted blond to match the rest of the body hair)
Fingernails: Purec Nature Nails Male (free group gift; group is free to join; they come with a fingernail alpha)
Toenails: Purec Nature Nails Male (free group gift; group is free to join; they come with a toenail alpha)
Shape: My own, playing with the face, head, and body sliders to match up with internet pictures of Ilya Rozanov/Connor Storrie (still somewhat a work-in-progress, although I am very happy with this result).
Animation Overide: Tuty’s sLIFE Free Male AO (free)
Shorts: Hardcore (HD003ST) Men’s Slim Fit Shorts in black (I bought this for free using free Hardcore store credit from a previous Shop and Hop event)
Black Underwear: Hardcore (HD013BS) Men’s Basic Briefs in black (I bought this for free using free Hardcore store credit from a previous Shop and Hop event)
Hockey Gear for Video: Meva’s Hockey Pants Complete (these only come in the Signature Gianni size, but with alphas they fit well). I had to create a BoM/underwear layer grey wool sock to cover some bare skin above the skates.The skates were bought from a gacha reseller, they are from the Winter Hockey gacha by Sese & PA and you’ll need to find a good ankle lock to use with them, as well as foot and fingernail alphas! There’s no skating AO that comes with them, so I am trying to cobble something together myself from other skating AOs I can find…still a work in progress! Somebody please make a hockey AO, you’ll make a killing once season two of Heated Rivalry hits!

Shane Hollander Styling Credits:

Head: LeLutka Gen head 4.0 (while there’s a free Gen Lite version in the Avatar Welcome pack, I bought the full-price version to use the facial animations and poses in the HUD)
Head Skin: Shane skin by OuterNaked (matches Velour’s Idol skin tone; includes the optional, tintable freckles shown in these pictures)
Eyes: Florest eyes from Alexandrite
Hair: Jack hairstyle by ADE (free group gift; group is free to join). Underneath I have the BoM LeLutka EvoX hairbase 49 from the LeLutka head package, tinted a darker black.
Body: Meshbody Legacy Special Edition Basic (free, from the Avatar Welcome Pack)
Body Skin: Velour Picasso Homme fit figure body skin in Idol skin tone
Arm. Armpit, and Leg Hair: Arm Hair 02 and Leg Hair 02 from Samurai (I bought this for free using free Samurai store credit from a previous Shop and Hop event)
Fingernails: Purec Nature Nails Male (free group gift; group is free to join; they come with a fingernail alpha)
Toenails: Purec Nature Nails Male (free group gift; group is free to join; they come with a toenail alpha)
Shape: My own, playing with the face, head, and body sliders to match up with internet pictures of Shane Hollander/Hudson Willaims (still a work-in-progress, but I am extremely happy with this result).
Animation Overide: Tuty’s sLIFE Free Male AO (free)
Shorts: Arcback Shorts Blue – Legacy Basic (free; I believe I picked these up at the new Avatar Shopping Island here).
Hockey T-Shirt: Matching Hollander and Rozanov Ottawa Senators team T-shirts. Available on the SL Marketplace for only L$60 here: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Tribute-T-Shirt-Heated-Hockey-Tees/27912865
Underwear: Hardcore (HD013BS) Men’s Basic Briefs in black or grey, depending on the picture (I bought these for free using free Hardcore store credit from a previous Shop and Hop event).