A harem of hunks turned out for a “Heated Rivalry” lookalike contest in New York City on Sunday — attracting a crowd of hot and bothered men and women who cheered and leered at the contestants vying to resemble the characters in HBO’s homoerotic hockey drama.
Over a dozen hopeful lookalikes clad in hockey jerseys took center stage by Mercer Playground in Greenwich Village, where they acted out scenes from the steamy Canadian series — stripping down and even making out — in the hopes of being crowned most carnal Canuck of the lot.
Fifty-dollars was on the line for each of the two winners — with 25-year-old Ryan Heffernan taking home the crown for most resembling “Heated Rivalry” character Shane Hollander, and 28-year-old Tyler Gaul being named the Ilya Rozanov lookalike.
The win wasn’t surprising for either of them.
Both Heffernan and Gaul told The Post they’ve been stopped by strangers seeking to take photos with them and insisting they look like the show’s studly stars — Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie — since it was released on HBO in November.
“Random people were taking pictures of me,” Heffernan said.
“I was very confident,” he added. “I came here alone because I knew I was going to win.”
For Gaul, it was his girlfriend who first insisted on his resemblance to Storrie, who plays a Russian ice hockey player and the captain of the Boston Raiders — in a secret relationship with his rival, Hollander, played by Williams, the Ottawa-born captain of the Montreal Metros.
“She told me I looked exactly like Ilya, and then most people in my life and her life started to say the same exact thing,” Gaul said.
Both winners watched the series — which originally aired on Canadian streaming service Crave — after being introduced to it by the girlfriends.
“It’s obviously very provocative, but that’s great,” Gaul said.
“I was just impressed that a show kind of that provocative and intense is getting as popular as it is,” he said. “It’s great to have the representation and just being able to see, like love and sex portrayed on TV that’s not normally shown.”
It wasn’t immediately clear who organized the contest. But the real show on Sunday afternoon was the titillated crowd that braved the cold to catch a little heat from center stage — with well over a hundred people filling the sidewalk while baying ravenous eyes at the contestants.
The watchers waved rainbow hockey sticks as hopefuls delivered lines from the show or shed their jerseys to show off six-packs — with some even planting passionate kisses on each other, sending the crowd wild.
Attendees said the hit show had clearly struck a cord with the public.
“It’s these two people that are basically closeted, they’re acting like straight men. And I think that the general public finds that attractive,” said Benji Pearson, a 26-year-old student.
“Maybe this will open the door for like other gayer shows,” he said. “More gay stuff.”
