Have you ever been in that situation where it is a cold day outside and there are no hockey games on TV but you still want to watch something hockey related? For this Weekend Read we have decided to compile a short list of some hockey movies with a basic plot synopsis and and expert opinion about the movie, so just grab some popcorn lean back and think about what will be the next movie you will watch on a cold winter night.
The movies are listed by release date, they have the main star of the film listed as well as any pro players listed, if they played themselves in the movie or were cast for a particular part.
Slap Shot (1977, starring Paul Newman, with David Hanson, Steve Carlson, and Jeff Carlson as the Hanson brothers Jack, Steve and Jeff).
The Charleston Chiefs is a minor league team that is based on the Johnstown Jets who at the time of the movie were playing in the NAHL, the minor league to the old World Hockey Association. Paul Newman plays player coach Reggie Dunlop who finds out that his team will fold at the end of the season, he concocts a plot to keep the team in town. Along the way the team signs a trio of brothers, the Hansons who end up gooning it up and the game starts to sell out. In the end Dunlop and the team win the league title in a very strange way. Most of the hockey players in the movie were actual player with the Jets and would later play in the NHL. This movie is well liked because of the nature of old school aggressive North American hockey. Paul Newman said years later that it was the most fun he ever had on a movie set during his career.
Csanád Erdély (Sioux Falls Stamped)- It was the first hockey movie I have ever seen, I immediately liked the Hanson brothers and the way they did everything. I think someone once brought it on a long bus ride when I was young.
Youngblood (1986, starring Rob Lowe, Patrick Swayze and Keanu Reeves, Eric Nestorenko as Blane Youngblood).
Rob Lowe plays Dean Youngblood an American kid that would like to play juniors in Canada, his brother convinces their father, who was played by former NHL player Nestorenko, to let him go on a tryout, he plays great and the team takes him over a goon. The Hamilton Mustangs make it to the Memorial Cup final where they face their rivals the Thunder Bay Bombers. The movie takes a sneak peak at junior hockey life in Canada and all the locker room shenanigans that includes Lowe hazed. (Trailer)
Gary Clark (MAC assistant coach)- It reminds me of junior hockey from when I played, it is very similar. (editor's note, Clark and his teammates gave a young Chris Chelios a “shave” like the one Dean Youngblood gets in the movie)
The Mighty Ducks (1992, starring Emilio Estevez, M.C. Gainey, Joshua Jackson, with Mike Modano and Basil McRae as themselves)
Mighty Ducks is a classic with anyone that grew up in the early to mid 1990s the success of the movie would also lead to the birth of the NHL team, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. Estevez plays hotshot lawyer Gordon Bombay who used to be an outstanding peewee hockey players, is ordered to do community service after getting busted for a DUI. He is assigned to a team that does not have proper equipment and are just horrible in general. In true Hollywood fashion with some hard work the team overcomes a number of problems to make it to the championship game where the Ducks have to face Bombay’s childhood team and former coach. Two squals were released in the following years the second one had a similar box office success as teh first one, however the third one did not. (Trailer)
István Bartalis (Fehérvár AV19)-When we were kids we thought it was a great story and since we all played hockey we thought it was a great movie.
Mystery Alaska (1999, starring Russell Crowe, Burt Reynolds Mike Myers with Phil Esposito, Jim Fox and Barry Melrose as themselves.
In the town of Mystery every Saturday there is a 4 on 4 (plus two goalies) pond hockey game, it is the same 10 players playing. At the start of the “season” the town elders pick the best eight skaters and two goalies who would play that season. An article about this pond game appears in Sports Illustrated and it draws national attention to the town. The team from Mystery plays an exhibition game against the New York Rangers. In the end two of the younger players get signed by NHL teams and sent to the minors. (Trailer)
Tyler Dietrich (Fehérvár AV19 coach)- It is a great story, it brings out the love for the game, a feeling that only a pond hockey game will give you.
Miracle (2004, starring Kurt Russell, Patricia Clarkson, Eddie Cahill)
The movie is about the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid and the lead up through the 1979-1980 season to the United States’ upset of the Soviet Union and their eventual capture of the gold medal. The movie give a deeper view of the relationship that Herb Brooks had with his team and how the players were a family. Before the production of the movie, the producers realized that it would be easier to teach hockey players to act than actors to skate and play. There were a couple of actors with hockey backgrounds in the movie but there was a surprisingly large amount of hockey players who had large parts in the movie. Former major junior, NCAA, AHL, ECHL and CHL players made up the 130 hockey players that appeared in the movie. (Trailer)
Gergely Korbuly (Fehérvár AV19)- I liked how they won with no name players instead of big time stars. With hard work and team unity they were able to be Olympic champions, and I think this is great motivation for everyone.
Goon (2006, starring Seann William Scott, Jay Baruchel, Liev Schreiber, George Laraque as Hamilton)
Doug Glatt, who is played by Seann William Scott, through a number of lucky breaks goes from being a bouncer at a bar to minor league enforcer for the Halifax Highlanders. The movie takes a number of incidents that have happened in the NHL and sprinkles them in throughout. It has been called a modern day Slap Shot, in the movie Glatt become the hero as he turns the team's mentality and they sneak into the playoffs. The movie is based on Doug Smith who was a boxer and picked up hockey as an adult, Smith played in the ECHL, IHL and the AHL. (Trailer)
Bronson Kovács (Debreceni HK): Its just a funny movie in general, all the typical hockey stereotypes are great as well in the movie.