By Chris Barrymore
Upon diving into this list, I quickly realized that there is a severe shortage of pure hockey films - movies where hockey is the story, and the characters are hockey players, and the overall message of the film has something to say about hockey and life. Soooo, I had to stretch the criteria a bit, and the results are as follows:
Slap Shot (1977) Starring Paul Newman, Strother Martin, Michael Ontkean, Jennifer Warren, Lindsay Crouse – An obvious candidate for the No.1 spot. I mean, the Hanson Brothers .... the Charlestown Chiefs .... There is little need to say more.
Youngblood (1986) Starring Rob Lowe, Patrick Swayze, Keanu Reeves - Then-active NHL players, Steve Thomas and Peter Zezel, both have small non-speaking roles as Youngblood's teammates on the Mustangs. The film also starred former NHLer Eric Nesterenko, who played the father of Lowe's Dean Youngblood. The filming of Youngblood took place in the east end of Toronto. Ted Reeve Arena was used as the setting for the interior of the Hamilton Mustangs home rink while Scarborough Gardens Arena was used for the setting of the arena's exterior.
Wayne’s World (1992) Starring Mike Myers, Dana Carvey, Rob Lowe, Tia Carrere, Brian Doyle-Murray, Lara Flynn Boyle - Myers is an admitted hockey fan, and this movie and its main characters offer too many hockey references to ignore. There’s Wayne and Garth's hangout, Stan Mikita's Donuts, named after the former Blackhawks player. This is a reference to Tim Horton's, a doughnut shop chain named for and started by Tim Horton, a player from the Toronto Maple Leafs (Mike Myers' favorite team). There were also numerous hockey references in the Saturday Night Live skits, including a one-on-one hockey game featuring Wayne Campbell vs. Wayne Gretzky. Game on.
Sudden Death (1995) Starring Jean-Claude Van Damme – Tagline: “Action Goes into Overtime”. Qualifies on the basis that it is set during Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals in Pittsburgh. It has a typically unrealistic plot for a Van Damme movie. But still, Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals. It’s in!
Happy Gilmore (1996) Starring Adam Sandler – Yes, another Sandler film. How is it that he keeps creeping into these lists? More a golf movie, so it will make that yet-to-be-compiled Top Ten List as well, but it qualifies for the hockey list based on the fact he is an aspiring hockey player with a killer slap shot but little skating ability. The fistfight with Bob Barker is also the stuff of legend.
Chasing Amy (1997) Starring Ben Affleck, Jason Lee, Joey Lauren Adams, Matt Damon, Jason Mewes, Kevin Smith - Obviously not a hockey movie, but rarely if ever has a hockey scene in a non-hockey movie so accurately reflected the emotional shattering of two characters and laid out a pathway for the rest of the story to travel. (Please be aware the unedited and uncensored clip linked below has adult themes and lots of foul and explicit language, so it is obviously NSFW). The first 4:40 of the scene is most important, but the remaining 4:10 has some emotionally wrenching dialogue that, depending on how deeply you want to analyze this, may or may not provide some additional insight into the hockey game they just left, or the whole sport of hockey itself. Also contains a few good rips on the officials which I will be using in the future.
Mystery, Alaska (1999) Starring Russell Crowe, Hank Azaria, Mary McCormack, Burt Reynolds, Colm Meaney, Lolita Davidovich – Think about it. Crowe gets to police mostly minor crime in a small Alaskan town. All the while, he gets to think about hockey, talk about hockey with others, play hockey in the “Saturday Game”, welcome the New York Rangers to town for an exhibition, and to top it off he has McCormack waiting for him back home. I’ll take that deal.
Bruce Almighty (2003) – Starring Jim Carrey, Morgan Freeman, Jennifer Aniston - Again, not a hockey movie. But I am obligated to include it here because it may very well be the only time I hear the phrase “The Buffalo Sabres have just won the Stanley Cup!” As a native Buffalonian now living in the Midwest, I remain a lifelong and long suffering Sabres fan hoping that the Blue and Gold can someday hoist Lord Stanley’s glorious Cup. Thank you, Jim Carrey, for giving hope to that dream.
Miracle (2004) Starring Kurt Russell – Herb Brooks is a local hero in these parts, besides being a national treasure. R.I.P Herb.
Ice Kings (2006) Starring Jim Lampley, Bill Macatee - Film critic, Jay Seaver, who probably looks like this, reviewed the documentary when it screened at the Boston Film Festival four years ago, and had this to say: "I'm not much of a hockey fan - baseball and basketball have tended to rule in Seaver households - so a lot of the hockey-specific details may have flown right past me. It's a nifty story, though, even for non-fans, and I expect hockey fans may appreciate it even more."
