Hockey is a sport that is extremely popular but is frequently reduced to little more than public drunkenness and physical violence by non-fans. Every good sport has a million sports movies, but there tends to be a bit more variance in the wide world of cinema, and a bit more similarity between hockey movies.
Just about every other sport has one or two movies that attain overwhelming success beyond the limits of people who care at all about the subject. The viewer doesn’t needto care about boxingto loveRaging Bull, basketball to enjoyCoach Carter, or baseball to loveThe Sandlot, but hockey draws a slightly more insular crowd.
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The Mighty Ducks
This 90s kids' film has one of the strangest legacies in cinematic history. Critics at the time despised it and piled on the sequels with even more hate. Audiences at the time were lukewarm at best and paid less attention to each subsequent release. However, those who were the right age when the film came out still love it today. The film’s legacy is strong enough to create a revival series 22 years later.That revival series, subtitledGame Changers, is the first piece of media in the franchise to attain anything other than widespread derision. Looking back now at the 1992 original, it’s not a perfect movie, but it didn’t deserve the critical beating it took. The voyage of Gordon Bombay is a classic youth sports film with the classic schmaltzy narrative trappings, settle in and enjoy it.
Goon
It’s an inescapable fact of hockey that some fans are only in it for the fights. Just like some peopleonly watch NASCAR forthe crashes, some people don’t care how many points are scored, as long as two players start punching each other. Written by underrated comedic actor Jay Baruchel and Seth Rogen’s longtime writing partner Evan Goldberg,Goondepicts the life of good-natured idiot Doug. Doug struggles to find purpose in his life and feels unable to live up to the standards set by his successful family. His only talent seems to be a preternatural gift for bare-knuckle brawling, which leads him to find his purpose as the enforcer on a no-name hockey team. The film is a broad slapstick comedy with some solid fight scenes and writing a bit too smart for its own good.Goonmight not be the best in-depthexamination of hockey as a sport, but it’s one of the funniest movies to feature the sport.
Slap Shot
George Roy Hill is primarily known for directingthe seminal 1969 westernButch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, but he also created this unique 70s oddity. The film stars Hill’s frequent collaborator Paul Newman as player-coach Reggie Dunlop, who goads his small-town team into violent tactics for profit. The film sets out to be a tasteless comedy, but, in its love of sex and violence, it actually reaches the realm of self-examination. It has a mean-spirited sense of humor, which can leave a bad taste in the mouth of some audiences. However, there’s something weirdly self-aware in the way it mocks the sport, the fans, andviolence as a spectacle.Slap Shotis a well-directed and well-acted film, but there’s something in the script that seems to interrogate some of the underlying problems with the sport.
Mystery, Alaska
The quintessential sports movie pits a ragtag group of determined underdogs against better-equipped pros to decide the fate of the town. This is the hockey answer to that tried and true narrative.Mystery, Alaskawas directed by Jay Roach, who primarily works in the world of wacky comedy. He’s responsible for theiconicAustin Powerstrilogy,Meetthe Parents, Dinner for Schmucks, and many more studio comedies.Mystery, Alaskais certainly funny, but with an all-important heart at its center. Russel Crowe and Hank Azaria bring solid performances to the film. A handful of real pro hockey players make appearances that will thrill fans who were into the sport back in 1999.Mystery, Alaskamight have a bit too much going on and a fairly by-the-numbers storyline, but it’s a classic for fans of the sport and a well-executed web of personal narratives.
Miracle
If there’s a hockey fan alive who hasn’t seen this 2004 American classic, then it’s time for them to start believing. The big-screen depiction of the 1980 Olympic Games, popularly known as the “Miracle on Ice,” transcends hockey fandom and enters the highest echelon of sports cinema. By rooting itself in a real story and building the film around the sheer mythology of the moment, this film feels genuinely magical.It’sRocky IVon icewithout the irony. Kurt Russel’s stellar performance as coach Herb Brooks is a massive standout that carries this film to long-time fame. There’s no trick under the hood of this film, it’s just good old-fashioned sports cinema.Miracleis the go-to hockey movie for those who want to feel the power of sports as a story.
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