Hockey is Canada's game, and as Press+1's Ben Tsui points out, it's also constant material for Canada's movies...

Written By Ben Tsui

Saturday used to be "Hockey Night in Canada" in small town Saskatchewan where I grew up! Oh, what fond nostalgic memories those evenings were. As young lads, my cousins and I religiously watched our favorite hockey teams commanded their games on a tiny 14 inch black and white TV set in our family's Chinese café. We kids would cheered, jeered and screamed at the boob tube like there was no tomorrow. Between commercials, we would even trade treasured collector cards that featured the likes of Bobby Orr, Gordie Howe, Bobby Hull and Phil Esposito. Reality came knocking early for one of my cousins though when a flying puck accidentally knocked away both of his front teeth during a weekend midget league game.

Through mainstream Hollywood, numerous macho hockey-themed classics have stirred us kids' celluloid pride. Who wouldn’t remembered John Wayne's IDOL OF THE CROWDS (1937), Paul Newman & the Hanson Brothers in SLAP SHOT (1977), Emilio Estevez leading THE MIGHTY DUCKS (1992), Kurt Russell coining THE MIRACLE (2004) or Justin Timberlake playing silly in THE LOVE GURU. 

Did you know our own home grown film and television industries also produced quite a few decent gems about Canada's favorite sport? The latest hockey action comedy from award-winning Alberta indie filmmaker Michael Dowse (FUBAR), GOON (2011), will drop its puck across Canadian cinemas on February 24, 2012. His film realistically captured the passion, adrenaline, speed, violence, drug affliction, sexual exploit and team camaraderie on and off the home ice. And recently, two additional hockey media projects also just completed principal photography in Alberta and Saskatchewan. OGILTHORPE is a short film co-produced by Calgary-based Anthony Towstego & Jayson Therrien. It's about the most notorious and feared hockey enforcers ever to play the game who inspired fear in his rivals and admiration from his teammates. This is based on the same screen character made famous in SLAPSHOT. Edmonton casting director Kris Rurka is busy on the set of a documentary about LARRY KWONG. He became the very first Chinese Canadian to play professionally for the New York Rangers during the early 1950s. Both films will be hitting the festival circuit later this season.

In the meantime, here are several great reel Canadian hockey flicks I think you should know. They reflect the desperate love, joy, hardship and dark turmoil hockey do offered.

FACE-OFF (1971) – Let's start with Canada's very first million dollar hit movie that dropped to the ice. It tells the turbulent romance between Maple Leaf player Billy Duke (Art Hindle) and a hippie folk singer named Sherry Nelson (Trudy Young) and how they fight the odds with each others' careers and lifestyles. The film introduced a young Hindle who has gone onto a long and successful international acting career, as well as becoming a National Councillor for the Canadian ACTRA actors' union.

PAPERBACK HERO (1974) - A charming small town amateur hockey player (Keir Dullea) begins to lose his grip on reality, believing that he's a gunslinger from the old American Western. Shot in Delisle, Saskatchewan, the movie played in many prairie town cinemas for months when it first premiered. It also featured the popular hit ballad "If You Could Read My Mind" by Gordon Lightfoot. The film was a depressing metaphor for the fatal demise of our Canadian culture via American media domination.

 YOUNGBLOOD (1986) - Dean Youngblood (Rob Lowe) is drafted for the Canadian Hamilton minor league Mustangs. He is hoping to attract the attention of professional scouts. His on-ice activities are complicated by his relationship with the coach's daughter. Watch for a very young Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze as Youngblood's supportive team players.

NET WORTH (1995) -  Ted Lindsay and a host of NHL players who battle with the hockey club owners over benefits and pensions issues.

THE SHELDON KENNEDY STORY (1999) - The tragic story of Alberta farm-boy turned professional hockey player Sheldon Kennedy who was also abused by the notorious coach Graham James.

 MYSTERY, ALASKA (1999) – Russell Crowe, Hank Azaria and Burt Reynolds star in this family comedy about the residents of a small town who get over-zealous with their home hockey team to host a televised game with the renowned New York Rangers. In the film, Mike Myers parodies hockey commentator Don Cherry with similar mannerisms and speeches.   

RHINO BROTHERS (2002) - The Kanachowski family live, breath and sleep hockey like any hot blooded Canadian. Their domineering widowed hockey mom Ellen stops at nothing to ensure her sons achieve hockey success.

CHICKS WITH STICKS (aka ANYONE’S GAME) (2004) - An explosive and irreverent all-female rat tat hockey team challenges a local men's squad in Red Deer, Alberta. 

THE ROCKET: THE LEGEND OF MAURICE RICHARD (2005) - The struggle of Quebec's most famous hockey player Maurice Richard in a National Hockey League dominated by Anglophone Canadians.  

WAKING UP WALLY: THE WALTER GRETSKY STORY (2005) - Walter is a devoted family man who mentors and coaches his eldest son Wayne to be The Greatest of the hockey world. In 1991, the Gretzkys’ lives change forever when Wally suffers a stroke. His family, friends and therapist came to his aid. He emerges out of this experience by touching the lives of everyone he meets. Produced by Calgary’s own SEVEN24 Films, it won several Gemini and ACTRA Awards. Interestingly, I had the privilege of meeting Mr. Gretsky at a festival screening for this film. Since he has difficulty remembering these days, Walter politely requested the audience to write down our names and drop it into an oversize sports bag he carries around so that he has a memory of our attendance at his premiere.

BON COP BAD COP (2006) – A truly bilingual thriller comedy buddy cop movie about an Ontarian and a Québécois police officer who reluctantly join forces to solve the murder of a hockey club executive. The dialogue is a mixture of both English and French without any dubbing or voice-overs.

BREAKFAST WITH SCOT (2007) - Former Toronto Maple Leaf player Eric McNally, who is now a sportscaster, and his sports lawyer partner Sam have their life turned topsy-turvy when they take temporary custody of a flamboyant little boy named Scot Latour who happened to be the son of Sam's dead beat brother. A sense of family is bind by love; not religion, sexuality or traditional marriage! 

STICKS AND STONES (2008) - The captain of Fredericton Canadiens Pee-Wee hockey team (Alexander De Jordy) organizes the "Friendship 2004 Hockey Tournament" to make amends for the racist treatment an American team received during a visit to Montreal in March, 2003.   

LOVERS IN A DANGEROUS TIME (2009) – A hopelessly nostalgic illustrator with a thirst for escapism and a longing for childhood reunites with a small town glory ex-hockey player at their 10 year high school reunion. Winner of People’s Choice Award at the 2009 Calgary International Film Festival, and a Maverick Film Award at the 2009 Method Fest.

SCORE: A HOCKEY MUSICAL (2010) - Canadian hockey goes GLEE! Seventeen-year old Farley (Noah Reid) is a sheltered home schooled boy who becomes a major hockey league instant star. He is propelled into a world of hype. Farley soon finds that hockey fame comes with a price, including the expectation to fight. He soon loses his way and faces a changing relationship with his best friend Eve.

HOCKEY MOM (2010) - A French Canadian sports journalist  investigates the story of a new American hockey mother in Buffalo. The film pokes fun at US/Canadian relations, journalists, and the running of youth sports organizations.

KEEP YOUR HEAD UP, KID: THE DON CHERRY STORY (2010) - Chronicles the life of Don Cherry, the outrageously attired and controversial outspoken commentator on CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada. The film follows Cherry from playing minor league hockey to coaching the NHL's Boston Bruins. It was shot entirely in Manitoba.

THEO FLEURY: PLAYING WITH FIRE (2011) - Stanley Cup winner Theo Fleury is in the news lately as he struggles with the sexually abuses by his long time mentor Graham James. Inspired by Fleury's popular book, this documentary follows the firestorm of publicity and his new found endeavors as an author, actor and country singer.

BREAKAWAY (SPEEDY SINGHS) (2011) - Starring Russell Peters and co-produced by India's comedic Akshay Kumar, Raj - a Sikh Canadian hockey enthusiast and his team of fellow Punjabi players, overcome traditional East Indian family values and discrimination by mainstream Caucasian hockey players to win the game of life on ice.  

LES BOYS I, II, III, IV (Films: 1997/1998/2000/2005 & TV Spinoff Series: 2007 to present) – And now for the Canadian cinema Hat Trick (Most popular series)... Quebec’s most successful hockey movie and television franchise - ever!  This farcial series explore our male institution through the scrutiny and lifestyle of an amateur weekend warriors team. Every possible stereotypical male characteristics are profoundly parodied with fun, frolic and hilarious bravado!"

THE HOUNDS OF NOTRE DAME (1980) – Former University of Alberta drama professor Thomas Peacocke won the 1981 Best Actor Genie Awards for powerfully playing the well-respected but often opinionated, anti-leftist, alcoholic and chain-smoking high school founder and coach Monsignor 'Père' Athol Murray . He helmed the championship hockey team at the College of Notre Dame in Saskatchewan during WWII. Murray believed education and athletics play an important role in shaping the success of all young men. Even our current elected Conservative Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Jason Kenney was an alumnus from that school. Written by Ken Mitchell and funded in part by the alumni of the college, this underdog drama was shot entirely in Wilcox, Saskatchewan and produced by Alberta’s own Fil Fraser.

THE SWEATER (1981) – Hockey is as important as a Catholic mass in Quebec! Based on the beloved story by Canadian novelist Roch Carrier, this animated 10 minute family film from the National Board of Canada (NFB) tells the hilarious tale of a French Canadian enduring shame when Eaton’s mail order store mistakenly shipped a rival Toronto Maple Leafs uniform instead of Maurice “Rocket” Richard’s popular Montreal Canadiens sweater. Watch the complete animated short of THE SWEATER here.

GROSS MISCONDUCT (1993) - Winner of the Golden Gate Award at the 1993 San Francisco International Film Festival and the Grand Prix de la Compétition prize at Geneva, Switzerland, celebrated actor/screenwriter Paul Gross (PASSCHENDAELE, MEN WITH BROOMS, DUE SOUTH) traces the roller-coaster life and career of Toronto Maple Leafs prodigy Brian “Spinner” Spencer. He is renowned as Canada’s most aggressive hockey goon. This made for television drama not only dwells into Spencer’s violent inner turmoil, on and off the ice, but also parallels his ill-fated relationship with a pushy spiteful hockey dad. Award winning filmmaker Atom Egoyan (THE SWEET HEARAFTER, ARARAT, EXOTICA) often juxtaposed his creative mise-en-scene directions with raw, dark, heart-wrenching emotional sequences. So far, this film is not available on DVD.

GROWN UP MOVIE STAR (2009) - Rising Canadian actress Tatiana Maslany (FLASHPOINT, HEARTLAND, SABBATICAL) won a Special Jury Prize at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival for her breakout performance in GROWN UP MOVIE STAR. This moving little film from the Rock (aka Newfoundland) tells the story of Ray (Shawn Doyle), an afflicted disgraced NHL hockey star, coming to terms with a runaway wife and his secret homosexual double life while trying to raise two precocious daughters, Ruby and Rose alone. Teenage daughter Ruby (Tatiana Maslany) begins hanging more and more with Ray's buddy Stuart (Jonny Harris). Stuart is confined to a wheelchair following an accident involving Ray awhile back. When Stuart finds himself attracted to Ruby, a heartbreaking trail and tribulation for all three characters ensures. Actor Shawn Doyle is best known in Canada for THE ELEVENTH HOUR, THE CITY and Margaret Atwood's THE ROBBER BRIDE. He also appears on several acclaimed American television series such as DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES, 24, C.S.I., LOST and BIG LOVE.

As many of these celluloid gems suggested, there is nothing better to live in our great white north other than to live for cup of champions ~~ the Lord Stanley's trophy of life and survival!

Written by :

bhftsui