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There are not so many films about hockey both in the domestic and world cinema “horizon”. However, those of them that have appeared on the big screen in different years really deserve attention. In this list of the best hockey movies of all time, there is a wide range of feelings that can be visited by both a person far from the world of sports and an avid fan while watching. Sports excitement will overwhelm you and you will no longer be able to tear yourself away from the screen until the very credits.
10 Youngblood (1986)
Dean Youngblood, a 17-year-old farmer from rural New York, dreams of playing in the National Hockey League. Dean voices these dreams to his father, who disapproves of the idea, but Dean’s brother, Kelly, convinces their father to relent. Dean travels to Canada to try his hand at the Hamilton Mustangs, where he demonstrates his offensive skills but no physical strength. Carl Rakki, who is fighting for the seat, engages him in a fight and quickly defeats him. Despite this, the head coach of the Mustangs, a former NHL star, accepts Dean into the team.
After his team mentor Derek Sutton is deliberately injured by Rakki, Dean returns home. His brother encourages him to keep playing and his father teaches him some fighting skills. Dean returns to the team, ready to take on Racki in the final game of the Memorial Cup playoffs…
9. Mighty Ducklings (1992)
Children of the 90s may most likely be familiar with this painting. The first movie in the Mighty Ducks trilogy is largely based on a true story: one youth hockey team from Minnesota is chosen to represent all of America in an international tournament, where they are joined by child bell ringers from all over the country…
8. Shot on goal (1977)
Every hockey fan has their favorite moment in this most classic of all hockey movies.
In the fictional small town of Charlestown, a local factory is about to lay off 10 workers, indirectly threatening the existence of the city’s minor league hockey team, the Charlestown Chiefs. Finding that the team needs to be folded, coach-player Reggie Dunlop allows the Hanson brothers, the club’s recent acquisitions, to “break” their opponents. The actively aggressive and gangster style of the brothers’ play excites the fans. Dunlop rearms the team using violence to draw large crowds.
The team’s new style has unintended consequences that affect not only Dunlop, but Chefs’ star player Ned Braden, as well as the rest of the team. Dunlop exploits Braden’s family problems in his attempts to get him into the team fight, to no avail. Several games end in bench brawls, including one that takes place before the debut game and another that brings the local police into the dressing room to arrest the Hanson brothers…
7. Miracle (2004)
Herb Brooks (Kurt Russell), head hockey coach at the University of Minnesota, gives an interview to the US Olympic Committee about the job of coaching the national team: discusses his philosophy on how to beat the Soviet team, calls for a change in training schedule and strategy. The USOC is skeptical, but ultimately gives Brooks the job…
6. Bouncer (2011)
Lucas is a former bodyguard who was forced to flee South Africa after the death of his wife. He now lives with his daughter Sarah in his native Belgium and works as a nightclub bouncer. One night, Lucas was forced to stand up for a waitress who was attacked by a drunken customer. However, Lucas is fired from his nightclub job. In order to get a new job, he is forced to fight several other applicants in a fight. And Lucas is the last person standing.
Meanwhile, due to the status of an injured nightclub patron who molested a waitress as the son of a member of the European Parliament, Lucas is being heavily investigated by the authorities. He is forced to go undercover at a strip club to spy on its owner, Ian, a big figure in the criminal underworld, or face prosecution and jail time for the nightclub incident…
5. Golden Ice (1992)
Kate is a world-class figure skater representing the United States in doubles at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. She has real talent, but years of being spoiled by her wealthy father, Jack, have made her impossible for the job.
Doug Dorsey – captain of the US hockey team at the same Winter Olympics. Literally a few minutes before the start of the game, he and Kate collided in the arena. During the game, Doug suffers a head injury that disrupts his peripheral vision, so he had to retire from hockey. During the competition, Kate’s partner abandons her, robbing them of their chance to win a gold medal.
While preparing for the 1992 Winter Olympics, for the next two years, Kate drove away all potential partners with her attitude and perfectionism. Her trainer, Russian-born Anton Pamchenko, must find a replacement, an outsider who doesn’t know that Kate is spoiled and difficult…
4. Alaska Mystery (1999)
This 1999 film culminated in an outdoor hockey game between the residents of Mystery and the fictional New York Rangers, and it proved to be prescient: for a decade, the NHL played regular outdoor games in freezing temperatures. The real New York Rangers appeared in several of them, but unlike in the movie, not once did the enemy try the secret weapon of the mysterious team: Little Richard’s comically slow playing of the national anthem to literally freeze visitors to the city of Alaska.
3. Maurice Richard (2005)
The film tells about the era, which many consider the cornerstone of the history of the NHL. It shows the life of a Rocket, from his teenage years to the year before Richard led Montreal to an unbeaten record of winning five consecutive Stanley Cup championships.
2. Red Army (2014)
This documentary about the mighty Soviet hockey team explores not only how it got so strong, but also how Russian players were introduced to the NHL after the fall of the Soviet Union. Much of this story is told through the eyes of the great Vyacheslav Fetisov, who stood up to Soviet coach Viktor Tikhonov and was among that first wave of Russians to play in North America. It talks about how the Soviets “elevated hockey to the level of an art” and forever changed the history of world hockey.
1. Legend #17 (2012)
This domestic film tells about the life and sporting achievements of the legendary Soviet hockey player Valery Kharlamov. He played on ice at number 17. With his talent, incredible perseverance and hard work, he made sure that he was accepted into the USSR hockey team and sent to the legendary match against the Canadian team. This game went down in the history of world sports, because before meeting with Soviet hockey players, Canadians considered themselves invincible …